Page 30 of Her Magnificent Mistake
“Well, to be fair, Rupert is hardly investigating.”
“Yesterday they found a book about the folklore of the western isles, and he told her all about the supposed sprite living in my necklace.” Marcia twitched a brow in amusement. “Heclaimshe’s lulling Allison into a false sense of security so she will let her guard down.”
“I bet he is.”
“He means that she will let something slip.” Marcia winked. “I suspect he is trying to woo her with the library.”
“Yes, well from what I have heard, it is working.” Gabby plopped back on her elbows with a sigh. “Hawk just does notseemlike a murderer, does he?”
Marcia clasped the blue glass amulet on as she considered her cousin’s question. She often wore it under her blouse, againsther skin, warm and comforting…but it had also become a comfort to hold—and besides, would match the blue of her skirt.
She stared at herself in the mirror as she clasped it. “He is doing a fine job of pretending, that is for certain,” she muttered. “He is acting as though he has not changed at all.”
“Changed?” Gabby’s reflection pushed herself upright. “What do you mean, changed?”
Marcia waved away the question vaguely. “You know. He is still kind and strong and caring and straightforward and just. Or at least, he appears to be. The same as how he was ten years ago when…”
When she trailed off, Gabby slowly stood, eying her curiously. “When what?”
“When—when we met him, remember?” Marcia pretended to straighten her appearance.Bother.“That first Hogmanay when Bull brought him home?”
“I remember you beingquitetaken with him.”
Yes, she had been. Marcia’s cheeks burned. “That was a long time ago.”
In the mirror, Gabby stepped closer. “But there was something there, was there not? I am right,” she whispered. “Did you…care for him?”
Sighing, Marcia turned and admitted the truth. Well, it was a miracle she had kept it a secret this long. “I loved him. I thought…I thought he loved me.”
Her cousin’s expression crumpled. “Oh, Marcia,” she whispered, and opened her arms for a hug. “I am sorry.”
Marcia allowed herself the embrace because Gabby was empathetic and caring and gave truly fabulous hugs. Not because sheneededa hug. Not at all. “It was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Gabby rubbed her back. “Was it?”
Bull told me Hawk would make a fine husband. I thought that meant they had come to an arrangement. I agreed wholeheartedly…and then waited. And waited. And waited for Hawk to propose, but I never saw him again.
Was it a mistake?
Marcia huffed. “Of course it was. The bastard turned out to be a murderer, did he not?”
Gabby didn’t respond for a bit, but finally hummed, her eyes wide as she came to the realization. “You are here because you thought you could use what you once had to get close to him again, correct? That would explain that ridiculous act you did when we got here?—”
Scowling, Marcia pulled away. “It was a valid plan, which I reevaluated when I realized he was more interested in the way I used to be.”
“Because he loved you the way you were, not the way you were trying to be?”
Marcia planted her hands on her hips. “I said it was a mistake. I should never have allowed myself to be fooled by him all those years ago!”
“Fooled?” Gabby shook her head. “Love is never a mistake.”
Spoken like a woman who had never been hurt. “It is as if the man turns out to have been murdering people behind my back.”
“Has he?” With a shrug, Gabby scooped up a piece of discarded clothing and began to fold it, like the maid she was pretending to be. “How certain are you?”
Not at all. Not anymore.
“I have to be certain,” Marcia said, her fingers closing around the pendant, which seemed to give her strength. “Bull is certain, so I must be. His last letter made it perfectly clear that in the Crown’s eyes, Hawk is the murderer. It is a case of how, not who. My loyalty is to my brother, to theCrown, not to some mistake I made years ago.”
