‘True?’ Desperately Petra tried to control her faltering voice, her shaking limbs. ‘Probably it’s not,’ she admitted daringly, rashly giving way to a momentary defiance. ‘I don’t think I’ve anything to be really sorry for, not so far as you’re concerned. I hate to seem rude but I don’t think either David or I have done you any harm.’
Mrs. Cameron was clearly incensed. Normally the possessor of a quick temper, something about Petra’s white, stricken face, combined with the amazingly courageous angle of her softly rounded chin, aroused her furiously. ‘Don’t you know,’ she cried, her eyes flashing, ‘that anything which concerns Neil concerns me as well!’
‘I didn’t realise,’ Petra muttered weakly, her nerve failing her again.
Before such abject defeat Mrs. Cameron’s raging confidence surged. ‘How do we know you’re anything but a common little adventuress? You come here, disrupt all our lives, what are we to think! Neil is in love with a very nice girl in Toronto. How do you imagine she’s going to feel when she discovers you’re here?’
‘A girl in Toronto?’ Try as she might, Petra failed to keep the despair from her voice or a sudden startling greyness from her cheeks, ‘Do you mean he’s going to marry her?’
‘What else—when she’s so crazy about him?’ Fay retorted wildly.
Painfully Petra tried to raise her head. ‘I wouldn’t do anything to prevent it, if that’s what you mean.’
Pressing an undoubted advantage, Fay rasped, ‘You have intelligence, you must see your presence here won’t help!’
Dully Petra agreed. ‘I’ll speak to Neil, then I’ll leave right away.’
‘Don’t speak to him,’ Fay said sharply, ‘just go! You could be gone before he returns.’
‘I can’t,’ Petra’s voice was beseeching. ‘There’s David, you see, and I couldn’t leave without thanking Neil for all he’s done for us.’
Her fury getting the better of her in the face of Petra’s continuing obstinacy, Fay lost control. In a second she was on her feet, raising her heavily ringed hand to strike the girl impulsively across her face.
‘Fay!’ It was Neil’s voice, his exclamation like a whip-crack, quite sufficient to spin Fay terrifyingly in her tracks, ‘Just what the hell do you think you’re doing!’
Struck, with a frightening apprehension, Fay couldn’t reply. She watched speechlessly as her stepson, after slaying her with another glance, strode swiftly to Petra’s side and put a protective arm around her. The anger in his eyes as he regarded the growing red marks on Petra’s cheek was scaring.
It was Petra who broke the awful silence. She was as stunned as Fay by his unexpected appearance, but there was an urge inside her to soothe him, ‘It’s nothing Neil, please!’ She couldn’t bear to look at Mrs. Cameron, but she must protect her from the wrath which surged so clearly in Neil’s black face. ‘I’m quite all right, Neil. Your stepmother might have lost her temper, but not without some justification, I’m afraid.’
‘What justification?’ Still keeping a tight hold of Petra, he turned with tiger-like swiftness on Fay, whose face visibly paled.
‘I—I know you might feel annoyed with me, Neil, but it seems you’ve got yourself into a situation here which needs sorting out. I was simply trying to do my best for all concerned, as no doubt Petra will vouch. You should appreciate it.’
‘Not the way you were doing it!’ His glacial glance left her to soften down on the girl who still trembled against him. ‘Petronella darling, could you leave us. I’ll join you in a few minutes.’
Feeling numb with a shocked unhappiness, Petra obeyed, but instead of staying in the house she ran out of the wide open door and made for the creek. Here, about half a mile away from the homestead, there were stretches of shallow water teeming with wildlife. It had become a favourite spot of hers, a kind of refuge when things got too much for her, and blindly she ran towards it now, uncaring that the tangled undergrowth caught at her flimsy new dress, tearing it outrageously. If Neil really wanted to, after his stepmother had talked to him, he probably knew where to find her as he had come across her here before on more than one occasion.
