Both the Resident and his wife were showing signs of strain and counting the days until the Marchants’ visit came to its end. ‘Oh, Andrew, never have I known such difficult guests,’ Lady Phillips said shakily. ‘Absolutely nothing pleases them.’
Sir Ian looked at him over the top of his glasses. ‘Do stay and join us for lunch today,’ he said, a shade anxiously. ‘Lady Marchant has persuaded me to invite a gentleman – Mr Rufus Alexander. Do you know of him? He arrived up here only a week ago with a rather strange letter of introduction from the Governor-General, and he seems to have gone out of his way to ingratiate himself with our guests.’
‘Has he indeed?’ Andrew murmured.
Lady Phillips sniffed and sat forward. ‘I find him a little too, er—Mr Alexander is a most entertaining gentleman, but we know absolutely nothing about the fellow and Eloise Marchant has become quite sickeningly besotted with him.’
‘Well, I’m sure that neither you nor Sir Ian could be held accountable for any stupidity displayed by that young lady – and I don’t see how I can be of any help.’
‘Well, you’re a man of the world, Andrew, and I’d like to hear your impression of the chap.’ Sir Ian’s forehead furrowed. ‘Of course Lady Marchant tried at first to discourage the relationship with Eloise, but Mr Alexander has quite won her over now by inviting them both to sail down the Ganges with him on his yacht.’
Andrew was forced to turn his head quickly, cover his mouth, and pretend to cough.
‘It has all been so very sudden,’ Lady Phillips added, ‘and while I’ll be delighted to see the Marchants pack up and leave as soon as possible, I feel a certain degree of responsibility for having been the one to introduce this unknown gentleman to my sister’s friends.’
Andrew kept a straight face when he walked into the dining room and was introduced to Rufus. Initially there was a flash of panic in the fellow’s eyes but it disappeared when they shook hands and no reference was made to their previous acquaintance. Though Rufus had gained a little weight over the last ten years, his golden hair was still thick and waved to perfection, and he was expensively dressed.
Actually, a more handsome man would be hard to find, Andrew thought, as they sat around the table and he watched the two Marchant women falling under the spell of Mr Alexander’s silver-tongued tales about his adventures around the world. And his description of the yacht that he had moored at Benares.
Lady Marchant smiled frequently at his eloquence, and Eloise squealed with excitement when Rufus reached into his breast pocket and produced a photograph of a sleek steam yacht. ‘What a beauty,’ Andrew murmured, wondering which photographer’s shop had sold him the picture. ‘Are you planning to sail soon?’
The storm of gossip in Srinagar about Victoria Latham’s secret child was immediately dampened by Nigel’s outrage at the suggestion. ‘Utter, vicious nonsense! Who could have suggested such a thing? Obviously someone who doesn’t know my cousin at all!’
But all that quickly took second place to the news of Eloise Marchant’s engagement, and the cantonment buzzed all week with receptions and farewell dinners for the Marchants and Mr Alexander. But there were no tears at the residency when the trio finally departed for Benares.
But there were tears of laughter in Victoria’s eyes when Andrew described the whole charade as they sat alone on the upper deck that evening. ‘Oh, Andrew! You are a wicked, wicked man. There’s no yacht, is there? Should I feel sorry for Eloise and Lady Marchant? How long will it be before they discover that Rufus is a fraud?’
‘Well, it will have to be before they reach the Ganges.’ Andrew’s grin grew wider. ‘Rufus is sure to choose a night for Lady Marchant to discover her daughter in a compromising situation – and there’ll be witnesses, too, of course. Her ladyship will demand that they marry immediately, at which point I imagine that Mr Alexander will announce – most apologetically – that he already has a wife.’ He gave a hoot of laughter. ‘Oh, yes, Lady Marchant will be expected to dig deep into her purse to keep that scandal quiet.’
Victoria shook her head. ‘To think she couldn’t see through all his lies! Well, let’s hope she’ll learn a lesson and put that malicious tongue of hers to rest at long last.’
He raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Clearly, my nature is not as forgiving as yours, Victoria. After their attack on your good character, it will give me enormous satisfaction to speak to Lady Phillips while she’s writing her next Saturday letter to her sister in London – the sister who arranged the invitation for the Marchants’ visit.’
‘You’re going to tell her the whole truth about Rufus?’
‘Absolutely! Once they’ve left Srinagar, I’ll say that I’ve just uncovered some very unpleasant news regarding the background of Eloise Marchant’s fiancé, and I know that we can then rely on her to send every detail straight to her sister.’ He winked. ‘How long will it take for the gossip mill of Mayfair to grind that pair of witches into the dust? I’m sure you’ll soon be able to enjoy the sweet taste of revenge, Victoria.’
She blew a long breath between her lips and shook her head slowly at him. ‘I’m very glad to have you as a friend and not as a foe, Andrew Wyndham.’
He hesitated before he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an envelope. ‘Well, I’ve done it, Victoria. This is it – my resignation from the regiment. I’ll give it to Colonel Moncrief in the morning, though I’ll have to stay on here until another man arrives to take on the job. And then I’ll head off with Annabelle and her ayah for Delhi or perhaps Bombay.’
Victoria stared at him wordlessly. Her fists clenched tighter as she listened.
‘Once I’m down there I’m sure to find a position in business somewhere. Perhaps in a merchant house, or with a shipping line. And the railway companies are expanding—’
She began to breathe fast. ‘Stop it, Andrew! Stop it! I know that you don’t want to leave the army. You can’t. You mustn’t!’ She gripped the arms of her chair. ‘Look, two things are crystal clear to me. In the first place, your dearest wish is to go out to Mardan and join the Guides. And secondly, you have a daughter who should not be separated from her father.’
She stopped and ran her tongue over her bottom lip, waiting for him to acknowledge her statement. But he made no comment and his frown deepened. She saw herself standing on the edge of a high cliff with this man whom she’d come to care for very deeply. Yes, she was willing to admit it! Her feelings for him were strong. And decidedly warm. Now she thought that she could hear Aunt Honoria chuckling.
She drew in a deep breath. ‘Andrew, don’t you see that there’s a perfectly simple answer to your dilemma? If you joined the Guides in Mardan as a married man, you’d have a wife to care for your daughter while you were busy doing – well, whatever it is that you’d be required to do out there.’ She watched him expectantly, but he remained tight lipped.
Her impatience mounted.
‘Oh, Andrew! Open your eyes and look at me. Don’t you see that you’d only have to ask me to marry you and my answer would be yes?’
For a long moment he stared at her incredulously. But no words came. Should she have mentioned that she’d grown to love him?
‘Come along, Andrew, just think about it! Our marriage would solve your problem instantly, and I’m positive that we’d get along well together wherever we go. We already know that we can trust each other, and I’m sure many couples start out in marriage with much less than that.’
His frown deepened. Perhaps he’d understand her message more clearly if she went to him now and pressed her open lips against his tightly clenched ones. Yes, and when they opened, she’d slip her tongue into his mouth to play warm, velvety games with his. She wanted very much to do that. She felt her cheeks heating. She wanted him to hold her close so he could feel the pace of her racing heart and then he’d understand how much she wanted him to love her.
He didn’t move, and she remained sitting where she was, though her tone became softer, more persuasive.<
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‘I’m ready to go wherever you’re sent, Andrew, though you’d have to teach me how to be a proper army wife. I mean, I’ll need your help to understand the regiment’s rules and regulations, but I promise I would never let you down.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, stop it, Victoria! What you’re suggesting is absolutely out of the question. I couldn’t ask you to— You have no idea what the isolation is like. You could never—’
She sighed, stood slowly and walked to his chair, crouched at his feet and placed her hands on his knees. ‘Don’t make the mistake of underestimating me, Andrew. I’d soon learn to be a useful officer’s wife, though I’m afraid that cooking is a complete mystery to me at the moment. But would I have to cook? No? Well, hopefully, I wouldn’t be expected to attend endless tea parties and play croquet. Anyhow, while you were away I could certainly teach Annabelle to read and write, sew – and draw rather badly. And to speak the Queen’s English. We’d always be there waiting whenever you returned from … wherever.’
