I Suppose Now I'm Obliged To Wish

...it Was Better To Answer, No Matter How Ineptly, Thank To Withhold A Reply. Because Sometimes Silence Could Wound Someone Nearly As Badly As A Bullet.

He Was So Far From The Gallant Knights In Her Romantic Fantasies ... He Was Tarnished, Scarred, Imperfect. Deliberately He Had Destroyed Any Illusions She Might Have Had About Him, Exposing His Mysterious Past For The Ugly Horror That It Was. His Purpose Had Been To Drive Her Away. But Instead She Felt Closer To Him, As If The Truth Had Bonded Them In A New Intimacy.

It Seemed As If Some Subtle Current Of Recognition Had Passed Between Them... Not As If They Had Met Before... But As If They Had Come Close Several Times Until Finally An Impatient Fate Had Forced Their Paths To Intersect.

Leo Knew Next To Nothing About Governesses, Save For The Drab Creatures In Novels, Who Tended To Fall In Love With The Lord Of The Manor, Always With Bad Results.

I Feel Like I've Been Shut In A Closet, And He's On The Other Side, And He Doesn't Have The Key To Unlock The Door.