Hotel Mirador (24 page)

* * *

Some time later Dane said, “You earned that bonus, little one. We’ll make it a trousseau after all—let ourselves go in Paris.”

“Paris!”

“On the way to England. I suppose you’ll insist on getting married in Cumberland?”

“Oh dear,” she said, going scarlet. “Do we have to think about marriage? It’s a bit soon, when we’ve only just kissed for the first time.”

“But
how
we kissed!” He laughed at her expression. “Haven’t been in the habit of doing that kind of thing with other chaps, have you?”

“No, but
...”

“Like to know that we’ll kiss like that every day for the rest of our lives, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, but
...”

“There’s only one way to make sure of it. Hook the guy.” He rubbed his cheek against her hair. “I love you, Sally. I was never more certain of anything in my life. That day you nearly crashed down from Tony’s balcony I knew I had to marry you—look after you for ever. That’s why I was so furious with you. In a matter of seconds I knew I loved you and nearly lost you. God, it was appalling.”

“But it was after that that you kissed Lucette!”

“She kissed me,” he reminded her, “but I didn’t object, as you were watching. We’d just had a row on the terrace, if you remember.”

“I remember everything.”

“Good. Perhaps you now realize why I was so keen to get Mike on the go in England. He’s all right, but I wanted him out of our way.”

“Tony, too?”

“Tony most of all,” he said, sounding grim. “I knew what you felt for Mike was professional compassion, but Tony’s pleasant and quite a good-looker, and he does mean to succeed with the plantation. He’s wasted a lot of time, but he was steadying up a little before you came, and I was horribly afraid his situation would appeal to that touchingly soft heart of yours. Why was it never soft for me?”

“I had to protect myself.”

“Against what?”

“The machine,” she said tremulously. “It’s only very recently that I’ve believed you could love anyone, and then I was so afraid it was Lucette. I didn’t want to fall in love with you.”

He laughed, exasperatedly. “I knew that the moment we met. You were a young woman out of England for the first time, yet you refused to be impressed by Morocco or anything else. You took one long blue-eyed stare at me and decided that Morocco had nothing on Cumberland and that you would do your job and get out, quick! Like it or not, my darling, you fell the whole way that first day, just as I did—I haven’t felt right since. But you were a sight more stubborn about acknowledging it.”

“Not to myself,” she said softly.

“That’s something.” He hardened and let her go. “It’ll take me ages to recover from the shock of knowing you were arranging to leave. How did you expect me to react to that?”

She looked up at him, beseechingly. “Dane, I didn’t know how you felt, but now that I do know ... I’d never do anything to hurt you; I’d hurt myself so much more. You’re such a strange man
...”

“Don’t say that!”

“Nice strange,” she qualified. “You do such a lot for everybody in such an odd and cold way. I’m sure there’s no other man in the world who’d have gone off to the kasbah at Nezam in the middle of the night to scare the Caid into bringing his son to Shiran! And do you know what I believe? You first took over the Mirador because you liked Pierre
...
and you backed the date plantation for the same reason.”

“I did that for you. It was the first piece of Morocco that you admitted you liked!”

She turned to the drink she had neglected, and asked slowly and a little offhandedly, “What was the reason you took an interest in the phosphate mine? It belonged entirely to C
é
cile, didn’t it?” would use the money to further her career. I engaged experts to investigate the mine, and it was discovered that with the expenditure of several thousand we could get it going again, on a profitable basis. I couldn’t let
Cécile
sell out—it wouldn’t have been fair.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’d have lost money by it. It was only right to buy the mine as it stood and then form a company, of which she could own a proportion of the shares
—
and get' her cut of the profits.”

“Did she use the lump sum to further her career?” He smiled faintly. “In a way I suppose she did. She bought expensive clothes galore, and assumed a veneer of success that brought in offers of contracts all over North Africa. Professionally, she was made.”

“You two
...
stuck together, didn’t you?”

He put down the glass and held her shoulders. “My dearest girl, you’ve spoiled me for every other woman in the world. I used to enjoy
Cécile
—she was sophisticated and a good companion for the few weeks she used to stay in Shiran—but there was nothing more. I’m not blind, of course. She practically ignored other men, so I knew that some day she’d expect me to marry her. I hadn’t much feeling about it, either way. I used to believe I wasn’t the marrying kind—till you came.”

