Love Drives In (4 page)

As Celia helped her undress, Dorina considered what she had learned about the Earl. A picture was beginning to emerge of a loveable madman, for whose sake his servants would take explosions in their stride.

Even his cat was philosophical.

Her father too had always been wild for the latest inventions, but he had been profoundly serious about them. And while he had illuminated his factories by electricity, he had not bothered with his homes.

Nor could she imagine him apologising to his cat for singed whiskers.

At last Celia said goodnight and went to lie down in the ante-room.

Dorina went quietly to the door to make certain it was bolted. And now she saw something she had not noticed before.

The bolts were brand new.

It was clear that they had been attached to the door only that day.

But Dorina remembered that she had gone out of her way to look plain to him. Perhaps this was his way of telling her that he could never want to burst in. She was perfectly safe because she did not attract him.

Then she recalled the expression on his face as he had glanced at her hair and suddenly she felt herself blushing from head to toe.

'Stop that!' she told herself sternly. 'You are here to learn about business and engineering and the horseless carriage and – and that sort of thing.'

She crept into bed and tried to read, but suddenly she could not concentrate. At last she put out the light and lay awake for a long time, her head whirling with thoughts.

But none of them was about horseless carriages.

Next day they both worked tirelessly. Dorina found it fascinating, but the hardest thing was not to let the Earl suspect how much she already knew.

When they had finished he went upstairs, and, as before, came downstairs dressed for an evening out.

But then there came a knock at the front door, and a letter was delivered to the Earl by hand.

"What a pity," he said. "My hosts have had to cancel the dinner at the last moment, owing to a family crisis. Here I am, dressed up with nowhere to go."

There was a silence as he looked at her and Dorina was suddenly very conscious of how dowdy she looked in the plain brown dress she had chosen to wear for work.

"Why don't you dine with me tonight?" he said. "Then we can continue our discussion, and between us we will invent marvellous things."

"Thank you. I needed that encouragement."

"Why, particularly?" Dorina enquired.

"Because as hard as I try to keep in the lead, there are always men ready to race ahead of me."

"Nonsense!" Dorina exclaimed merrily. "Your Lordship is so clever that it would be impossible for people to catch you up, let alone beat you to the post."

The Earl laughed.

"Now you are cheering me up and I insist that you dine with me tonight. I'll wait for you here while you change. We could go to the Ritz if you like."

Plainly he meant to give her a treat, but Dorina said hurriedly,

"I'd rather go somewhere quiet, so that we can talk uninterrupted. I'd be rather shy in the Ritz in case your society friends came in."

Dorina was thinking that they might meet someone who would know her and give away her true identity.

"Very well," he said. "I will take you to dinner to a place I discovered a long time ago. It's by the river, very quiet and we could talk in peace."

"I would love to go," she said.

She was determined to dress very demurely, but she had forgotten that her gowns came from Paris.

Although she chose what appeared to be a very simple gown, but when she put it on, it still had that chic brilliance which the Parisian clothes always seemed to have.

It was black with touches of gold, and it seemed to make her hair appear even more golden too.

But as they were diamonds set in gold, they made her look even more beautiful than she would have done without them.

When she came down the stairs into the hall where the Earl was waiting for her, she would have been very foolish if she had not realised there was a glint in his eyes.

There was also a look of surprise as he realised that she was like no other secretary. He became thoughtful.

His carriage was outside.

When they got into it and the footman shut the door, the Earl said,

"I think it's time you told me the truth."

"The – truth?"

"I'm sure I do not know why you should ask that," she said, assuming an offended tone, hoping that it would put him off. "Have you any complaints about my work?"

"None at all, as you well know."

"I'm a good secretary?"

"You're an excellent secretary."

"Then that's all there is to be said."

"Oh no, it isn't" the Earl persisted. "My point is that you're
too
good. You're intelligent, you know the languages and you're obviously highly educated. Far from being an ordinary working girl, you're a lady."

"An impoverished lady," she supplied quickly. "I have to earn my bread and I don't fancy being a governess or a school-mistress."

"I thought impoverished ladies aimed for rich husbands," he observed.

"Rich husbands require dowries," she pointed out.

"Your brains and your beauty could be your dowry."

"Have you known many?" the Earl enquired with interest.

"One hears things, travelling around," Dorina replied vaguely.

She had made a bad slip, she realised, allowing him to know too much.

"I'm sure one hears about men on the look-out for money," he replied. "But not every man is a fortune hunter. Some can afford to marry for the woman's own intrinsic worth, and in that sense, you have much to offer.

