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“So a, your Mr Scollard ’Tis as if he can see inside you Oh, speaking of seeing,” Slayde teased, caressing Courtney’s cheek, “I evidently both see and hear quite well now Whatever deficiency I had is gone According to Mr Scollard, I’ve foundvanished, supplanted by an emotion too vast to contain “Thank God that way led to you”

Courtney’s eyes misted “ ’Tis the same for us as it was for Mahthouse Neither is complete without the other” She brushed her lips to Slayde’s, her prayer as reverent as his “Thank God we both found our course”

Her choice of analogies reminded Slayde of the fierce co right, Courtney,” he vowed fervently “You’ll see”

Puzzled, she searched his face, so he referred to more than just the mystery they had yet to resolve “I know you will” A speculative pause “Tell me about your visit with Mr Scollard”

Da

Warning bells sounded, and Slayde cautioned himself to tread carefully, to refrain from any mention of Arthur Johnston and the possibility that he was alive “I stopped by onme”

“Naturally,” Courtney murmured

“He congratulatedtransformation Then he made me tea”

Courtney grinned “Given your preference for rational explanation, you must have been utterly astounded”

“At first, yes But once I stopped grappling hat I couldn’t understand and just accepted it, I began enjoying our chat He coe to oversee you and Aurora, and urged hosts” Slayde’s expression darkened “He did caution me that after today, I was not to leave you alone, that you would be in danger When he said those words, I nearly gave up the idea of riding to Newton Abbot and dashed back to Pembourne But Scollard insisted that, for this one day, you’d be fine without my protection Now that I consider it, he already knew Morland was innocent He also knew that I had to recognize it foras you’re confronting the duke, the peril will be held at bay’ Naturally, I assumed he meant the peril and Morland were one and the saed in a confrontation withyou But when I verbalized that thought, Scollard replied, ‘Those are your words, not mine’ If that wasn’t an allusion to the fact that my suspicions were misdirected, I don’t knoas”

“Yet you didn’t realize it then”

“No,” Slayde admitted “I suppose, as Scollard said, I had to clear ht in order to see as truly there, not what I chose to see”

“He’s a wonderful man, isn’t he?”

“Yes He’s also worried sick about you” Slayde sifted his fingers through Courtney’s hair “So am I Every reference he er lies at Pe—although Scollard did sense that bastard’s clawing fear—but as far as ourphrases such as Outside—heartlessness and obsession haunting your doorstep’ and ‘ruthlessness hovers at its portals’ Again, given that I believed Morland was the culprit, I assumed those references were to his drunken visit to Pembourne, his intentions to return But noith Morland elihts in a new light”

Courtney paled “You believe that whoever’s at the helm of these horrible crimes is close by?”