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With a huff to express her frustration, she moved to the alcove opposite in the hope it would afford a little privacy “I cannot stay at Highley Grange another night,” she said as he came to stand before her

“After all that has gone on there in the past, I do not kno you can bear to cross the threshold” Henry flicked the lock of brown hair from his brow in such a way as to convey his irritation

“It is not the past that concerns me I fear the place is haunted” She scrutinised his face Still, he showed not a single sign of guilt, not a glimmer of remorse for his wicked betrayal

“Then you hosts Not even to scoff at the idea Instead, his lips thinned in a look of reproof “I do not knohy you have not done so sooner You would have a suite for your own personal use You would be free to use the townhouse when I am not in residence if you would prefer it so”

She wondered if he was about to offer her a golden carriage and a teahley Grange so desperately? Perhaps a penchant for wild parties was in the blood Perhaps he had inherited his father’s problem in the bedchamber

But then she remembered his mistress, Mrs Forester

“What will I do when youin the house, particularly e are the sae”

He shrugged dismissively “But I do not intend to wed At least, not in the foreseeable future You would be free to live at Grangefields without fear of being disturbed”

How interesting?

She frowned “Some people say your affection for your mistress, Mrs Forester, is the reason you avoid the debutantes and have no desire to wed”

It was though a sudden volatile wind had swept in to swirl ominously around theh her

“Where did you hear that?” he de the only visible evidence of anger “Who told you such a thing?”

Isabella raised one shoulder in a casual shrug “I heard in roup of ladies at a ball a few days ago I heard Mrs Birch talking to Molly Indeed, just this evening, two gentle your relationship with your mistress”

Henry was a private man who could not abide people

prying into his affairs The thought of being the topic of conversation aossips would not sit ith him