I felt Claire'shands on my backside sliding up, and suddenly my dress was being lifted overmy head. As it slipped off my hands she told me to keep my ...ands up in theair. There were a few squeaks and clicks, and then something tightened aroundeach of my wrists. When I felt her fingers run back down my arms I couldn'tdrop them back down again."Claire?" I ventured, as some silent seconds passed."Don't worry, honey, I'm just admiring the view." More silence, and I wasn'tworrying, but anticipating.. He nodded, lookinggenuinely interested, so I continued. "Going to study modern Americanliterature for my post-grad work, though. I'm trying to keep my optionsopen for when I graduate, don't know if I want to go into academia,publishing, or just try my hand at being a starving writer." Nice. There's just something hot about well-read ladies, if you don'tmind me saying," Matt responded, definitely flirting now. I did mind himsaying, but I knew it wouldn't stop him, so I just nodded. His. She positively glowed when the sun hung low in the sky. Her smiles looked larger, eyes glowed brighter and her oval face shown brighter with the sun on her face or resting on her shoulder. The highway opened up before us while she sang lines of songs, pointed to odd sights along the fences, and entertained me, in general, as we headed towards our destination. By the time we turned off the main road I had heard her life story up through high school. ‘Sissy, if your daddy was a mechanic on the. .”“Baron Bex,” Relix said, standing up. “Are you saying that you contest your loss on the field of honor today?”The Baron’s hands clenched. He was literally shaking. Merton stood his ground, as cool as a cucumber. Julia’s heart was in her throat as she watched. All she could see was Merton falling to the ground, sans head. The Baron was right there. And he was so incredibly strong. But then the Baron stepped backwards. His voice was stiff as he growled. “I will send these rule books to the.