Love, Lies and Marriage Read online

  It was impossible for Dawson to speak.

  He hurried away to the kitchen.

  Teresa was sure she had just turned his world upside down.

  The doctor arrived surprisingly quickly and, when he had examined Harry, he said to Teresa,

  “I have removed the bullet. Fortunately it is only a flesh wound and did not touch the bone.”

  “That was something I was afraid might have happened,” Teresa replied.

  “His Lordship has, however, lost a lot of blood,” the doctor went on, “and will undoubtedly run a high temperature. But you can trust Nanny. She has been here ever since I can remember and is better than any nurse I could ever recommend.”

  “Then we are very lucky to have her,” Teresa smiled.

  “It was quite a shock to learn that his Lordship had married,” the doctor continued, “but I know you will take his mother’s place. She was the most charming and lovely person I have ever met.”

  “Thank you, doctor, I know you will help Harry to get well again quickly.”

  “It will take time and he will be in pain, so please don’t be too impatient. I will call in again this evening.”

  He bowed to Teresa and hurried down the steps to where his chaise was waiting for him. It looked somewhat dilapidated and the horse drawing it was obviously getting on in years.

  As he drove away, Teresa thought that with this house unoccupied perhaps he had no rich patients in the neighbourhood.

  Now that he had gone, she decided she could go and see Harry.

  She felt a little leap of her heart as she ran up the stairs towards the bedroom.

  *

  Harry felt as if he was waking up and yet at the same time he was dreaming.

  There was somebody talking to him.

  It was a soft voice he recognised because he had heard it many times before.

  There was also a cool hand moving gently over his forehead.

  “Now you are getting well again,” somebody was saying, “you will soon be up and about and see that your home is just as you remember it. The flowers are all coming out in the garden, the birds are singing in the trees and they will all be thrilled that you are with them again.”

  Harry was listening and could understand every word that was being said.

  He thought, however, that they were words he had heard before and sounded to him just like music.

  Then the soft voice went on,

  “The horses are waiting for you in the stable and, as I am finding it very lonely riding without you, please, hurry and get well. There is so much I want to talk to you about.”

  There was silence and the hand was removed from Harry’s forehead.

  Slowly, with an effort, he opened his eyes.

  Looking down at him with her face very near to his was someone he thought he knew, someone very lovely.

  Then the woman, whoever she was, exclaimed, “You are awake! Oh, Harry, you are awake! Can you hear me?”

  “Where – am – I?” Harry managed to murmur.

  “You are at home, at Bourne Hall, and Harry, you are better!”

  The words sounded excited and like a paean of joy.

  Harry tried to understand where he was and what had happened, but he was feeling very tired.

  He closed his eyes.

  Then the hand was back on his forehead again and he thought it must be his mother taking care of him.

  *

  Doctor Stuart came down the stairs to find Teresa waiting for him in the hall.

  “What is the verdict, doctor?” she asked.

  “You know as well as I do that your Ladyship and Nanny have worked miracles!” he replied. “I have never known a wound to heal so quickly, and now, of course, his Lordship is agitating to get up!”

  “May he do that?”

  “Tomorrow, but only for a short while,” the doctor insisted. “And he is not to ride until the end of the week.”

  “You know that is what he is longing to do,” Teresa said. “I have to take the horses in rotation to make sure they each have enough exercise.”

  “I hear you have enlarged the staff in the stables,” Doctor Stuart said. “Poor old Abbey could never have managed by himself. He is like a new man with all those lads to help him.”

  “We are going to need more,” Teresa said. “I had a letter from my father telling me he has bought Harry two more horses from Tattersall’s, and they should be arriving today.”

  “If you go on like this,” Doctor Stuart said, “you are going to need a vet as well as a doctor. I like my patients to have two legs, not four!”

  Teresa laughed and waved to him as he drove off.

  Then she hurried upstairs to see Harry.

  She had written to Sir Hubert telling him what had occurred on their way here.

  She had added, however, that it would be a mistake for either him or the Marquis to come and see Harry.

  She wrote,

  “– he has been unconscious for three days and Doctor Stuart says he must be kept very quiet until the wound has healed.”

  She knew that she was really just making an excuse to keep them away.

  If Harry was still angry at the way he had been tricked into marrying her, it would only upset him again to see his uncle or her father.

  She was sure they were clever enough to read between the lines.

  When Harry was conscious, they had talked of many things, but she did not mention their marriage.

  Teresa told him how she had engaged more household staff and that he now had four gardeners. She told him too how she had added to the numbers in the stables.

  He did not say that he was pleased at what she had done nor did he disapprove.

  When he was well enough to sit up in bed, she thought he looked even more handsome than when she had been ‘married’ to him.

  He had lost weight and his skin was a little paler than it had been before.

  His features had sharpened.

  She could not help comparing him to the statue of a Greek God the Marquis had at Stoke Palace.

