HIGH TIDE AT MIDNIGHT (30 page)

'Spent half the night in that chair, he did, making sure you slept easy.

Besides, 'twas him that found you, and you'll want to thank him for that at

least. Carried you into the house as if you were a dead thing.'

Morwenna made herself go on with her soup. She said slowly, 'Other things

are coming back to me now. I thought I'd dreamt them. Did—did I see Miss

Inglis here?'

'She's still here. I made up the bed for her in your old room.' Inez gave a nod

of satisfaction. 'Looks as if she and Mr Nick are going to make a match of it

after all these years.' She chuckled. ' 'Twas proper romantic to see them, and

I'd always thought Miss Inglis a cold sort of woman. And Mr Mark's young

lady seems a nice little thing, though not a lot to say for herself yet.

Finished? There's a good maid.'

She took the tray from Morwenna briskly, and fetched her hairbrush from

the dressing table. Morwenna protested feebly, but Inez overrode her

objections. 'You don't want him seeing you like this with your hair in a

snarl,' she declared positively. 'And that old nightie of your mother's isn't

much cop, either. Lucky I've got something that'll cover it up proper.'

She produced a parcel wrapped in Christmas paper and handed it to

Morwenna. When she opened it, Morwenna found a pretty white wool

shawl, hand-crocheted with a long fringe.

'Little present for you,' Inez commented offhandedly. 'Did it when I had a

moment. 'Tisn't difficult to do—in fact I could teach you how to do it, later

on.'

Morwenna slipped the shawl's fleecy softness round her shoulders, sudden

tears pricking her eyes. 'Oh, Inez! It— it's beautiful.'

'Well, there's no call to cry about it.' Inez sounded shocked. 'Don't let Mr

Dom find you with red eyes on Christmas morning.'

Before Morwenna could speak, she gave her a ferocious wink and vanished

with the tray, and the discarded wrapping paper.

Morwehna watched the door, aware that her heart was thumping

uncomfortably under her ribs. When at last he came, she was shocked at the

sight of him. He was very pale and there were deep shadows of sleeplessness

under his eyes. He came across to the bed and stood looking down at her.

'We don't have to talk,' he said quietly. 'We've all the time in the world for

talking when you're stronger. Just don't send me away, Morwenna. Let me

sit in that chair and look at you, and know that you're safe.'

'No,' she halted him as he began to move away. 'There are things that must

be said. You—you saved my life. I don't know how, and I can't begin to

thank you…'

'Thank me?' he cut in almost incredulously. 'My God, have you any

conception of what I went through yesterday when you disappeared like

that?'

'Yes.' She began to pleat a fold of sheet in her fingers. 'I'm sorry I worried

you all like that.'

'Never mind the others.' He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his hand

over hers. She was amazed to find that it was shaking slightly. 'Later in the

day they'll all be coming to see you and you'll hear all about their varying

reactions
ad nauseam.
But now I've got you to myself for a while, so I'd be

grateful if you'd concentrate on me and my feelings. Why did you run

away?'

'Because I knew I'd made you angry again—and I couldn't bear it.' She

stared wearily down at the coverlet. There was no point in dissimulation

now.

'Because I found you at Barbie's?' He gave a slight groan. 'I was angry, but

not for the reason you think. You see, I wasn't alone there. Nick was with

me.'

'Nick?'

'Yes. He decided yesterday morning that as devious methods hadn't

achieved what he wanted, then he'd better try a more direct approach. So he

told me the whole story and got me to drive him over to see Barbie.

Karen—insisted on knowing why we had come, and Nick was. blunt with

her, perhaps too blunt. She took it badly, and you suffered the brunt of it. If I

seemed angry, it was more for you than with you, although I was afraid that

you might have queered Nick's pitch by your intervention.'

'But I didn't know,' she began. He passed a silencing finger caressingly over

her lips.

'You didn't wait to find out, my sweet. You came back here and barricaded

yourself in and none of us could reach you. Then we had to spend a frantic

day yesterday trying to find you. The Christmas Eve dinner was nearly

cancelled for the first time in living memory. It was Nick's decision to go

ahead with it. He was convinced that you'd be back in the house before

midnight.' He gave a slight, rueful smile. 'But it's as well he couldn't

visualise the circumstance of your return, or it might have caused him

another stroke.'

Morwenna was shaking now, a little with reaction, but more, far more with

his proximity and this new inexplicable tenderness.

She moistened her lips. 'So—so everything's all right with Nick and Barbie.

I'm so pleased—pleased above all that Nick finally decided to go to her

himself.'

'He found her more than ready to meet him halfway,' Dominic said rather

drily. 'I don't know what you can have said to her, but it seemed to have

touched some inner chord. He was with her for over an hour and when they

came down to the drawing room she was clinging to him as if he was her

rock.'

Morwenna was silent for a moment, then she said, 'But how do you feel

about it, Dominic? After all, what she did affected your family so deeply.

Can you forgive her and accept her as Nick's wife?'

'Nick's his own man,' he said shortly. 'As for Barbie, she's been punished

enough, I think. She and Nick plan to be married early in the New Year.

When they announced it last night, she looked like a woman who had been

let out of prison.'

She forced a smile. 'It must have been quite a celebration. I hope Karen will

also be able to accept the situation.'

He shrugged. 'I doubt if she'll be around very much longer to accept it or

otherwise. I gather from Barbie she's planning another prolonged visit to

California. Apparently there's a man involved.'

Morwenna was very white and her eyes were enormous. She whispered. 'But

it was you—you and Karen. You were going to announce your engagement

to her last night. That's the other reason I ran away—I couldn't face the idea

of seeing you together.'

