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with the other, 'You're ... hurt& ' He shook his head, an automatic gesture. He seemed a trifle dazed, she thought, and wondered what he was thinking, for it had just dawned upon her that she had been inconsistent, and that was the reason he had guessed she cared for him. 'There's a lot about this whole business that I don't understand,' he added slowly, his eyes never leaving her face. 'You're either a damned good actress or there's a grave mistake somewhere along the line.' Lorna said nothing, merely looking at him for a moment before turning away towards the door. He had guessed that she wasn't as bad as he had believed, but at the same time, with the lies told him by Gilbert, he could not fathom her at all. She was furious with herself for saying things that had revealed her hurt, and also the fact that she cared for him. He now knew that she had married him for love, and not for his money, £o all her vehement assertions to the contrary had been in vain. CHAPTER NINE IT was less than an hour later when, Lorna having procured her bracelet and then left Craig and returned to the castle alone, Craig told her that his grandmother had left all her money to charity. She nodded, but he did not notice, so deep was his fury. 'Jeannie to be denied everything,' he blazed, 'and all through you damn you for coming here!' 'Through me?' Her chin lifted. 'How can you blame me? She had told you some time ago that she wanted to see you married to Jeannie.' 'True, but she'd not have changed her will if you hadn't come here--' 'You can't say that!' Her own anger was high despite her distress that Jeannie had lost everything. 'Mrs Lamond's a very strange woman unpredictable. She could have decided to leave everything to charity even if I hadn't come up here and married you.' His eyes were like points of steel boring into her. She noticed the wild pulsation of a nerve in his cheek, seeming to accentuate the little lines of crimson colour that so plainly denoted his inner fury. 'If you hadn't accepted her offer and come here, she'd have left the will as it was--Oh, yes, she'd threatened several times to change her will, but she never would have done so simply because there wasn't anyone else to leave her money to. Then she saw you in hospital a pretty girl who she obviously took to right from the start and the idea of having another heir was born--' 'But you can't blame me for that!' broke in Lorna wrathfully. 'If she hadn't found me she'd probably have found someone else!' 'There wasn't any time,' he pointed out, gritting his teeth. 'She was near the end, and obviously she'd never have found anyone else! She used you as a lever to force my hand, believing I'd compel Jeannie to marry me rather than have you inherit what rightfully was ours. Jeannie was never told about the threat to change the will; Grandmother left it to me to work on her, but she was in ignorance of the fact that Jeannie's interest was elsewhere--' 'You know that Jeannie's engaged?' broke in Lorna, recalling that the girl had said she had never told her cousin anything about it. 'Yes, I know. Jeannie didn't tell me I learned it elsewhere.' 'You said nothing to Jeannie didn't warn her of what might happen?' 'Jeannie has a will of her own, a strong will. Nothing I could have said would have had any effect on Jeannie, so I didn't even trouble to let her know I'd discovered her secret. It's her own affair, not anybody else's.' His tone had less force and it did appear - I that he was realising the futility of brooding over his grandmother's action in leaving her vast fortune to charity. 'She obviously confided in you,' added Craig after a pause. 'Yes, she did. Jeannie and I got on very well together.' 'Because she had no idea what you'd come here for brought by Grandmother in order to be her legatee.' The scorn in his voice was reflected in his eyes and Lorna turned away, saying she was phoning the railway station to make sure there was a train for London at noon the following day. 'You really mean it about leaving me?' His face changed, the harshness dissolving into an expression she failed completely to understand. 'I asked you to stay until Grandmother dies.' 'Is there any special reason why you want me to stay?' she asked him curiously. He hesitated, and when he eventually broke the silence he seemed almost persuasive, which was a dramatic change from the fury to which he had subjected her just a few moments ago. 'I asked you to share with me a little enjoyment--' 'Physical enjoyment?' She shook her head. 'I don't want you, Craig, and so I'm leaving you, tomorrow !' And with that she went from him, not seeing him again until she was getting ready for dinner, when without knocking he entered the bedroom and stood, just inside the door, his dark eyes roving her scantily-clad body. 'What do you want?' she demanded, blushing to the roots of her hair. 'Get out!' 'Be careful, Lorna,' was his softly-spoken warning as he slowly approached her. 'My wife doesn't speak to me like that.' He came closer; she reached for a negligee, but he was there first, tossing it [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |