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Come in," she called without thinking. The door opened, and Caleb stepped inside. "I want to apologize for last night," he said, his hat in his hands, his expression as innocent as an altar boy's. "The truth is, I don't think we should get married." Lily was beginning to get disturbing ideas about the rolling pin in her hands. His disclaimer came as no surprise to her, of course; she'd known he was an out-and-out scoundrel all along. "Oh?" ..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Turn around," Caleb said gently when she didn't speak, "and I'll wash your back for you." The experience sounded too pleasant to refuse, and Lily shifted until she was kneeling, facing away from Caleb. The breeze made her nipples stand taut, and she was glad he couldn't see. "I have another bone to pick with you," she said as he began a delicious process of washing and massage combined. "Umm?" There had been so many things happening that Li..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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I emptied the tub and put it back under the tarp," he said, "so Corporal Pierce and the others won't get any wild ideas about you bathing in the middle of the prairie." Lily blushed, embarrassed by what she'd done. She wondered why she never suffered these agonies before the fact, when it might do some good. "Corporal Pierce is a gentleman," Lily said stiffly. "And I'm not?" Lily shook her head. "No gentleman would do what you just did." "A..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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He sat up in bed, wishing Lily was there. He wouldn't even have needed to touch her, just watching her sleep would have soothed him. Caleb shoved the splayed fingers of his right hand through his hair. He had to go home to Fox Chapel, face Joss, take his place in the family again. He wanted his share of the land and the horses. And he wanted Lily at his side, now and forever. Sweating,
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Linda Lael Miller |
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You're going like that? In trousers?" Lily nodded. "They're much handier for riding than a skirt," she informed him, though she privately thought any idiot would have been able to figure out such an obvious thing on his own. "You'll be arrested," Caleb fretted, climbing down from the framework of his house to stand on the ground facing Lily. "I don't believe it's against the law for a woman to wear trousers, Caleb." "Don't be too sure of th..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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The moment they were inside, away from the eyes of interested neighbors, he covered her mouth with his in a consuming kiss. Lily felt her bones melt within her, along with all her misgivings. Her arms wrapped around Caleb's neck, and she responded wholeheartedly to the kiss. When it was over she took his hat from his head and tossed it away. "I love you, Major Halliday," she said boldly. "How much?" he teased in a low, husky voice. "I could..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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I'm leaving the army," he said. Lily felt hope leap within her breast. Maybe Caleb had changed his mind; maybe he wanted to be a farmer after all. She held her breath, waiting for him to go on. "I want to go back to Pennsylvania." Lily's hopes plummeted. She could only stare at Caleb in misery. "I see," she said finally, with dignity. Caleb reached into the pocket of his uniform coat and brought out a small box. "I want you to go with me, L..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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The major set Lily in a chair near the fire, and he dropped to one knee in front of her, took her hand in his, and kissed it He looked so like a prince from a fairy tale that Lily was nearly overcome. "I didn't make a proper proposal before," he said quietly. "Oh, Caleb." "There's never been anyone else for me, Lily," he went on, "and there never will be again. I'm promising you right now that your happiness will always be as important to m..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Lily pushed up the window and took careful aim at the man who had probably shot Caleb--the fat man with the funny hat. "Drop that gun and let him pass," she said clearly, "or I'll blow you into pieces so small they'll be able to sweep you up and carry you off in that hat of yours." Caleb grinned at that, despite his wound. When the bandit dropped his rifle into the dust Caleb dismounted, strode over to collect it, and entered the house thro..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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I'm ruined," she confided miserably. "Everyone hates me." "I don't," Caleb pointed out. Lily was not consoled. "You're a man," she retorted, "and that doesn't count." Caleb arched his eyebrows at that but said nothing."
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Hank, if you could see your way clear to ride to the fort for a doctor, I'd appreciate it" "I don't need a doctor," Caleb protested. But he winced and drew in a sharp breath when Lily poured some of his best whiskey onto the wound. "Well, those men out in the shed do," Lily answered, preparing to douse the injury again, this time from the back. When she did, Caleb let out a string of curses that reddened even Velvet's cheeks."
