An Introduction to the Pink Collection (12 page)

She smiled at him, discovering that it was possible to be happy and sad at the same time. The sadness was for the impossibility of making a life with him, but greater, far greater, was the happiness that swamped her as she contemplated him.

She had only known for a few minutes that she loved him, but already he looked different, more vivid, more intense. How could she ever have thought of him as a brother?

She had discovered the greatest joy known to a woman, that of knowing that she had given her love to a man who was in every way worthy of love.

“Now tell me what happened out there,” he said, pouring her tea.

The tea was delicious, and so was the egg that he had boiled her. Forget the bleak future. It was enough just to be here with him.

“I stepped out for a breath of fresh air, and went down to the bridge. And he just appeared beside me.”

“You mean he sprang up out of nowhere?” John asked, his eyes twinkling.

“No, he must have walked across the grass, but I didn't see him.”

“He was invisible?”

Her lips twitched. “No, I was looking down into the water.”

“How long?”

“I don't know. I was thinking.”

“So he had time to walk across the grass?”

She sighed. “Yes, he must have.”

“But where did he come from? I thought they went back to London.”

“No, they put up at a hotel nearby. He hasn't given up. And this means, of course, that I did see him in the wood last night. He must have come back to spy, and seen the lamp.”

“Why didn't you bring him into the house?”

“It wasn't you he wanted to see. He had something to say to me.”

“What?”

“He offered me a bribe. He's convinced that if I shut up and got out he could get you into his trap. So he tried to buy me for five thousand pounds.”

“The devil he did!” He was eyeing her, fascinated.

“What did you say to him?”

“I pushed him up to ten thousand.”

“You what? Rena, you don't mean you – ?”

“Of course not. Don't be absurd. I'd hardly be sitting here telling you about it if I was going to take his money. No, I just wanted to see how high I could push him – just for curiosity.”

“And how much is your compliance worth to him?”

“Ten thousand. I can't tell you how delightful it felt to turn him down. I don't think anyone's done that for years. Oh, my goodness!”

She straightened up suddenly, her hands over her mouth as a shattering thought occurred to her.

“Rena, what is it?”

“I shouldn't have turned him down. I should have taken the ten thousand and given it to you. Oh, how could I be so stupid?”

“Cheat him, you mean?” John asked, grinning.

“After all the people he must have cheated by now, it's about time somebody did it to him.”

Sweet heaven! Papa would have a fit.

With his uncanny ability to read her mind, John asked, “Is this the kind of thinking you learned at the parsonage?”

“No, I invented it myself,” she said defiantly. “Papa would be shocked.”

“And very surprised I should think.”

“No, not surprised. He always said the tone of my mind left room for improvement.”

“I think the tone of your mind is perfect. It's very sweet of you to want to do this for me, but don't blame yourself for not thinking of it in time. I doubt you could really have fooled him. He wouldn't have given you a penny until you were well away from here and it was too late.”

Rena nodded. “You're right. He's just the sort of mean, suspicious character who'd do that.”

“So what happened when you'd turned him down? How did he react to your refusal?”

She shrugged, unwilling to tell him more.

“Rena, what is it? Did he dare to attack you?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then what? Please don't keep things from me. Rena! For pity's sake, you're scaring me.”

“He wanted to buy me in another way,” she said, not looking at him.

“You mean he – ?”

She shrugged and said as lightly as she could, “He offered to set me up in a fine house in Park Lane, clothes, jewels, everything I could want.”

“He did what?” The words came from him in a violent whisper.

“I turned that down too and he became very angry.”

“He dared say such a thing to you?” John asked quietly. “He dared to besmirch you, even in his thoughts?” He got abruptly to his feet.

“John, where are you going?”

“To find him and throttle him.”

There was a black look on his face that she had never seen before. Suddenly the amiable joker she knew had vanished, replaced by a man in a bitter rage.

“No.” She jumped to her feet and followed him out of the kitchen. “You mustn't do that.”

“You expect me to do nothing, when he insults you?” He started up the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“To get my pistol.”

She began to run after him up the stairs, struggling to keep up. He had reached his room before she caught him.

“John, listen to me, there's nothing that you can do.”

“I can make him sorry he was born. I can bring him here and make him grovel to you – ”

“And how much reputation would I have left then?” She took hold of his arms and gave him a little shake. She could feel him trembling with rage.

“Then I'll blow his miserable brains out,” he shouted. “Yes, that's the thing to do. Then the filthy thoughts that he dared to have of you will be blown to smithereens, and nobody will ever know that he insulted the sweetest, most perfect woman alive. Rena, Rena, do you expect me to endure that?”

She didn't know how to answer such words, but she didn't have to because the next moment he had pulled her into his arms and was kissing her fiercely again and again, murmuring incoherently between kisses.

“You're mine – do you understand? I won't tolerate that man even looking at you, much less thinking – Dear God! Kiss me, my darling – kiss me – tell me that it isn't all in my mind – say that you love me too – ”

“Oh yes – yes – I love you, so much.”

She had promised herself that she would never tell him of her love, for his sake. And yet the words burst from her, called forth by the intensity of his own emotion. He loved her. He had said so. And nothing in heaven or on earth could have prevented her from confessing her own love in return.

“I love you,” he said, holding her away from him so that he could see her face. “I love you in every way that a man can love a woman. You are mine, and I am yours. That is how it has to be. It was meant. It's our destiny. I couldn't fight it if I wanted to. But I don't. I want to love you and rejoice in you all the days of my life. And if you don't feel the same I have nothing to live for.”

“But I do,” she cried. “I do. Oh John – my love – ”

“Kiss me,” he said again, and this time it was a command.