  Nanny was a tower of strength, making Harry obey her, just as she had when he was a small boy.

  “Come along now,” she would say to him, “you will never get well if you don’t eat up all your food.”

  “I am not hungry,” Harry would complain.

  “Well, you can’t send your plate away untouched,” Nanny said tartly. “It’ll break Mrs. Dawson’s heart, when she’s half-killing herself to please you!”

  Yesterday Harry had eaten far more of his luncheon than he really wished to and Nanny carried off his empty plate in triumph.

  Teresa had laughed.

  “I never thought to see you obeying a woman!” she said. “I know only too well how you feel that women should behave – quiet, gentle, subservient and of course humble.”

  “I shall expect all those things from you!” Harry replied.

  It was the first time he had acknowledged even indirectly that they were married.

  Teresa had for the moment felt shy and a little embarrassed.

  And then Harry said before she could speak, “You talk in a much more gentle way than you did before you came here.”

  “I have been thinking of you as an invalid,” Teresa replied.

  “Personally I think it’s a big improvement!” Harry remarked, “and just the way women should talk.”

  “I think that you are deliberately provoking me into an argument,” Teresa complained, “and it’s unfair because you know as well as I do that the doctor said you are to be kept quiet and not to worry about anything.”

  “Do you think that is what I am doing about you?” Harry asked.

  “I am not flattering myself in any way,” Teresa replied, “but I have the feeling you are longing to have one of those fiery duels we enjoyed – when we were riding.”

  She had been about to say ‘before we were married’, but thought it would be a mistake.

  Since Harry had recovered, he had not
made any reference to anything that had happened before they came to Bourne Hall.

  Now, as Teresa sat down beside him in the window, the sun coming through the open casement turned her hair to gold.

  “I tell you what I would like to do,” Harry said.

  “What is that?” Teresa asked.

  “When I come down tomorrow, I want to see all the new horses in the stables. I will sit on the top step outside the front door and you can arrange for them to be paraded in front of me.”

  Teresa clapped her hands.

  “That is an excellent idea! Old Abbey is longing to show you the new horses, especially the last two. They are superb!”

  “I suppose you have been riding them,” Harry said.

  “How could I resist doing so?” There was a little note of anxiety in her voice, as he might resent her riding his horses before he could do so himself.

  But he merely smiled and said,

  “Don’t wear them out before I have had a chance of riding them.”

  “I will try not to,” Teresa teased, “and of course they are waiting for you, just as the whole estate is longing to see you as soon as you are well enough.”

  Harry looked at her enquiringly and she said,

  “I have called on the farmers who are thrilled that you have come home. I hope you will not mind, but I have told them to go ahead with increasing their crops and their livestock.”

  She thought he might be angry and added quickly,

  “It is essential they should get all the improvements put in hand before the winter.”

  Harry was silent for a moment. Then he said,

  “I have an idea that you have changed your direction from your father’s shipyard to my estate.”

  Teresa looked at him anxiously.

  “I do hope you don’t think I am interfering,” she said, “but there is so much that wants doing and we really have to start somewhere.”

  “You are quite certain that is what I want?” Harry asked.

  There was a little silence before Teresa answered.

  “I thought it would be – a mistake for you to see the – house and the – grounds as they looked when we arrived.”

  “Why?” Harry asked briefly.

  “Because I thought it – would upset you. After all, this is your home.”

  There was silence again.

  Then Teresa said,

  “I am – sorry if I have – encroached on what is your – prerogative.”

  “I will tell you whether you are right or wrong,” Harry said after a long pause, “when I leave this room. But from the window I can see that the garden looks as if someone cares for it.”

  “They have worked so hard,” Teresa said, “so that, when you come downstairs, you will think they have performed a miracle!”

  “Or you have!”

  She was not certain if Harry was accusing or complimenting her.

  She stood up and went to look out of the window.

  Unexpectedly Harry held out his hand. “Come here,” he said.

  She did not move and after a moment he asked,

  “Have you forgotten so soon your promise to obey me?”

  Teresa blushed.

  She had no wish at the moment to talk about the mock marriage service.

  Slowly she walked towards him and took his hand.

  He pulled her closer to his chair and said,

  “You saved my life, Teresa, and you have been kind and compassionate and very much a woman since I have been ill. I am just wondering how I can thank you.”

  She looked down into his eyes.

  Suddenly she felt as if something very strange was happening within her breast.

  The way Harry was looking at her was very different from the way he had looked at her in the past.

  She felt a little quiver run through her body and her fingers trembled in his.

  Now he was pulling her down towards him and she knew instinctively that he intended to kiss her.

  It was then she gave a little cry and pulling her hand from his she said,

  “Oh, Harry, I have – something to – tell you – something – terrible – but I think you are – strong enough to hear it.”

  Harry stiffened.

