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McCreath inclined his head before flicking the reins and urging his horse into a canter

Benedict wasted no ti Cassa

ndra up onto his black stallion She seeth had returned to her h her red-riht with panic and fear He settled behind her, and she snuggled into his coat and rested her head against his chest

Lord have mercy!

“I don’t think the day could get any worse,” she said, her voice as broken as her spirit

He didn’t want to lie Nor could he say this was only the beginning of her nighth to cast hih this mess and rise victorious”

Her spine stiffened, and she grew rigid against hiht her reaction ste out onto the street But afterwholly unladylike, she said, “When I discover who did this, I willhell”

After all she had put hih, he could believe that

Chapter Three

The deathly silence slipped around Cassandra’s throat like the reaper’s bony fingers, ready to squeeze the last breath fro half-naked in Hyde Park proved terrifying, nothing chilled her blood like her father’s merciless stare

Benedict Cavanagh sat confidently in the chair beside her, his back straight, chin raised “Would you care to see the letter I received froe to his voice cut through the oppressive air A fool could see that he loathed the earl, almost as much as he loathed her

The Earl of Worthen studied Benedict through cold flint-grey eyes, eyes that ht of summer With his small ers impatiently and motioned for the letter

Benedict did not retaliate or sneer at the rude gesture A wry smile played on his lips as he reached into his coat pocket and withdrew the folded note He placed it on the desk slightly out of the earl’s reach

Cassandra’s thoughts should have turned to the evil words written to secure her ruination Yet she beca wrapped in Benedict’s warm coat His unique scent—the divine smell that had faded from the secret letters hidden in her drawer—still filled her head when she inhaled

“How the devil do I know you didn’t bribe so note? That this isn’t a vile schee?” The earl’s irate voice jolted Cassandra froer turned her father’s cheeks beetroot-red “Men like you hunt for ways to advance the social ladder”