“How are things now—with
Cécile
?”

“She’s gone. Didn’t you know?”

Sally lifted a wide blue glance. “No. I thought she had a few more days.”

He plunged his hands back into his pockets. ‘Td better explain. You know how I felt about that scene they arranged—Lucette’s husband and the rest. I had the girl weeping over me, and after she was gone I was in a mood to do damage to someone. Well, first I saw Mike and told him he was leaving for England. Next day I had half an hour with
Cécile
; that was when I discovered that she’d been as deeply in it as Mike.”

“You quarrelled with her?”

“Lord, no. We were painfully polite and nothing was openly discussed. I didn’t leave her in doubt, though. I told her I thought she could give Le Perroquet a miss for a year or two, and reminded her that Shiran had no other
night club big enough to pay her fee. I also suggested that she looked too tired to complete her contract
...
you know, the old routine.”

“Yes,” he said, and left it there for a minute while he dropped more ice into his almost empty glass. Then, with a shrug that meant he might as well get it over, he stated, “I did take up the phosphate mine chiefly for
Cécile
’s sake. She wasn’t making much by her singing, and she told me that if she could sell the mine she
could stop singing.”

“What they call the charming brush-off?”

“That’s right
.
It was she who suggested leaving Shiran today.”

“She
is
beautiful,” said Sally with a sigh.

“If you like honey-blondes. I don’t. I go for a cross between chestnut and bronze and English coloring.”

Sally smiled, but said soberly, “You did work insidiously and well on
Cécile
, didn’t you? I believe I’m a bit afraid of you.”

“Not you—you’ve got me in your pocket.”

“You wouldn’t say that so airily if it were true.”

He grinned. “Don’t get defensive again. It’s just you and me now.”

“But the mine still connects you with
Cécile
?”

“Oh, didn’t I finish? I’ve offered to buy her out and I think she’ll accept. It will be a sort of insurance for Mike, too. If he doesn’t recover sufficiently to do his old job well, he’ll get desperate. Any man needs independence, and if Mike owns a share in the mine and a directorship of sorts, he’ll be able to please himself where he lives and do a spot of work when he feels like it
.
”

“He hates your generosity, you know.”

Dane lifted his shoulders and nodded. “It doesn’t matter
—
he needs it. If he gets back into circulation I’ll let up, and start demanding a few things from him. By the way, will you mind living at the villa till we find somewhere else?”

She pinked again. “Do we have to discuss that kind of thing so soon?”

“We could wait an hour, if you insist.”

She smiled shakily. “I won’t mind the villa
...
or anywhere.”

“Even the Mirador?”

“Well, I’d rather keep house, but
...
but I do like this hotel. It’s where we met, and it’s something you created.”

“Tell you what—we’ll occasionally spend a week here in this suite, and in the mornings you can
sing right there, on the balcony, and I’ll join in. I sing off-key, but you’ll be too much in love to notice.”

“Oh, Dane,” she said huskily. “I’m so happy and relieved that you love me.”

Which was the cue, of course, for him to repeat his assurances, very thoroughly. In his arms, Sally could only feel, she couldn’t think. But w
h
en he released her, she thought of travelling to England with him, showing him off to the family, of the ceremony in the village church
...
and of Morocco again.

“Shall we always live here?” she asked, searching his face.

“Who knows, honey?” he said teasingly. “Is it important?”

“No, but I wouldn’t like to lose touch with Shiran. I’m quite fond of Pierre.”

“Don’t mention Tony again or
I’ll
get vicious!”

She chanced it “I do think it was terribly hard to insist that he wait two years before he marries.”

“What difference does it make? He hasn’t even met the girl yet.”

“But supposing he does find someone quite soon?
”

“
Even after that, it takes time.”

“It didn’t take
you
very long!”

Dane shoved an arm round her and hugged her. “We’ll rescind the offending clause when we announce our engagement—tonight. Like royalty granting an amnesty to prisoners. Satisfied?”

“Very.”

His tones lost distinctness. “I want you so much, Sally. I’ve waited all my life for this.”

“We want each other,” she murmured against his chin. “I love you more every minute.”

His answer was lost in her hair, but it didn’t matter. At last they were close, physically and spiritually. It wasn’t important that she didn’t yet fully understand this big masterful man who was to be her husband. They loved, and the understanding would come.

THE END