Hide and Seek for Love (13 page)

“No, of course not.  I expect it is some inquisitive neighbours who have heard I have arrived.  I can only hope that Newman will have the good sense to turn them away.”

“I am sure he will.  Here is your tea.”

She held out the cup to him.

As David took it from her, the door opened.

“Miss Stella Ashworth,” Newman announced in his most authoritarian voice.

 

For a moment David was stunned into silence. Then as Stella saw him, she ran forward.

“David,
darling
!” she cried.  “
I am here
!  Are you pleased to see me?”

She threw herself against him and he could not help putting an arm round her, but did not kiss her.

He merely looked down at her and asked,

“What has happened?  Why are you in England?”

“Papa had to attend an urgent interview at the War Office and I decided to come along with him.  How could you leave India without saying goodbye to me?”

“I thought I did and that you understood.”

“I don't know what you are talking about, David.  Of course I did not understand.  But it's wonderful to see you, although I expected you to be in London.”

“So you drove down here?” he asked as if he was working it out.

He had taken his arm from her and yet Stella was still standing close to him with her hands flat on his chest.

“I
had
to see you,” she whispered.  “You know I had to see you.”

David became aware that Benina was watching in wide-eyed astonishment.

He deliberately moved away from Stella, saying,

“I want you to meet my cousin who is living here too.  Benina Falcon – Stella Ashworth.”

Stella took one quick look at Benina and nodded to her disinterestedly.

Benina, who had half-risen from her chair to shake hands, sat down again.

“May I pour you a cup of tea?” she asked.  “I am sure you must need one after your journey from London.”

“I am in no hurry,” Stella replied almost rudely.

As she spoke the door opened and Newman came in with a teacup and plate for the new arrival.

David picked up his cup of tea.

“It is certainly a surprise to see you, Stella.  How long will you be staying in London?”

She looked at him coyly from under her eyelashes, before she answered.

“I think that really depends on you – ”

“Then I must disappoint you, Stella, as I just cannot come to London at the moment.  As you may be aware, my grandfather has died and there is an enormous amount to be done in this house and on the estate.  I have no time for gallivanting.”

“I am not asking you to gallivant,” replied Stella, “but to be with
me
.”

“I am afraid that is impossible and I am sorry to tell you that your journey here has been fruitless.”

Stella looked towards the window.

“It's growing late and I think Papa would not wish me to drive back alone in the dark.  I brought my lady's maid with me, so I will be no trouble and we can leave, if that is what you want me to do, tomorrow morning.”

David realised from the way she was speaking that it would be impossible for him to insist that she drove back to London that night.

He looked despairingly at Benina, who suggested,

“I will go and prepare a bedroom for your friend, my Lord, and Nanny will arrange for the lady's maid to stay in one of the rooms that have been cleaned.”

She rose from her chair without finishing the cake she was eating and slipped out of the room before David could open the door for her.

When she thought Benina was out of earshot, Stella enquired,

“Is that badly dressed girl really your relative?”

“You heard me say her name is Falcon, which was my mother's name before she married my father.”

Stella gave a rather affected yawn.

“I do find relatives
such
a bore.  It must be tiresome for you having her living here in the house.”

“As a matter of fact she has been extremely useful to me,” David replied coldly.  “There is so much to do, as you can already see.  My grandfather allowed this house to deteriorate badly before he died.”

“Why didn't you tell me your grandfather had died?  When the Viceroy told Papa you had left because you had become the Marquis of Inglestone, I couldn't believe it.”

The way she was looking at him and the manner in which she spoke told David what he already suspected.

If she had realised when he asked her to marry him that he was already a Marquis, she would not have hesitated to accept him.

He was already feeling rather suspicious about her statement that her father had to visit the War Office and it was, he was sure, a fabrication to hide their real reason for coming to England.

David, holding his tea in his hand, did not sit back down on the chair he had been sitting in.

It was too close to Stella.

Instead he sat on the sofa by the tea table.

He had only just put his cup and saucer down on the table when Stella moved to sit next to him.

She slipped her arm through his and let her head rest lightly on his shoulder.

“I was very unhappy when you left, darling David,” she breathed.  “I knew that I had made a
terrible
mistake in refusing you when you asked me to be your wife.”

For a moment David was at a loss for words and then he remarked,

“I feel now as if that happened a long time ago.  I have had so much to do since I returned that I have not had a minute to think about my private life.”

“Then let me think of it for you,” Stella murmured.  “I love you, David, and I always have – ”

David was wondering desperately what he should say when the door opened and Benina came back.

Instinctively Stella moved a little way from him.

“Newman is taking your luggage upstairs,” Benina told Stella.  “Your maid says that you have the key of your trunk and she needs to unpack your evening dress.”

Stella made a sound, which David knew was one of annoyance. She had left her bag in the chair where she had been sitting and she rose from the sofa to retrieve it.

Quickly David rose to his feet.

“I had better fetch a bottle of claret from the cellar,” he said to Benina.  “I suppose you have told Nanny that Miss Ashworth will be here for dinner?”

“I expect Newman has told her and I will help her if she needs me.”

She would have left, but David stopped her.

“Wait a minute, Benina, I will fetch the key and then I will come with you.”

“I expect Newman can find the claret in the cellar if I give him the key.”

David realised she did not appreciate that the last thing he wanted was to be left alone with Stella.

He knew by the way Benina was speaking that she was not only surprised at Stella's affectionate attitude but upset by it.

He could understand why.

She was afraid that she and Nanny might have to leave if Stella was to take her place in helping him restore Ingle Hall.

