Page 36 (1/2)
e’d taken froe box beneath the velvet seat “We can hardly accuse hi more than Lord Murray’s suspicions”
Benedict took a length of bandage and wrapped it around his right hand, covering the split skin on his knuckles “I’ false leads Scarlett is acquainted with ahell called The Silver Serpent I shall send word to Wycliff in the ht discover who hired the thugs”
“Do ruffians fro hells?”
“Flannery will call in a debt and should have no probleiven that we provide him with reasonable descriptions”
An ie of the beastly fiend who attacked her flashed into herto her toes “Theacross his top lip There was so a certain savagery He was er, sharper than the average man’s”
Benedict e and flexed his fist “While Finnigan may not be my attacker’s real na and should be easy to identify”
“You certainly gave hi”
The Benedict Cavanagh she used to know didn’t braith men in the street He did not visit houses of ill-repute or threaten the blue bloods of the aristocracy And yet she found him more irresistible than ever Indeed, with Timothy’s fear of his inedthe lord? That said, she had been coerced into accepting the proposal
As if reading her thoughts, Benedict said, “Tell me Did you speak the truth when you said you’ve never loved Lord Murray?”
Embarrassed that she had followed her father’s will and not her own, she glanced out of theinto the darkness “I liked hiether But no, I was never in love with him”
Silence descended though she could feel the power of Benedict’s stare scorching her skin
“There’s so I don’t trust Men dominated by their mothers often find secret outlets for self-expression Hence his excessive spending”
She found the courage to aze “Like me, Timothy has learned to hide behind a mask Life is bearable if he abides by his mother’s rules”
Benedict sat forward “Is that why you threay a chance of happiness with ether?” He sounded apprehensive “You didn’t fake the laughter, fake the caring gestures and loving words?”
She sed past the hard lump in her throat “You’re the only person in the world who truly knowsin a turbulent sea, bobbing between the past and the present”