The Quiet Heart (14 page)

“And the gardens can still be maintained for the benefit of the public,” she suggested. Charles pinched her ear.

“You and your gardens for the benefit of the public! But yes, I think that’s a good idea, too. And part of the estate can be run as a market-garden. That’s another good idea.”

“And what about—what about Jessamy?” she asked. “When she returns from Austria, I mean?”

“She will live with us, naturally ... until she marries, or gets herself a job, or wants to be on her own. But I hope she’ll marry soon. We must find her a nice, kind, considerate husband with enough money to keep her comfortably.”

She smiled up at him.

“And Marianne?”

“She, too, will live with us—” He frowned. “I see I’ll have to get a much larger flat. When a man acquires a ready-made family he needs a house. I’ll have to build one in Surrey, or somewhere close to town.”

“That,” Alison exclaimed, enchanted by the idea of being mistress in a really modern, up-to-the-minute house, “would be wonderful!” Then she remembered that she had yet another responsibility. Poor man, she hoped he realised what he was taking on.

“And what about Lorne?” she asked. “She’s not sixteen yet.”

“While we’re on our honeymoon the other two girls can take charge of her ... unless you want them
all
to come with us?” gazing down at her suspiciously as if he more than suspected that was what she might wish. “When we return from our honeymoon we’ll find her a good school. She might even do well at a boarding-school for a year or so.”

Alison smiled up at him.

“Don’t worry,” she said softly. “I won’t insist
that they all come with us on our honeymoon.”

He stroked her cheek thoughtfully for a moment, and then he stroked the slender column of her throat.

“Little Quiet Heart,” he said, almost dreamily. “That’s a name I gave you long ago ... oh, long, long ago, for it seems we’ve known one another for years and years. Perhaps we met in a former incarnation, I don’t know! But I do know that the instant I set eyes on you you had me worried. You see, I knew I’d left my freedom—my complete freedom!—behind in London!”