This evening, however, the still water seemed to offer none of its usual consolation. In the half light Petra stared at it despairingly. Neil might be annoyed with her for running away, but how could she have done otherwise when she had been the cause of so much trouble? None of this was really Mrs. Cameron’s fault, as he would soon discover. He would soon see, as she did, that all Petra’s plans had been preposterous and that Fay had been quite justified in getting alarmed. In Fay’s shoes, Petra could not but admit, she might have felt the same way. With a small, tortured moan she flung herself down on the night-chilled grass and began to sob, unhappiness tearing at the aching void that was her heart.
‘Petronella!’
Only one person called her that. It must be Neil. Perhaps if she lay still he wouldn’t see her and would go away. She hadn’t taken into account the gay material of her dress and she heard him crashing through the brushwood towards her, startling some young killdeer birds into a wild clamour nearby.
‘Petronella! Come here, darling.’ Suddenly, before she could move to escape him, he was kneeling beside her, drawing her resisting body into his arms, soothing her as he would a child. Gently but firmly he turned her to him, smoothing the long, tumbled hair from her hot face, examining closely now the long scratch left by the impact of Fay’s ring. Through the gathering darkness his eyes still glittered with anger, ‘I’m sorry, child,’ his face hardened, ‘I would have done anything to prevent this happening, but I don’t think Fay will bother you again.’
‘Oh, Neil,’ Petra’s voice was a small cry of anguish as she stared up at him, ‘don’t you think I’ve done enough harm without making more trouble between you and your family?’
‘I scarcely regard Fay as family,’ he retorted curtly. ‘She’s certainly never been any mother to me. But regardless of that I’ve always tried to do my best for her, and nothing could excuse her attacking you as she did today.’
Anxiously Petra tried to pull away from him. ‘Please Neil, don’t judge her too harshly. I don’t think she ever intended to slap me. You must admit my being here might cause anyone in her position to wonder. She just lost control. I don’t believe she meant any real harm.’
‘Whether this is true or not we won’t be seeing much of her for a while,’ he rejoined grimly. ‘I’m afraid I straightened her out on a few things, something which has been long overdue. You only brought things to a head. Whether we have her back at the ranch or not depends very much on how she conducts herself in the future. Our future—because I love you, my darling.’
Before she could prevent him he had pulled her swiftly to him again and began kissing her fiercely, his mouth finding hers with urgent pressure before seeking the soft curve of her neck and shoulders which her torn dress had left bare. She felt herself responding with compulsive passion, in spite of the fright which still lingered in her body, as his lips returned to hers and his hand on her hip held her closely against him. She was aware of him and longed for him with every bit of her and didn’t know where she found the strength to finally push him away.
‘Neil, your stepmother said you’re in love with a girl in Toronto. How can you love me?’
Derisively he smiled but made no attempt to reclaim her immediately, even though his eyes smouldered possessively over her. ‘There are several girls in Toronto and elsewhere that Fay would like to see me married to, but as I care for none of them you can dismiss them from your mind. You’re the one I’m going to marry, whether or not you’re agreeable,’ he added coolly.
Her heart pounding furiously, Petra stared at him while his eyes glittered over her implacably, leaving her in no doubt as to the restraint he was exercising in not dragging her back into his arms. ‘You’re just making that up!’ she cried despairingly. ‘Oh, Neil, why torture me so?’
He made a rough gesture towards her, then stopped himself, as
if acknowledging that there were things to put right between them. ‘The first time I saw you, Petronella, I told Jake you were the girl I was going to marry. If you don’t believe me then you must go and ask him. Why do you imagine I let you talk me into allowing you to stay as long as you did? To begin with I was maybe only trying to prove I didn’t really want you, but I merely became more convinced I couldn’t let you go.’
‘Yet you wanted me to leave with you when you went to Toronto?’
‘Yes,’ his mouth went grim, ‘but only because I planned to follow you back to London, to propose to you in your own home. You see, I didn’t realise then that you hadn’t any. You were so young, I hoped this would give you time, an opportunity of seeing me in your own familiar surroundings, before making up your mind. I wanted to marry you there, to bring you back here as my bride. When you refused to even come as far as Toronto I naturally felt very frustrated, my love! I decided you didn’t care for me, that any emotion you felt was only because I resembled the Cameron in the painting, the man you’d become mysteriously attracted to.’
