Bonds of Matrimony (4 page)

The Thom Tree was a pavement cafe, but happily they were able to find a table in the shade and Hero was so glad to be free of his firm grasp on her arm that she sat down with a positive sense of relief, allowing her eyes to stray round the other customers in case there was anyone else there whom she knew.

'Oh, look!' she said with a great deal of nervous excitement. 'There's Bob Andrews. You don't mind if I have a word with him, do you?'

'Friend of yours?' Mr. Carmichael drawled.

'Sort of,' she admitted. 'Ah, he's coming over here.' She bounced up and down in her seat to attract the young man's attention. She liked Bob Andrews and she knew that he liked her too. At the moment, like everyone else she could think of, he was more than half in love with Betsy and he had found Hero a noble ally in the cause. She didn't mind in the least being used as a stalking horse for his real objective and they had had a lot of fun together, plotting Betsy's conquest at his hands. He was the one person whom Hero allowed to kiss her, knowing that he meant nothing by it, and when he greeted her now, planting a smacking kiss on her lips, she made no objection at all, but merely hoped that Mr. Carmichael had noticed.

'Bob, this is Mr. Carmichael. Mr. Carmichael, Bob Andrews,' she introduced them, with a-sidelong glance at the man she was to marry, her dark eyes darker still with triumph.

Mr. Carmichael rose slowly to his feet. He was not so tall as Bob and not so obviously handsome but, somehow, he made all such considerations seem remarkably unimportant. Hero tried to persuade herself that he looked insignificant, but he didn't. On the contrary, he had quietly dominated the whole situation with a brief smile and a firm handshake.

'It's Benedict Carmichael. I prefer Benedict to Ben, but so far, I haven't persuaded Hero to use either name — '

Bob Andrews was completely at home. 'She's naturally shy!' he teased Hero. 'Her mother was always telling her about the dreadful things that befall forward girls! Like — ' he screwed up his face into a thoughtful expression - 'like getting involved with men she knows nothing about! Forward girls can expect nothing but the worst—' He became aware of Hero's urgent signals to shut up and stared at her scarlet face. 'What's the matter?' he asked her.

'Nothing!' she disclaimed.

Benedict Carmichael gave her an amused look. 'Something awful has befallen her,' he announced. 'She's engaged herself to marry me as soon as we can arrange it. Perhaps you'd care to come along for the ceremony?'

Bob's jaw dropped. 'I don't believe it!' He looked both upset and embarrassed. 'Does Betsy know ?'

'Betsy introduced us,' Mr. Carmichael answered with a small smile. 'You don't have to worry about Hero, Bob. She's quite safe in my hands.'

The young man's brow cleared. 'Oh, I'm sure she is!' he protested. 'Only she's had a few wild ideas lately and I was afraid you might be one of them. I suppose she's told you about the farm - must have done! She couldn't go on there by herself. The truth is that we've all been a bit worried about her, but if she's going to get married, we needn't bother any more. It's better than anything!' He looked curiously at Benedict Carmichael. 'I don't suppose you're British, by any chance? Because that would make it quite perfect for Hero-'

'British to the core!' Mr. Carmichael assured him.

Hero raised her eyebrows at them both, across the table. 'It's nice to know that I mean so much to you!' she said to Bob. 'You sound positively glad to be rid of me.'

He grinned at her. 'Well, so I am! Betsy was convinced you were going to do something daft. She says you're as Greek as your mother when it comes to getting the bit between your teeth. Don't you be taken in,' he added to Mr. Carmichael, 'she may look all meek and biddable on the surface, but she's a deep one for all that! Her parents were the talk of Kenya. They absolutely adored one another when just about nobody else even pretended to have much time for their respective spouses - Kenya was famous for that sort of thing, you know - and Betsy says that Hero will be just the same, devoted and passionate.'

'Bob!'

Mr. Carmichael threw back his head and laughed. 'I think I can take it!' he murmured.

Hero burned with indignation. 'It isn't like that at all!' she blurted out. 'And as for you, Bob, I wish you'd go away!'

'What do you mean, it isn't like that?' the young man demanded. 'What is it like? Hero, are you up to something?'

