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froze as his lips touched hers, softly, warmly, just brushing the quivering softness of her mouth. His mustache grazed the tender skin above her upper lip. Then he was lifting his head to look downat her with an intent expression that deepened as he saw how the kiss had affected her. The brief touch of his mouth had left her reeling.
    “Lilah …”
    Whatever else he had been going to say in that dark, soft voice was drowned beneath excited yapping. Lilah, shaken out of the dreamworld she had been caught up in, looked around dazedly to see Hercules darting across the floor toward them. Behind him, not quite at the summerhouse steps, came her Uncle George, his expression boding no good.

V

    “W hat the devil are you about, girl, flirting like some dammed Jezebel out here in the dark? You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Your aunt’s been looking for you this age!”
    Her great-uncle’s booming voice finished the process of dragging Lilah back to reality. She took a hasty step away from Joss, who obligingly dropped her arms, and turned to face her fuming uncle as he puffed up the shallow steps. Unlike his wife, Uncle George’s bark was far worse than his bite. He was not nearly as gruff as he sounded. She was really very fond of him, and gave him a placating smile as he stomped across the floor toward her. He had once been tall, but he was stooped now with age and required a cane to get around. Still, he was an impressive figure with his thick head of bushy white hair and his elegant black evening clothes slimming a frame that inclined toward portliness around the middle.
    “I’m sorry if I worried you, Uncle. But the rose garden was crowded, and—”
    “And you wanted to find a spot where your young man here could sneak a kiss,” Uncle George finished with devastating accuracy. “No use to try to pull the wool over my eyes, girl, I saw what you was about. But don’t let on with your aunt. She’s a high stickler, she is. Well, now, am I to expect a visit from you in the morning,young man, asking for my great-niece’s hand? Or do I crack this cane over your head here and now?”
    “Uncle!” Lilah protested, mortified, as she cast a quick look over her shoulder at Joss. He stood tall and silent behind her, his eyes fixed on Uncle George’s face. Lilah remembered that he had come to Boxhill on some sort of business that concerned her uncle, and felt a spurt of sympathy toward him. Getting caught kissing one’s host’s niece was not an ideal way to start a relationship.
    “You’re not the Burrel boy, are you? Nah, you can’t be. His hair’s as yeller as Lilah’s here. Unless my mind’s getting as weak as my knees, I’ve never seen you before in my life.” Uncle George looked at Joss with hard suspicion.
    “My name is Jocelyn San Pietro.” Joss spoke abruptly, as though he expected the name to have some meaning for the old man. Uncle George glared at Lilah before shifting his eyes back to Joss. Despite her uncle’s age and disability, there was suddenly something formidable about him.
    “Here in Virginia, we call a man out for less than you’ve done tonight, sirra. Strangers don’t take young ladies out in the dark and kiss them without being called to account for it.”
    “Uncle … !”
    “You hush your mouth, missy! Hell, females got no sense, and this proves it! To come out alone with a man we don’t know from Adam—you’re lucky I came along when I did! He …”
    “I beg your pardon, sir, but you do know me. Or you should. I believe I’m your grandson.”
    Astounded silence followed this revelation. Lilah stared at Joss, her mouth open, eyes wide. Uncle George and Aunt Amanda had never had children. …
    “My grandson? What a load of bull feathers! I don’t have a …” Uncle George never talked, he bellowed,and he was bellowing now as he reached out to catch Lilah’s arm and pull her to him and away from the tall, dark man who stood regarding him inscrutably. The moonlight caught