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Tristan paced back and forth while he waited for Isabella to return to the drawing room He stopped, sat down on the settee, held his head in his hands as he attempted to make sense of their conversation

One innocent co he believed to be true into question He rocked to ease the pressure building in his head He could not bear to acknowledge the agonising ache wreaking havoc with his heart

God, he hoped he rong Living with the thought of her not wanting hi there had been a perfidious plan to keep them apart would be unbearable

The door flew open Isabella darted into the roo the heavily creased paper in the air “This is the letter you sent to me”

Tristan juap between theers, he took the letter from her hand He was desperate to read it, yet he knew the words would bring nothing but pain

He tried to assess the faded script logically: it was not written in his hand The long, confident flourishes were thein a breath, he read the first line There was nothing untoward The tone conveyed a war: she meant the world to hio

My father was right We are like kin The love I feel is not what a man should feel for his wife I made a mistake

“Hell and daing Satan’s curse down on everyone

Isabella shuffled closer Her flustered demeanour revealed an impatience for answers “What is it, Tristan? Tellit?”

It is best that you leave here, that you leave Ke us both unnecessary pain

Tristan tried to s, but his jaw held firer of cracking the bone Fury, red and hot, coursed through his veins His vision grew hazy, the words on the paper lost in a blur

“I did not write this” He wanted to shout as a way to release the pent-up e away all traces of anger “I did not write this,” he repeated quietly

She grasped his arm “What do you mean? Of course you wrote it” She blinked rapidly, her eyes overly bright “You arden You spoke of our plans to wed”

Tristan shook his head “I did not write it, Isabella”

“Then who—” She broke on a sob Clutching her throat, she stared at hiuish “What are you saying? You … you did not want me to leave Kempston? You did not want us to part?”