she said, glowing with happiness. “Yes!”
He took her hands. “Don’t you see, there is more to come. Much more. The future is full of surprises that we can’t imagine, but which are waiting for us.”
His fervent tone convinced her. This was something he really felt, just as she would feel the same in his position.
“Do I sound like a madman to you?” he asked anxiously.
“Not at all. I know just what you mean?”
“I knew you’d understand. Anyone else would have me put under restraint for such wild talk, but not you. We’ve only known each other a few hours, and yet already you’re the best friend I have. I can tell you things I could tell nobody else. So, keep your hand in mine, my dear friend, and nothing can defeat us.”
CHAPTER FOUR
With only time to clean one room they settled on the drawing room. John helped her, and proved more adept than she had feared.
“It’s being in the Navy,” he said. “A man develops certain domestic skills.”
He joined her for tea in the kitchen, while she worked out the refreshments she would serve their guests.
“Tell me more about Mr Wyngate,” she said.
“He’s a bit of a mystery man. Nobody knows exactly where he came from, or how he got the money he started with. There’s a rumour that his name isn’t even Wyngate, but nobody knows the truth about that either. However he started, he made a vast fortune in American railroads.”
“You mean he’s American?”
“Not necessarily. That’s just the first place anybody heard of him. He turned up in America, with money that he invested in railroads, and made a fortune, helped, it is said, by marrying an American lady who had money. She died over there a few years ago.
“Then he came to England and started investing in railways here. He might have been looking for fresh fields to conquer, or he might have been English to start with and returned to his roots, but – ”
“Nobody knows,” she finished with him.
“Exactly right. He made another fortune here, then took his daughter and went travelling. I met him in India eighteen months ago, when my ship docked at Bombay. He’d taken over the entire Hotel Raj, and was busy competing with the local Maharajah to see who could spend the most money, the most ostentatiously.
“He gave a ball for his daughter Matilda. I did hear that he’d invited the Viceroy as well, but received a polite refusal, which incensed him. In fact it was rather thin of European guests because nobody liked him very much. He made up the numbers by issuing an invitation to the senior officers of my ship, The Achilles, and that’s how I came to be there.
“He writes to me as if we’d formed an eternal friendship, but that was my only meeting with him. I’ve heard a lot about him, but it’s the silences that tell the most.”
“Silences?”
“If you mention his name people go silent, like birds when a hawk has flown over. He’s rich enough to buy anything in the world – or he thinks he is. The trouble is, he’s too often right. So many people will sell if the offer is great enough, and now he can’t imagine anybody saying no.”
“Does the young woman want to marry you?” Rena asked quietly. “What kind of a person is she?”
“I only met her once, at the ball, and formed very little impression of her personality.”
“Is she pretty?” Rena asked, busying herself with mixing a cake.
“Not really. She’s very quiet, and some men might find that charming. But me – I don’t know – she’s not for me. I like a woman who has more to say for herself.”
“Then you’re different to most men,” Rena observed, smiling. “Most of them like a woman who keeps quiet and lets them do the talking.”
“Indeed?” He raised his eyebrows quizzically. “And may I ask how you obtained this vast knowledge?”
“From my mother,” she laughed. “Who obtained it from her mother, doubtless. Gentlemen do not like a chatterbox. Gentlemen do not like a woman who puts forward her opinions, especially if they are contrary to their own. In fact a real lady has no opinions.”
“Heavens! What a bore! I must say, it sounds just like Matilda Wyngate. Poor girl. I don’t mean to be unkind to her. She’d be the perfect wife for a man of a different temperament to me.”
“I feel rather sorry for her!” said Rena. “Perhaps she has no idea what her father is planning.”
“Perhaps. I can just imagine him not bothering to tell her. Once he’d made his plans, he’s just the sort of man to dispense with other people’s feelings as an unnecessary extra.
“He simply can’t imagine that there are things his money can’t buy him.”
Rena gave a sigh.
“I am afraid there are a great many people like that in the world,” she said. “Papa used to say that although we were poor, we should always appreciate the beautiful things in life.”
“What were they?” the Earl asked as if the way she had spoken made him curious.
Rena smiled. “The sun, the moon, the stars,” she replied. “And so many other things, too many to mention.”
“That’s just the sort of thing you would say,” he told her. “I am beginning to think you aren’t real, but a part of the magic cross you showed me in the woods. Also the sunshine, which, although you may not know it, is turning your hair to gold.”
“Don’t let Mr Wyngate hear you saying things like that,” she reproved. “I understand that it means nothing, but he won’t.”
John looked as if he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. Then he took a sharp breath.
“Why, that’s it! I’ll say that you’re my wife!”
“John, do be sensible.”
“Wouldn’t you like to be my wife?” he sounded hurt.
“If you don’t take care you’ll find yourself engaged to me, and then I’ll bring an action for breach of promise, and you’ll really be in a pickle.”
“Only if I tried to get out of it. I might insist on marrying you. What would you do then?”
“Don’t make me laugh when I’m beating eggs,” she begged. “It’s dangerous.”
“Yes, you just flipped some on my nose. Anyway, you couldn’t sue me for breach of promise.” His eyes were twinkling.
“Indeed, sir? And do you often ask girls if they would ‘like to be your wife’?”
“Every day,” he assured her. “But I always