  “What has happened?” he asked.

  Teresa was feeling wildly for words.

  Because, for a moment they would not come to her lips, she moved back to the open window.

  “What are you trying to tell me?” Harry asked quietly.

  “It – it will – make you very – angry and perhaps I am – making a – mistake in telling you now – ”

  “If it is something I have to know sooner or later,” Harry insisted, “I am prepared to hear what it is.”

  There was a sharpness in his voice that had not been there before.

  Teresa thought despairingly that she was making a terrific mistake and that she should have waited.

  Then, in a voice he could hardly hear, she said miserably,

  “It – it is just – that you – have been – tricked again and – although it will – make you angry – it was only – done because everybody who loves you – wanted you to be – happy.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Harry said. “I know I was tricked into marriage. That is why we are both here, but we have not spoken about it until now.”

  “I know,” Teresa replied unhappily, “but I-I think you – must now know the – truth – the whole truth.”

  “Which is?”

  Teresa was trembling and it was difficult for her to force the words to her lips.

  “When Papa and – Uncle Maurice – told you that we – we were – married, it was in fact not a – real wedding. The Priest was an – actor and we were married so that you would not – go to London – and marry Camille – Clyde – the actress – as you intended.”

  Harry stared at her before he said,

  “Do you think it was right to drug me into taking part in a fake marriage? It seems to me to be an appalling way for two grown men to behave. Naturally it makes me very angry!”

  “I-I know,” Teresa whispered.

  She ran towards him and knelt beside his chair.

  “Please don’t – be angry,” she pleaded. “It was only because – Uncle Maurice was terrified that you would make – a mistake which would – ruin your whole life.”

  His face stiffened as she continued,

  “You know how much he – loves you and everything he has done at The Palace has been for you. He was – desperate as to how he could – save you from – yourself.”

  “So what you are telling me now,” Harry said slowly, “is that the marriage was performed by an actor and not a Priest!”

  “They had – to make it appear – correct in every detail,” she murmured. “The – drug might not have worked completely and you could have been – aware of what was happening.”

  “And you agreed to take part in this charade!” he exclaimed. “But, why?”

  “Because I – too love you!” Teresa whispered.

  The words were out before she could stop them or think of what she was saying.

  Then, as she saw the expression on Harry’s face, she realised what she had just said.

  Lowering her head so that all he could see was her golden hair she said quickly,

  “You – did so well in the war – you were – everybody’s – hero. How could I let you – as your uncle was sure you were doing – throw your life away?”

  “I find it hard to believe that my uncle or your father could behave in such a twisted and extraordinary manner!” Harry said. “Why could they not have asked me outright if I was going to marry an actress?”

  “They were – afraid that, if – they tried to – persuade you not to, it might make you more – determined to – choose your own wife – and do what you – wished to do.”

  “I suppose I can understand their reasoning,” Harry admitted. “At the same time I very much resent being lied to a
nd what I dislike more than anything else is the fact that they involved you in this absurd plot!”

  “I agreed to take part – because I was – doing it for – you,” Teresa replied.

  “You were worried about me?” Harry asked.

  “Of course – I was!” Teresa answered. “You had been so – magnificent during – the war and were a – hero for thousands of people. How could you – ruin all – that?”

  He did not answer and she carried on,

  “You must be honest enough to – admit that it would have – spoilt everything, including this – wonderful – beautiful house.”

  She had thought it out every night when she went to bed, the house could never be the background for an actress from the theatre.

  Teresa felt she could almost see Harry’s father and mother moving through the room in front of the fireplace or in the lovely drawing room with its ancient furniture and Aubusson carpet.

  They would be talking about their son who was upstairs in the nursery.

  Nanny had shown Teresa proudly the rocking horse that Harry had ridden and the fort on which he had played with his lead soldiers.

  As if he knew what was passing through Teresa’s mind, Harry asked,

  “Have you put back everything the way it was when my mother was alive?”

  “Nanny and Dawson – have done it really,” Teresa admitted, “and I am just – praying you will not be – disappointed.”

  “You have done all this for me?” Harry asked quietly. “And yet you were content to let me believe a lie?”

  “It was – really only a white lie to – save you from – making a terrible – mistake.”

  “And what is going to happen to you now?” Harry asked. “You tell me that we are not really married, but everybody here at Bourne Hall believes you to be my wife!”

  “I think – Papa expects me – to disappear when – you are – well enough,” Teresa answered. “I will go back to London to be a debutante which I intended to be before – all this – happened.”

  “It seems to me that you have put yourself in a very difficult position and if it becomes known that you had stayed with me as the Countess of Lanbourne, it will cause a great deal of gossip and scandal.”

  “Nobody – need ever – know,” Teresa said quickly. “Nobody has – called on you – and nobody, except for – the servants, have seen me – and of course Doctor Stuart.”