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"No Because he loves you"

The woman was incredibly innocent She’d seen what she’d seen in London’s slums, she’d been destitute and desperate, and yet she still looked for good in the Mackenzies Unbelievable

"Hart is ruthless," Ian said "I told you I don’t have the capacity for love Neither does he, but he doesn’t wonder about it as I do He will do what he needs to, even if it’s deadly, even if one of his brothers has to pay the price" Beth shook her head, her dark hair glistening under the light "You have to be wrong"

Ian laughed sharply "We’re all very bad at love, Beth I told you we break whatever we touch"

"Ian, in five years, have you never put aside what you saw, thought of the thing clearly, without Hart in it? Can you pretend Hart wasn’t there and decide who else ht have done it?"

"Of course I have," Ian said irritably He ran a hand through his hair "I have run through every scenario, every possibility froht of the other men there, of Mrs Pal in I’ve even worried that it wasit"

"What about Lily Martin? Why did you hide her at Covent Garden?"

"She was looking into the roo Hart with Sally She swore to me she never saw Hart stab her, but I couldn’t tell whether she lied I couldn’t risk what she’d tell the police, so I sent Curry back to get her out of the way before the constable cah" "You think Hart found her a feeeks ago and killed her?"

"Yes"

Beth paced away froain "Goodness, what a mess"

"It doesn’t have to be If Fellows keeps his nose out of it, we could go on"

"No, you can’t" Beth ca Hart apart, too, and the rest of the fa you say makes perfect sense, but there’s another explanation Hart thinks you did it That’s why he ran out of the house, looking for you, to one and hadn’t done it It must have been a dreadful shock for him when he realized you were still in the house when Sally died"

Ian blinked, and for a second he aze He loved her eyes, so blue He could drown in her He looked away "Because he believes I’"

"Why are the Mackenzies so bloody stubborn? The killer must have come in and stabbed Sally while Hart ith his valet No matter how ruthless Hart is, someone else was even more ruthless"