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Linda Lael Miller |
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You were wonderful," Caleb said, giving Lily's bottom a little pat. "Like I said, if it weren't for me, you'd probably be dead." Caleb laughed and pulled her down onto his lap. "Probably so. You win, Lily. You were right to believe you knew how to take care of yourself, no matter what the circumstances." "Of course I was right," Lily said, unbuttoning her fancy shirtwaist, which was now dirty and speckled with blood. An"
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Caleb," Lily whispered. He turned from the horses to glance at her curiously. "What?" "Indians," she managed to say. "Over there, on the rise!" He turned in a leisurely fashion to look toward the hillside, making no move to take his pistol from its holster or dive for the rifle Lily had seen him put under the seat back in Tylerville. "Son of a gun," he remarked, sounding interested but not alarmed. Impatient, Lily started to reach under the..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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This Blue Coat's woman?" he demanded, gesturing toward Lily. Caleb shook his head. "She's her own woman. Just ask her." Lily's heart was jammed into her throat. She had an urge to go for the rifle again, but this time it was Caleb she wanted to shoot. "He lies," she said quickly, trying to make sign language. "I am too his woman!" The Indian looked back at his followers, and they all laughed. Lily thought she saw a hint of a grin curve Cale..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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That's it, Johnny Reb," Caleb challenged. "Turn tail and run." With a bellow Joss whirled and came at Caleb with all the restraint of a runaway freight train. His powerful fist caught Caleb squarely under the chin and sent him flying backwards into the grass, past his mother's headstone. Blood trickled down Caleb's chin, but he grinned at his brother as he got to his feet. "I'm still here, Joss," he said. "And I'm not going anywhere until y..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Do you know what it was like in that goddamn hellhole of a prison?" The words were torn from his throat. Caleb shook his head. "I wouldn't presume to say I did." "There were rats the size of house cats. Toward the end we ate them just to stay alive." Caleb closed his eyes against an image that would never leave him. "I'm not sorry that I let you live," he said after a brief silence. Joss glared at him in rage. "You'd put me through that hel..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Your Lily is a pretty little thing, but she's as fractious as my Susannah." Caleb grinned. "It's going to take two hands and all my wits to keep her in line," he confessed. Unwillingly,"
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Caleb had taken his son out of the room to be bathed, and when he returned carrying the squalling bundle his face glowed with delight. "He's mad as hell, isn't he?" Lily smiled despite her weariness. "You would be, too, if you'd just been through a birthing." Caleb kissed her forehead and laid the baby beside her on the bed. "I love you, Mrs. Halliday," he said, "but I think maybe we'd better stop with Joss here." Lily shook her head resolu..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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What's it like for you, Velvet? Being married, I mean?" Velvet permitted herself a dreamy sigh and gazed into the bonfire as though she saw some wonderful pageant being played out there. "It gets better every day," she answered after a long time. "Hank and me, we work together, side by side, all day through. And come night, we--well, we're together then, too." Lily was touched, and a little amused, to see that her worldly friend was blushin..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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What are you thinking?" Caleb asked, coming up behind her. She could feel his breath on her nape, warm and gentle. His arms slipped around her, pulling her close. "That I envy Hank and Velvet," Lily said honestly. "It's so simple with them. They're just--well--together. And they're not sure but they think they're going to have a baby." Caleb turned Lily to face him. "And so are we," he reminded her, his arms around her again. She looked up ..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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When will you be back?" he asked. It was an odd question, Lily reflected, coming from a man who usually went wherever he wished without so much as a word to her. She shrugged. "I don't see where that's any of your business, Major Halliday," she replied primly. Caleb touched the brim of his hat, and it seemed to Lily that he was struggling to hold back a smile. "I'd like to make it my business, but you insist on living in sin." Lily barely r..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Why are you building that house, Caleb Halliday, when we both know you're going to hightail it back to Pennsylvania and drag me right along with you?" She couldn't read his expression, but she saw that he was climbing deftly down the roof. He reached the ladder and descended to stand facing her, his shirt in one hand, his muscular chest glistening with sweat even as the first chill of twilight came up from the creek. "Half of that farm is m..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Why young men," Lily demanded, "and not girls?" Caleb put a hand over hers in a gesture that had become familiar. She knew he wasn't silencing her, but merely asking her to wait. "I'd be willing to invest in something like that," he said. Rupert looked embarrassed and chagrined. "I couldn't take money from you." "Why not?" Lily wanted to know. She was still ruffled and spoke peevishly. "He must have piles of it, the way he throws it around...
