Love Drives In (3 page)

"I don't believe you are true," he said. "How is it possible, looking as young as you do, that you should know so much?"

"It is a long story and rather boring," Dorina replied. "But I went to school in most of these countries and they encouraged me by asking me to visit their homes."

"All I can say is, as far as I'm concerned," the Earl said, "you are a miracle just when I needed one. I export a good deal of the goods I manufacture, and I must be able to deal with foreign buyers without stumbling over the language. What else do you speak?"

"Spanish and Italian," Dorina replied. "And you?"

"I have a smattering of those, but my skill is nowhere near yours," he added ruefully, "as I expect you have already realised."

"Yes I have" she replied promptly, but with a twinkle in her eye, and they both laughed.

"Then you will come and work for me?" he asked.

"I'll be glad to."

"About money – "

He named a sum that seemed trifling to Dorina. She could hardly have bought a hat for the amount that was to be the annual salary. But she knew that it was a generous wage for a secretary, and agreed without demur.

"Which of the many countries you have visited did you find the most enjoyable?" the Earl asked.

Now he was speaking in Italian.

Dorina answered him in the same language.

"I confess that I have more friends in France than in any other country," she said. "Therefore I find it more amusing to be in Paris than anywhere else."

"In fact, I want to know all about you. How have you spent your life and why do you want this job? How can heavy engineering possibly be of interest to a young lady?"

"I am like no young lady you have ever known," Dorina replied.

"That I can believe."

"But as for telling you any more about myself – can we leave that until later? The important thing for you to know is whether I can do your job."

"You're right. Other things must wait their turn, but their turn will come, I assure you. Now, I'm going to take you to your office because there's a pile of letters we have to answer and which haven't even been opened. Although there are many things I want to talk to you about, business comes first."

"Of course it does," Dorina agreed.

They went out of the room and walked along the passage.

At the end of it the Earl opened a door into what she thought was a very tidy but rather dull office.

The secretary's desk was large, and set by a window which looked on to the garden at the front of the house.

As the Earl had said, the desk was piled high with work.

"I hope you will be comfortable here," he said. "If there's anything you need you must ask the butler and it will be brought to you at once."

"I think what I really need now," Dorina said, "is time to open all these letters."

"I came straight here from the train," she said.

"Would you consider it improper to stay in this house? I promise you I have no disgraceful intentions. It's purely a matter of business convenience."

"Of course," Dorina said. "It would suit me to stay here, and be close to the job."

"Then I'll tell my housekeeper to prepare a room for you, and your things will be taken upstairs."

"Splendid. Now let us get down to work."

"You don't know what music that is to my ears, Miss Martin. Well, you see the letters. The social ones are easy. I can tell you at once whether I wish to attend some ball or party. The other letters, which to me are the most interesting ones, refer to my business."

'Those are the ones which will interest me too,' Dorina thought, but she did not say so aloud.

She merely seated herself at the desk. There she saw a number of notebooks which seemed strange until the Earl said,

"The notebooks represent each of the companies of which I am the chairman. You will find in them the names of the members of the company and the managers both in this country and abroad."

Dorina smiled.

"That is very sensible," she answered. "It will save me asking you a great many questions which you would undoubtedly find exceedingly tedious."

"I don't know that I should," the Earl said. "I find my business far more interesting and exciting than the parties that I am invited to. They're all the same."

There was a silence. Looking up she saw the Earl regarding her with a touch of surprise, and realised that the working girl that she was supposed to be would have known nothing about social life.

Quickly she sat down at the desk, and picked up a letter opener, becoming very obviously absorbed in her task.

"Is there anything you want to ask me?" he enquired.

"Not at this moment," she said, her head buried in a letter. "Later I'm sure I'll have a hundred questions."

Without looking up she could sense that he was once more surprised. Such a handsome man was probably used to women who tried to keep him talking.

Without saying any more the Earl walked towards the door and opened it. He looked back at Dorina for a moment. Then he went out closing the door behind him.

When she was alone Dorina felt as if she wanted to jump for joy, because she had been so lucky in getting immediately to the one place she wanted.

'Everything is almost too smooth,' she thought. 'I must be careful not to slip up through sheer excitement.'

She took off her hat and tidied her hair not realising that when she sat down at the window again, the sunshine turned her hair to gold.

She had also taken off her coat.

Now wearing the silk blouse which was cool, she started to open the letters, feeling that each one was a treasure which would help her and was far more important for her than for the man to whom it was addressed.

She deliberately chose those which were obviously business letters.

As she went on she found letters which told her very clearly that the Earl was extremely interested in the new vehicle which had just been invented, the horseless carriage.

She was delighted as she read how enthusiastic the writers were about this new vehicle.

'Maybe Papa was right,' she thought with rising excitement. 'And the horseless carriage really can happen.'

