The Art of Love (24 page)

‘As I said,’ Leo rasped, almost in her ear, ‘what brings you to Bournemouth?’

‘It wasn’t you,’ the words spilled out before she could stop them. ‘I had no idea you were her, and if I had…’ she stopped, realizing that the assertion that she had been about to make was a lie. She would not have gone somewhere else had she known Leo was here. On the contrary, she would have followed him much sooner. Leo’s grip on her tightened.

‘If you had?’ he prompted.

Tara decided to offer him a compromise between truth and decorum. ‘It would have made no difference,’ she said firmly. ‘We came to the seaside for my mother’s health. Bournemouth was convenient.’

‘Convenient!’ Leo echoed. She tried to gauge his expression but he was looking down at her and his eyes did not catch the moonlight. They were unfathomable pools of darkness. ‘Is that what I was?’ he demanded, pulling her closer so that her breasts pressed against him and Tara found she could not suppress a gasp. ‘I was helping you out by overseeing Penge and you thought how
convenient
it would be for me to become your estate manager.’

‘It’s a respectable job!’ Tara said hotly, but Leo ignored her.

‘Or was there some other role for which I would have been convenient?’ he continued harshly, bending his head so his lips brushed against her temple as he spoke.

‘No,’ Tara said weakly and Leo kissed her cheekbone. ‘That is…’ He kissed her again, this time on the corner of her mouth and Tara lost the thread of what it was she was trying to deny but she made one last effort. ‘I would never - ’

Leo kissed her full on the mouth and Tara surrendered willingly, twining her fingers in the dark curls at the back of his head to hold him even closer. She felt something hard in the press of his hips against her own and she longed to feel his hands roam over her body, teasing her and holding her as if she belonged only to him. He slid his hands around her waist and caressed her ribs with his thumbs through the sheer silk of her dress. The sensation was exquisite and Tara arched her back, pressing herself up against him.

Then abruptly Leo pulled back. ‘Is that what you wanted from me?’ he demanded, his breathing ragged.

She could hardly deny it and a shiver of excitement went through her at the thought of admitting her feelings for him. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘Yes it is.’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’ Tara repeated, staring at him in confusion. Did he really expect her to put into words the tumultuousness of her feelings for him?

‘I know why.’ Leo took her chin in his hand, turning her in the moonlight as if he were examining her for flaws. ‘Or at least I know why you weren’t interested in Hulme or La Monte. You like your men tall, dark and dangerous. I’m the type you’re attracted to and so is my cousin Mark. That’s all it is. Only Mark isn’t dangerous, he’s a gentle pussycat and I’ll thank you to take your claws out of him.’

With a gasp Tara jerked herself free of his grip. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said hotly.

‘Don’t you?’ Leo said. ‘I’ve seen you throwing yourself at him. Mark isn’t one of your sophisticated London set, used to these games. You’ve hooked him all right and now you’re reeling him in.’

‘First he’s a cat, now he’s a fish!’ Tara snapped. ‘You know nothing about my friendship with Mark. You saw us together for a few seconds this evening and now you’re jumping to wild conclusions!’

‘I saw you all alone with him, hanging on his arm while you strolled down the beach, quite unchaperoned,’ Leo snarled.

‘What?’ Tara stared at him, feeling as if she’d had the breath knocked out of her. Leo must be referring to her walk around the cliffs with Mark last Saturday which meant he’d known for a week that she’d been in Bournemouth, known it for a week, and yet not made contact with her until tonight. She knew she could not have kept her distance like that, she would have sought him out the moment she realized he was in the town, she loved him far too much to have stayed away.

‘Then you met up with him again at the concert on Tuesday and you invited him to dinner the day before yesterday,’ Leo continued ruthlessly, bringing home to Tara again and again how easily he could have approached her and how determinedly he had stayed away. It must be that he did not love her, she realized, and knew that until then she had nursed a secret conviction that he felt the same way about her as she did about him. But she was wrong. It was unbelievable, but she was wrong. The knowledge seemed to knock her heart out of her body and the pain robbed her of the power of speech. ‘I know in London women think nothing of such flirtations behaviour,’ Leo continued savagely, ‘but in a small place like Bournemouth it is taken to mean something. Mark believes his interest in you is returned. I’m telling you to break off the friendship now. I won’t have you humiliating him by spurning his affection!’

