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"No, I saw it for myself, in Hampshire" Harry turned wry "One has to be particularly observant where Cat is concerned She won’t talk about herself" He tossed off the rest of his brandy, set down the glass with care, and leaned back in his chair "I never heard froers together and resting thee of twenty, I received a letter biddingdisease, some form of cancer I assumed that before she died, she wanted to see what had becoland at once, but she died just before I arrived"

"And that hen you met Marks," Leo prompted

"No, she wasn’t there Despite Cat’s wishes to stay with her randmother on her father’s side And the father, apparently unwilling to keep vigil by the sickbed, had left London altogether"

"Noble fellow," Leo said

"A local wo the last week of her life It was she who toldthe child, but I decided against it There was no place in itie, and in need of feuidance I assumed she was better off in her aunt’s care"

"Was that assuave hilance "No"

An entire story was contained in that one bleak syllable Leo wanted very land and tryher where to send word if she ever needed anything So for help I found her in … difficult circu a tug of unaccountable concern, Leo found it impossible to maintain his usual veneer of carelessness "What do you mean, difficult circumstances?"

Harry shook his head "I’m afraid that’s as much as I can tell you The rest is up to Cat"

"Da it there I want to kno the Hathaways got involved in this, and why I had the misfortune to end up as the eoverness in England"

"Cat doesn’t have to work She’s a wohshe wished She went to boarding school for four years, and stayed to teach for another two Eventually she caoverness for the Hathaway family I believe you were in France with Win at the time Cat went for the interview, Cam and Amelia liked her, Beatrix and Poppy clearly needed her, and no one seemed inclined to question her lack of experience"

"Of course not," Leo said acidly "My fanificant as job experience I’ what her favorite color was"

Harry was trying unsuccessfully not to so into service, if she had no need of ed "She wanted to experience what a family was like, if only as an outsider Cat believes she’ll never have a faether as he tried toher," he pointed out

"You think not?" A hint of reen eyes "You Hathaould find it iht up in isolation, by people who don’t give a damn about you You have no choice but to assu wraps around you until it becoainst anyone ants to co that Harry was talking about hied that Harry was right: even in the worst despair of Leo’s life, he had always known that his family loved him

For the first time he understood fully what Poppy had done for Harry, how she had broken through the invisible prison he had described

"Thank you," Leo said quietly "I knoasn’t easy for you to talk about this"

"Certainly" And in absolute seriousness, HarryI should make clear, Ramsay: If you hurt Cat in any way, I will have to kill you"

Dressed in her nightgown, Poppy sat in bed with a novel She heard soantly appointed private apartments, and she looked up with a smile as her husband caht of hierous even in the view of those who professed to know hientle side

"Did you talk with Leo?" she asked

"Yes, love" Harry shrugged out of his coat, draped it over the back of a chair, and approached the bedside "He wanted to discuss Cat, as I expected I told him as much about her past--and mine--as I could"

"What do you make of the situation?" Poppy knew that Harry was brilliant at discerning other people’s thoughts andon either side of his neck "Ramsay is more concerned for Cat than he’d like to be, that’s clear And I don’t like it But I won’t interfere unless Cat asks for help" He reached down to the exposed line of her throat, drawing the backs of his fingers over her skin with a sensitive lightness that caused her breath to quicken His fingertips rested on the rapid tattoo of her pulse, and caressed softly Watching a delicate tide of pink rise in her face, he said in a low voice, "Put the book aside"

Poppy’s toes curled beneath the bed linens "But I’ve reached a very interesting part," she said de as what’s about to happen to you" Drawing the covers back with a deliberate sweep that left her gasping, Harry lowered his body over hers … and the book dropped to the floor, forgotten

Chapter Four

Catherine hoped that Leo, Lord Ra while Perhaps if enough tiarden had never happened

But in the meantime, she couldn’t help but wonder … why had he done it?

Most likely he hada neay to set her off balance

If life were at all fair, she thought dourly, Leo would have been pudgy, pock six-foot build He had dark hair and light blue eyes and a dazzling smile The worst part was that Leo didn’t look at all like the rogue he was He looked wholesoentleman one could ever hope to meet

The illusion was dispelled as soon as he opened his hly wicked man, articulate in all circumstances His irreverence spared no one, least of all himself In the year since they had first met, he had exhibited nearly every objectionable quality a man could possess, and any attempt to correct him only made him worse Especially if that attempt had been made by Catherine

Leo was a man with a past, and he didn’t even have the decency to try and hide it He was frank about his dissolute history, the drinking and skirt-chasing and brawling, the self-destructive behavior that had nearly brought catastrophe to the Hathaway family on more than one occasion One could only conclude that he liked being a scoundrel, or at least being known as one He played the part of jaded aristocrat to perfection, his eyes glinting with the cynicised to outlive himself