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She gave a weak smile “Then know that I feel the sa froe You cah you were convinced I had abandoned you to n of a true friend, Tristan Whatever wickedness was at play here, they have not succeeded in their effort to keep us apart Despite all we believed to be true, ere able to put our differences aside and coether”

“And together ill find the answers We will discover the truth” He glanced at the drinks tray, at the a to him from the decanter “I’m in need of a drink, and then we shall sit down and relive the painful ht”

“Then I shall join you,” she said dabbing the corner of her eye with the pad of her finger “We h I knoill hurt”

He poured hih the process for hismoment his mother told him Isabella had married Lord Fernall

“These things are for the best,” his irl obviously doesn’t care for you”

Those words had been a lie

Someone had written the letter on his behalf While the motive for such an evil betrayal eluded him, there were but three people with the opportunity to deceive His father and brother were dead With only his mother left to question, he had to accept there was a possibility he would never discover the truth

“I keep replaying the events over in lass of sherry before sitting in the chair opposite “I findso kind to me these last few years And I do not want to think ill of him when he is not here to defend himself”

“Based on e know, it is fair to say that at least one member of my family was involved in the deception” He sed his brandy, let the wa

rmth of the spirit soothe him “Andreas spoilt, often jealous It would not surprise me to learn he acted out of spite He was the only person who knew of our elopeht, which hy I chose to hire a carriage and leave at noon”

“You ive us a few hours start?”

“I kneould not think to alert my parents until we failed to come down for dinner”

She smiled “You never mentioned any of this at the time”

He inclined his head respectfully “As the gentleman, it was my responsibility to ensure I planned for every eventuality The mistakes I made were foolish when I think back now Marcus would chastiseto be a man”

“We were young and in love, of course ere naive and foolish” She took a sip of her sherry “Do you ever wonder what our lives would have been like had your father not discovered us at the coaching inn?”