Hiding from Love (19 page)

Leonora reddened.

“You mean – you proposed to me out of charity?”

Lord Merton drew in his breath.

“By Heaven, but you make it difficult for a man!”

“On what basis should it be made so easy?” asked Leonora haughtily.  “After all you seemed to be very much attached to Maud Broughton at the ball!”

“Maud Broughton?  Who even now is pouring out her attentions on your erstwhile suitor, Señor de Guarda!”

“She – she is?”

He looked sidelong at her.

“If you wish to retain his interest,” he said bitterly, “as it seemed you so often did on board ship, then you had better make haste.  However,
her
fortune may prove more attractive to him than
your
beauty!”

“I never for one moment desired the attentions of Señor de Guarda!  It's just that he found out I had stolen money from my stepfather and threatened to – reveal this to everyone unless I – humoured him.”

“Ah!  So that was it.”

Leonora gave an involuntary shudder.

“I wonder what has become of him?  Mr. Schilling, I mean.”

“I can tell you.  The moment I discovered you had fled, and why, I made my move.  Before setting off in pursuit, I sent a message to the authorities and they came to arrest Mr. Schilling the same day.

“Do you recall the telegram I received on board?  It informed me that your stepfather, whilst attempting to evade arrest, had fallen from a window and broken his neck!”

Leonora's hand flew to her mouth.

“
He is dead
?”

“He is dead,” Lord Merton assured her solemnly.

“Then Mama is free!  And I am free!”

Lord Merton's jaw clenched.

“You are indeed free and I now no longer have the opportunity to offer you an escape from his clutches.”

Leonora could not help her tart response.

“Oh, yes, indeed.  Escape!  As your
charity
bride!”

Lord Merton swung round.

His eyes blazed as she shrank back in alarm, almost expecting a blow, but the next instant his arm was around her waist and she was drawn towards him.

With a groan his lips met hers.

She struggled but for a moment.

His kiss was so insistent and his grip so powerful, her will melted.

With a soft cry she yielded.

As they became consumed in each other, an almost brutal intensity overcame them.

When at last he relinquished his hold, she fell back gasping.

“You fool – you fool,” he murmured.  “Don't you realise how I feel?  In every letter your aunt wrote to my mother – and later to me – she extolled your virtues.  She spoke of your beauty, your grace, your enquiring mind.  I fell in love with you from a distance.  And I think that was
exactly
what your aunt intended.”

Leonora felt herself reeling.

“You – do?”

“Yes.  She hinted as much before she died.  She did not put you in her will because she expected
me
to provide for you.  Would you accept that from me, Leonora?”

“I d-don't know.  I still don't understand why you didn't tell me who you were – once we were on board ship.  Why did you allow me to think you were just Mr. Chandos – and not Lord Merton as well?”

Lord Merton smiled.

“My dearest sweet darling, you were so determined never to entertain the suit of Lord Merton, I thought I had more chance to win you as Mr. Chandos!

“It was a very easy deceit to maintain because I had inherited my title so recently that the Captain and crew on my ship still thought of me by my old name.  And when I encountered Finny at the Bristol docks and realised who he was, I took care to introduce myself as Chandos.

“Even so I asked him not to reveal who had helped him, because I wanted
you
to entertain no preconceptions about the character of Mr. Chandos when you met him.  I had suffered that disadvantage too much as Lord Merton!”

“So – nobody knew you as Lord Merton – not even Desirée!”

“Not even Desirée!”

Leonora sighed dreamily against his breast.

“Poor Desirée.  I just wonder how Mrs. Griddle has behaved now that she knows Desirée's fiancé was on the ship all along.”

“She has accepted the inevitable perhaps with some admiration for his persistence.  She has now agreed to their being married.”

“I am happy for them and even for Maud and Señor de Guarda if – if that too should prove a match!”

Lord Merton held her away from him.

“So am I.  But oh, what terrible jealousy I suffered when I believed that you favoured that man!  Swear to me, swear to me that he is not still in your heart.”

Leonora trembled.

“I could never have cared for him.  
Never
!  But tell me when I first met you as Mr. Chandos you said I reminded you of ‘someone dear?'  Who was that?”

“You cannot guess?  It was
you
– the you I held in my arms at Broughton Hall, my darling.”

Leonora looked at him with relief.

“I am glad you were not thinking of another love.”

Lord Merton scanned her face, his eyes burning.

“You are my
only
love.  So my treasure, humour me!  Indulge me!  Let me hear my name on your lips.”

Leonora twinkled shyly.

“Which one?”

Lord Merton threw back his head with a roar.

“I deserved that!”

The next moment he drew her against him again and buried his lips in her hair.

“Perhaps you would deign to call me by another name entirely, my dearest one.”

Leonora, her flesh alive under his touch, swooned.

“What is that?”

“
Husband
,” came his soft reply.

She pulled away and stared at him, startled.

“H-husband?”

“Husband.  Will you marry me, Leonora?”

She answered him “
yes
” with a loud cry and their lips met again with increased fervour.

Her blood pulsed and her flesh seemed to burn.

All that held her was his strength, for her body was weak with desire.

There was no more reason to hide from love.

She was his, only his, until the very end of time.

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