‘He ceased to be you a long time ago, Neil. You must know it’s true. I’d never confuse the two of you now!’
‘You’d better not,’ he growled threateningly. ‘There are ways I can make you realise I’m the one who’s flesh and blood!’
Heat crept beneath her skin, but there still seemed more she must apologise for. ‘When you returned from Toronto, that night in your office, I threatened you with your ancestor’s debt. Neil—I’m sorry ...’
‘So you should be, Petronella!’ His mouth quirked. ‘I could have shown you a letter of acknowledgement, signed by your ancestor in the eighteen-eighties, showing the debt repaid in full.’
Startled beyond words, as the full impact of this information hit her, Petra stammered, ‘Why didn’t you? I had nowhere to go, you see,’ she said brokenly, ‘and no money. It was terrible having to threaten you as I did, but I didn’t know what else I could do. There was David—but you should have told me about the money being repaid!’
‘Yes,’ he agreed wryly, frowning at her feverish face, ‘perhaps I should. I must confess I didn’t for two reasons. Firstly I was stunned, young lady, then so infuriated that I vowed there and then that you must go. Once you were out of sight I was determined I would soon forget you. Yet you’d barely been gone half an hour before I had to come chasing after you, full of every excuse for doing so but the right one!’
Her eyes dilated. ‘I thought you merely followed me for fear I might run to Oliver? I never intended doing that.’
‘I know, child. It wasn’t for Janey’s sake that I came. I was simply terrified you were really attracted to him, which is quite a confession! Then up in the mountains I made an amazing discovery. You clung to me, not just for comfort, you really wanted to be in my arms. After that nothing could stop me, but maybe I was too bent on having Janey and every other complication out of the way before getting things properly settled between us. But if I didn’t put it into words you must have guessed how I felt each time I kissed you?’
Bewildered, Petra could only shake her head, still scarcely able to take in all he was telling her. ‘Why did you return this evening?’ she asked tautly, her heart racing. ‘How did you know I wanted you?’
‘I felt something was wrong. I couldn’t settle. Loving you as completely as I do, I know you’re already so much a part of me that, instinctively, I seemed to know you needed help.’
Petra shivered, yet she found she couldn’t take Fay’s behaviour too much to heart. Some time in the future, she felt, somehow she and Fay would be friends. She would do everything she could to make it so.
‘Another thing,’ Neil was saying, ‘David and I have been doing some talking this afternoon. He’s told me a lot about your life in London since your father died—the jobs you had, the men you didn’t want. He isn’t too young to be aware of at least some of the things which drove you to come here. Oh, Petronella,’ he exclaimed huskily, ‘I could almost beat you for not telling me yourself.’
‘I’d rather you kissed me.’ She spoke quickly, because she felt she must be shameless, but suddenly she yearned for him. So much.
‘I must, because I can’t resist you any longer, you little witch.’ Passion smouldered in his dark eyes as his arms swiftly drew her unprotesting body to him again and he bent her back to the grass-covered earth. His mouth kissed gently every inch of her face and neck before reaching her trembling lips.
‘I love you,’ she whispered, against his urgent mouth, unable to help herself.
‘Not nearly as much as I love you,’ Neil retorted thickly, his hand exploring the curve of her breast which her torn dress had bared, ‘but I’ll teach you, my darling. You’re young enough to learn—to be exactly as I want you. We’ll be married right away. Before David goes to school. We have his blessing, and I’m going to look after him as well.’ The privilege of living here for the rest of her life, even the idea of it was almost too much for her. She must prove to Neil in the future how much she loved him. And now! ‘Yes,’ she breathed deeply shaken. ‘All I want is to love you, marry you. I’m yours, to do with as you choose.’
As he pulled her even closer, she returned the increasing pressure of his mouth, the whole of her responding so passionately to his unspoken demands that he could be left in no doubt that her overwhelming need matched his.
‘You’re mine!’ he murmured, before the moon and stars blacked out.
‘For always,’ Petra promised fervently, wrapping her slender young arms tightly around his neck.
A Man Called Cameron Page 20