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Page 165

| her motive behind this sudden decision to be with a man that he so openly detested! |

| "Then you are saying that you will accept my invitation?" Stanford asked, surprised himself, that she would agree. He had hoped to use her as a ploy to get what he wanted from Ashton, but he had never guessed that it would be this simple. |

| He looked at Ashton, seeing the rage and confusion in his eyes, then smiled triumphantly down at Sasha, once again lifting her hand to his lips, kissing it. "Until tomorrow, beautiful lady," he murmured. "I shall arrive promptly after breakfast, if that time fits your schedule." |

| "That would be delightful," Sasha said in a purr, smiling devilishly at Ashton. She slipped her hand from Stanford's, placing it behind her so that he could not capture it again to cover it with his cold, wet lips. He disgusted her. She even feared him, yet knew that he was the only way to make Ashton think that she did not care for him in the way he wishedeven though all the while she loved him so much that she could hardly bear it! |

| "Until tomorrow," Stanford said, swinging away from Sasha and quickly mounting. He gave her and Ashton a mock salute, then wheeled his horse around and rode away. |

| Crispin dismounted and went to study Sasha with troubled eyes. "Did I hear right?" he said. "You agreed to go on an outing with thatthat man?" |

| "I see no crime in it," Sasha said, then turned on a heel and walked briskly back to the house. Her heart was pounding, feeling Ashton's eyes on her. She now knew that her performance may have been too grandtoo convincing. |

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