It Happened One Autumn: The Wallflowers, Book 2

Biting back a smile, Lillian narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be saucy, or I won’t tell you the lurid details later.” “I don’t need to hear them from you,” Daisy said airily. “I’ve been reading the novels that Lady Olivia recommended . . . and now I daresay I know more than you and Annabelle put together.”

“Now all that’s left is the pear.” She swirled the bottle, making the plump fruit slosh juicily at the bottom. “I want to eat it,” she announced.

“What a relief it must have been when the old earl passed away,” she murmured. “Yes. A sad statement of a man’s life, that the world should have been so improved by his absence.”

“It’s expensive,” Nettle warned. “That’s all right, our father’s rich,” Daisy told him. “It’s the only thing we have going for us.”

“Dear,” Daisy said softly, “the next time you face a room full of strangers . . . you might tell yourself that some of them are just friends waiting to be found.”

“Miss Bowman is the one I want.” “She could never fit into the mold of a Marsden wife.” “Then the mold will have to be broken.”

Daisy regarded her with sincere disgruntlement. “Not even a little swooning?” “For heaven’s sake, you wouldn’t want to swoon, or you might miss something.”

“I love you, Marcus.” Taking the napkin from him, Lillian blew her nose noisily and continued to weep as she spoke. “I love you. I don’t mind if I’m the first one to say it, nor even if I’m the only one. I just want you to know how very much—” “I love you too,” he said huskily. “I love you too. Lillian . . . Please don’t cry. It’s killing me. Don’t

“I can’t! It’s truly stuck. I need something to make it slippery. Do you have some sort of lubricant nearby?” “No.” “Not anything?” “Much as it may surprise you, we’ve never needed lubricant in the library before now.”