She obeyed it gladly. The future might contain a bitter parting, but in this moment she would enjoy her love to the full. The bliss of being chosen by the one her own heart had chosen was too sweet to be denied.

“Tell me again that you love me,” he said. “Let me hear you say it.”

“I love you, I love you,” she murmured. “I didn't think love could happen this fast – I never knew – ”

“It can happen in a moment,” he said fervently. “I loved you the first day. Didn't you feel then that our hearts instinctively understood each other?”

“Oh yes, yes. I felt that too, even though we were strangers.”

“We were never strangers,” he told her tenderly. “We have known each other for ever, and we shall be each other's until the last moment of our lives.”

“Until the last moment of our lives,” she agreed solemnly.

She didn't voice her fears for their future. Besides, it was true. Even though life might separate them, she would always belong to him. After this, there could be no other man.

“How could I marry any woman but you?” he asked lovingly.

“John – ”

She was saved from having to answer by the sound of the doorbell, echoing up from below.

“If that's Wyngate – ” he said in a tight voice.

“No, John, please. You must pretend to know nothing, for my sake.”

“We'll see,” was all he would agree to.

Together they went downstairs to open the front door.

But the man standing there wasn't Wyngate. Neither of them had seen him before. He was tall and thin, dressed in clerical black, with a severe face and stern eyes.

“Miss Colwell?” he asked at once.

“Yes.”

He spoke ponderously. “I am the Reverend Steven Daykers. I imagine you have been expecting me.”

It would have been impolite to say otherwise, so Rena murmured something about being honoured to meet him. She hastened to introduce the Earl, but instead of being pleased the Reverend Daykers fixed him with a frosty stare, and gave him the briefest of greetings.

“Miss Colwell, a word with you alone.” It was a command.

John looked at her, frowning. Maintaining an air of calm dignity Rena said, “If I may have a few moments from my duties, sir?”

He caught the cue she had tossed him. “Very well Miss Colwell, I suggest you use the drawing room. But please try not to be too long.”

“What I have to say to Miss Colwell will not take a moment,” the pastor said with a touch of grimness.

Rena led him to the drawing room and politely offered him tea. He waved the suggestion aside.

“I have not come for trifles, but for your salvation. You visited my house the other evening – ”

“I wasn't aware that it was your house, since the letter informing me did not arrive until the following morning. As soon as I learned the situation I packed my things and departed.”

“There was, I believe, some altercation between you and my sister concerning certain property – ”

“They wanted to eat my chicken for supper. Since she belongs to me I would not permit that.”

“You referred to my house as a den of thieves!”

“They were trying to deprive me of my property,” Rena said firmly. “I don't have very much. I insist on my right to protect what I have.”

Unexpectedly he nodded.

“Precisely so. I understand that you are not well endowed with this world's goods, and therefore you may have felt yourself impelled into this – ah – disgraceful situation.”

“I beg your pardon!”

“It is well known, Miss Colwell, that you, an unmarried woman, share this house with the Earl, an unmarried man, with no respectable female companion.”

“I am his lordship's housekeeper,” Rena said, her eyes sparkling with anger. “A servant. Servants do not have ‘respectable female companions'. They have to take the work that will put a roof over their heads.”

“I have already said that I understand that you were constrained by circumstances. Nor is it my intention to apportion blame to one who has erred in – I feel sure – innocence. I am here to rescue you.”

“But I do not need rescue.”

“Madam, your need for rescue is greater than you can possibly know. A young woman's reputation, beautiful and fragile as it is, must call forth all the protective instincts of those whose mission in life is to protect lost souls. You have strayed – yes. Sadly that is true. But you have not wandered far from the path, and there is yet time to turn you back.”

Rena stared at him, scarcely able to believe what she was hearing.

“I believe – I fervently believe that your stay in this house has not yet compromised your virtue though it has endangered your reputation. If you escape at once all is not lost. I shall take you back with me to the vicarage where you may embark upon that path of righteousness that will in time undo the harm.”

“I'm not going back there,” Rena said, aghast. “And I feel sure that your sister doesn't want me.”

“On the contrary, she is eager for your return. Her last words to me were not to come back without you. There are many ways in which you can make yourself useful in that house which you know better than anyone. Her health is not strong – ”

“And she would like to have an unpaid drudge around,” Rena said, light dawning.

“Young woman, I am not here to bandy words with you, but to take you home.”

“The parsonage is no longer my home. Now I think you should leave.”

“You dare to show me an impudent spirit! I have come to offer you my protection. Your father was a brother man of the cloth, and now I stand in his place. I demand from you the obedience of a daughter.”

“No sir, you do not stand in my father's place. He was the best and kindest man who ever lived, and he would never have tried to bully anyone in the way you have me. I owe you no obedience and will give you none.”

“I say, Miss Colwell – sorry to butt in and all that – but have you seen my cigars?”

John had entered by the French windows and now stood on the threshold, smiling amiably but implacably.

“Hallo, vicar. You still here? Hope you've finished your little talk because my housekeeper has a great deal of work to get on with. Come now, Miss Colwell, be about your duties. Mustn't fall behind, must we?”

“I do not consider this a suitable position for Miss Colwell,” the vicar said stiffly.

“Oh no, no, no!” John said, still amiable, but standing between them in a manner that couldn't be mistaken. “She does her job very well. Couldn't do without her. Shall I show you to the door?”

The Reverend Daykers had no choice but to follow his host, but he had one parting shot for Rena.

“I shall not cease in my untiring efforts to reclaim you.”

When he had gone Rena sat down, not sure whether to laugh or cry. The man was a pompous fool who deceived himself as to his own motives, yet he had shown her how the world would view her, a world in which she would soon have to make her way alone again.