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You look beautiful," Caleb said softly, laying his hands on the sides of her slender waist. Lily smiled at his reflection in the glass. "Don't you try to flatter me, Caleb Halliday," she warned. "I think you're a brute with a despicable attitude toward women." He cupped her breasts in his hands. "I love women," he said, bending to nibble at the exposed flesh of her neck. "When they obey, of course." "Of course," Caleb replied. He was untyin..
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You needn't think you're going to take me to bed," Lily said airily. "Not, that is, until you apologize to me and tell Rupert you won't lend him the money to build a boarding school unless he allows girls to attend." Caleb turned Lily to face him. "You're free to disagree with my opinions any time you like, Mrs. Halliday, but you will not refuse me your bed. Is that understood?" Lily's cheeks heated. "I don't guess you give a damn about my ..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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You are impossible," Rupert said. "I have half a mind to take you straight to the woodshed and blister your behind." Lily wasn't worried; she knew her brother didn't have a violent bone in his body. "Good night, Rupert," she said, and then she turned and walked down the path to the gate. "Lily!" Rupert shouted after her. "You come back here this instant!" "Do give my regards to Winola!" she called back, practically singing the words. Findin..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Caleb's expression was thunderous. "Where the hell have you been?" he growled, his arms folded across his chest. "I stayed the night in a boarding house," Lily answered as she climbed down from the surrey. "Did you and Winola and Rupert have a nice dinner together?" He glared at her. "Get in that house!" "And do what?" Lily retorted. "Write 'I will not disobey my husband' a thousand times?" "Move!" Caleb roared. Lily's aplomb fled in an ins..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Touch her," he vowed in a low voice, "and I'll feed you to the gators, piece by piece." Macon" --
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Macon grinned as a white-haired man with pale, bushy eyebrows approached. He was wearing a light-colored suit, like most of the men around him, and there was a black string tie at his throat. His blue eyes were gentle as they moved from Steven's face to Emma's, and he extended a hand to her. "Hello, Emma," he said simply. Emma's gaze shifted to Steven as he was led away roughly, and tears gathered on her lashes, blinding her. She wanted to ..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Steven cupped his hands behind his head and gazed up at the ceiling while he imagined how it would be if everything was all right in New Orleans, if he could take Emma to Fairhaven and make a life with her there. He even went so far as to think about the children she might bear him, to picture them playing on the green lawns and sliding in their stocking feet on the slick floor of the ballroom. He
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Linda Lael Miller |
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In another two minutes, if he didn't turn to the right, they were going to pass directly in front of the First Territorial Bank. Emma clutched his upper arm and immediately withdrew when she felt the granite-hardness of his muscles beneath her fingers. "I don't want Fulton to see us!" she protested in a somewhat frantic whisper, as though Fulton might have spies stationed in the branches of the elms and maples along the sides of the street...