David, however, was quite determined to have his own way.

He found the key to the cellar in the writing desk and without saying anything to Stella, hurried after Benina as she walked down the corridor.

When he caught up with her, he told her,

“There was nothing I could do, but agree to Miss Ashworth staying the night.”

“It will be nice for you to have a friend,” Benina replied, “and, of course, I will have dinner in the kitchen with Nanny.”

“You will do nothing of the sort.  I want you to dine with me and that is exactly what you
will
do.”

“I feel sure you would much rather be alone with her, my Lord.”

“It is my decision, Benina, and I will be extremely angry if you do not do as I tell you!”

She looked at him and he recognised that she was bewildered and did not follow what was happening.

“I will explain everything to you later when she has gone.  At the same time as far as she is concerned, you are the hostess.  You are to do as I tell you and come down to dinner and stay afterwards until we all retire to bed.”

Benina did not reply, but he knew when he left her to go to the cellar that she would obey his instructions.

He gave the claret to Newman and after a moment's thought, he went into the kitchen.

As he expected, Nanny was making something on the kitchen table and Benina had sat down opposite her.

David deliberately closed the kitchen door as if he did not want to be overheard.

Then going nearer to Nanny, he asked,

“You have heard what has happened?”

“I understand we have a visitor, my Lord.”

“An unexpected one and an unwanted one.  Now I need your help and this is very important.”

He looked at Benina as he spoke and he was aware that she was listening with a worried look in her eyes.

“The last thing that I could possibly want now is for Miss Ashworth to suspect that we are searching the house for my grandfather's money and that we have practically none until we find it.

“There is no gossip like Indian gossip – they chatter and chatter away when they have nothing else to do.  Miss Ashworth's father is the General Commandant in Calcutta and the Viceroy told him why I came home.  But they know nothing else about my position here or the difficulties we are involved in.”

Nanny gave a sigh.

“I gets it, my Lord, and it'd be a great mistake for them to talk, as they surely would if they knew the full truth.”

“I knew you would, Nanny, and Benina must help me tonight over dinner.  It's going to be very difficult if Miss Ashworth asks any awkward questions.”

Benina's eyes lit up.

“Of course, I will help.  I did not understand and I thought you wanted to be alone with her.”

“I think, without meaning to sound too conceited,” continued David, “she wants to be alone with me, but I am apprehensive at the questions I may have to answer.  Thus I need you.  You must keep the conversation rolling so that she is not suspicious in any way.”

“I do follow you now,” admitted Benina.  “I am sorry if I was being stupid.”

“As she will undoubtedly be tired from travelling, I am sure we can go to bed early without seeming rude.”

“I will yawn when you tell me to, my Lord!”

Now she was laughing and David hesitated for a second before saying,

“I think you might suggest that she would like to rest before dinner.  Then if we go back and finish our tea, there will not be such a long wait between the two meals.”

Benina seemed indecisive.

“Now you do what his Lordship requires,” Nanny came in.  “I knows better than you how these smart ladies, wherever they be, in Mayfair or India, talk their heads off and poke their noses into things what don't concern them.  ‘
Least said, soonest mended
,' as my old father would say.”

“Quite right, Nanny,” agreed David.  “Now come on Benina, let's go back and I am sure that we can keep the conversation going on India if nothing else!”

He saw that the worried expression had gone from Benina's face.

She jumped to her feet eagerly.

“Tell Miss Ashworth,” said Nanny, “I've shown the lady's maid up to her room and one for herself.”

“I hope she will be comfortable.”

“We've done our best, my Lord, and if there's too much dust, she'll feel she's back in India!”

David was chuckling as he and Benina walked back to the study.

When Stella came down for dinner after being more or less forced into having a rest, David had to admit that she did look exceedingly glamorous.

She was wearing a gown that would have been a lot more suited to a formal dinner at Government House than, as she had intended, a
tête-à-tête
with him.

The full skirt made it possible to have row after row of lace-trimmed frills reaching from the waist to the floor, and the same frills covered her arms and accentuated the smallness of Stella's waist.

She wore rather too much jewellery for a young girl and David suspected that she had worn it deliberately.

She wanted to show him how beautiful she would look at the Opening of Parliament in the Inglestone jewels.

These were in the safe in the pantry and he had not even bothered to look at them, as he knew that Newman had looked after them carefully and David was certain he would have told him if anything was missing.

They had been entailed for longer than anything else, including a necklace that had been given by Queen Elizabeth to the then Marquis of Inglestone.

Compared to Stella's, Benina's dress was out-of date and plain, although dear Nanny had done her best by adding a dashing sash of blue satin, the colour of her eyes.

She looked, David pondered, very young and very unsophisticated.

At the same time ‘beautiful' was the right word to describe her.

‘One day,' he mused, ‘I must give her a dress that is as expensive as Stella's to frame her beauty as she should be framed – '

With a sigh he recalled that it entirely depended on whether they found his grandfather's money.

He had changed into evening dress for the first time since he had come back to Ingle Hall.

It would have seemed out of place when they were eating at a small table in the study, but correct for a formal occasion in the dining room.

Newman had risen to the moment.

There were four magnificent silver candlesticks on the table as well as a huge ornamental goblet that was three hundred years old.

The pictures round the wall were all of the previous Marquises of Inglestone by a great artist of the day.  The earliest were now of enormous value, although they could all have done with extensive cleaning.

Despite Newman's tireless efforts there was still a good covering of dust on the panelling, but David thought it was unlikely that Stella would notice it.