Two years there and she was still alone. Two years of living in the English countryside with excursions to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Stockho...lm, Cologne, and yes, even to Paris once. She’d tried to look on the bright side and thought to the few times when she’d actually gotten laid while she was there, but those were only three liaisons and not the relationships which she found herself pining to have even once in her life. Those had amounted to little more than pick-ups that she’d. Claire’s shoulder-length hair flopped around as we did the Promenades. I suggested she put her hair in a ponytail or pigtails.“Claire, go change,” I said as I saw Sarah watching us very closely, so I walked up to her and asked, “Ms. Sarah McArthur, would you care to dance?”“Oh, Charles. Thank you. You must have read my mind. I am not as good as Claire, but I will try.”“You are as pretty as Claire. That counts for something,” I said sincerely.“Aren’t you the smooth talker?” she said.The moment. Mindblind had other ideas. Transferring his sword to the other hand, he leaned back, and then threw his weight into the door.The frame gave with a loud report, cracking around the lock and sending the door slamming into the wall inside. The sound was barely audible over a chorus of frightened screams.The women ranged in age from a young girl to an old woman, and they all looked remarkably alike. From their skin tone and manner of dress, he assumed they were Draxnian. The eldest of the group. He was always happy, full of life, energetic, hard working and a perfect gentleman. It took Judith months before she realized that he was interested in her and when she finally noticed, it seemed so ridiculous that she hurt his feelings. He was so young that she couldn’t see how he could be interested in her. That old cliché popped into her head; Young guys have only ONE thing in mind, and she didn’t want to be another notch on anyone’s belt. Hurt once, twice careful, was her motto.He worked on.