Next Door to Romance (19 page)

He took her in his arms and was going to settle the argument in what he felt was the best possible way— with a kiss. But to his surprise, Lisa resisted him.

'No, please wait, Mark!' she begged earnestly. 'Of course, that does happen over some things. But not, I think, over the very important ones. And this is important. It—it's fundamental!'

Mark laughed.

'Darling, what long words you do know, to be sure!' he teased. 'Now stop being so funny and solemn and give me a kiss!'

'No, Mark, no, please!' she said, still very earnest but with more than a suggestion of unsteadiness about her voice. 'It isn't funny—really it isn't. And you thinking it is makes it even more difficult to say what I know I must—'

She
was
serious! He felt a sudden sense of insecurity all the more intense because such a state of mind was completely unfamiliar to him.

'Well?'

Lisa squared her shoulders and, her head held high, met his eyes with unflinching courage.

'It's just this, Mark—we agreed to wait three months before we announced our engagement so that we'd have time to convince people that it was the real thing—'

'And you've decided that it isn't?' he interrupted bitterly. '
You
, the one person I've ever met that I believed in and trusted—'

'Oh no, Mark,
no
! It isn't that,' she assured him earnestly.

'Then what is it?' he asked impatiently.

'Just that—it's only fair to tell you that I don't think seeing more of the world will ever make me change over —well, things like we've been talking about,' she explained earnestly. 'And—and I can see that—it might make it very difficult for you. After all, it has done already, hasn't it? So since I've already disappointed you so much, I—I want you to feel quite free to—end everything between us if you want to,' she finished with a quite unconscious touch of melodrama.

Mark stared at her speechlessly.

Not more than a few hours previously Simon Cosgrave had said exactly the same thing. Not in the same words, of course—Simon had been blunt to the point of offensive-ness—but conveying just the same warning—that Lisa wasn't the right wife for him. He had listened to his employer in sulky silence, forced in the end, to agree that he would think over what Simon had said. And he'd kept his promise, coming to the conclusion that there might be something in it, but, magnanimously, deciding that he'd give her another chance. If he could be sure that there would be no repetition of this sort of thing in the future—

And now, by making it clear that he couldn't be sure of anything of the sort, and offering him his freedom without fuss or recrimination, she'd cut the ground from under his feet.

If
he
had, as she had put it ended everything between them, he would have had nothing for which to blame himself except his earlier impetuosity which had landed him in this mess. And of course, in time, he would have forgotten the whole incident.

But the suggestion or offer, whichever it was, had come from
her
. And if he accepted it, he knew perfectly well that he would never be able to forget that she was willing to let him have his freedom. Suppose, despite her protest, that meant she was glad of an excuse to get rid of him?

It was a humiliating thought. That a little nobody to whom he had paid the supreme compliment of asking to be his wife should be perfectly content to send him packing! It was intolerable!

But it couldn't be true! Right from their first meeting, he had know that she had been attracted to him. Indeed, her inability to hide her feelings from him had been one of her charms. Such innocent frankness was a marvellous change from the calculating worldliness of other girls he'd met—Evadne among them.

Of course she loved him—but he had to know for certain—and there was only one way to find out. He caught her roughly in his arms and held her close, his lips crashed against hers in a long passionate kiss. And hers responded.

At last he held her from him just sufficiently to look down into her flushed, tremulous face.

'Do you know, young woman, you just about scared the life out of me?' he said, more shaken that he would have believed possible. 'I thought, for one ghastly moment, that you were glad of an excuse to jilt me!'

'Oh, Mark!' her eyes were reproachful. 'How could you possibly think that!'

'You seemed willing enough to let me go!' he reminded her. 'What else could I think?'

Lisa's eyes fell from his.

'Just that—I love you so much that I would never want to stand in your light or make you unhappy,' she said steadfastly, but she held her breath because, after all, suppose he did want to be rid of her?

But she need not have worried. With a little wordless exclamation he drew her close again, this time tenderly and with something like awe in his expression.

'You really mean that!' he marvelled. 'What have I done to deserve you, Lisa?'

She melted into his arms and he did not hear her murmured answer, but it didn't matter. He had all the assurance he needed. She might not always appreciate the exigencies of the game that he and Simon Cosgrave played, but she would never do anything against his wishes. He was sure of that. At least, he was if only he could persuade the old man to change his way of looking at things a bit. After all, what was at least tolerated in the business world from a man of Simon's standing just wouldn't go down in the country. So if Simon wanted to pose as a countryman, he'd have to alter his ways. But that would take time, and for the moment there were other, pleasanter, more important things to discuss. .

