The Man in Possession (24 page)

He kept his gaze on her face.
‘
Would you reconsider my offer of partnership?
’

Julia leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes momentarily.

‘
Roger, please go away. I
’
ve told you—
’

He stood up, his face taut.
‘
All right, I
’
ll go. I was something of a fool to come. You
’
ve disliked me right from the start, haven
’
t you?
’

She stared at him. How could a man be so blind
?’
If—if I
’
d disliked you all that much, I wouldn
’
t have agreed to work for you.
’

He turned away from her.
‘
Are you sure you didn
’
t merely tolerate me because you just couldn
’
t bear to leave the place?
’

For a moment she did not answer. Feeling near to tears, she looked at his back as he gazed out of the window, and a feeling of infinite tenderness swept over her. Her pride slowly ebbed away.

‘
No, Roger, I
didn
’
t
merely tolerate you.
’

He swung round.
‘
Then why is the idea of a partnership so—so repugnant to you?

‘
It
’
s—not repugnant, Roger, it
’
s—
’
She broke off. How could she possibly tell him?

He caught her expression and came swiftly to her side, bringing his chair close up to hers.

‘I
—mustn
’
t go away without saying what I came to say. The—sort of partnership I had in mind was different from the one I put to you before. I want a different kind of partnership altogether.
’

‘
You—mean you
’
d stay and work along with me, not go back to London?
’

‘
Something like that.
’

‘
So Celia has changed her mind about living in Norfolk.
’

‘
Celia?
’
he echoed in a puzzled voice.
‘
Oh yes, that reminds me, what did you mean by that postscript to your letter
?’

She frowned.
‘
What should it mean except what it said? I—just wished you both every happiness, that
’
s all.
’

‘
But why
?
Are you under the impression that she and I are going to be married or something?
’

‘
Why, yes. Aren
’
t you?
’

He shook his head slowly.
‘
Where
’
d you get the idea?
’

‘
From—from Celia.
’

‘She actually said so, did she?
’
he persisted.

‘Yes. Surely it was true. I mean—
’

‘
Surely it wasn
’
t,
’
he answered in a decisive tone. He took both her hands in his.
‘I
never even asked her. How could I when it was you I wanted?
’

Her heart gave a tremendous leap.
‘
Roger! Roger, you don
’
t mean that.
’

‘I
most certainly do. But I was willing to—more or less let you have the boatyard, if that was what you wanted.
’

She shook her head swiftly and her eyes misted over.
‘I
don
’
t want it, not without you,
’
she told him tremulously.

His grip on her hands tightened. He gave a tremendous sigh and cupped her face in his hands.

‘
Julia! Oh, Julia, say that again and keep on saying it.
’

She blinked.
‘
Tell me more about that partnership.
’

He looked at her with an expression of infinite tenderness.
‘
It
’
s a sort of life partnership,
’
he said softly.
‘
You know the kind of thing. There
’
s a ceremony to which we invite all our friends. We make promises to love and honour and to cling only to each other until death us do part. I slip a plain gold ring on your finger, we sign our names in a book, then live happily ever after. Together, of course,
’
he added.

‘I
—I think I
’
d like that,
’
she whispered.

He gave her a long look, then brought his lip down on hers in a lingering kiss which sent her floating on a cloud of exquisite happiness.

‘
Do you love me, Julia?
’
he asked, searching her face.

She gave a little smile.
‘
Need you ask?
’

‘
Yes, and I need to be told. In fact there are one or two things which need clearing up before we go any further.
’
He pulled her to her feet.
‘
Come and sit beside me and let
’
s talk a little.
’

They sat on the long settee and he put his arm around her.
‘I
love you, Julia. I just want to be sure that there will never be any ghosts between us.
’

‘
Ghosts?
’
she queried, running her fingers down his cheek.

He nodded.
‘I
realized quite early on that I
’
d nothing to fear from Max Windham. You were not in love with him, and never could be. I had a much more serious rival.
’

‘
You mean—
’

‘I
mean David. He was the reason for your wanting to buy the business, wasn
’
t he? You couldn
’
t bear the thought of anyone else taking his place. I thought you might gradually recover from that, but instead it seemed to get worse. You kept talking about going away. The very mention of his name caused you pain. I love you, Julia, and I want to marry you, but I couldn
’
t bear it if I thought you were still in love with somebody else, that every time you looked at me or saw me around the place you were wishing I was another man.
’

She turned to face him and put her arms about his neck.
‘
Darling Roger, it
’
s you I love—and only you. I
was
in love with David. Of course I was. But that was nothing compared with what I feel for you. It
’
s—true that I wanted to buy Wingcraft because I couldn
’
t bear the thought of a stranger having it, and of course David still meant a great deal to me. But, darling, David has gone. Where, I don
’
t know, but gone he has. There
’
s only you, and what I feel for you is a far bigger, far deeper thing than I ever felt for David.
’

His arm about her tightened so that it almost hurt.

