They Sought love Read online

  She had thought such an argument could never sway her, but into her mind suddenly came the memory of Robin’s laughter and his voice saying cruelly,

  ‘Celina’s a nice girl, but she’s been on the shelf for years.’

  Rank. Title. Precedence. She had never cared for any of them before, but now she remembered that a Marquis outranked an Earl.

  So she was a countrified spinster, was she?

  It would be – a pleasure to teach him a lesson.

  When she was a Marchioness, he could never laugh at her again.

  It would be so easy. She had only to allow Lord Delaine to slide the ring onto her finger – just as he was doing now –

  She stared down at the huge diamond on her left hand, wondering how it had got there.

  “You accept me!” Delaine cried. “This is more than I dared to hope. I swear you will never regret it.”

  “My Lord,” Celina stammered, “I cannot – please – do not – ”

  She was barely conscious of what she was saying. The dazzling vision of making Robin eat his words was so strong that for a moment she almost felt that she might throw caution to the winds, accept the Marquis and queen it over London Society.

  Emboldened, the Marquis struggled to his feet and seized her in his arms.

  “Mine!” he howled. “Mine!”

  She raised her arms to fend him off, but it was a mistake because it enabled him to slip his hands around her waist, draw her close and plant his lips on her mouth.

  She tried to struggle but she could do little except thump his shoulders while trying vainly to free her mouth.

  She began to feel desperate, unable to call for help.

  Then she heard noises, footsteps, an angry oath and suddenly the Marquis was gone, hauled off her by forceful hands.

  The shock was so sudden that Celina staggered back and landed, sprawling on the sofa.

  Next she saw the man who had come to her rescue.

  It was Robin!

  She could have screamed.

  “Let me go,” the Marquis shrieked, trying to wriggle free from Robin’s painful grasp on his ear.

  “First you have some explaining to do,” hissed Robin, still holding him.

  “How dare you!” the Marquis roared. “This lady is my promised wife and if I choose to kiss her it is none of your business.”

  “Your promised wife?” Robin questioned cynically.

  “If you don’t believe me, look at her left hand. That ring is a family heirloom. My grandfather gave it to my grandmother and my father gave it to my mother.”

  The sight of the ring made Robin pause long enough for the Marquis to twist himself free.

  “And now I have given it to my bride,” he announced breathlessly. “I begged her to be my wife and when she consented, I slipped it on her finger. There it will lie until I add a wedding ring to it and she becomes the Marchioness of Delaine.”

  At last Celina found her voice.

  “No – forgive me, my Lord, but – ”

  “You will make the finest Marchioness in London,” he squawked, oblivious to everything but his own transports. “The happiest moment of my life was when you said you would be mine.”

  Robin was watching Celina narrowly.

  “Is that what you said?” he asked.

  “No, I never meant – ”

  She was struggling with the ring but it was stuck.

  Some glimmer of the truth was beginning to reach the Marquis. “I will cover you with jewels,” he gasped. “You will enjoy the friendship of Royalty – ”

  “Stop talking like a ninny,” Robin cut in bluntly.

  Moving quickly he seized Celina’s hand, removed the huge diamond ring and tossed it to the rejected suitor.

  A moment of farce then ensued as the ring slithered away, forcing the Marquis to dive under a sofa searching for it.

  Robin contemplated the Marquis’s large rear and his foot twitched.

  “Tempting,” he said. “But a waste of time. Get up man and be off. You have had your chance.”

  The Marquis emerged dishevelled, clutching the ring and scrambled to his feet.

  “Ahah!” he cried. “False woman! You have deceived me.”

  “I never deceived you,” Celina replied indignantly.

  “You swore that there was no other man. You lied. You love another!”

  “I most certainly do not. I do not love Lord Torrington any more than I love you, and I am not marrying either of you. Please leave at once.”

  For a moment it looked as if the Marquis might stand his ground, but a glance at Robin’s grim face seemed to change his mind. He gave a sketchy bow to Celina and scampered away.

  “Now, madam,” Robin said, turning to her. “I believe we have business to discuss.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Celina could hear a strange singing in her ears. The whole world seemed to be throbbing around her.

  The scene that had just passed should have left her devastated, embarrassed, horrified.

  Instead she felt ablaze with brilliant life.

  He had called her a countrified spinster, ‘on the shelf for years’. He had sneered and laughed at her and accused her of inventing tales about men proposing to her.

  Well, now he knew.

  He had seen the Marquis of Delaine at her feet and seen the Delaine diamond on her finger. And he had heard her reject, not only Delaine, but himself.

  She had fought back and whatever happened after this, for one blinding glorious moment she had known an excitement that was greater than anything in her life.

  She could face him with her head held high and that was what she would do.

  “I am obliged to you, my Lord,” she ventured, confronting him, “for coming to my rescue. I had thought that the Marquis had accepted my refusal, but it seems not.”

  “Yes, he must be very much in love to have pursued you here,” Robin observed. “I understand that he is not alone in his passion. Do you anticipate any other interruptions?”