"I'm surprised that you don't seem to have thought of it. What is it about working for me that sent you flying to my house?"

He was creeping too near the truth. Backed into a corner, Dorina responded with the first thing she could think of.

"How dare you!" she said in tones of fury.

The smile vanished from his face.

"What – ?"

"Do you have the unspeakable effrontery to suggest that I'm setting my cap at you? You think that's why I came to work for you? For shame, my Lord!"

"No – please, I didn't mean – "

"Or perhaps you think I'm hoping to be introduced to your society friends? Yes, that would be it. I could never aspire to an Earl, but he might have a banker or two among his acquaintances."

"I didn't – "

"Of course I shouldn't feel surprised that you feel free to pour scorn on me, alone and friendless as I am. What else can a poor girl expect?"

"You implied!"

"I did not! How was I to know you were so dashed touchy?"

"A defenceless woman has to be touchy, as you put it," Dorina informed him in arctic accents. "Her reputation is at stake."

"Oh Lord!" he groaned, horrified at himself, at her and at the whole mess in which he suddenly found himself.

"Of course I risked my reputation when I agreed to stay in your house. If I had only known how that would be interpreted –
oooooh!"

She rounded off the performance by bursting into violent sobs and burying her face in her hands. From his corner the Earl regarded her aghast, and then askance. Gradually a gleam of humour came into his eyes.

Unnerved by the silence, Dorina parted her fingers and looked through them to find him grinning at her.

"You can stop now," he said. "You've made your point."

"Have I?" She dropped her hands.

"Yes, you were very effective at first, but then you overdid it. Tears!"

"I don't see why you shouldn't believe my tears," she said indignantly.

"I'd believe them from anyone else, but not from the woman who discussed piston engines with me all afternoon. I'm sorry Miss Martin, perhaps I have been a little insensitive, but you must know that I never meant to imply any of the things you said."

"Yes, it was unkind of me," she said, relenting, "especially as you had someone put bolts on my door."

"I was only talking about how beautiful you are," he added. "But I suppose you'll take offence at that now."

"I promise not to. But there's nothing remarkable about my appearance."

"Nonsense. Looking as you do now, you would light up a Mayfair ballroom."

"Oh the dress!" she said lightly. "I told you I'd just come from France. I have very generous friends in Paris and this was one of their presents to me. You know that French clothes make all the difference."

She smiled as she added,

"Perhaps it's something you should pay attention to in your effort to develop new things and new ideas. After all, you've done shipping and trains, surely making an English woman outstanding should be somewhere on your list."

The Earl laughed.

"Trains are easy," he said. "The adornment of a woman might be a little beyond me. All I know is that you would be admired, even at Buckingham Palace."

"Although you may not believe it, I would rather be where we are going now than being entertained at Buckingham Palace."

He looked wary.

"Meaning you want to talk about piston engines again?"

"No," she said in a considering voice. "Tonight, I thought we might move on to variable steam pressure."

But she was here to work, she reminded herself sternly. Any distractions were a betrayal of her father.

So she forced herself to change the subject, and spoke decisively,

"What I find so interesting is that you are always looking out for something different. That's very unusual in an Englishman. He is usually far too complacent and does not like change of any sort."

There was a slight pause before the Earl replied. He seemed to be a little disconcerted.

"That is unkind," he said at last, "but, I feel, true. We've tended to accept things as they've always been, and believed that because we are English we are right in everything we say and do."

Dorina laughed.

"Yes, I'm afraid that's how we are."

"It's something we have to change," he added firmly, "and, Miss Martin, that is what I intend to do."

"I think you've been very successful already," Dorina replied. "But you must realise that there is a great deal more for you to tackle."

"Are you challenging me?" the Earl enquired.

"Of course," Dorina said. "There's always room for improvement."

The Earl was silent for a moment.

Then he said,

"That's easy. Because you
can
do it. Although I've only been with you a short while, I'm sure that you are capable of doing great things."

She felt, as she was saying this, as if the words were being put into her mouth.

Then she suddenly asked herself what she was doing.

She was here for the sake of her father's business and her father's memory. Yet she found herself trying to inspire the Earl to greater heights.

"But why are you so sure of that?" he asked, trying to see her in the gloom of the carriage.

"I don't know," she said slowly. "But I am – very sure."

The next moment she felt the carriage begin to slow.

"We're here," he said.

He sounded dazed, and almost relieved. Dorina too felt relieved. Something was happening that was carrying her away too fast.

She needed to stop and think, but how could she think when her heart was pounding?

The carriage had stopped. The door was being pulled open.