'I—engaged to Karen?' He stared at her, brows raised. 'Whatever gave you

that idea?' His face became sardonic. 'Or maybe I should ask whoever gave

it to you?'

'But she made it clear to me that you were going to be married. She talked

about the changes she would make when she was mistress here. And Mark

said you'd taken your mother's ring to be cleaned and altered.'

His mouth twisted drily. 'I'm aware that local gossip has had Karen and

myself paired off for some time, and I'd be a liar if I pretended to you that I

wasn't attracted to her, or that any relationship between us had been purely

casual. She was decorative and could be amusing and she had

other—attributes which I won't enlarge upon, but there was never any

question of marriage, on my side at least. In fact things had cooled between

us quite some time ago— long before you quite literally flung yourself

across my path.'

She said, her face burning, 'But you were with her that night. The night Nick

unlocked my mother's room. I saw you come home the next morning.'

'Yes, I'd been out all night.' He looked steadily at her.'But I hadn't been with

Karen. I'd just been—driving around,-trying and failing to come to terms

with myself and the way I was feeling about you. I was trying to argue you

out of my head and my heart and failing badly. Hence my somewhat violent

reaction when I saw you.'

She released her hand gently from his. She did not look at him as she said,

'Dominic—I'm not another Karen. You see, I lied to you the other night.

There's never been—anyone. But I know you want me, and if that's all you

want of me, then I'll make it what I want too.'

He swore softly under his breath. His hand gripped her chin and turned her

head so that she was facing him.

'And where does love come into it—or were you lying about that too?'

'Oh, no.' Her eyes met his. 'I did—I do love you. But you said…'

'I know what I said.' He put up a hand and warily raked his dishevelled hair

back from his forehead. 'Let's just say it was my last line of defence against

you—and not a very good one at that.' He bent forward and kissed her eyes

very softly. 'I love you, Morwenna,' he whispered. 'And I need you as I need

to draw my next breath. I sensed it that first night when I hauled you out of

the ditch. That's why I was so angry when I found out who you were. Your

mother had always been represented to me as an unprincipled adventuress.

Knowing you were her daughter, I was bound to misjudge your motives. I've

been torn in half ever since you set foot in this house. And to cap it all, it was

so obvious that everyone else in the household adored you. Especially

Mark.' He shook his head. 'God, was I jealous of Mark! I saw him kissing

you that night—remember? I'm afraid you suffered the backlash from that

later.'

In a low voice, she said, 'Dominic—that card from Vanessa.'

'Ah, yes.' His lip curled slightly. 'I had the privilege of a conversation with

your cousin Vanessa when I phoned the Priory to enquire about your

whereabouts. She took a quite malicious delight in hearing you might be in

trouble of some kind. And she asked if you'd received the card.'

Morwenna sighed. 'She's never liked me very much, but....'

'Don't give her another thought,' he said. 'You need never see her or hear

from her again.'

He drew her to him and his mouth closed over hers with an ardent

possessiveness which sent her senses reeling. When she could speak, she

said, 'But you were always so hostile to me…'

'I thought I behaved with amazing restraint under the circumstances,' he

said. He bent and pressed his lips to the throbbing pulse in her throat. 'I

wanted so badly to believe in you—to accept all that loveliness and

innocence as genuine, but all the evidence seemed to be against you, making

you either a mischief-maker or a fanatic—possibly both.' He shook his head.

'When Nick told me how he'd been using you, we had a blazing row.'

'You mustn't blame him.' Shyly she put up a hand and stroked his cheek. 'He

only did what he thought was right.' She paused. 'Dominic—how did you

know where to find me? On the beach, I mean.'

He lay on the bed beside her, holding her in the curve of his arm. 'When I

realised you'd gone, I looked everywhere for a note—some kind of message.

In spite of everything, I couldn't believe you'd simply vanished without a

word to me. And I had this feeling that you were still in the area.' He grinned

reminiscently. 'A feeling that was confirmed when I called at St Enna to

collect my future sister-in-law. She may be a loyal friend, but she's not a

good liar. I guessed you were somewhere about—possibly within earshot,

and that my best bet would be to return later that night or early this morning

when you weren't expecting me. That's what I intended. Then I found the

envelope with your drawing under the tree last night and I knew that you'd

visited the house without anyone realising it during the evening. It seemed a

forlorn hope, but I went to the front door and there were these footprints

leading away from the house in the snow. It had to be you, so I got a torch

and followed.' He shuddered. 'Thank God I did!'

His lips found hers again and she clung to him without reserve, returning his

kisses with passionate ardour. They were both far too absorbed to hear the

door opening.

'Rest and quiet,' Inez said severely. 'That's what that maid should be 'aving,

and how's she to do that, I'd like to know, with you sprawled all over her bed,

Mr Dom?' She stood, hands on hips, regarding them both like a benign fairy.

'Come away and have your breakfast, and leave 'er be.'

Morwenna began to shake with laughter and felt Dominic's arm tighten

round her.

He said with a dangerous glint in his eye, 'Inez, I'll leave when I've said what

I came here to say, and not before.'

'Well, get on with it, then,' Inez returned without rancour. 'You've been here

long enough to make a speech in Parliament, never mind ask the maid to

marry you. And if your bacon's cold, don't blame me.' On which valedictory

note, she departed.

Morwenna said on a catch of her breath, 'Dominic—you—I....'

He reached into his pocket and took out a small jewellers' box. He said rather

ruefully, 'Inez stole my thunder, but I had the ring cleaned and altered for