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Ainsley realized she was clenching the handle of her teacup too tightly for fragile porcelain She set it down "Dear heavens"

Eleanor shook her head "Elizabeth was a cruel and crazed woe She was a few years older than Ca to Hart, Ca the son of one of the richesthappened to Hart, was too te to warn Cairl Elizabeth had thought she’d simply do what she pleased, you see, after she married, hatever man she pleased, and she did at first When Carew uncontrollable It was an unfortunate ht about the Ca what he wanted and letting nothing stand in his way He could laugh, but there was always a bitter tinge to his laughter Ca up omen here, there, and everywhere, and he’d never fixed on one woman after his wife’s death

Ainsley had assumed he played the rakehell from boredom, but Eleanor’s explanation told her a different tale After a wife so awful to him, who’d destroyed whatever trust he had, Caerly back to the altar This was Ca and selfish like Phyllida Chase, or cruel and tor like Lady Elizabeth Cavendish

"Poor Cameron," Ainsley said

Eleanor smiled as she lifted her teacup "Do be careful, Ainsley They entice you, these Mackenzies, first with their wickedness and then with all that is heartbreaking"

"Why did Carounds Or at least tuck her into a remote house somewhere, away from him and Daniel?"

"Precisely because of Daniel" Eleanor refilled their cups then dropped five luar into her freshened tea "Elizabeth became with child very soon after they married, which infuriated her She never wanted to be a es, threaten to harm herself or to try to rid herself of the baby Caht--he was protecting Daniel from her even then Elizabeth tried to tell Ca any number of men to be his father The trouble was, you see, any one of theenerous with her body"

Ainsley remembered the look on Cameron’s face when he’d found the letter froust, the old pain that hadn’t quite dispersed He’d kissed Ainsley right after that with a desperation, a need to forget

"I think I rather hate her," Ainsley said

"I’m not much fond of herheart, and it didn’t deserve to be broken by soh I’ve come to believe that her need to rush about with other men was a kind of illness Father read a piece from a scientific journal to me that explained that so just as others have aor alcohol They can’t stop themselves They must lie with someone and experience thatecstasy, let’s call it, or they go a little mad Father and I decided that perhaps Elizabeth must have been one of those people"

Ainsley blinked "Good heavens, Eleanor, your father talked of this with you?"

"Of course Dear Father has no idea that such things shouldn’t belady He’s keen on all branches of science and has a wide-open s or hu that there’s a difference between thes reproduce rather differently froh Certainly anyone bringing up the s, at Patrick’s dinner table would face the horrified silence of Patrick and Rona Her brother and sister-in-laeren’t unkind people, but they had very stringent ideas about h ended in a sigh, and Ainsley sat lioes on about diah I’ll clap ave her a sympathetic smile "Because Cameron is used to woles diamond necklaces in front of them They don’t want him, they want his enerous man, but not a stupid one He knew exactly why the ladies flocked to him

"I don’t care about his er Cameron hasn’t the faintest idea hooo a lady without bribing her None of the Mackenzies do"

Eleanor spoke with conviction Hart ifts on Eleanor until she couldn’t see, and still, Eleanor had told hio

Ainsley let out her breath "If I refuse Caret it for the rest of race ain, she did not say "My brothers would never forgive me"

"Well, you do not have to advertise that you are running off with hi so, you are not the nito"