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quickly and with flourish.
“You don’t say much.”
“Indeed, sir.”
“Why’s that?”
She paused then said, “You seem fully content to dominate the conversation, sir.”
He chuckled. No one had ever accused him of that before but he was certain many could. It made him laugh to hear this woman, who he had just met, recognize that about his character straight off.
“Please, call me Ryan.”
She nodded.
Then when she didn’t reiterate the offer, he asked, “May I call you Evelina?”
“If you wish.”
“It’s a very unusual name.”
“So is Ryan,” she snapped back.
It surprised him but he was glad to see the woman had spirit. He was beginning to think she was emotionless. “It’s from my mother’s side of the family. The O’Ryans immigrated to America from Ireland at the turn of the century. She named me after them.”
“Your mother is American?”
“Yes, she met my father while teaching in Canada.”
She nodded, paused and then said, “My father was a fan of Fanny Burney’s book, Evelina.”
“I don’t think I’ve read that one.”
“It’s a historical romance.”
He smiled and nodded his head. “Your father is a romantic at heart.”
She did not smile in return.
He cleared his throat and glanced about. “What say I return tomorrow and we take a stroll along the pier?”
“I don’t enjoy walking.”
“Oh, well, I could hire a coach and have it take us to Waterworks Park, it’s rather beautiful this time of year—”
“I don’t like crowds.”
He chuckled, “I hardly think there will be any crowds—”
“I don’t like the outdoors.”
He outright laughed that time. “I do believe you are trying to thwart my attempts at courting.”
“Believe what you wish.”
His brows drew together as he studied her closely then sighed. “All right. Then perhaps we could take a nice solitary drive along the river in an enclosed coach—”
“I never leave home.”
