Page 72 of Her Magnificent Mistake
She had said that, but could he believe her? After she’d admitted to manipulating him?
She’d only manipulated ye in order to learn the truth. She thought ye a murderer.
The coincidenceswerecompelling.
“Nay,” he whispered, tugging at his hair, hoping the pain would distract him. He needed to move, to escape. He needed to…to not think. Not think about what this meant.
And he’d been so bloodyhappyjust an hour ago!
His feet turned him down the corridor toward the blue suite where Bull was convalescing, but when he realized that he did an about-face and hurried toward the servants stairs. He couldn’t speak to Bull, not now.
Not after hearing what he now knew.
Perhaps Allie…they’d become closer, perhaps she could offer him some insights.
But nay, Allie was in Pook’s Glen today. She and Rupert had plans to take a picnic up the burn, and it was already late enough in the morning, so they’d almost certainly started.
Hawk emerged into the kitchens and the smells made him remember, with guilt, how he’d promised to fetch Marcia some breakfast. Well, he could always ask someone to send her up a tray.
To his surprise, Gabby was fixing tea. “Hello Hawk,” she announced cheerfully. “Bull is feeling better this morning.”
“That’s…um…” Hawk looked around. “Miss…Lindsay, aye?” If she was Bull’s niece, she’d have to be a Lindsay, not a Smith-Smythe-Smith. “I cannae find anyone.”
“Well, who do ye need?” She moved fried eggs from a pan to a plate, and he realized she really was quite confident.Can Marcia cook like that? What else didn’t he know about her? “Most everyone is at their duties. Allie and Rupert left for the Glen.”
“Oh, thank ye. Um…have ye seen Artrip?” Perhaps the butler could arrange a tray.
She covered the plate of eggs and moved them to the tray with the tea. “I have not seen him, no. Not since…I suppose since this morning, before Allie left.”
Something…
Something settled in Hawk’s gut.
Suddenly, all thoughts of his anger and confusion toward Marcia seemed irrelevant. His chest went cold as he focused on Gabby’s words.
Before Allie left.
“Did…Did Allie and Rupert take anyone with them when they went up to the burn? A footman? Artrip?”
Gabby shook her head as she picked up the tray. “No, just the two of them. If you will excuse me, I need to get this up to Bull. Protein is the best for healing, but a nice cup of tea never hurts.”
He wanted to ask her to stop in on Marcia, but he couldn’t make his voice work. Because Allie was up Pook’s Glen with a madman on the loose.
As the door closed behind him, Hawk bolted toward the back gardens and the stables. He’d head up the burn, and God willing, Allie would be safe when he got there.
Marcia didn’t bother wiping the tears from her face.
She had sat in the window seat, her fingers wrapped around the blue glass pendant, worrying it back and forth on its chain in an absent-minded manner as she stared out the window. After Hawk had left, she’d managed to get dressed and pin up her hair, moving as an automaton.
But once she sat here in the window seat, once she saw him mount the horse and go racing off toward Pook’s Glen without a jacket or hat, once she saw his fear and anger in the set of hisshoulders, his desperation just to be away from the house…she couldn’t fight the tears any longer.
She’d done that.
She’d hurt him, the way he’d once hurt her.
How could she have been so stupid? Last night, this morning…she thought she’d had everything. Shedidhave everything!
Because she foolishly thought he understood. She thought, now that Hawk knew the truth of the investigation, now he’d spoken to Bull, he’d understoodherinvolvement in it, and had forgiven her.
