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'To appear so inept at deception when you are really so incredibly skilful,' he sneered, 'so vulnerable when you are as hardened as an old whore And that is all you are towhore In spite of all rity!' He laughed rawly, in sa
vage self-derision'How arrogant I hen all you were doing was using er bounty—I suppose you would have whored with ullible as I!
'But you won’t get aith it, you treacherous bitch, so you may as well tell me what you have done with it—tell me what you have done with La Flèche de St Clair?’
CHAPTER TEN
'LA FLÈCHE DE ST CLAIR? The arrow? What arrow?'
Her strained whisper seereater pressure to her throat, forcing her flat against the table as he loomed over her
'The necklace, Beth, as if you didn’t know! And don’t try that dewy-eyed look of bewilderment on me because it won’t work any more It's a lie—and this is the truth!'
'This' was a crashing blow against the table beside her head that vibrated her skull against the wood The hand that encircled her throat closed on her jaw and wrenched her head roughly sideways so that she was forced to confront the cut-out pages of the shabby book as he fanned the nose
'Where is it, Beth?' he deely
‘If you'll just letto —'
‘I’ain and thrust his gri swiftly and with a lethal softness 'But there is no explanation that can excuse this—violation! If you knew about La Flèche, then you knew that you were stealing the one prize that ed to hide from the Nazis when they tried to wipe the St Clairs from the face of the earth
'That necklace was made for my family in the seventeenth century— La Flèche is our sole connection with the past our hope for the future! Itto this family The only way you could fence so unique a necklace is to break it up and sell the pieces, but of course that probably wouldn’t bother you! Or were you planning to ransom it back to the insurance company—?'
'Jack, please—I wasn’t trying to steal anything—'
She stopped as he shifted his hand back to her throat, choking off the words
'Lying slut I found this in your roo-softness to cracking thunder! Elizabeth's burning ears rang with the ugly accusation 'No wonder you ju! I ht you in the act!' He sla his furious self-conte, I knew it! But, God forgiveinnocent—'