The Rising Storm
Page 63
“Now bless me!” he exclaimed. “How monstrous strange you should suggest her! I like her greatly and had serious thoughts of proposing to her before Isabella’s letter took me off to Spain. Do you think she’d have me?”
“I’ve not a doubt of it. In her vague, lazy way she dotes upon you; and she is wise enough to recognise that marriages based only on passion are rarely lasting. My desperate need to attempt to heal the breach between us compelled me to remain in London until you arrived; but I have arranged with her to accompany me to Stillwaters as soon as I had seen you on your return. I have invited Charles, and with him there, for appearance’s sake I thought it proper to have another woman in the house; so she has most sweetly consented to play gooseberry. Now, there is naught to prevent your joining us, and what more ideal setting could you have in which to propose to her?”
Roger shook his head. “I’ll think of it, but at present I can promise no more; the other matter is still too close to me. Tell me, though, of your Earl. On closer acquaintance does my lord St. Ermins come up to your first estimate of him?”
“Lud, yes! He is a proper man, and I am certain that you will like him greatly. Yet whether to tie myself again I am still a little in doubt. Apart from Diego, who failed to rouse me and so hardly counted, I have been chaste all through the winter. Now summer is here again; the sap is rising both in the vines and in my gipsy veins, so I must soon make up my mind. It must either be marriage or another lover.”
“Let it be marriage then. From all you have told me of St. Ermins he sounds the very husband for you; and like myself ’tis over-time you gave up racketing and settled down.”
She turned her face up to his with a wicked smile. “Roger, I’ll make a bargain with you. If you’ll take Amanda I’ll take the Earl.”
His eyes twinkled. “I am inclined to take you up on that.”
“Do, Roger, do! And why waste a day longer of your precious youth than need be? I’ll give you till tomorrow morning but no more. We’ll strike our bargain then; or should you refuse I will still strike you as a horrid, ungrateful fellow from my life.”
“ ’Tis morning now. It must be well after two o’clock. And since from this secret retreat of yours ’tis a plaguey long walk back to Arlington Street, I must beg of you a shakedown for the night.”
“Dear, foolish Roger.” She put up a hand and stroked his cheek. “As though you would ever lack for a bed where I may be. But dost know that it is all of two years and a month since thou hast kissed me? Kissed me with more ardour than a brother, is what I have in mind.”
Drawing back his encircling arm he looked down into her fair, smiling face with mingled delight and mirth. Then for the first time in many weeks he really laughed aloud.
“Strap me, Georgina! But thou art incorrigible! Dost realise that thou hast just invited me to make love to thee tonight, and yet would have me get myself engaged to wed Amanda tomorrow?”
She made a face at him. “ ’Twill be time enough for us to attempt to turn over new leaves when we are married. Come, sir! Am I to find that ’twas no more than an empty compliment, when half an hour back thou didst infer that my lips would always hold a magic for thee? If not, thou art monstrous ill-mannered to keep a lady waiting.”
A Note on the Author
DENNIS WHEATLEY
Dennis Wheatley (1897–1977) was an English author whose prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world’s best-selling writers from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Wheatley was the eldest of three children, and his parents were the owners of Wheatley & Son of Mayfair, a wine business. He admitted to little aptitude for schooling, and was expelled from Dulwich College, London. In 1919 he assumed management of the family wine business but in 1931, after a decline in business due to the depression, he began writing.
His first book, The Forbidden Territory, became a bestseller overnight, and since then his books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. During the 1960s, his publishers sold one million copies of Wheatley titles per year, and his Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories.
During the Second World War, Wheatley was a member of the London Controlling Section, which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents gained him employment with planning staffs for the War Office. He wrote numerous papers for the War Office, including suggestions for dealing with a German invasion of Britain.
Dennis Wheatley died on 11th November 1977. During his life he wrote over 70 books and sold over 50 million copies.
Discover books by Dennis Wheatleypublished by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/DennisWheatley
Duke de Richleau
The Forbidden Territory
The Devil Rides Out
The Golden Spaniard
Three Inquisitive People
Strange Conflict
CodewordGolden Fleece
The Second Seal
The Prisoner in the Mask
Vendetta in Spain
Dangerous Inheritance
Gateway to Hell
Gregory Sallust
Black August
Contraband
The Scarlet Impostor
Faked Passports
The Black Baroness
V for Vengeance
Come into My Parlour
The Island Where Time Stands Still
Traitors’ Gate
They Used Dark Forces
The White Witch of the South Seas
Julian Day
The Quest of Julian Day
The Sword of Fate
Bill for the Use of a Body
Roger Brook
The Launching of Roger Brook
The Shadow of Tyburn Tree
The Rising Storm
The Man Who Killed the King
The Dark Secret of Josephine
The Rape of Venice
The Sultan’s Daughter
The Wanton Princess
Evil in a Mask
The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware
The Irish Witch
Desperate Measures
Molly Fountain
To the Devil a Daughter
The Satanist
Lost World
They Found Atlantis
Uncharted Seas
The Man Who Missed the War
Espionage
Mayhem in Greece
The Eunuch of Stamboul
The Fabulous Valley
The Strange Story of Linda Lee
Such Power is Dangerous
The Secret War
Science Fiction
Sixty Days to Live
Star of Ill-Omen
Black Magic
The Haunting of Toby Jugg
The KA of Gifford Hillary
Unholy Crusade
Short Stories
Mediterranean Nights
Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
First published in 1949 by Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.
Copyright © 1949 Dennis Wheatley
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The moral right of the author is asserted.
eISBN: 9781448212903
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