As she started to her feet, clasping her hands together with the intensity of her feelings, there was really no need for him to say quietly,
“He will not trouble us again.”
Marista drew in her breath and the Earl came close to her to look down at her, at her hair falling over her shoulders, her eyes dark and very large in the moonlight as she lifted her face towards his.
“He is dead,” he said as if he thought that she had not understood.
“You – killed – him?”
Her voice trembled, but her heart was singing.
“I killed him,” the Earl confirmed, “and I have thrown him over the cliff into the sea. The tide will carry him away and there is no reason for anybody to connect him with this Castle, with me or with you, Marista.”
He heard the deep sigh that seemed to come from the very depths of
