"Do you think I could possibly have left you there unaided? Why do you think I intervened?"

Polly did not answer. She could feel the tension between them now and turned aside from the question. It felt too soon to consider it.

"But Chapman is not taken yet and you are here in Wood bridge..." Her eyes widened at the implication. "No, it cannot be that he is he reV She cast a swift look through the gla.s.s door to where the couples still swirled around the dance floor, as if expecting the felon to declare himself.

Henry took her arm in a comforting grasp.

"No, he is not here, not tonight. But your deduction is as faultless as ever. Lady Polly! Chapman is close by and others I seek are closer still.

You will do well to be vigilant until the matter is finally resolved! "

"I suppose your midnight foray at the House of Tides is all a piece with this," Polly said a little dazedly. She sat down on the cushioned bench by the ornamental pool and watched the candlelight reflected in the cool water.

"The turret door in my bedroom at the House of Tides led down to the cellars and no doubt to the sea..."

"Yes." Henry shifted slightly on the bench beside her.

"There are indeed compensations to my work, ma'am!"

"Outrageous! It mattered not one whit that I was asleep in there, I suppose!"

"It certainly made the business more enjoyable!"

Polly refused to let her attention be diverted by this.

"Why have you told me all this?" she asked.

Henry's amus.e.m.e.nt faded. He looked at her. There was such a clear, innocent look in her eyes. He knew he should lie to her, but he could not.

This was important.

"For lots of reasons," he said, as lightly as he could. "Maybe I did not wish you to have such a low opinion of me any more! You suspected much already, but I wanted you to know the truth. It mattered to me."

Polly could tell that he was utterly sincere. There was none of the teasing mockery that had been present a moment before. She could sense the tension latent in him as he sat, not touching her, but very close.

His face was still in shadow.

Polly got up and moved across to the window, looking out across the silent gardens to the lake shimmering in the silver moonlight. His honesty had prompted her to say something herself, something that she had always wanted to tell him but had always held back.

"When you said to me--that night at Lady Phillips's rid otto--that I had played my part in making you what you had become, then I thought--'

She broke off.

"I had not really thought of it that way before, but I suppose my rejection of your suit five years ago must have had its effect on your actions. I am sorry, so very sorry, that I ever refused you. Matters could have been so very different--' Her voice broke on a sob.

"It was very wrong of me to attribute any blame to you," Henry said swiftly. He had moved until she could sense he was very close behind her.

"I must take the responsibility for my own behaviour. I did not choose this path simply because you refused my proposal of marriage five years ago.

There were many factors that influenced that decision, of which only one was seeing the reversal of my hopes of a life with you."

Polly studied his reflection in the gla.s.s behind her. He was so close that she could feel the warmth emanating from his body, a contrast to the cold draught from the window and the emotion which was making her shiver a little.

"When you asked me to run away with you I was too immature to cope with the situation," she said slowly.

"I did not really understand what love meant. Oh--' she made a slight gesture '--I thought I loved you and it was all very girlish and romantic, but the depth of feeling that would have given me the strength to go with you was lacking. I have thought about it so often... About what might have been had I had the courage to accept...

I wish... I wish so much--' Henry put his hand on her arm.

"Lady Polly. Do not. Sometimes it is not good to be so honest.

Sometimes it can only be painful..."

Polly swung round to face him. Her eyes were bright with emotion and the chestnut hair curled about her flushed face. Henry found himself wanting to kiss her very much, not with the calculated seduction of that night at Lady Phillips's ball, but with such genuine pa.s.sion that it shocked him.

"I know now," he said, a rough edge to his voice, 'that I miscalculated when I thought you incapable of deep feeling. I was wrong. " Polly's mouth was just below his own. It was easy to put a hand to her cheek, then tilt up her chin so that their lips met, tentatively at first, then with a sudden flood of desire that threatened to carry then away. All the suppressed emotion and tension of their encounter was suddenly in the kiss, as Polly's lips parted in surprise and swift acquiescence and her arms slid around his neck to draw him closer. Henry knew a second's hesitation before he allowed himself to let caution go. Polly knew no such moment of doubt. She had been aware of the feeling building between them, the thoughts and emotions unspoken, the dizzy sense of awareness and antic.i.p.ation. When he touched her, the love and expectancy had fused into one overwhelming need.

She pressed closer, pliant against him, and Henry moved to draw her closer.

When he would have drawn back, Polly pulled him closer still, tangling her hands in his hair so that she could bring his mouth down to hers again.

Henry held her away from him, pressing a kiss against her hair, breathing hard.

"Seldom have I made such a mistake," he said, the rueful amus.e.m.e.nt audible in his slightly shaken tone. "Polly..."

Pressed close in his arms, feeling the thud of his heart against hers, knowing instinctively just how difficult it was for him to let her go, Polly had no incentive to help him. She wanted to show him just how far he had misjudged her. All the years of restraint could be unlearned very easily.

She slid her hands under his jacket, relishing the hard strength of his body under her fingers, and when she heard Henry catch his breath on a groan, she raised her lips to his again.

Henry spun her round so that she was trapped against the wall. Polly could feel the cold through the thin silk of her gown but was barely aware of it.

All her senses were concentrated on the heat of the sensuality between them.

She wanted it to sweep her away. The explicit demand of the kiss eased into gentleness, then Henry's lips left hers to trace the delicate lines of her throat, to tease and caress the sensitive skin and rain kisses on her upturned face.

"Polly..." he spoke between kisses 'this has to stop. We cannot. This is neither the time nor the place. Until this business is over I am not free. " Polly opened her eyes with reluctance. She felt intoxicated with kissing, aching with a need that could not be appeased. She understood that it had taken a tremendous effort of will on Henry's part to let her go, that he felt as shaken as she did. Nor could she misunderstand his last words. He intended to woo her properly when he could, to make a declaration. Her eyes lit up like dark stars and Henry smiled gently.

"I love you," he said softly, 'and you may believe me when I say that I have never said that to anyone but you. "

Chapter Fourteen.

QzrsQ.

-Despite his good resolutions, it was a considerable time before Henry let Polly go, whispering to her that she should go back into the ballroom as un.o.btrusively as possible and that he would follow as soon as he was able. Polly, dazed with kisses and happiness, almost floated into the room, convinced that everyone would immediately notice that something was different. No one seemed to do so, however. The supper dance was in progress. Lucille was still surrounded by a circle of family and friends at one end of the ballroom and looked up only briefly as her sister-inlaw wafted past. Hetty and Peter were sitting together in an alcove, their heads bent very close together, their words and smiles for each other alone. Lady Belling ham and Sir G.o.dfrey Or bison were still dancing together. Polly had paused when her arm was unexpectedly seized from behind.

"Lady Polly," Tristan Dit ton hissed in her ear, "I must have speech with you. Immediately!"

Some of Polly's euphoria faded as she looked into Mr Dit ton's thin, secretive face. It was all she could do to avoid shuddering. Once again, his look ap praised her in the most unpleasant manner. Polly, fresh from the enchantment of Henry's kisses, found Dit ton's behaviour deeply repellent.

"Perhaps some other time, sir," she began, as courteously as she was able.

"I was about to rejoin my mother--' " The Dowager Countess may spare you for a moment, I am sure," Dit ton said insinuatingly.