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With a quick shake of the head, he dishts “I presume you are here with a relation” He are that her parents were dead

She nodded “I was to attend with my aunt but she has been struck doith a fever I cah I believe someone convinced him to play a hand of cards and I have not seen him since”

Cards?

A strange sense of foreboding took hold

He scoured his mind in a bid to recall her uncle’s name “You live with your mother’s sister, I understand” He ossip

“Yes, they are very good to—” she broke off on a sob “Oh, they will be so disappointed How could I have been so foolish?”

He touched her upper arm “It is fair to say that once Lady Morford puts hershe does not care who she hurts in the process”

Miss Sh “I know I ae purely to save Lord Morford It was a very honourable thing to do”

Honourable? Damn! No one had ever associated such a ith his naive you some advice?”

Her eyes brightened “Certainly”

“People can be cruel They will spread all sorts of vicious ru things about him, too “You must rise above it Do not intimate that your looks or character are inadequate Tell yourself that any ed to call you his wife Believe that you are a diamond in a pond full of pebbles”

Dainty fingers fluttered to her chest as her breathing quickened A sh he had no notion what she was thinking

“Now,” he continued, desperate to fill the silence “I shall find someone to bribe so we may leave here with the minih I cannot recall his name”

“Lord Callan”

Bloody hell!