the steps of a children's home. I found out when I came home from
Vietnam, and I rescued him." He hesitated. "Perhaps you think I
should have married her. But I don't think she wanted that. She was
quite a lot older than I was, and set in her ways. We were just two
strangers who for a brief period of time gave each other
companionship. When you've been in the places I've been in, when
you've seen the sights I've seen, you realise that that means a hell of a
lot."
Julie could not bear to look at him then in case he should see the
emotion in her eyes. So William had not been born out of hatred, as
Nerys had denounced, and if not out of love, then at least from an
unselfish need.
Rhys released her wrist suddenly, and she started. "What's the
matter?" he demanded savagely, and she realised he had
misunderstood her silence. "Has my story shaken that romantic
imagination of yours? Oh, yes, I've watched your face when I've been
dictating. I've seen the disenchantment there. Well, life isn't a tidy
thing. People don't ride around on white chargers rescuing maidens in
distress any longer. Such knights as there are, are knights errant,
searching for other causes far more deserving! I'm a flawed gallant,
Julie, and it's time you grew up!"
Julie stared up at him then through tear-swept eyes. "I am grown up,"
she told him tremulously. "I grew up the first time you kissed me."
"Did you?" His expression remained sceptical. "Another ball on my
chain, would you say?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, Julie, don't you understand anything? I want you! I've wanted
you for a long time. But I'm too old for you, and besides, I don't want
a blinkered child to hold in my arms!"
Julie gulped. What was he saying? Did he know what he was saying?
Had he tired of Nerys now and thought to put her, Julie, in the other
woman's place? Oh, God, she thought, am I strong enough to live the
rest of my life knowing I have eschewed heaven? And there was still
Dulcie.
She took a couple of steps back from him, unconsciously seeking the
cliff path behind her, and his eyes darkened.
"What is it now?" he demanded. "What else has Nerys said about
me?"
"Wh-why should she have said anything?"
He took a step towards her, his eyes narrowing. "Because I think I
know you, Julie. I know you're not indifferent to me. So what else is
there between us?"
But she could not tell him. With the words hovering on her tongue,
she could not speak them. What if they were true? a voice hammered
inside her head. Would they not then cast doubts on everything else
he had said?
She had to get away from him, she thought unsteadily. She had to get
away before emotion swamped common sense, before she found
herself giving in to a man who could never give himself wholly to
anybody.
With a stifled sob she turned away, and ignoring his command to
wait, she began climbing the path to the clifftop. She tried to rim and
stumbled as she went, and with an exclamation heard him coming
behind her.
But halfway up she heard him utter an oath and stumble the rest of the
way down again, and she turned from her position just below the
rocky shelf to see what had happened. He had stumbled off the rocks
on to the beach, and from where she was standing he appeared to be
kneeling on the sand.
"Rhys?" she called doubtfully, aware of an immense sense of
responsibility flooding her being. "Rhys? Are you all right?"
He did not answer, and her stomach plunged sickeningly. "Rhys?"
she called again. "Rhys, at least tell me that you Ye all right."
But only her own voice echoed round the cove and with a clenching
of her fists, she started down again. Her hair blinded her at times, and
she thrust it back impatiently, quickening her step as she neared the
bottom and saw that he was now lying on his back on the sand.
"Rhys!" she cried, rushing over the rocks towards him, and going
down on her knees beside him. "Rhys," his eyes were closed, "Rhys,
speak to me!"
"I love you," he said, to her complete astonishment, and his arms
came up around her, pulling her down on top of him.
His hand at the nape of her neck guided her mouth to his, and in her
shocked state she could not suppress the desire to give in to him. His
mouth was so warm and demanding, moving on hers, his body
hardening beneath her until she uttered a little protest and broke away
from him. But not far he would not let her go and with a lithe
movement which belied his injury, he drew her down on to the sand
beside him and turned to straddle her body with his own.
"I'm not going to let you get away," he groaned. "Not until I've said
everything I came to say."
"But but your back "
"I only jarred it. But as you seemed so concerned, I thought I'd let you
come and comfort me."
"Why, you "
She wanted to be angry with him, but with the heat of his body
protecting hers from the cold, his hands inside the tweed coat, hard
and possessive, she found it incredibly difficult to resist him.
Tears of helplessness trickled from the corners of her eyes, mingling
in the moistness of their mouths, and he licked them away curiously,
saying: "Come on, Julie. I need you so much."
"But but Nerys "
"What about her?" A harshness invaded his tone. Then a certain
comprehension appeared in his eyes. "Of course you think I let
you think we were lovers."
"L-let me think."
"Of course." His voice hardened. "Julie, if it was anything else, I
would tell you. You've .got to know me, Julie. You've got to
understand that sometimes I may say things you won't like, but I'll
never lie to you."
"But that night in the kitchen "
He half smiled. "My angel of mercy! Oh, Julie, if you had had any
idea of what you did to me that night & I had to say something, I had
to drive you away. But then William did it for me."
"William "
" will love his new mother."
"His mother?"
"Well, stepmother, then." He frowned. "You will marry me, won't
you? I mean oh God!" He stared at her in mock irritation. "You
didn't think but yes, I can see that you did. Julie, how many more
times must I say it? Nerys was lying... I never touched her after she
married my brother!" He sighed. "And marriage still means
something to me. I don't offer it lightly."
"Oh, Rhys!"
She couldn't hold out against him any longer, and as his mouth
possessed itself of hers, and his body surged against her, she knew
that she believed him at last, and nothing Nerys could do could alter
that....
When they walked back to the house, their arms around one another,
there was still one more question Julie had to ask.
"What will Nerys do?"
"When we're married, you mean?" Julie nodded and Rhys drew her
closer against him. "You may not believe this "
"I will," she insisted, and he smiled.
" but the day after you arrived, I contacted an estate agent in
Llantreath who had connections in London, to arrange for an
apartment for her. She doesn't like it here, and now I've finally
convinced her that she's wasting her time with me, she'll go."
"Is that what you told her this afternoon?"
"Yes." He paused. "I wanted her out of the house before I told you I
loved you, but in the event, her intervention precipitated things. I
knew she'd try to make trouble for us, and I wanted to avoid that."
Julie bit her lip. "She she told me something else. I I have to tell
you. I can't have it between us."
"What?" Rhys' eyes were dark.
Julie drew slightly away from him. "She she told me Dulcie was
your child that when you came home for your father's funeral..."
"What?" His disbelief was violent as his fingers dug painfully into her
shoulder. "God, what must you have thought of me?"
Julie moved closer to him again. "I she wanted me to leave. She [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]