To Marry a Tiger (21 page)

Ruth thanked her briefly and fled, with Saro snapping at her heels, delightedly whirling round in circles, quite sure that she was about to do something exciting and unusual.

“Be quiet, you beastly animal!” she berated him.

Saro barked the harder.

“You’ll be in the stables!” she warned him.

“Now that,” Mario drawled from the foot of the stairs, “would be an excellent idea!”

Ruth gave him a harassed look. She snatched the dog up into her arms and rushed headlong up the stairs, his laughter following her all the way.

He came through the door without knocking, wearing a truly magnificent dressing-gown that filled her with envy.

“You weren’t wearing
that
the other day!” she accused him.

“If I had known it was you here, and not Pearl, I might have done,” he said with an air of candour. “I don’t think it would appeal to Pearl—”

“How can you say so?” she asked with exaggerated sarcasm.

He smiled at her and she was obliged to concentrate hard on her breathing until she felt more normal.

“M-Mario—” she began.

He sat on the edge of the bed beside her. “My love?” he responded immediately.

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that!” she said crossly.

“I’ll call you whatever I please,” he answered.

“But it isn’t
true
!”

He looked surprised. “And that matters
?
”

“N-no,” she said hesitantly.

He looked at her closely. “I was right, wasn’t I
?
You do love me?”

“You know I do,” she said in a small, tight voice.

He took her hand in his, playing with the ring on her finger. “That was generous of you,” he said gently.

Ruth pulled her hand away from him. “No, it wasn’t!” she denied fiercely. “You knew that I loved you. I don’t know how it happened, but I wouldn’t have married you otherwise—only
I
didn’t know it then! I just thought I’d gone mad! And anyway,” she went on, her sense of grievance getting the better of her, “I didn’t have any choice! It wasn’t at all a comfortable position
to be in.”

“It would have been even more uncomfortable if you hadn’t fallen in love with me,” he pointed out reasonably.

“Why?” she demanded sulkily.

“Because I should have kissed you just the same!” he told her.

She blushed and was immediately cross with herself for doing so. “Pearl
never
blushes!” she said in despair.

“No?” He sounded amused.

“It’s—it’s a very awkward habit!” she said bitterly.

“I think it’s a charming one,” he answered. “Very proper in a loving bride
!
” he added, for the sheer joy of watching the colour slide up into her cheeks again.

“D-don’t!” she protested.

He laughed. “You
darling
!” he exclaimed.

Ruth was shocked by this form of address. She gave him a nervous look and hastily looked away again. The
familiar
amusement was very apparent in his dark eyes, but there was something else as well, far more unnerving, something she would have liked to have explored, but hadn’t the necessary courage.

“Mario, was it true? Did you
indeed
have to marry me
?”

“It’s the custom,” he replied.

She sighed. “Then you wouldn’t have married me otherwise?”

“No.”

She looked at him again. “It doesn’t matter,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have married you
then
,”
he went on, just as if she hadn’t spoken.

“Th-then?” she repeated.

“I would have found some other way to keep you here,” he added reflectively, “until you had time to grow used to me!”

Her eyes widened. “I—I d-don’t understand,” she stammered.

He looked amused. “Don’t you? Then I’ll tell you, my love. The day I walked through that door and found you sleeping in my bed—”

“It wasn’t your bed!” she denied indignantly.

“In
my
bed,” he repeated firmly, “it was a great
s
hock to my system. I didn’t particularly want to get seriously involved
w
ith anyone! But one look at you, and there I was!”

Ruth looked at him, fascinated. “Wh-where were you?”

“Involved!”

She frowned. “W-were you?”

“I came through that door and there you were, bursting with righteous indignation! I knew the instant I set eyes on you that I should have to keep you there for ever, you were so completely
right
! You were made to be my wife! Happily, you had placed yourself in the position where you didn’t have any choice!”

Ruth thought that she had never had such a fascinating conversation with anyone
!
“
I shouldn’t have thought you’d like a reluctant wife very much,” she said.

“There wasn’t too much danger of that!” he retorted.

She lifted her chin pugnaciously. “That isn’t kind!” she told him.

“No, it wasn’t,” he agreed repentantly. “But the fact of the matter is, my dear, that it never occurred to me that I couldn’t make you love me!”

“You chose a very odd way of going about it,” she said fla
tl
y. “You had to have your own way about
everything
!”

“And that rankles?”

She came near to laughter. “No,” she admitted, “but it
might
have done! You made me give everything, even my pride. I might have hated you for that!

“Was pride the reason you ran away?”

She nodded unhappily. “Oh, Mario,” she said, “I love you so much! I was afraid I’d be unhappy if I didn
’
t have anything in return. I wasn’t sure you even
liked
me! When I came home from the vineyards with Henry and you kissed me and I thought you
knew
,
I couldn
’
t bear it!” She took a deep breath. “I’m not asking you to love me,” she went on bravely, “at least, not very much, but if you think you could pretend sometimes—” Her eyes met Mario’s and she stopped in a hurry. “M
-
Mario?”

“Ruth
darling
,
I’ve spent the greater part of the evening telling you that I love you! L
O
VE you, do you hear me? How can you make such an outrageous suggestion?”

She blinked, uneasily aware of her heart thudding inside her.

“I thought we’d spent the greater part of the evening establishing that I loved you!” she said faintly, her courage fast evaporating as he reached out for her. She thought he was going to shake her, but he didn’t, he kissed her very gently on the lips.

“Have I made a mull of it?” he asked her humorously. “How could you think that I wanted you to be a loving wife, if I didn’t love you? It’s because I love you that I want our love to be the central thing in both our lives—”

“It is, in mine,” she said unsteadily.

He looked at her in wonder, a slight smile on his lips.
“
Carissima
,
would you really have given me your life without my love?”

“
I thought it was what you wanted,” she answered simply.

When he kissed her she felt that she had come home. How could she ever have thought that he didn’t love her? She laughed with sheer happiness against his lips.

“
This
is what I wanted!” he whispered in her ear.
“
Oh, Ruth, you little darling, I love you to distraction
!
” She didn’t answer him because she couldn’t. She didn’t need to answer him. He was the sum of her pride, her life, her love, because he had made her his wife!