‘
You
’
re sure? Really sure?
’

‘
I
’
m very, very sure. Far from merely tolerating you, I liked you from the morning of our first interview.
’

His eyes widened.
‘
You had a very odd way of showing it.
’

‘I
fought against it. Celia was always there. She was much more real than David
’
s ghost. You drew her face in your doodlings, you carried her photograph in your pocket, you left your father
’
s business because of her and—
’

He stared at her.
‘
What a fearful imagination you have
!’

‘
You mean it
’
s not true
?’

‘
Not a word of it. I left the oil business because I just couldn
’
t stand the cut and thrust of big business any longer. And that wasn
’
t Celia
’
s face I was drawing. I always draw faces when I
’
m doodling. As to the photograph, I
’
d forgotten it was there. Celia put it into my pocket one time. She was my secretary, that was all. At a risk of sounding conceited I think she did rather want to marry me. Not because she loved me or because I
’
d ever given her any encouragement. It was money and position she wanted, and she considered I had it. And don
’
t forget,
’
he said with a grin,
‘
you invited her to stay at the houseboat, not
I.’

‘I
did it to please you, then spent every minute regretting it,
’
she told him. Then:
‘
By the way, did you know that she and Max had met each other before—
’

He nodded.
‘
I
’
ve had a very busy week finding out things. I went to see Sheldrake and threatened to put the police on to him if he didn
’
t tell me the truth. Then I went to see Windham and scared him half to death, and finally I got a few things out of Celia.
’

‘
Mm. A very determined man, weren
’
t you?
’

‘
That was me all right, after I
’
d come to my senses. It
’
s been a pretty fair conspiracy. Windham and Celia met one day in town, it seemed, and thoroughly got their heads together. She wanted to get me back to London with the hope of becoming wife of the heir to the oil company, he wanted Wingcraft. At first he had hoped to get possession simply by marrying you. He hadn
’
t enough money to buy it himself.
’

‘
Sounds feasible. I know he was fed up with working for his father.
’

‘
It
’
s true. I got that much from Celia. When he realized there was nothing doing as far as you were concerned he promised to help Celia to try to get me so fed up I
’
d leave and go back to London. Celia suspected how I felt about you which made her all the more anxious to drive a wedge between us. In fact, Celia promised Max a considerable sum of money once she had my ring on her finger. I suspect one idea was to make it appear that you were keen on him by various means. But those antics failed miserably. You told me you didn
’
t particularly care for him, in any case. I believed you, but it only confirmed worse suspicions. That you were still in love with David
’
s ghost.
’

Julia clung to him.
^‘
Silly! But they very nearly succeeded in one way, didn
’
t they? I really thought you intended marrying Celia, especially when you said you were going back to London, and I couldn
’
t bear the thought of you bringing her back to the boatyard—and the house—after you were married. That
’
s why I ran away.
’

He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes.
‘
Darling girl, I had that house done up for you. I had every intention of asking you to ma
rr
y me one day, until—
’
She silenced him by putting her lips on his. Then after a minute or two:

‘
Did you find out who had monkeyed with the design for the new yachts?
’

He nodded. You remember the Sunday when the cruiser got stuck on Breydon Water? Windham rang Sheldrake—and by the way, he
’
d been paid to come and try to sabotage the business so that I
’
d get fed up and pack it in, and by bringing down the reputation of Wingcraft, Windham hoped to get it cheaper. Anyway, that Sunday Windham kept Bob Winters talking while Sheldrake photographed the design. Then they got a tracing done and altered the figures. It was easy for Sheldrake to make the exchange without the design ever being missed. But, sweetheart, I didn
’
t mean what I said that morning. I was so wretched because I thought you wanted to get rid of me. Promise you
’
ll never, ever run away from me again, for I just couldn
’
t live without you.
’

‘
Nor I without you,
’
she answered softly.