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But perhaps she sensed it anyway, because a few days after that, he received her next response

Mr Marshall, she wrote, I ahted with my new home Can I predict the substance of your next hted that you are delighted, et cetera

I have just saved us both a great deal of postage and aard conversation If we keep this up, we shall quickly run through our ink And so I shall say this as si that I expect any ht with you There are dark tiine your arms around , guiding star Let us not pretend that weto one another We may not be husband and wife in the truest sense, but we have been friends and we have been lovers, and I hope that we s ached when he read that His entire body ached, truth be told, fro, he spent an i with a note: Bought this a few days ago Itwas now falling into place He’d had a ed to ss over with his recalcitrant wife Investh In three months’ time, with the duchess’s revenue finally secured, he’d have made the duke more than a thousand pounds--er Froin to expand his eer He’d spent his entire life focused on ht one day argue his father’s voice into silence

That evening, before he’d heard back froain: You can call me your friend if you like, but I think of you when I stroke s that are decidedly more than friendly Have I horrified you too much?

He waited days for her reply When it finally came he read it instantly: Sir: I am a respectable married woman I cannot express in words the horror and revulsion that arise in o raised his head from the letter But he hadn’t finished, and some penchant for punishment forced his After all, as your wife, it is o could do not to leave for New Shaling on the spot

THE HOUSE WAS BUSTLING in preparation for the duke’s return Hugo couldn’t find it in hi He could scarcely make himself bother over even the basics of the accounts; he didn’t want to think of the future

It was Clermont’s fault--all of it These last months had robbed hio shook his head It didn’t o If he could stoer, collect his e arrive below All the other servants o stayed up in the office, sorting through bills and payments, reports froo had al prospered Ships had coo that was vastly more valuable than what had been paid on the other end The price of wheat was rising; as doing even better

It was as if the entire universe was rewarding hi his own e of forty He’d have servants and his own estate He would beat back that dark, dismal voice inside of him by the sheer dint of his accoht , and see if he could rekindle

No No He couldn’t think that way

It took hours for the duke to recover fro hi their errant wives Hugo sat in his office, waiting for the duke to show his face He wasn’t sure if he wanted to confront him about his lies, or if he hoped the man kept away, so he didn’t have to look at hio’s office

The Duke of Cler, solid rown any fatter; his eyes weren’t any narrower And yet Hugo’s first thought was that the overness is gone," he said cheerily "And the duchess is back, and in a fewall is well, I’ll have another payo said tersely "Good"

But the duke was in a voluble ?" he mused "Horses? Or athat way--not after all he’d been through

"I have a better idea," Hugo heard hio on a journey"

"A journey? Now, there’s a capital idea for escaping o said "I was thinking that you could go to hell"

He didn’t curse He didn’t And yet he could not htness beat in his chest, alongside his awakening heart

His pronouncement was met with flat silence Clermont cocked his head in disbelief, and then slowly--ever so slowly--shook it "I’m not--I’m rather certain"--he spluttered--"I don’t believe you should address o stood He wasn’t taller than the duke, but still the other man took a step back

"You told me that you wanted me to take care of an employment ht have done to her?"

"Oh, co a conscience on me, are you?" Clermont pouted "It’s so inconvenient, and I’ve had to listen to Her Grace harping on and on for the last three weeks about this and that andto the tune of nonsense I have had nothing but lectures for days and days now Is it never going to end?"

Hugo gritted his teeth If he wanted those five hundred pounds, he had to ith this man for the next few months He had to