  “I think not.”

  “Good. Then we can talk. Do you mind telling me what lay behind the note you sent to my mother this morning? It upset her a good deal.”

  “I am so sorry for that and I shall apologise to her personally. But I do not believe that she can seriously have expected me to marry you.”

  “She was certainly under the impression that you had agreed.”

  “Your mother is my oldest and dearest friend. When she made her request, my first thought was that I would do anything for her. But naturally, on reflection, I realised that it was impossible. You must surely have come to the same conclusion, so we are bound to be in agreement.”

  “I am not concerned with your refusal, but with the fact that you failed to make your feelings clear from the beginning.”

  “That was careless of me, but I was taken by surprise. Had I had time to think I would have told your mother that I have no taste for the married state. I am, after all, twenty-five years old, an age at which most ladies have married.

  “Those that are still unwed have either had no chances or have chosen to embrace the single state. You have seen for yourself which one is true in my case.”

  It might have been her imagination that he reddened slightly. It was hard to be sure since he quickly looked away. No matter. She was enjoying herself.

  “I pity any woman who has no choice but to enter the yoke of matrimony,” she continued. “She is condemned forever to endure her husband’s temper. True happiness is only to be found in freedom. I shall remain my own mistress and consult only my own wishes.”

  “I see. You envision marriage as mere servitude?”

  “For a woman, yes. The man, of course, does as he pleases, absents himself when he so desires, comes home when he pleases and discourages questions.”

  Since this was precisely his notion of the perfect marriage, it was unreasonable of Robin to be annoyed, but he found his ire growing, nonetheless.

  “You consider all me
n monsters?”

  “Not all,” she said, apparently considering. “Uncle James, for instance, is an excellent gentleman.”

  “Your Uncle James is a dried-up old stick,” he snapped.

  “That may help,” she conceded.

  “He is also nearly invisible. You practically never see him.”

  “As I say, an excellent man.”

  “You are irrational, my dear Celina. One of your complaints against husbands is that they absent themselves too often. The same quality in your uncle rouses your approval.”

  “But my uncle is not my husband. A husband owes his wife at least the appearance of pleasure at her company, and, for this, it is helpful if he spends some time with her. Well, in most cases, anyway!”

  Some note in her voice warned Robin that she was about to say something outrageous, and he knew he would be wise to leave the subject at that point. But for the life of him he could not stop himself saying, “May I ask exactly what you mean by that, madam?”

  “Well, if I was to be so foolish as to marry you, for instance, I would make not the least objection to your absence.”

  “In fact the less you saw of me the better?”

  “That is a rather harsh way of putting it for, be assured, I bear you no ill will.”

  “You are very kind,” he said ironically.

  “But since, once married, we would spend as much time apart as we do now, such a marriage would be pointless.”

  “Except that it is my mother’s dearest wish.”

  “It is her dearest wish to see you settled down, not necessarily with me. You will have no difficulty choosing another bride somewhere else.”

  “Ah, yes,” he retorted with a touch of savagery, “a female who will overlook ‘other things’ for the sake of my rank and wealth. But did you have to insult me in a letter to my mother?”

  So he had read her letter, just as she had meant him to do. She was so delighted that she hastily covered her mouth with her hands in well-simulated horror.

  “You read it? Oh, you should not have done.”

  “My mother showed it to me,” he raged. “She said I had brought your censure on myself.”

  “Oh, how could she?” Celina moaned. “My words were meant for her eyes alone.”

  “Whoever they were meant for, what the devil did you mean by them? Do you think I have to go out begging in the highways and byways to find a wife?”

  “Well, you haven’t found one so far,” she replied with spirit. “Rank and wealth notwithstanding.”

  “When I wish to marry, madam, I shall choose my own wife and she – ”

  Belatedly he recalled what had brought him here.

  “Never mind that,” he said hastily. “It is pointless to continue this discussion. You are the bride my mother has chosen.”

  She gave a trill of disbelieving laughter.

  “And you will let her foist her choice on you? Fie, sir!

  What weakness is this? Be a man. Insist on your own way, as I believe you always do.”

  She had the satisfaction of seeing him totally bereft of words.

  Oh, revenge was sweet!

  He took a deep breath before speaking again in the manner of a man restraining himself with great difficulty.

  “All this would be very much to the point were it not for the fact that my mother is extremely ill, and unlikely to live for long.”

  Her amusement faded and she turned to face him in horror.

  “Oh, no, I cannot believe it. When we spoke the other day she seemed the same as usual. Of course I have never known her to be robust, but she was not worse, I am sure of it.”

  “She has been frail for years, but she has concealed the severity of her condition,” he said gruffly. “Now she is at death’s door and I feel that I must do as she wants, as long as she is alive.”

  “I did not know,” Celina whispered.

  Suddenly the situation was no longer a joke or a subject for revenge. Her dear friend was dying.

  “I must go and see her at once,” she said.

  “And break her heart by refusing her dearest wish?”

  Robin demanded. “I will not take you to her if you are going to do that.”