Many of the other letters were invitations and very pressing ones for his Lordship to attend dinner parties and dances both in London and in the country.

There were very large bills for new improvements to his house in the country and one which he had obviously just bought in Scotland.

It was under an hour later when she decided to take the business letters to the Earl.

She found him at his desk in the study where he had been before.

He looked up as she entered the room.

She had been so interested in what she had been reading that she had forgotten she had taken off her hat.

She had patted her hair into the usual way it was arranged without even looking in a mirror.

Only as the Earl stared at her, as she joined him at the desk was she aware he was looking at her hair.

She remembered she had almost hidden it when they first met.

He was however far too polite to make personal observations, although his eyes were on her hair.

As she joined him at his desk, he said,

"What have you found – anything of importance?"

The Earl smiled.

"That's what I thought too," he retorted. "Surely if we can travel quicker on the roads, just as a train travels quicker on its rails, it is a step forward."

"It's a fascinating idea," Dorina said. "I hope your Lordship will find time to tell me about it."

"Are you really interested," the Earl asked, "or are you being polite?"

"I'm really interested," Dorina told him. "Of course we all want to travel quickly."

She laughed as she added,

"What could be more exciting than being able to reach the country in perhaps half the time it takes now even with the swiftest horses?"

"Of that I am quite certain," the Earl pointed out, "and it is where the money is."

At that moment the door opened and the housekeeper entered. She gave Dorina a rather strange look, but bobbed politely and said,

"Your room is ready, miss."

"Has everything been done as I said?" the Earl asked.

"Yes, my Lord," said the housekeeper, wooden-faced. "The room has bolts on the door."

"Good. You take the point, Miss Martin? Even if I were to forget to behave like a gentleman, you have only to shoot the bolts across your door to be perfectly safe."

"I never doubted your Lordship," Dorina said, smiling. "But thank you."

As they went up the stairs the housekeeper said,

They found the maid hard at work. She bobbed a curtsey to Dorina and introduced herself as Celia.

It was a fine, well-furnished room, looking out onto the extensive gardens. There was a large, comfortable looking bed, and furniture of gleaming rosewood. Dorina was enchanted by her room.

There were two doors leading off the main room. One led to a bathroom and the other to a small ante-room where Celia would sleep.

Dorina reflected that the Earl had gone to a good deal of trouble to protect her reputation. It was just as well. Censorious tongues were always ready to wag where a young woman and a very handsome man were concerned.

And he
was
exceedingly handsome, she had to admit. It would be easy to become distracted from her main purpose.

But she would be strong, she resolved. She was here to work, not to indulge in daydreams about a young man's profile.

The maid brought her some lunch to her room, and then Dorina wrote a hasty letter to Mr. Johnson.

I have been taken on as secretary to Lord Kennington,
Dorina wrote Already I have learned that the horseless carriage may
have more of a future than I thought. Please write to me at
No.12, Grosvenor Square, addressing the letter to 'Miss
Martin', and letting me know how advanced our research
project is.

She sealed the letter and put it in her pocket. When she went downstairs the Earl was not there, so she slipped out of the house and posted her letter.

She returned to the house and was back in her office before he appeared and they immediately got down to work.

By the end of the day she was more than ever convinced that she had done the right thing in coming here. The Earl's correspondence was as wide-ranging as his interests, and she could tell that she had impressed him with her intelligence and quick understanding.

"That will be all for today," he said at last. "I have worked you very hard, and I'm sure you would like a meal and a rest. I will see you in the morning."

He retired to his room with his valet, and an hour later he left the house wearing white tie and tails.

Dorina dined in solitary state, trying to keep her mind on what she had learned that day, but it was hard when her thoughts kept dwelling on the Earl.

Where had he gone, dressed for an evening's pleasure. And who had he gone to meet?

She forced herself to concentrate on the matter in hand and took some reading matter up to her room. That was when she made a fascinating discovery.

"Electricity!" she said awed. "The lights work by electricity."

"Oh yes, miss," Celia said. "His Lordship must have all the latest inventions in his home. You should see the things we've got in the kitchen."

"Electric? And they all work?"

"We – 'ell – " Celia became cautious. "His Lordship invented a washing machine, with an electric motor to turn the drum. The trouble is, the water keeps dripping on the motor, and then it gives a little explosion and dies."

"That must be very frightening," Dorina observed.

"Oh no, miss," Celia said cheerfully. "You get used to things exploding. Even the cat."

"Yes, Tiggy used to dive for cover, especially after the first time when his whiskers got singed. But now he just sits there and watches. And his Lordship always says sorry ever so nicely."

"Even to Tiggy?" Dorina asked, chuckling.

But Celia replied seriously, "especially to Tiggy. He says humans can understand, but a poor dumb animal doesn't know what's happening, and it's very kind of him to go on living here in the circumstances. Tiggy always gets extra special fish after an explosion."