With a huge effort Tara pulled the shattered remnants of her dignity together. ‘As I told you,’ she said in a low voice, resisting the temptation to scream at him, ‘you should not be so quick to jump to conclusions. Don’t try to separate me from your cousin, he won’t thank you for it. Perhaps we will remain just friends and perhaps we will become something more, either way it is none of your business!’ As she spoke Tara felt her anger building, she let it grow, it was a far better feeling than the agony of knowing Leo did not love her. ‘And I’ll tell you one thing more,’ she said recklessly. ‘Mark, unlike you, would make a fine husband. He is well mannered and considerate and altogether of a far better temperament than you!’

For a moment she thought he was going to strike her, so black was his expression, but then his face seemed to shutter and she felt herself cut off from his thoughts. Then she felt Leo’s hand close over her own with surprising gentleness which contrasted with the coldness of his tone. ‘Come into the house.’

‘Why?’ Tara demanded sharply.

‘We have finished this discussion. We need never discuss anything again. But I will not leave you alone outside in a country garden at night.’

It was too much. He never wanted to see her again, but he was showing her the courtesy of a gentleman to a lady, for one last time. Tara tore her hand from Leo’s and raced for the house before a sob could betray her feelings.

Leo strode after her and watched until Tara had let herself inside. Then he shoved his hands into his pockets and stared moodily into the darkness. That little encounter had not gone at all as he had hoped. It was his own fault, he thought bitterly. Seeing Tara again, touching her, had served to remind him how much he desired her and how unique she was among the many women he had met. If he had stayed cool and distant he might have been able to convey to her exactly how she had insulted him by offering him a job. But he had not. Instead they had argued and argued so ferociously he could not see any way they could regain even a semblance of friendship again. But even then he had not been able to bear to let her go alone into the darkness that separated the sunken garden from the house and so he had followed her to the doorway, keeping her safe whether she wanted him to or not. Despite everything he loved her.

Chapter Thirteen

Leo stared at the closed door, half expecting it to reopen and Tara to come running out to fling herself into his arms. He felt at that moment that he would have given all the world for that to happen, but the world was not his to give and the door stayed resolutely shut. Briefly he considered following her indoors but dismissed the idea instantly, she had walked away from him, he’d be damned if he were going to go grovelling after her. Returning to the party was impossible. It was quite a slight to his hosts, but he would have to leave. His coat was still inside, but it was of no concern, the evening was cool, but not yet cold and his cottage was only a two mile ride away, he could collect his coat in the morning and make his apologies for his abrupt departure then.

That decided, Leo collected his mount from the stable and rode slowly home. He had chosen his horse rather too well, he reflected, the gelding was steady and sure and demanded too little of his concentration to stop him from brooding over the scene in the garden.
Mark, unlike you, would make a fine husband
, Tara had said and he had been sure she had been merely trying to bring home his own unsuitability for the role. But now, thinking back over the entire conversation, he realized that Tara had not at any point denied her interest in Mark. True she had said it was only a friendship at present, but she had made it clear that it was a friendship she intended to develop. For the first time it occurred to him that Tara might be seriously thinking about marriage with Mark, and from what he had seen of his cousin, Mark was quite enough taken with Tara to propose. The thought left him cold, then suddenly he was full of fire. He was not going to sit back and let his cousin marry the woman he loved, no matter how insulting, cutting or irritating she was. Tara belonged to him, now all he had to do was convince her of it.

Tara pulled the door shut tight behind her and then slumped in the shadow of the doorway. Leo had followed her to the house, would he perhaps follow her inside, take her in his arms and tell her how much he loved her? For one wild moment she taunted herself with that possibility, but the door stayed firmly shut behind her and she knew he was not coming. She felt as if her heart had been torn apart, and she clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into her palms, in an effort not to give in to tears.

