Fragile Mask (36 page)

‘
Mr Hawkeridge,’ interrupted Mrs Peverill, rising herself
and reaching out her hands to Denzell, ‘be sure you have my consent
at least.’

‘
Mama! No, no, this is not possible!’

‘
But it is perfectly possible, Verena.’

‘
I thank you, Mrs Peverill,’ Denzell said, taking her hands
and kissing them one by one. ‘I hope you will forgive the deceit I
practised upon you. Verena would not have me show my real
intentions, for fear of what you might do.’

She nodded, pressing his hands before releasing them. ‘I
quite understand.’ Then she turned to Verena. ‘But now, my dearest
girl, you need no longer fear for me, and you may follow your own
inclinations.’

‘
Inclinations?’ burst from old man Chaceley. ‘Do you tell
me, girl, that you hesitate over this match? Good God, child, the
boy is going to be a baron!’

‘
Oh, the deuce,’ muttered Denzell under his
breath.

This was no help at all. As if Verena gave a fig for his
status. Any more than he had given for hers when he knew nothing of
her background. He must get Verena out of here—and
quickly.

To his intense surprise, it was Mrs Peverill who
intervened. She left
Verena
’s side, and
moved to confront her erstwhile father-in-law. Quite in the manner
of a tigress protecting her young from the
hunter.

‘
Mr Chaceley,’ she said, bravely bold, ‘I will not have my
daughter influenced by any such consideration, for I know its cost.
I do not forget my darling Lambert’s unhappiness in being estranged
from his family. By God’s grace, it did not last long, for I lost
him all too soon.’

‘
What in thunder—?’ began the old man.

She ignored him, continuing as if he had not
spoken, ‘I shall be ever grateful to you for what you are doing for
me—and it
is
for me, for my Verena would willingly
have sacrificed herself on my behalf and it is from that alone you
have saved her. But believe me, sir, I had rather lose this chance
of a refuge with you than see my daughter marry for anything other
than love!’

‘
Bravo, Mrs Peverill,’ Denzell said. ‘I am in complete
agreement with you. And—’ turning to seize Verena’s hand and drag
her towards the door ‘—since that is the question I wish to thrash
out with Verena, I must beg you all to excuse us for the
moment.’

Verena, uttering a half-hearted protest, found herself on
the other side of the parlour door, with the latter shut. She
opened her mouth to speak as Denzell turned to her.

‘
Don’t say a word,’ he warned, and his lips came down on
hers so hard that she groaned a faint protest.

But the warmth of his mouth sent a wash of intense heat
flooding through her body, and her knees weakened so that she
sagged against him. She was barely permitted to recover from this
sudden assault, when he pulled away.

‘
Come!’ he cried, and dragged her after him towards the
stair head.

Verena, all her concentration on remaining on her feet as
she was rushed down the stairs, did not notice that this little
episode had been overlooked. Betsey, coming down from above with a
tray containing a decanter and glasses, had paused as the door
opened. She smiled with grim satisfaction as she watched her young
charge disappearing in the wake of her determined
suitor.

Once outside, however, Verena dug in her heels and pulled
hard to stop the onrush of these too speedy events.

‘
Denzell,
wait!
Oh, pray, wait
for a moment.’

He paused and turned to look at her, so much tenderness in
his face that her heart somersaulted painfully. ‘What is it,
dearest Snow Maiden?’

‘
What are you doing?’ she asked breathlessly. ‘Where are you
taking me?’

He uttered a short laugh. ‘To tell you the truth, I don’t
know. I had to get you alone.’ Taking hold of her arms, he drew her
towards him. ‘Am I rushing you?’

‘
Yes!’

Denzell sighed. ‘Forgive me! I am so elated, I cannot help
myself.’

Verena looked up at him
with trouble in her eyes.

‘
But I am
afraid, Denzell.’

He stilled, his hands running up to her shoulders. His gaze
roved over her features, caressing the curves that made up that
perfect oval, the sculptured bow of a mouth, the eyes set wide
apart. Lightly, like a warm breeze, he spoke.

‘
There’s no need.’

Verena’s breath caught in a half-sob. ‘You make it sound so
easy.’

A smile entered his eyes. ‘It is, to me.’

He released her then, and slipping one hand about her
fingers, he said in the most normal of tones, ‘I want to show you
something.’

He led her across the driveway, and into the patch of
ground that separated her lodging from the Ruishtons’ house. They
walked in silence, Verena a touch mystified, until they were more
or less in the centre of the ground. There, Denzell released her
and stepped back to look at her.

‘
We talked here once, but that is not what makes it dear to
me.’ He drew a breath of deepest satisfaction. ‘This, Verena, is
where I first saw you. You were building that snowman, and your
guard was down. I caught sight of your beauty, and I was
dumbfounded. Then you laughed—I have the image of it imprinted on
my memory. And you know what I think? The real Verena floated there
and then, right into my heart. You see, I never truly believed in
the existence of that other beauty—serene, and exquisitely
polite.’

Verena stared at him in mute fascination. Could it be true?
Was it possible that she also, despite her instant damping down of
the betraying sensations, had lost her heart to him the very first
time they met? No, it could not be so.

She shifted her gaze, plucking aimlessly at her white
muslin petticoats. ‘I do not know how this has happened. I have
been fighting for so long—not to feel.’

‘
But you do feel,’ Denzell said. ‘Can you deny
it?’

Verena shook her head, still not looking at him. ‘I have
tried to deny it. It would be—it would be a lie to say I don’t love
you.’

He moved a step closer. ‘Then say you do. It isn’t so hard,
Verena.’

