Page 71 of Her Magnificent Mistake
And so, in a dull voice, he announced the truth. “Ye were part of it from the beginning.”
“I am an active partner in the agency, Hawk. It is not just my brother’s—I always have been an equal partner, but Bull named it after himself to protect me and my reputation. Gabby and her brother and our other cousins all help with our investigations, but the agency isours.” She took another deep breath and held his gaze. “My brother never knew why I agreed to take this job but I needed to see you for myself. I needed to understand how, a decade later, I could still be in love with a murderer.”
Her words…they made sense, but they couldn’t salve his hurt heart. “I’m no’ a murderer,” Hawk whispered.
“I know. Now. Then…I thought you guilty.”
One of her hands reached for him and she took a step toward him. Unable to help himself, Hawk stumbled back.
Had it only been last night that he’d stood here and lifted her, feeling like the strongest, most sure man in existence? Now his knees were rubbery and his chest weak and he felt as if his heart was stuttering.
She’d stopped. “I am sorry, Hawk. I am sorry I hid the truth of my actions from you. But…” She swallowed and dropped her hand to her side once more. “I would do it again if necessary. To protect innocents, I needed to know the truth.”
“I’m an innocent. So is Allie.”
Marcia immediately nodded. “Yes but I did not know that until you allowed me into your life. Into your heart.”
He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry.
Was last night…was right now all part of the manipulation? Part of the deception? But no, his desperate mind scrabbled for another reason, any reason. “Ye came to Tostinham because of the rhododendron.”
Gently, Marcia shook her head. “We approached you at Lady Mistree’s ball to see what we could learn. When you invited me here, I…I used Rupert’s fascination with flora and fauna as an excuse. I tried to be the woman I thought you wanted.”
“Ye were all I ever wanted,” he rasped. All that simpering…she’d admitted it had been an attempt to attract him, but he hadn’t realized why.
“And when you made me see that, I was free to be myself. By the time we climbed Pook’s Glen, knowing you still loved me andthat I still loved you…” Her lips curled ruefully as she shrugged. “It was everything I had dreamed of in a reunion.”
His eyes fluttered shut on a curse. “But ye let me fook ye, still thinking I was a murderer.”
“No. I…” She blew out a breath. “Perhaps. None of us had found the evidence we sought, I could not be certain you werenota murderer, but my gut was telling me you were innocent. It was not until Bull’s injury that I could explain why.”
And they still didn’t know whowasguilty.
“Perhaps they really were accidents,” Hawk muttered hopelessly. Well, anything appeared to be possible. Anything could be true, including the fact that his woman could believe him of murder, could come here and believe him a killer.
Marcia merely eyed him pityingly, as if she thought him naive. “All those deaths, innocent? No. There are too many coincidences.”
“I see,” Hawk said quietly as he stumbled backward, away from her. “I think…” He scooped up his boots. “I think I need to be alone.”
If she responded, he didn’t hear it.
Despite his claim that he needed to be alone, he stumbled through the halls of Tostinham, searching for a distraction. He needed someone, anyone, to talk to, so he could ignore the conversation running on repeat through his mind.
I love you.
Ye let me fook ye, still thinking I was a murderer.
Ye were part of it from the beginning.
I thought you guilty.
Oh Christ Almighty, how had they fooked this up so badly? Groaning, Hawk clutched at his hair and tipped sideways against the papered wall of the corridor hard enough to bruise his shoulder. That was going to leave a mark.
So was Marcia. Not against his shoulder but against his very soul.
She’d come to Tostinham thinking him guilty. She’d gone to bed with him thinking him guilty.
Nay, she didnae. She believed ye innocent by then. She said that.
