Love Drives In (16 page)

"And you want me to see it before I commit myself, eh? Well, that sounds very fair."

"Thank you, sir. When you return to London – "

"Oh my dear fellow, I'm far too impatient for that. I want it here by tomorrow. Send a telegram to your works and have them transport it by rail.

"You'll need to hire an engine. It might be best if I give the order for that. It'll make them more co-operative. And I'm sure you've got some sort of wagon that they can hitch onto the back of the engine.

"When it reaches the station you can hitch horses to the wagon to take it the last lap."

"You mean, bring my vehicle to the Radford workshops?" the Earl asked, rebellion in his eyes.

"No, of course not. Bring it to Glandon Towers. Ah, Glandon old friend, there you are. Come and hear the plans I'm making to turn your estate upside down."

The Marquis of Glandon had been hovering in the background for the last few moments. Now he came forward, smiling with pleasure.

"My estate is at your disposal, sir."

Through the mist of her dreams she saw herself, almost dancing towards his room, filled with joy because she was going to see him again.

When she had entered his room he had smiled at her, saying,

"Good morning. What have you brought me today? Is it good or bad?"

"That depends on you," Dorina had often replied. "Some of them sound good, but there's always the question of whether you'll be bored."

"If it's another dance or dinner party given for idiotic young debutantes who giggle when I talk to them and blush when I pay them a compliment, then I certainly will be," the Earl had answered.

"But I'm sure they are delighted with your compliments."

"Of course they are. All women want compliments, and if you don't give them willingly they are dragged out of you. Did you notice their new hat, do you think they dance better than anyone else you've danced with?"

"Now you're asking too much," she had said. "Women do their best but men have always had their own way."

"That's what you think. I assure you we men are deceived, lied to and eventually defrauded, simply because we've been foolish enough to be captured by a pretty face. What man has not been entranced by beauty and a soft voice which paid him compliments he didn't deserve?"

"Well, if he didn't deserve the compliments he should have known better than to be captured," she had teased him, laughing. "It's entirely his own fault."

"You are very hard on us poor men."

"Poor men, nonsense! Look what advantages a man has. Strength, good looks and in many cases a title."

"Are you saying you think that's enough?" he demanded.

"More than enough."

"I'd have appreciated it if you'd added, 'a brilliant brain like yours, sir.'"

"Now you are asking for compliments. You know if I paid them to you, you'd suspect me of asking for a larger salary or saying that I feel unappreciated."

"You always manage to get the last word," he said with a grin. "As I've pointed out many times, I couldn't do without you."

Afterwards Dorina had often remembered him saying that and wished it were true.

Now as the clouds parted, bringing her to wakefulness she remembered it again.

'How could I have been so naïve as to imagine I could just come here for a few days and then return to London as though nothing had happened?' she mused. 'Now there's no turning back, and all is over between us. He hates me. Perhaps he's right to hate me. And he will never, never kiss me again.'

She was seized with passionate longing for that forbidden kiss. But it was as far away as the moon and the stars, and she felt the tears trickling down her cheeks as some of his words came back to her, ominously.

'We men are deceived, lied to and eventually defrauded, simply because we've been foolish enough to be captured by a pretty face.'

He had spoken in fun, but how ominously true they must seem to him now.

If only she could talk to him and explain, but would she have the chance to get near him today? Did he really care enough to listen now that he had triumph within his grasp.

Just the fact that the race was happening was a kind of success. Whatever had been the Prince's intention when he intervened yesterday, it had made everything worse for Dorina and Radford's.

Most of her potential gains had been lost in a moment. The customers who had been on the verge of placing orders had held back, meaning to watch the race, and decide which one to buy according to the result.

'I cannot complain,' she sighed to herself. 'Radford Engineering tried to get ahead of the Earl and he has turned the tables on us.'

After the Prince's dramatic gesture the previous day, everyone had been full of excitement. People had rushed hither and thither, sending telegrams, making arrangements.

Gradually the crowd broke up. Everybody now had urgent things to do.

At Radford's they were busy creating transport for the carriage. It was designed and built in little more than two hours, and looked like a large raft on wheels. Four horses were harnessed, ready for the slow careful journey to Glandon Towers that would be made the following morning.

But the big journey was the one taken by the Earl's vehicle from London.

The engine, drawing the huge wagon, with the horseless carriage strapped on top, had travelled on past Birmingham Station to Glandon Halt, a tiny station on a branch line that had been put there for the convenience of the Glandon family. From there it was only a short distance to the estate.

By chance one of Dorina's servants happened to see it arrive, since he had gone there to collect some goods from another train.

