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He heard Catherine’s voice "Why have you decided never to marry?"

His head bobbed closer to her ear "It isn’t fair to ask personal questions when I’ht tell you the truth"

"Why?" she persisted

Did she realize she was asking for a piece of hiave to anyone? Had he been feeling even a little less wretched, he would have cut her off at once But his usual defenses were nothe irl who died, isn’t it?" Catherine stunned hi "You were betrothed And she perished from the same scarlet fever that afflicted you and Win What was her name…?"

"Laura Dillard" It seemed impossible that he could share this with Catherine Marks, but she see her "Beautiful girl She loved to watercolor Few people are good at that, they’re too afraid ofmistakes You can’t lift the color or hide it, once it’s put down And water is unpredictable--an active partner in the painting--you have to let it behave as it will Sometimes the color diffuses in ways you don’t expect, or one shade backruns into another That was fine with Laura She liked the surprises of it We had known each other all during childhood I went away for two years to study architecture, and when I caued--there was nothing to argue over Nothing in our way My parents had both died the previous year My father had a heart ailht and never woke up And my mother followed hi hirief"

He was quiet then, following theon a streaht it would be fatal I thought I loved her so reater than any illness But I held her for three days and felt her dying a little ers I held her until her heart stopped beating, and her skin finally turned cool The fever had done its work and left her"

"I’m sorry," she said softly, when he fell silent She covered his good hand with her own "Truly sorry I … oh, what an inadequate thing to say"

"It’s all right," Leo said "There are soht words for"

"Yes" Her hand remained over his "After Laura died," she said in a moment, "you fell ill with the same fever"

"It was a relief"

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to die Except that Merripen, with his bloody Gypsy potions, wouldn’t let ive hiwithout her Hated ht I fell asleep begging Laura to haunt me I think she did for a while"

"You host?"

"Both, I suppose I put h hell until I finally accepted that she was gone"

"And you still love her" Catherine’s voice was bleak "That’s why you’ll never marry"

"No I have an extraordinary fondness for her h that again I love like a ain"

"No, it would be worse Because I was only a boy then And noho I ae" A sardonic laugh rustled in his throat "I overwhelht

By the time they reached the timber yard, set a short distance from Ramsay House, Catherine was desperately worried Leo had beco on her heavily He was shivering and sweating, his arht across her front as he held on to her A portion of her dress stuck to her shoulder where his blood had soaked it She saw a blurry group of on Please, dear God, let Merripen be a them

"Is Mr Merripen with you?" she called out

To her vast relief, Merripen’s dark, lean fored "Yes, Miss Marks?"

"Lord Ramsay has been injured," she said desperately "We took a fall--his shoulder was pierced--"

"Take him to the house I’ll un to run to the house with suided the horse to the front entrance, Merripen was there

"There was an accident at the ruins," Catherine said "A shard of tied in his shoulder for at least an hour He’s very cold, and his speech is disoriented"

"That’s ," Leo said behind her "I’m perfectly lucid" He tried to descend fro up for hied his shoulder beneath Leo’s and guided his good arrunt "Oh, you sodding filthy whoreson"

"You are lucid," Merripen said dryly, and he looked at Catherine "Where is Lord Raave her an assessing glance "Are you injured, Miss Marks?"

"No, sir"

"Good Run into the house and find Caencies, they ed the situation with brisk efficiency Cam and Merripen helped Leo into the h a bachelor’s house had been built beside the estate for Leo’s use, he had insisted that Merripen and Win live there instead, pointing out that as a fairly recently married couple, they needed the privacy far more than he When he cauest rooms in the main house

They formed a fairly harmonious triad, Cam and Merripen and Leo, each with his own area of responsibility Although Leo was the holder of the estate, he had no objection to sharing authority Upon returning frorateful to see how Cam and Merripen had rebuilt the Ramsay estate in his absence They had turned the ra and prosperous enterprise, and neither of thenized that he hadan estate required far lass of port, as the aristocrats in novels did It took extensive knowledge of agriculture, business, animal husbandry, construction, timber production, and land improvement All that added to the responsibilities of politics and Parliament was more than one reed to share the tiricultural concerns, while Cam handled the estate business and investh Merripen was co learned the healing arts frorand illness and injury It was better, safer even, to let him do what he could for Leo rather than send for a doctor

The established practice in modern medicine was for doctors to bleed their patients for every iinable ailment, despite controversies within the un to track case history to prove that bloodletting did no good whatsoever, but the procedure persisted So, in accordance with the belief that it was better to do so at all