'Of course not!' she denied. Her eyes flew to Mr. Carmichael, seeking his help. The funny thing was that she was almost sure that she could rely on him to cover up for her and that when she had to admit that he didn't have to. He could quite easily have explained that she was marrying him to become a British national and that he thought her an adventuress and didn't either like or admire her, but she knew he wouldn't do that. And he didn't.

'As you said yourself, Hero is shy,' he drawled, with such confidence that Hero could quite easily have believed him herself. 'It's all been rather sudden and she hasn't got used to the idea yet.' She was conscious of a mocking glint in his eyes. 'I don't suppose she'll ever kiss easily in public, but in private she more than lives up to Betsy's expectations of her!'

Hero knew that it was no good wishing that the earth would swallow her up, but she simply couldn't imagine how she would ever hold up her head with Benedict Carmichael again. She pulled herself together with difficulty. 'I even call him Benedict in private,' she

'Do you now?' said Bob. He smiled at her with genuine affection. 'I'm glad. It's been a rotten year for you and you were more than due for something nice to happen to you. I wish you every happiness, my dear.'

Hero made a strangled sound, but Mr. Carmichael was comparatively unmoved. 'I don't want to push you, old chap, but Hero and I have a lot to talk about. She wants to hurry back to that farm of hers, and I want to go with her to make up our minds what we're going to do with it, and that means getting married as soon as possible.'

Bob nodded agreeably, standing up at once. 'You won't be able to do anything with the farm. It's in the drought area. Didn't Hero tell you? Nothing will grow there now!'

'We haven't had time to talk about anything much yet,' Mr. Carmichael returned, which was nice of him, Hero considered, for she was well aware that she had deliberately kept to herself the state of her inheritance when she had offered it as a bribe for him to marry her.

'I suppose not,' said Bob. 'See you both later, I hope. Betsy's invited me round for drinks tomorrow evening

- I'll probably see you there.' He sketched a salute with his hand, pausing by Hero's chair to give her a friendly pat on the head. 'I'd better not kiss you again with your fiance looking on!' he teased her. 'That's one of the pleasures you'll have to give up for the delights of matrimony. Good-bye, honey!'

Hero managed a stuttered good-bye in reply. This was worse than anything she had expected. What was she to do?

'Tell me about the farm, Hero,' Mr. Carmichael's voice interrupted her thoughts. 'I gather it isn't quite the dowry I expected?'

'No,' she admitted.

'How bad is it?'

She had expected him to be angry, but he wasn't obviously so. She eyed him covertly, wondering how she was going to explain to him about failing rains and ruined soil. Did he know what it meant when the one rainstorm they had had in the last three years had washed away most of the topsoil her father had laboured long and hard to protect, exposing the roots of their precious trees and killing the grass and the few crops they had been able to grow.

'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I thought you wouldn't find out until afterwards. The rains may come this year — ' 'Have you slaughtered all the cattle?'

She shook her head. 'Not yet. My father was experimenting with his own breed and I couldn't let them go. I was hoping, when the time came, that it would be someone else's decision. I did try to sell them to a farm

further south, but the deal fell through.'

'I suppose you've had the usual troubles with erosion?' he queried.

She started. He was no fool. 'How do you know about that?'

'Did you imagine that I would accept your offer blind?' he observed. 'I'm reasonably familiar with everything your father tried to do, my dear. I know about the Kaufman specials, for instance. They sound an interesting experiment.'

'Then you knew I was offering you next to nothing by offering you the farm?' How much else did he know?

'Yes, I knew,' he agreed. 'I imagine it looks all right on paper, or you could make it do so, and that was all right with me. I'm well able to look after myself, and I soon came to the conclusion you were asking for everything you get if I took you up on your offer. I don't think you deserve much consideration from me, do you?'

She supposed she deserved that. 'No,' she said. 'But you don't understand. I hadn't thought about you as a person at all! I told you I couldn't go through with it, but you wouldn't pay any attention. I wrote to you — '

'I still want the farm. It will suit my purposes very well. How soon can you get yourself ready to marry me?'

She stared at him, a little frightened of his calm. 'As soon as you like,' she managed.

