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“I’m sorry,” Amelia ht to coht placed her hand on his where it lay on the sheet She was made aware of her instinctive action when his warm palm immediately captured hers and held it firmly

Sebastian absently traced her fingers with his thuo, my uncle’sthe property He caused considerable consternation a so far as to speak to some of them about future employment”

“But it isn’t his property,” Aht behaviour

“It didn’t see concerned that Ballantyne was pushy, so sent for my assistance As the main benefactor of the estate, I visited Edenvale Manor to deal with so estate ton Wilton doesn’t have a particularly good reputation for looking after his servants None of Uncle’s staff wanted to work for Wilton, and became quite anxious that he was about to become the nener While I was there, I requested an intervieith the man to warn him that he was to stay off the property and away from the servants”

Sebastian shook his head “He was a little argumentative, but seemed to accept that the house wasn’t available to him”

“So what happened?” Unbeknown to Ahtened considerably upon Sebastian’s as she waited tensely for him to finish his story

“He eventually left with a warning that he wouldn’t give up I didn’t think anything of it The staff had packed and left to relocate to Tingdale,paperwork, I had dinner and settled in front of the fire with a bottle of brandy It ed because within moments I fell asleep, and woke up tied to a chair somewhere else”

“Could Ballantyne have laced the brandy himself?”

“I think he , while he aiting for me to summon him to the library I can’t conceive it was one of the staff”

“So heat some time you would drink it” It wasn’t a question “Where was the man of business?”

Sebastian shook his head slightly “He had to take so after I arrived His services were no longer required, so he was heading to his family home to find alternative work The house was essentially closed down”

“But how could he have knohen you drank it?” Amelia frowned as she considered the possibilities “I think one of the house stafffor Ballantyne How else would he have known you had taken any of the brandy?”

Sebastian nodded, considering her arguhtfully “He was frequently at the house Often enough to know that the staff had left He could have been watching the house I stupidly didn’t close the shutters because I didn’t consider there was anyone ould watch Obviously, I rong”

“Who were they? The aze was rapt on his handsome face as he stared absently at his feet

“I sao of them clearly A tall skinny man called Ratchett and another, stocky an to question me about the house They wanted to know if I intended to sell it and if so, they wanted the contents Then they insisted I sign the house ownership over When I refused to sign the papers they pushed at me, they tried brute force” Sebastian lapsed into silence, sparing As, the pain and the hunger She had seen the bruising She wasn’t stupid