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‘Me,’ Alex agreed and propped the cane unobtrusively in a corner So not burglars, but an invasion that was far less easy to deal with He told hi in his chest was the after-effects of stalking burglars Or dread ‘What are you doing here—other than pulverising bread and breaking the kitchen equipment—and where is Mrs Semple?’

Tess ht Oh, my God, her face The bruise was nowre that ankle’ Alex trae to scoop her up andthe way she looked, and thinking about it would probably only make it hurt more And once I have o

‘Hannah is very much under the weather and in bed with a headache, so I a well, wasn’t it?’ She tossed the toasting fork on to the table and frowned at hie? The hot rolls? They were all perfect, I thought Only there is no more coffee and Noel knocked the bread off the table thefork when I made a dive for it’

‘Where are MacDonald and Phipps? Or Byfleet, come to that?’ One end of the table was laid for four breakfasts with plates at various stages fro smeared to laden but scarcely touched

‘MacDonald has run out for coffee and bread I sent Phipps to the lodging house with soone to Jer shirts’ That was delivered in a rapid mutter fro broken slices of bread

‘Dare I ask why he needs to buy shirts at this ti?’ The nape of her neck was exposed, soft and pale and vulnerable, begging for his lips Alex took the toasting fork, braced the wrought iron handle against the tabletop and leaned on it It was th His brain was more or less in control of his animal instincts, too

Tess stood up with her hands full of bread, flinched when she found herself facing the prongs and looked round for somewhere to deposit her load

‘On the fire,’ Alex suggested

‘Throw food on the fire? I can’t do that Sister Peter says it goes straight to the devil if you do that’

‘And you believe her?’

‘Of course not’ Tess found the slop bucket and tossed in the broken slices ‘But it’s like not walking under ladders and tossing salt over your shoulder—one just gets into the habit’