Alyna had the strangest feeling that all this had happened before. It was a repetition of the past, a story going back to the very beginning of time.

Yet that was unimportant beside the fact that she had saved Lord Dorrington from destruction. The question was, would she be able to save him another time?

This morning when she awoke she had realised that she loved him, but now her love was intensified almost beyond recognition. She had so nearly lost him!

He might have died and it would have been her fault because she had come into his life so disruptively.

And had he died he would never have known that she loved him.

‘What can I do?’ she thought now. ‘How can I save him?’

Just for a moment she had the crazy idea of going to Prince Ahmadi, offering to marry him if only he would leave Lord Dorrington alone.

But then she remembered that it was too late for such a sacrifice, because she was already married!

The door of the library opened and she looked up eagerly, but with a sense of disappointment she realised it was not Lord Dorrington who was approaching her across the room but the butler.

“His Lordship’s compliments, my Lady,” he said when he reached her side, “but there has been an accident and his Lordship has gone to call on the Chief Constable.”

“Is that far?” Alyna asked.

”No, my Lady. The Chief Constable’s house is less than five miles from here. But I doubt if his Lordship will be back in time for luncheon.”

“All the same I would wish to wait for him.”

“Very good, my Lady.”

Alyna had never known time pass so slowly. She walked about the library, she drew books from the shelves and realised after holding them in her hand that she had not read one word of what was written on the pages.

She could only wait and wait with every nerve in her body tense for Lord Dorrington’s return.

She realised now that the implications were far worse than she had thought at first. After all a man had been killed and it would require some explaining to the Magistrates. And she knew that Lord Dorrington intended to take the blame.

This she could not allow him to do.

It was not hard to comprehend why he had sent her so quickly back to the house and why he had taken the pistol from her hand and told her to tell no one what had happened.

He would be the scapegoat. He would say that he had fired the shot and who would be likely to disbelieve him? They would not expect a woman to be the killer.

But Alyna was determined that if there was trouble she would tell the truth. Even if it meant that she must be hanged for the crime, she would not let Lord Dorrington suffer on her behalf.