  “But – how can I tell what I am going to say?” she stammered. “You have taken me by surprise – ”

  “You knew what she wanted days ago.”

  “But not this – oh, what am I to do?”

  “I had not realised that the thought of marrying me was so terrible.”

  “You are hardly the ideal husband,” she flashed. “A woman would have to be mad – ”

  “Say no more,” he said curtly. “You have made your opinion of me all too plain. I had thought we were friends.”

  “Friends, yes. But marriage is different.”

  “You were willing to consider that booby Delaine.”

  “I was not,” she replied hotly. “I wanted nothing to do with him.”

  “You forget that I found you in his arms, his ring on your finger. How did it get there? Against your will? I don’t think so. You are quite capable of boxing his ears before he even seized your hand.”

  “How dare you!” she shouted in outrage. “If you have the unbelievable impertinence to suggest that I encouraged him – ”

  “Let us say that you did not refuse his proposal with that wholehearted finality that would have prevented him from following you.”

  “Stuff and nonsense!” she said crisply.

  Robin stared. It was safe to say that nobody had spoken to him like this for years. Certainly not a young woman.

  “Nothing could have stopped him following me,” Celina declared. “He simply cannot accept that any woman can resist what he has to offer. I believe there are many such men. They are exceedingly tiresome.”

  The last words were delivered with a challenging air, directed straight to him, in a manner that was unmistakeable.

  “In that case, it is fortunate that I appeared on the scene when I did,” he said harshly. “Or you might have ended up the Marchioness of Delaine, despite your resistance. As it is, you are free to marry me and so bring my mother peace and happiness in her last few weeks.”

  His words stopped Celina in her tracks. In her annoyance with him, she had almost forgotten the sad fact that had brought him here.

  Now she was faced with a decision. And she was torn. On the one hand was her pride. On the other hand was her affection for the Dowager and her feelings for her son.

  She might deny it all she pleased, but her love for Robin endured. Marriage to him would bring her both pain and joy. And which would be the greater, she could not imagine.

  “I do not know – ” she whispered. “I do not know – ”

  He took a step towards her.

  “Then perhaps this will help you decide,” he said roughly and pulled her round to face him.

  At first she barely realised what he meant to do.

  She had one glimpse of his face, dark with impatience and some other mysterious feeling, before he pulled her close and lowered his head until his lips touched hers.

  She gave a gasp at the sudden sensation. It was like being burned and she felt a spurt of temper at the way he took for granted that he could do as he liked.

  “How dare you!” she spluttered, struggling. “Let me go at once or I shall slap your face.”

  “You didn’t slap Delaine,” he murmured against her lips. “Don’t tell me that you prefer his embrace to mine.”

  Before she could reply he tightened his arms, so that she was pulled against him in a crushing embrace. His mouth was hard on hers, kissing her fiercely, ruthlessly.

  She knew all about his reputation that he was an expert lover, skilled at bringing women under his spell.

  Now she found that it was true.

  There was devilment in his lips. They knew how to move over a woman’s mouth, coaxing a response from her, inciting fires of pleasure that threatened to overwhelm her.

  She could feel herself
melting, wanting only him, ready to set the world at nothing if only she could be held in his arms. The warmth was spreading through her body, terrifying her with its power to undermine her will.

  She would not give in, she would not –

  It took a superhuman effort, but when he released her she knew that he could have had little inkling of the storm of feeling that left her dizzy.

  She had resisted the temptation to put her arms round him, drawing him closer to her, seeking deeper intimacy, more passionate caresses. She had stood tense and rigid while he teased and taunted her with his lips and his hands.

  Now there was the inevitable reaction. She was almost fainting, but she forced herself to step back and face him with her head up, her eyes full of defiance.

  “Well, my Lord?” she challenged in a voice that only just managed to be steady. “Have you proved something? Have you succeeded in flattering your own vanity?”

  “Is that your way of saying that you will not marry me?”

  “No, my Lord. It is my way of saying that I will marry you for your mother’s sake and only for her sake. You will not reduce me to your willing slave, as I hear you do with so many others.”

  “You listen to too much gossip,” he said curtly.

  “I do not need to. You flaunt your conquests in the most vulgar manner, but I will not be one of them. Understand that and we may deal well together.”

  “By Heaven, madam, you are very sure of yourself, making conditions!”

  “It is you who wants this marriage, my Lord. Not me.”

  For a moment he was so tense that she thought he would burst into a furious tirade against her. Then the anger seemed to drain out of him and his shoulders slumped.

  “Yes, I do,” he said heavily. “And I am asking you to do what will make my mother happy and become my wife.”

  “On that understanding, I will marry you.”

  The words were said. For both of them there would be no going back.

  But neither of them could imagine what the future held.

  “Now, let us go to see your mother,” she suggested, glad to find something to say. “And tell her some news that will make her feel better.”

  He had arrived in the Torrington carriage and they travelled back in it together. On the way he discussed the coming nuptials in a brisk way that was almost businesslike.