"A little on the thin side but in every other way, a man would love to have her as his queen." She has my Queen's beauty but my stubbornness," William...laughed, half way to becoming fully drunk. "She is very head strong." Feisty women are my forte. Who wants one who has no life in her at all? I love one who fights me off when I become amorous," Barth said as both partially drunk men laughed uproariously.Nora sat on the other side of the throne totally bored with the antics of her father and the. After a curt nod at her reflection, she crossed to the bed, tucked thesheet and comforter firmly about my shoulders, then leaned over and gaveme what I had to call a motherly peck on the forehead."Pleasant dreams, sweetums," she cooed with a self-satisfied smilebefore turning out the light.I mumbled an incoherent response.Listening to the sounds of Angie setting up the sofa bed, I lay there inthe dark, trying to come to terms with the evening's events. My earlobesthrobbed intensely. My waist. "One of what?" she asked, settling against the headboard."One of those," I said, motioning my head at the ash tray."Don't you dare. It's an awful habit. One of my few vices. I'm not lazy, I'm not narrow minded, I'm not hateful. I don't rob anyone, I don't kill anyone, I don't hate anyone. I'm not a racist, not a bigot. But I do smoke. And I'm a hypocrite. And deep inside, I'm ruthless."I asked, surprised, thinking she was joking, "You are?" Yes. I am. I have such a sweet, innocent, kitten-like. This took me by surprise. "You want to date me?"She shyly nodded and blushed. "I've never been on a date before."That I could believe.I could not see how to get out of this without further humiliating her."You're not dating anyone, are you?" she asked."Not at the moment," I answered truthfully.I mentioned a new Sci-Fi movie that was coming out Friday. Secretly I hoped she would not be into that genre.She seemed elated. "Ooh! I've been wanting to see that!"We set two more tutoring dates on.