"You never saw such a commotion in your life, ma'am," he told Dorina when he had returned home. "Lord Kennington was there, giving everyone orders, terrified in case the machine was damaged. And there was such a to-do, uncoupling it from the train and getting it onto the road, then attaching the horses."

"Where did they take it?" Dorina asked.

ma'am, and he said it was going to the estate. Lord Kennington is staying there tonight."

'So he would dine with the Prince,' Dorina thought, 'and would have ample opportunity to talk to him and persuade him of the merits of his own carriage.'

She herself would not see him until ten o'clock next morning, which was when her party was scheduled to arrive.

But far more important than seeing the Prince was the fact that she would see the Earl. Would she have a chance to talk to him alone? Could she make him understand?

Now the fateful morning had arrived and as she travelled to the factory to meet up with Mr. Johnson and the others, her heart warned her that she was about to lose everything.

They arrived at Glandon Towers at exactly ten o'clock and found the great gates already open. Lord Glandon met them and took them to the start of the road on which they would race.

"We're going to travel round it first in my carriage," he said, "so that everyone can become familiar with it beforehand. Then we'll all go into the house for lunch and by that time His Royal Highness might be awake."

The journey round the estate was an ordeal. Dorina sat in the carriage with the Earl and he took no notice of her at all. His face was hard and set against her. Her temper rose.

When the journey ended they went into the great house and a butler showed them the way to the drawing room, where coffee and cakes awaited.

But as they were walking towards the drawing room, Dorina seized the Earl's arm.

"I would like to talk to you," she said.

He looked surprised.

"But I do. I will not have you ignoring me."

"I suggest it's better if you also ignore me."

Dorina gritted her teeth, refusing to back down.

"Don't force me to make a scene in public, my Lord."

He saw the determination in her face and yielded with a slight shrug, letting her draw him into the nearest room.

As soon as she had shut the door behind her, Dorina said in an imploring voice,

"I know you must think I betrayed you, but I truly never meant to."

"My dear lady, I am sure you've convinced yourself, but when I recall that you came under a false name and carefully concealed the fact that you were my rival's daughter and about to take over his firm – well, I think betrayal is the right word."

He had never before spoken to her in such a harsh voice and she flinched. For a moment she was on the verge of tears, but she fought them back. She would not be a weeping, wailing female. She would face up to her mistakes.

"That was wrong of me," she said, "but it was innocently done. It's true that I have to take over the firm and I realised how little I knew. I came to you to learn about business – "

"No, you came to learn about
my
business," he interrupted her coldly. "To spy on me."

"You are wrong my Lord," she said proudly. "Radford's leads in every aspect of engineering and it would never occur to me to spy on your creations. Why should I when ours are better?"

"If you're suggesting that I passed on any of your ideas to my engineers, you are very mistaken," she said hotly. "I was careful never to do so."

"To be sure!"

"I am telling the truth."

"Give me one reason why I should believe you."

She took a deep breath.

"Because I love you."

"No!"
The word was a shout of horror. "No more of that. When I think of the things I said to you – the feelings I expressed – " He put his hands to his head and strode about the room.

At last he rounded on her, his face distraught.

"Let me tell you something that will complete your satisfaction at what you've done to me. I went to see my mother and I told her about you, how much I loved you, how I had met the one woman in the world I could want to marry.

"And my mother told me to come home and fetch you and take you back with me, so that she can meet you. She was delighted that I had found a woman I wanted to marry and was ready to give us her blessing.

"So I came hurrying back, full of joy at the thought of seeing you again, of telling you the news and taking you to meet my mother. I pictured how we would spend the journey planning our wedding – "

He stopped. Dorina regarded him with horror. She could sense his pain across the distance he was keeping between them, something almost tangible.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"I couldn't bear being in the house, so I went to the factory, where I was accosted by one of my workers who had recently joined us.

"He'd seen you when I took you there and told me that you reminded him of someone, but he couldn't remember who. Suddenly it had come to him. He'd once worked at Radford's you see and he'd seen you there. It was a few years ago, which was why he didn't recognise you at once. But now he was certain that this woman was Dorina Radford."

"Oh no, no."

He gave a harsh laugh.

"I said the same. No! I didn't believe it. It was impossible that the woman I trusted above all others had deceived me, entrancing me with her beauty, while all the while spying on me.

"I tried so hard not to believe him, but as long as I didn't know where you were, the doubt was there. So I took the next train to Birmingham and discovered the result of all your treachery and scheming. The Prince of Wales, all ready to buy your product and ignore mine."

"He wasn't ignoring yours. You've kept it shrouded in secrecy."

"Except to you,"
he shouted.

It took him a moment to recover himself after that outburst. Then he went on,

"Luckily I was able to intervene and get him to wait, to test one vehicle against another. When he sees them side by side, it won't matter how many ideas you've stolen from me."