Bella (25 page)
Lazlo picked up her hand and held it against his cheek:
‘Oh so did I, so did I,’ he sighed. ‘And then there was that terrible volley of shooting, and I thought you must be dead, then suddenly you and Chrissie came out. And I lost my nerve. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t tell you I loved you in front of all those hordes of people. In case you weren’t ready for it, in case you still hated me.’
‘And what about rotten Angora and that letter she sent you?’
Lazlo grinned ruefully.
‘I’ll admit in the beginning I set out to seduce you because I didn’t want you to marry Rupert (now I realize it was because I wanted you for myself) so I lined up Angora to get her off with Steve and promised to give her a weekend in Paris if you actually broke it off with Rupert. Well, I don’t mind paying for her weekend, but she’ll have to find another man to spend it with.’
Bella blushed.
‘How’s Chrissie?’
‘Fine, coming out of hospital today. Rupert won’t let her out of his sight.’
‘So all your plans have materialized,’ said Bella, unable to keep the slight edge out of her voice.
‘Not quite,’ said Lazlo, tipping her gently off his knee and going over and turning off the television.
‘I think just this once I’ll miss the three-fifteen.’
Bella nervously cast around for something to say.
‘I’m sure Rupert and Chrissie will be very happy,’ she said.
‘And me? Do you think I’ll make you happy?’ said Lazlo, moving towards her deliberately and taking her in his arms.
‘I know I look sexually experienced,’ she mumbled, in panic, ‘but I’m not really, not a bit.’
‘You don’t look as experienced as you might think,’ he said softly. ‘But we can have the first lesson right now.’
‘Oh darling,’ she said, burying her face in his shoulder. ‘Don’t joke about it.’
Careful, she thought, careful. Don’t give in straight away. Oh dear, I shouldn’t succumb so easily, was her last coherent thought.
So here I am in bed, she said to herself a couple of hours later, and I should be in heaven. Why do I feel as though I want to cut my throat?
‘What’s the matter?’ said Lazlo.
Bella gazed down at her hands.
‘I was thinking that now you’ve had me, you won’t want me any more,’ she said in a small voice.
‘Bella, you have the faith of a gnat,’ he said.
‘Oh please don’t be angry,’ she said. ‘I want to believe you love me, but you’ve had such millions and millions of women.’
‘I’m glad you put that in the past tense,’ he said. He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply and handed it to her.
Then he said, ‘Look, let’s get married.’
Bella choked on the cigarette. Then she lay motionless not daring to say anything. He was joking, he must be joking.
‘Well you don’t seem frightfully enthusiastic,’ he said.
‘I thought you weren’t very keen on marriage.’
‘I’m not, in the general run of things. I’ve never wanted to get married before; never thought it was quite me, going out to dinner every night with the same person. But about you, somehow I feel completely different. I’m scared stiff to let you out of my sight ever again.’
‘What about Maria Rodriguez?’
‘That was a boy-girl Romeo and Juliet thing. It would never have lasted. What screwed me up was her getting acid thrown in her face and doing herself in.
‘I love you, you crazy child,’ he went on, taking her face in his hands. ‘I’m turned inside out by you. I haven’t been so hooked on anyone since I fell in love with the cricket captain at Eton.’
Bella giggled and looked, and saw that although he smiled, the tarmac black eyes were filled with a tenderness that made her quite dizzy.
‘Oh please,’ she said. ‘If you really mean what you said about marriage, I should like it very very much, and could we do it very soon?’
‘I’ll get a licence tomorrow,’ said Lazlo. ‘I’m a great believer in bolting the stable door once the horse is well and truly in. And I’m going to ask Roger to give you a sabbatical, so that after we get married, I can take you on a long, long honeymoon, so we can both stop having nightmares about Juan.’
‘Oh God,’ said Bella with a sob, flinging her arms round his neck. ‘I must have done something amazingly good in a former existence to deserve this.’
‘You did something amazingly good during the last couple of hours,’ said Lazlo, and he kissed her again.
‘Another nice thing,’ he said, when he finally came up for air, ‘is that Aunt Constance will be insane with rage.’
Bella giggled again, then she suddenly caught sight of herself in Lazlo’s arms in the huge looking glass above the fire.
We do look beautiful together, she thought dreamily, but something is wrong.
‘Would you mind terribly if I went back to being blonde again?’ she said.
THE END
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