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some sentimental hysteric and that would have been the end of it. You’d have directed me to spend a bit of time in some ladylike charitable pursuit addressing orphans or embroidering slip covers! Or worse!”
    â€œHow is it that you know so much of what I ‘would have’ done? Are you that insightful, Miss Renshaw, or am I that transparent a cad?”
    â€œIt’s not insight. It’s caution! If I am cautious around you, doctor, I think it warranted, in light of what I’ve heard of your character. You are a very good teacher, but I am not cozening up to a villain.”
    â€œA wise strategy, Miss Renshaw.” He crossed his arms. “Are you always so direct when speaking to a mastermind of evil? Wouldn’t stealth serve you better?”
    â€œI am respectful and compliant to all your instructions. I know that I’ve forced my way into your life and you’d like nothing better than to see me gone. I do not mistake you for a friend, Dr. West.”
    â€œEnough, Miss Renshaw. Whatever I may be, do you truly believe that I committed some crime in Standish Crossing?”
    She shook her head slowly. “Whatever you are, Dr. West, it’s not for me to say. Crime? Perhaps it wasn’t a crime, what you did, but Aunt Jane was sure that if not for you, her daughter would be alive.”
    â€œAnd what exactly does Mrs. Hamilton believe? What scenario is she describing in her parlor over tea, Miss Renshaw? I ask only because, as a villain, I’m naturally curious, of course.”
    â€œShe blames you for Charlotte’s death.”
    â€œ How am I to blame?” he pressed, the unrelenting icy ball in his stomach growing with each breath he took. “ Exactly how, Miss Renshaw?”
    â€œSh-she didn’t exactly say.” The temporary chink in her armor at the confession didn’t last. “She didn’t have to! No one in Standish Crossing pipes up in your defense, and that in itself says a great deal, Dr. West. Charlotte was your fiancée. My aunt said that when you returned from India, you came to see her gravesite only once, and when Mrs. Hamilton confronted you in grief, she said you admitted your guilt and then left.”
    â€œI will say this only once. I did not have anything to do with Charlotte Hamilton’s death.”
    â€œDid you not admit your guilt to Aunt Jane?”
    And there’s the rub. Rowan said nothing, loathing the taste of regret in his mouth.
    â€œYou’re a liar.” Gayle spoke softly, but with calm conviction.
    His breath caught in his throat at the raw accusation. Damn her! “And how is it, Miss Renshaw, that you have ascertained that I am a liar?”
    â€œBecause until this moment when it served your purposes, you never argued directly against it. When I threatened blackmail, not even knowing the details, you never fought it. You never denied anything. And when I first told you my aunt’s name, I swear your face became pale. If there is nothing to it and you are innocent, then why in the world did such a ridiculous threat work?” She crossed her arms. “If you were innocent, then why would you have confessed?”
    It was the closest he’d ever come to striking a woman. He could explain nothing to her or offer a single defense without unraveling every promise he’d ever made to Charlotte’s memory, but the injustice of having his choices thrown in his face was more of a slap than he’d anticipated. Everything in the world crystallized into a moment of pure frozen fury, and it was all he could do to simply turn his back on her and walk out.

Chapter 5

    â€œI’ve taken on an assistant.”
    â€œThank God!” Ashe’s reaction was not ambivalent. “You need three!”
    â€œOne is enough.” He raked a hand through his hair and settled without ceremony onto the nearest sofa. “Your recent insanity is contagious, Ashe. It seems I’ve