She hesitated for a moment. ‘I admit that your daughter and I are not yet the very best of friends. I think she looks on me as a rival for your time and attention, but that would change once we were all living under the one roof.’
He shook his head at her, knowing full well that he was mad to reject her perfect solution. He should feel gratitude. Was it simply male pride that refused to let him even consider the idea? He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
‘Victoria, you haven’t given this nearly enough thought. Marriage is for men and woman who feel – I mean, you can’t really be serious!’
‘Oh, but I’m being perfectly serious, Andrew.’
‘No. Believe me, it’s best for you to forget about the whole thing. I’m not the easiest man to live with and you’re likely to find that you hate it out there on the frontier. Wives always have a difficult time when a husband’s duty has to take precedence over anything else, and – and accommodation is often Spartan. Sometimes families are left on their own for weeks at a time. No, Victoria, I would never ask you to share that kind of life, though I do thank you for your very charitable offer.’
She held his gaze. ‘All your talk of isolation and discomfort out there doesn’t frighten me. And besides, Andrew, what I’m suggesting is certainly not charity. Indeed, far from it. I think I’ve come to understand you very well now, and my feelings for you have grown extremely warm. I want to become your wife. I want you to become my husband for better or worse.’
He saw the expression in her eyes and words eluded him. Was he imagining it, or was this delightful, intelligent woman prepared to open the door of her heart and invite him to enter? He stood slowly and took her hands in his, drawing her to her feet. A warm feeling of something like hope came rushing through his veins, urging him to drop his feeble resistance. ‘Victoria, do you really understand what kind of life you’d be stepping into?’
She gripped his fingers tightly and lifted her face. ‘No, Andrew, at this moment I probably don’t know much at all, but I promise to learn quickly. As I’ve said, don’t ever underestimate me.’ When he looked into her eyes, he could no longer doubt her resolve; he could only wonder at it.
Emotion threatened to overwhelm him, so he mastered it by becoming pragmatic. ‘Of course, if I do go out there and join the Guides, I’ll gain a promotion – which means I’ll be earning more than I do now. So, if I was to be – I mean if anything should happen, you’d find that living on a major’s pension—’
‘Yes, I hear what you’re saying, Andrew.’ She recognized his oblique acceptance of the marriage idea, and took care to speak matter-of-factly. ‘I think it’s good for us to talk openly about these things, because I want to assure you that if something dreadful did happen to you, my sister and her family would always welcome Annabelle and me into their home.’ She smiled reassuringly. ‘And, by the way, I’m not a penniless widow, you know. Peter left me something in his will.’ Although she tried to make light of it, he bristled.
‘No, Victoria, that money is yours and I will not have a penny of it touched for either Annabelle’s needs or mine! We should be able to do well enough on what I’ll earn and I’ve probably got sufficient set by now to establish a household wherever we’re posted.’
‘Splendid.’ It dawned on Victoria that this was the second time that she’d been the one to propose marriage to a man. How very different this tall, lonely man was from her handsome, ebullient Peter. But again she had no doubt that the decision to join her life with his was the right one. She wanted to become part of him. She wanted him to show his love.
As they sat facing each other, listing the practicalities of setting up married life together in a frontier outpost, she thought how Aunt Honoria must be chuckling now if she was looking down from her cloud!
Yes, my dearest aunt, I’m going to share the life of this reserved, complex man who is in desperate need of the love that I’ve come to feel for him. It’s not at all the wild, glorious excitement I shared with Peter. But I do love and admire Andrew for his strength and devotion, and the tenderness he tries so hard to hide.
Suddenly she stood and held out her arms. ‘Oh, for goodness sake, Andrew Wyndham, please stop talking this instant, and kiss me.’