After a few minutes of hiding in the shadows, when all Tara was aware of was her own ragged breathing and the tremendous effort she was making to bring her feelings under control, she felt ready to rejoin the party. Well, not ready, she silently amended, but as ready as she was going to be with a broken heart. She stepped out of the doorway, hoping she looked more composed than she felt.

‘Ah, there you are,’ Mark came over to her as she paused by the refreshment table, thinking that nibbling a pastry might give her something to do and prevent people from expecting her to make conversation. Eating was the last thing she felt like, but it would be something to hide behind. She snatched up the smallest pastry on the plate, a triangle topped with slivered almonds and took a minute bite while attempting to smile at Mark. He peered at her and she thought he looked a little concerned. ‘Have you known my cousin long?’ he asked.

‘Just a short while,’ Tara suddenly found she wanted to talk about Leo, however obliquely. ‘He painted my portrait a few weeks ago.’

Mark nodded, ‘Yes, he’s very talented in that direction, he was always drawing and painting even as a child. Of course he couldn’t possibly have become an artist if things hadn’t worked out so disastrously for his family, but there you go, every cloud has a silver lining, or so they say.’

‘Quite,’ Tara said faintly, since Mark seemed to expect some sort of a response, and clearly assumed she knew what he was talking about. She longed to question him further and was furiously trying to think of a way in which to interrogate him without seeming to do so when the door at the far end of the parlour swung open to admit another guest.

‘Oh,’ Mark said, looking pleased, ‘Lord Davenham has arrived. Come and meet him.’ He took her arm in his own and led Tara over to the impeccably dressed gentleman who was greeting his parents.

‘Hello, Reeves,’ Lord Davenham said, smiling genially. On closer inspection Tara thought he was older than he had first appeared, but gentle living preserved youth like nothing else, she thought cynically, Leo for example looked five years or so older than his cousin, but from the way Mark spoke about him, she guessed they were of an age.

‘Lord Davenham, how good of you to come,’ Mark said, shaking his hand warmly and Tara suspected that despite the formality of his words that they were old friends. ‘May I present my friend Lady Tara who is summering in Bournemouth with her mother Lady Penge?’

‘I’m delighted to meet you,’ Lord Davenham said. His kiss on her hand felt like nothing more than a formality and Tara wondered if he were married, if not he must surely be the most eligible bachelor around here, being a lord. Married or not, Lord Davenham was clearly not looking for feminine company tonight and Tara found herself detached from Mark’s company and left to mingle with the other guests alone. It suited her, she realized as she helped herself to a glass of wine. The strangers she chatted to expected little from her, all she need do was make a few complimentary remarks about Bournemouth and they were happy to continue in praise of the town while she nodded and smiled and thought her own thoughts.

‘The view from Canford Cliffs of Handfast Point is one of my favourites,’ a young girl was saying to her. ‘I believe my cousin Leo is painting it.’ Tara felt her mind snap to attention at the mention of Leo’s name and she realized she was talking to Mark’s younger sister, Caroline. She stared at her, seeing the resemblance in Caroline’s strong features, despite the femininity of her blonde, curly hair. Here was her chance to find out more about Leo, she was sure this child could easily be persuaded to chatter about her cousin without suspecting the reason for Tara’s interest.

‘Do you know your cousin well?’ she asked.

‘Not as well as I could have,’ Caroline said. ‘He is ten years older than me and has been living in London ever since his father died, painting mostly. Papa asked him to come and live with us, but Leo wanted to be independent. He comes here for Christmas, from time to time, though.’

‘How did his father die?’ Tara asked avidly. Caroline gave her an odd look and Tara wondered if she had underestimated the younger girl.

‘I’m not really supposed to know,’ Caroline said primly, but she threw Tara a sideways look.

‘But you do know,’ Tara said, quite certain.

Caroline smiled at her. ‘Yes, well, sort of. I believe he drank himself to death, but he was ruined by then anyway.’

‘Ruined?’ Tara asked, this didn’t quite fit with the picture she had formed of Leo’s family. After he had made it quite clear that he did not come from a long line of poachers she had amended her view and seen them as a respectable family who had fallen on hard times; that was not the same thing as being ruined.