'Do you know what the date is?' he asked, and saw from the lovely wave of colour that surged up in Lisa's cheeks that she knew to what he was referring. 'Yes that's it,' he said caressingly. 'Another week and our probationary three months will be up! So—' he lifted her slim hand and kissed her brown fingers, 'what's it to be? Diamonds? Emeralds? Rubies? Which would you like?'

'Oh—!' Lisa shook her head shyly. 'I don't really mind—it's you giving it to me that matters!'

Mark laughed.

'My precious unworldly darling!' he said softly. 'But surely you have some preference?'

Lisa frowned in an effort of concentration.

'Mark, I truly don't know,' she said at length. 'You see, I know so little about precious stones—and anyhow, I'd very much rather
you
chose. Then I'd know for sure that it will be what you want me to have. Please?'

Mark might have wished that she had not been quite so ready to confess her lack of knowledge of the things that money could buy. But on the whole, he was pleased. It was flattering to know that the girl he had chosen to be his wife simply didn't realize that there could be a mercenary side to marriage. Yes, that was certainly something, for, in his experience, a good many of them took the opposite view!

Just another week and she would be wearing Mark's ring for everyone to see!

It was really no time at all—and yet, to Lisa, the days seemed endless, filled with trivial events with absolutely nothing happening to make one stand out from another. For, to her surprise, during this week of all weeks, Mark didn't ring her up as he usually did practically every evening. Common sense told her that there was some perfectly good explanation for the omission, but though she tried to reassure herself that bad news always travels fastest, she grew increasingly restless and anxious.

And yet there was a perfectly simple way in which to set her mind at rest—that she should ring Mark up. But though she was at a loss to explain why, she couldn't bring herself to do so. Absurd, but there it was.

Nor did she feel she could possibly ask Mr Cosgrave, who was not in town this week, if there was anything wrong.

So she set her teeth and kept her head high—and everyone who loved her knew that she wasn't happy and that her nerves were stretched to breaking point-though they did their best not to let her see their concern.

She spent a lot of time out walking, deliberately tiring herself out so that she might hope to sleep well at night —only the hope was not realized and the shadows under her eyes deepened.

It was not until Thursday that anything happened of any note.

She was out on one of her walking jaunts when Tom stopped his car beside her.

'Hallo, Lisa!' he greeted her cheerfully. 'Dedicated to walking—or would you like a run to Arundel?'

'Oh—' she considered for a moment. 'Yes, all right —only I'll have to let Mother know.'

'Oh, that's all right,' Tom said carelessly. 'I told her that if I did happen to see you, I'd ask you to come —I don't really like driving alone if I can avoid it.'

Accepting the explanation at its face value, Lisa got in beside him, but once they were on their way, a question did occur to her.

'Tom, is this a professional visit?'

'It is,' he told her briefly.

'But isn't it rather far afield?' she suggested. 'Surely there must be a vet nearer at hand than you?'

'Oh, possibly,' he still spoke in that careless way, but now, to Lisa, it seemed rather overdone. However, he went on: 'But actually, the call I've got to make isn't as far off as Arundel and the owner of the dog concerned used to live at Addingly and would rather have someone who knows the dog's history—a fact which may be of use to me in the near future.'

A sudden change in his manner, a note of something very much like grimness in his voice, made Lisa look at him sharply.

'But I don't understand—you couldn't possibly run your present practice and another one miles away, could you?'

'No, I couldn't,' Tom agreed. 'But then, you see, it may become advisable for me to leave Addingly!'

'Leave Addingly!' Lisa echoed in amazement. 'But it's a first-class practice—'

'It is at present,' Tom agreed, and this time there was no mistaking his grimness. 'But whether it will be in the future—well, that's very doubtful!'

'But I don't understand—' Lisa said in a bewildered way. 'Why on earth—?'

Tom drew a deep breath.

'So you don't know anything about it,' he said with evident relief. 'Well, that's something, at any rate!'

'But about what?' Lisa urged. 'Oh, Tom, do for goodness' sake tell me!'

'All right, here it comes! Another vet is setting up— or being set up in Addingly. And rumour—no, something a little stronger than that—has it that his backer is Simon Cosgrave. Now do you understand?'

Lisa stared speechless at the grim, rugged profile beside her. Then she shook her head.

'No, I can't believe it,' she told him.

'Why not? You heard Cosgrave say that I was going to regret what he was pleased to call my insolence for the rest of my life, didn't you?'

'Yes,' Lisa admitted uneasily. 'But honestly, Tom, I can't credit that anyone would go to such lengths! And look at the expense it would mean!'

Tom shrugged.

'What you mean is that you can't imagine
yourself
going to such lengths because, for one thing, you're a nice person, and for another, you couldn't afford to. But Cosgrave is a wealthy man, and really, Lisa, you can't say he's nice, can you?'

'No,' she was forced to acknowledge, and then, after a pause: 'Tom, where did you get hold of this story?'