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Joss's littlest child, a girl with her father's curly hair, came bounding down the path toward them. "Papa, is Uncle Caleb really a damn Yankee?" she chirped. Joss didn't so much as glance in Caleb's direction. "Yes, Ellen," he said gently. "He's the damnedest Yankee I ever saw." Caleb smiled. "You wouldn't have Susannah and all these beautiful kids if I'd done what you told me to do that day," he pointed out. "You'd be nothing but a pile o..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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This is Joss's place," he sighed, running one hand through his hair in a distracted gesture. "He built it into what it is now, not me." Lily began to massage the knotted muscles in his shoulders, carefully avoiding his rapidly healing wound. "You were born here, Caleb. This land--or half of it, at least--is your birthright." "I want to go back, to build something with my own hands, something that's yours and mine. Our homestead seems like t..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Everyone in Pennsylvania must know what you just did to me," she managed. Caleb chuckled. "It would help if you didn't carry on like a she-wolf, Mrs. Halliday." Lily laid her head on his bare shoulder. "You wouldn't like it if I was quiet, and you know it," she answered. "You go off like a shotgun when you hear me." He clasped one of her plump buttocks in his hand and squeezed it gently. "Oh, you're right there, Mrs. Halliday. I do like kno..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Caleb rolled over and slid down to kiss her belly. He seemed to love touching it now that it was rounding with his child. "You know, as soon as you get over having this baby, I think we ought to start another one." Lily sighed. "I have no doubt that we will." He"
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Linda Lael Miller |
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I don't believe this," Emma said, temper flaring. "I came all this way to help you and you're scolding me like a child!" "I've got half a mind to take you over my knee and paddle you." He took another swallow of the whiskey and made a lusty sound of satisfaction as it went down. "You wouldn't dare." Steven flinched as the needle made its first pass through his skin. "Ask Joellen Lenahan about that." Emma"
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Linda Lael Miller |
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She was sitting out a dance when Caleb took her hand, pulled her into the shadowy alcove off the ballroom, and presented her with a worn velvet box. "This belonged to my mother," he said quietly. Holding her breath, Lily lifted the lid. Inside was a delicate silver filigree necklace accented with a snowfall of diamonds. "Oh, Caleb." Caleb took the splendid creation from its box and moved behind Lily to put it around her neck and fix the cla..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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What will you do if Steven's convicted?" was his question. At first, Emma couldn't face the thought. Then she allowed the nightmare to take root in her mind and answered. "I'd go away--maybe to Chicago or New York--and try to make a life for myself." "You wouldn't stay at Fairhaven?" Cyrus asked and, for all of it, he sounded surprised. Even a little wounded. She told him about Macon's repeated threats and felt his arm stiffen around her sh..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Look at me," he said hoarsely. Emma brought her eyes to his face and swallowed hard. It was so good to be close to him again, in spite of everything, that she wanted to weep. "What are you doing here?" "I told you," she said with some effort, gently knotting the bandage to make it stay. "I wanted to warn you about your brother." He stood and led her around behind a stand of trees and brush, where he took a seat on a birch stump. Then he pul..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Lily was exasperated, but she knew arguing with Caleb would only waste valuable time. It was like having words with a hitching post. They
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Steven maneuvered the horse among the cattle that strayed from the herd as easily as if Emma hadn't been mounted in front of him, whistling and waving his hat at times. In calmer moments, he told Emma about Fairhaven, his home in Louisiana. He told her how many children they were going to have, and exactly where each one would be conceived. When they got to Spokane, he promised, he was going to take a hotel room and keep her tossing on the ..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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Hello, darling. Did Fulton leave?" "Yes," Emma answered, smoothing her skirts before she sat in the chair opposite Chloe's. "Good. I can't think what you see in that lumbering baboon." Emma was used to Chloe's blunt opinions, and she was unruffled. Indeed, there were times when she herself thought Fulton rather awkward. "He's a gentleman," she said, overlooking the fact that she'd had to spear the man with an embroidery needle to make him r..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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If you don't take me with you," she said, "I will follow you to New Orleans, and if you don't believe me, just wait and see. I won't be left behind, Steven." A muscle in his jaw bunched in suppressed anger; Steven knew Emma meant what she said. "All right, then, we'll compromise. We'll be married when we get to Spokane. That'll give you some protection against Macon, but remember this, Emma--if they hang me, don't wait around for the funera..
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Linda Lael Miller |
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I'll stand by you, no matter what happens." To her surprise and hurt, Steven shook his head. "No. You're going to Whitneyville, not Louisiana. Until I've cleared my name, I won't have anything to offer you. Besides, what if I'm convicted, and I'm not there to protect you from Macon?" A chill travelled down Emma's spine, for she knew Steven could just as easily hang as be acquitted, given the fact that his adversary was Macon, a determined m..
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Linda Lael Miller |