'Next week?'

She nodded. This week, next week, some time, never; what did it matter? She would soon be in England and then she would never have to see him again.

'Thank you for making it sound - ordinary to Bob,' she said, not looking at him. 'I didn't want him to know — '

'Think nothing of it,' he said. 'You'd do the same for me, wouldn't you?'

Well, of course she would! At least she hoped she would - but would she? 'I don't suppose you'd ever want me to,' she said. 'You wouldn't want your girl to think you were in love with someone else, would you? And it wouldn't arise with anyone else!'

Benedict Carmichael said nothing at all. He ordered tea for two and an ice-cream for her, just as though he were taking his niece out to tea, and when Hero said she didn't want milk in her tea and wanted lemon instead, he raised his brows and grinned at her, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, and he put milk in her tea all the same and handed it to her as though she hadn't said anything about it at all! And she drank it without another word, hoping that he would never know she hated lemon tea. But she wouldn't have put it past him to know everything there was to know about her!

'Next week,' he confirmed. 'I'll make all the arrangements and let you know.'

CHAPTER THREE

They were married early on the Tuesday morning. Hero had rejected all thought of a church wedding out of hand with a fierceness that had surprised nobody as much as herself. She had thought that nothing mattered to her any more, and to find that there were some things that did and, what was more, mattered very much to her, was rather shattering. It had become more and more impossible to discuss anything sensibly with Mr. Carmichael as the week had progressed and there were some things she knew she had to make clear to him before she actually became his wife because, afterwards, he might not give her any say in such things, and then it would be too late to stand by the ideals she had held all her life long.

She hadn't chosen her moment for this confrontation very well. Benedict was in a hurry and she felt a perfect fool. Really, the more she thought about it, the more ridiculous she felt. 'It won't be a real marriage,' she accosted him, meeting him in the doorway of Betsy's parents' house and realizing that, for once, they were alone. 'I couldn't agree to that!'

He studied his hands in silence for a long moment, his eyelashes well displayed beneath the brim of his hat. Looking at him, Hero was overcome by sheer panic at the thought of him wanting a more normal relationship

- but then he wouldn't. Though she wished she could be more certain of that, for he looked as though he were well used to having his own way with any woman he chose, and the fact that he loved some other girl wouldn't help her much when she was alone with him, miles from anywhere.

'Mr. Carmichael, you do understand, don't you?' she said.

'Better than you think.'

She sighed with relief. 'I knew you would! Only I thought it better to have it spelt out, if you know what I mean.'

'I should prefer it if you could bring yourself to call me Benedict, though,' he said dryly.

'Yes, of course.'

'You don't dislike it as a name, do you?'

'Oh no! I like it very much. I've never known a Benedict before. It's a very distinguished name!'

He reached out and touched a strand of her short, curly hair. Oddly, she didn't mind the rather intimate gesture. 'I've never known a Hero before either,' he said. 'Have you any more worries about the wedding?'

She made a face at him. 'Only what I'm going to wear!'

He smiled then. 'I rather fancy having my bride wear something white and pretty,' he suggested.

'Oh, but—'

'I know, but only we know about that. Won't you wear white for me, Hero?'

'If you like,' she agreed abruptly. Then she thought that sounded rather ungracious because he was trying to be nice to her and there was no one to see them at that moment. 'I'll try to look nice for you!'

He bowed mockingly over her hand. 'What do you want me to wear? You don't seem to admire my ex's taste in shirts. A suit?'

'Well, yes, to both,' she said. 'Benedict, could you wear a plain shirt? I mean, it would look better with me in white. And an ordinary tie, you know, not too bright, or nobody will notice the flower in your lapel?'

He looked amused. 'I'll do my best,' he promised. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, nor did he show any signs of telling her what they were going to do after the wedding, and somehow she found it quite impossible to

ask him anything at all.

'Ten o'clock on Tuesday, Hero,' he said as he was leaving. 'You will be there, won't you?'

'Yes.' She tried to enlarge on that one, bald syllable, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.

'We'll go on to the lawyer from there and get everything sewn up legally,' he went on casually. 'I've already told him what we want. Is that all right with you?'