He heard her words through the ocean roar of his own blood pounding. Scarcely breathing, he stood slowly and reached out to hold her. She gave a little gasp when their lips touched, tentatively at first, but as if it had set flame to tinder, the kiss swiftly became ravenous and the shameless splendour of desire carried him on. He held her closer and felt her tremble as she twined her arms around his neck and returned each kiss with a heartfelt response that rocked him to his soul.
This lovely woman truly desired him! As he desired her. He had no wealth, no glory for her to bask in, no proud family tree, yet by some miracle, she was prepared to become his wife, his companion through life. There must be a God in Heaven after all!
Slowly, reluctantly they steadied their headlong rush into passion and pulled apart, both breathing raggedly, both smiling. ‘Oh, yes, Andrew. I’m sure we’ll do very well together out there on the frontier or anywhere else.’ She held out her hand. ‘Now, please show me the resignation that you were going to present to Colonel Moncrief in the morning. I want to watch you tear it up.’
He did as she asked, and felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. When he’d reduced the page to shreds, she gathered them up in her hands and threw them all into the lake.
‘Now, your first duty tomorrow, Captain Wyndham, will be to send a telegram to the Guides accepting the post they’ve offered. And please don’t neglect to advise them that your wife and child will be accompanying you out there.’ She beamed with triumph. ‘I’ll tell the begum that we’re engaged the moment she wakes in the morning. And will you call on Nigel tomorrow to give him our news?’
The melon-seller, sitting in the dark under the branches of a willow growing on the bank, nodded knowingly as he watched the English officer and the begum’s lady guest embrace on the houseboat. More change was coming. The augury he’d consulted last month had warned him that impatience would be the undoing of his enterprise. Wait, and watch for that one moment to act, the man had said. Be prepared to strike like a cobra. Fast and silent. The man pulled his rough cloak around himself as mist drifted across the lake. He waited and watched the houseboat. His patience was being tested.
‘You and Victoria are engaged? Andrew, my dear chap, this is wonderful news, indeed!’ Nigel pumped Andrew’s hand when he called the following morning. ‘And have you set the wedding date?’
‘No, we’ve made no announcement yet. Actually, it’s a long story, but we’re waiting to do so after my father leaves Srinagar in the next day or so. Then I’ll speak with the vicar. But I have other good news, too: I’ve been accepted into the Guides and Victoria will be coming out to Mardan with me. Along with my daughter. I have a three year old who’s being looked after by the begum.’
‘Aaaah!�
�� Nigel was stunned for a moment, then he nodded sagely. ‘So this was the root of the recent gossip about my cousin?’
‘I’m afraid so.’ As briefly and simply as he could, Andrew explained the whole extraordinary story of his child. ‘I was on the verge of tossing in my commission and taking Annabelle away, until Victoria came to my rescue. I can still scarcely believe that she’s prepared to help me bring up Annabelle – and travel so far away from the comfortable life she’s always known.’
Nigel gave a chuckle. ‘Do you really imagine that she’s going with you all the way to Mardan simply to help you bring up your daughter? Clearly, old chap, you still have a great deal to learn about your fiancée. By the way, do I have permission to whisper your news to Kitty?’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
No more than two dozen close friends, including the Resident and Lady Phillips, had been invited to Nigel and Kitty’s wedding.
Andrew paced up and down like a nervous schoolboy while he waited outside the church for Victoria to arrive in the begum’s carriage.
Dear God how he loved her, this woman of beauty, charm and wit, who was willing to marry him and bring up his daughter. And, wherever they went, he’d be called a lucky man, and envied for having such a wife at his side. Was it too much to hope that there might be other children as well in the years to come?
He prayed that the engagement ring in the gold silk pouch he had in his pocket would meet with her approval. It was a small diamond, but he’d chosen a setting that he thought would sit prettily on her finger. Lord, how he wished that his finances could have been stretched to afford the brilliant diamond cluster that the merchant had been tempting him with.
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