Slowly she brought her eyes up to meet his. His heart sank
at the confusion in them still. She did not speak, but her lips
quivered, and it was all he could do not to snatch her into his
embrace, overbearing her resistance, forcibly suppressing her
doubts. A wisdom born of his knowledge of her held him back. If he
wanted her whole heart, free of doubt, she must come to him of her
own will. His voice was tender.

‘
What is it that troubles you, dear love?’

Verena caught her breath. ‘If I say it—if I make
the admission, then I give my life into your hands
forever
.
My life—my
happiness—everything. It is so…final.’

Denzell reached out and with one finger caressed her cheek.
‘Nothing in this world is final. The only certain thing we have is
our intentions, and even they may change. We cannot see into the
future, my darling. Life itself is a gamble.’

‘
Then you can offer no better refuge than my
grandfather!’

A gleam of mischief lit his eyes. ‘Oh, I think I can safely
promise you that it will be far more amusing to marry me than to
live with old man Chaceley.’

A choke of laughter escaped her, lightening her features a
little. ‘I can readily believe that.’ Then she frowned. ‘I only
hope Mama can be happy there.’

‘
If she is not, at least you have the satisfaction of
knowing her misery is not bought at the expense of any bodily
hurts,’ he said. ‘But, Verena, I think she will be happy. And I am
sorry if I should offend you by this, but I believe she will be far
happier than she could ever have been living alone with
you.’

She sighed. ‘You do not offend me. I know it only too well.
This past year has been—unimaginably hard. For both of us. But
while we had no alternative...’

‘
You need no longer fear for her, my princess.’

She glanced up at his
face, a puzzled look in her eyes.

‘
Why do you call me that?’

He grinned. ‘Because that was how you first
struck me. A fairy princess, catching at snowflakes.’ He took her
face between his hands. ‘So beautiful, so enchantingly vivacious,
so
warm—
and nothing like the Ice Maiden who depressed my
pretensions in no uncertain manner the very first time we properly
met.’

Verena gurgled. ‘If you only knew how hard it became for me
to maintain that front in your presence.’

‘
I do know,’ he told her, and bent his head to kiss her,
very gently.

Verena sighed under the touch of his lips, and her hands
came up to clasp about his back. She felt her face released, and
his strong arms go about her, and the kiss intensified. That now
familiar warmth invaded her breast. Remembering the fears to which
this gave rise, she struggled a little, dropping her arms from
about him and pushing at his chest. He released her mouth at once,
pulling back, although his arms still encircled her.

‘
I will wait, Verena,’ he uttered low-voiced. ‘If you wish
it, I will wait. You will, after all, be living well within my
reach at Pittlesthorp. But I warn you that I will lose no
opportunity to press my suit—beyond the time when you are able to
withstand me.’

She bit her lip, her eyes questioning. ‘Do you think that
waiting will change me?’

He grimaced. ‘How can I tell? It may allow you to grow in
confidence. In trust, perhaps.’

‘
And if you do not wait, what then?’

‘
Then I will marry you here in Tunbridge Wells and take you
home as my wife.’ He fetched a sigh. ‘I need scarcely say that the
second option would be my preference, but I can understand you find
it frightening.’

Yes, it was frightening, she thought. But to go
among strangers, to resume her mask, to be obliged to pretend to a
happiness she could not feel
—
without
him? Oh, no.
Unendurable.

She could not have stopped the smile breaking. ‘Less so
than the first, if you want the truth.’

The sudden brightness in his face rewarded her. Denzell’s
arms tightened.

‘
Verena! Do you mean that?’

‘
I would not otherwise say it.’ Her fingers reached up to
his cheek, and he turned his lips to kiss them.

‘
Verena, I swear to you, you will not regret it.’

She put her fingers over his mouth. ‘Oh, Denzell, don’t say
that. There is only one thing I ask of you. Make me no promises
that you cannot keep.’

His arms dropped from about her so that he could
catch her hands in his. ‘You are right to ask it of me, and
although I would at this moment give my right arm before I hurt
you, I cannot promise that I will never do so. Yet if I did, it
could only be with words, and never—
never,
on my
life!—will I lift one finger against you. And on that you may
depend, if nothing else.’

Tears pricked at Verena’s eyes, and her voice was
husky. ‘You had no need to promise that. You see, Mama taught me
something about love. She said that if Nathaniel had had her heart,
he would not have beaten her. I did not believe it—until I watched
you flirting last night. Denzell, I wanted to
kill
you.’

Denzell gazed down into her face for a moment. Then he let
go her hands and swept her into his embrace, kissing her with the
full strength of his passion.

Verena felt as if she was drowning, helpless with the heat
that raced through her veins, pulsing in secret places of whose
existence she had hardly been aware. If she remained standing, it
was only by virtue of the grip of Denzell’s arms about her back.
She sank into him, a soft moan sounding in her throat.

When at last his lips released hers, it was only to mouth
his way across her cheek, bury his lips into the hollows of her
neck, and then return, hungrily to caress her mouth again, pressing
his way into the innocent velvet touch within.

Verena groaned, but her hands grasped harder at his back,
her brain clouding out of all capacity to think. There was no
reality but this enveloping sensation, and truth, erupting into
life, gave her all the certainty she would ever want or
need.

Against the touch of his lips on hers, she whispered
it.

‘
I do love you—oh, I
do.’

And then she could not speak at all, for Denzell’s mouth
claimed hers ever more strongly, and it was some little time before
any coherent thought penetrated into her mind.

Just out of sight beyond a certain garden gate, Osmond and
Unice Ruishton peeked at the couple so amorously entwined. They
looked at each other. Osmond grinned down at his wife.