Come to Castlemoor
Page 23
“Nicola will do well for herself,” I said.
“I expect to have news of an elopement any day now.”
We were nearing the hotel. I stopped.
“You—you said you were on the way to the hotel when you saw me going into the shop. Do you have—business there?”
“Of sorts.”
“Really?”
“I planned to bring you one of the first bottles of perfume turned out by the new firm. It’s in my pocket.”
“I rarely wear perfume,” I said peevishly.
“And to ask you how you’d like to live on the outskirts of Paris.”
The world shimmered with radiance, but I would have gone to the stake before letting him know what these last words had done to me. I tossed my head and became suddenly very interested in a shop window.
“Well?” he said.
I looked at him, my brow arched.
“How would you like to live on the outskirts of Paris?”
“What an outrageous question.”
“I fail to see anything outrageous about it!” he said testily.
“I hardly know you, Mr. Rodd.”
“I’ll be in Darkmead for the rest of the summer. You’ll have plenty of time to get to know me.”
“I’ll be very busy—”
“You damn sure will.”
“Really, Mr. Rodd, I see no reason—”
“At the end of summer we’ll leave for Paris—”
“Nonsense,” I interrupted.
“As man and wife,” he concluded.
“You’re dreaming.”
“You’ll be on that boat with me,” he snarled.
“I wouldn’t think of it,” I said blithely.
“You’ll think of it,” he retorted. “Twenty-four hours a day.”
“You’re terribly sure of yourself, Mr. Rodd.”
“Not at all. I’m just sure of you.”
“Are you?”
“Quite. Do you have anything else to say?”
I started to make a scathing retort. I held it back. Burton Rodd looked down at me with glowering eyes, ready to fight some more if necessary. I smiled. He was determined to have his way, and any further argument would have been futile. He saw the smile and knew that he had won. He took my arm possessively and led me toward the hotel. I wondered if he knew his victory was one I had been planning for a very long time.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1970 by Tom E. Huff
Cover design by Julianna Lee
ISBN: 978-1-4976-9829-1
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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