Marriage by request Read online

  CHAPTER TWO

  CERYS had her opportunity next morning, just .after breakfast, to tell the annoying Kevin, whoever he might be, just what she thought of him. She had not thought to ask her uncle what the man's other name was, but it would make little difference, for she had no intention of being conventionally polite about the meeting. It was a lovely morning and warm without being sultry as it had been of late and she found herself quite looking forward to her first ride for some time. It could be, she admitted to herself, that the company she was to have made the prospect even more attractive, for Liam had been a pleasant surprise among many and she looked forward to their companionship with pleas: ure. She had changed after breakfast into trousers and a . shirt and Liam had "promised to come for her as soon as ; he had completed certain jobs that must be attended to first. His eyes had approved her small slendemess in ' the slim-fitting trousers and open-necked shirt and she I had flirted mildly with him as they talked on the step tbefore he went off. He would not be very long, he ^assured her, and he would be back for her; in the j mean time she decided to explore a little of the gardens and see for herself just how pretty they were, for Mrs. puffy had promised her that Cormac, the gardener and odd-job man, kept them beautifully. r Cerys went out of the house via the high French windows from the sitting-room, finding herself almost immediately on a smooth lawn surrounded by flower borders that were still a riot of colour even this late in summer. Roses hung, heavily full blown, on dozens of bushes and trees and the air was quite heady with the scent of them, while the earliest chrysanthemums were already in bud. It was incredibly tranquil and Cerys found herself relaxing into a lazy, almost somnolent mood as she walked along the edge of the lawn, enjoying the morning sun and the sweet scent of the roses. An archway of roses half-way round the border gave access to the open parkland by way of two steps down on to the turf and she stood for a moment framed in its shade, looking out across the lush expanse of green to some high hills a long way off. She might not have realised the picture she made standing there with the sun dappling across her slim body and the deep, black softness of her hair. Her mother was beautiful and Cerys had inherited all her good features combined with the lovely, almost violet, eyes of her father and the pale Irish skin that set off the black luxury of the framing lashes to perfection. Unaware of being observed, she was about to turn around and walk the rest of the way round the garden v/hen she caught sight of a figure coining across the grass towards her. There was no mistaking the shabby jacket and flannels worn by her chauffeur of the day before, nor the lithe, rang)' walk as he strode along easily, and she held her ground hoping he would come within earshot without the need to hail him. Obviously he had seen her, for a moment later a hand was raised in casual greeting and she flushed at the temerity of the creature in being so impudent. The long legs soon brought him the yards between them and he stopped just below her on the lower level at the 24 foot of the two steps. 'Good morning,' he greeted her as he came up, and Cerys resisted her natural instinct to respond to the greeting, instead looking at him discouragingly down the length of her small, slightly tip-tilted nose. 'I'd like a word with you,' she told him, standing fullsquare in the centre of the rose-arch as if it endowed her with some form of authority. 'My pleasure,' he allowed, and grinned up at her, rather engagingly she had to admit. 'That road you took to bring me here yesterday,' she began with preamble, 'it wasn't a short cut, as you well knew, and there was no need to come that way at all, you were merely being uncouth and unforgivably insolent, and I'd like you to know that I've told Mr. Brady about your behaviour!' 'You have?' He looked disconcertingly unworried about it. 'What did he have to say about it?' She fought for a moment with her conscience, then decided to stick to the truth. 'He seemed to take it that you were behaving no worse than usual,' she admitted reluctantly, 'so I can only assume that you take advantage of his disability to be less than respectful to him.' 'Oh, ya do, do ya?' he said, the brogue thickening into the exaggerated one she had been treated to yesterday, and she frowned. 'Well now, ma'am, I'm sorry to hear about t'at an' I'll do me best to treat himself wid due respect an' yourself too, ma'am, of course.' 'You ' She would have berated him for the false humility, but he touched his forehead in the servile gesture he had used yesterday and moved away. 'Good day to ya, ma'am.' 'Wait a minute!' she called after him crossly, and he turned again. 'What's your surname? Mr. Brady referred to you as Kevin, which I assume is your Christian S5 name, but I hardly feel inclined to be so familiar.' He surveyed her for a minute in silence and she felt the colour warm her cheeks under the scrutiny. 'Kevin'll do,' he told her slowly. 'If it's good enough for himself it's good enough for anyone else.' He turned on his heel and continued his way across the parkland while Cerys watdied him go, tall and rangy and completely at ease, unwilling to call him back yet again lest he should mistake her interest in him and think heaven knew what. He was, she felt sure, a man who was capable of almost any impudence. She frowned after the lean figure for a moment, then turned back into the garden, but she was unable to restore her former mood of relaxed tranquillity and she shrugged her shoulders against the memory of the interview that had not gone at all as she had planned it. In fact it seemed to her that she had again got the worst of the exchange as she had yesterday and she wished she could have thought of something really crushing that would have put him firmly in his place once and for all. Fortunately it was not too long afterwards that Liam came through the sitting-room and into the garden looking for her, smiling at the picture she made against the background of roses and trees. 'I'm ready when you are,' he told her. The stables were some distance from the house, at the end of a long, tree-lined ride that looked peaceful and inviting as they walked down it to the stone-faced buildings at the other end. 'Do you keep many horses?' she asked as they were greeted by the sound of restless hooves, and Liam shook his head. 'Not now,' he said. 'Father can't ride any more and the main reason for the stables is finished now. We're off the tourist map, so it isn't even worth keeping them 26 for hiring out not that I'm complaining,' he added .with a smile. 'It's the way we like it.' 'Peaceful isolation,' Cerys smiled her understanding. 'It's certainly lovely here and I can smell the difference in the air, no ghastly fumes to choke on.' 'It must be quite a change for you,' he suggested, opening a door to be greeted by a whinny of- pleasure from one of the occupants of the stable. 'It is a change,' Cerys agreed, 'and definitely for the better. I was never much of a pavement type, I'm afraid, though we lived in town most of the time when Daddy was alive. It was handy for his business, you see.' 'Mm.' He nodded understanding, his eyes thoughtful for a moment, his mind obviously on something else. 'I was I wondered,' the grey eyes sought hers anxiously, 'how you you coped when your father died.' Cerys looked at him, her eyes gentle with understanding. 'You just do, Liam, when it comes to it, you just do cope, there's nothing else you can do.' She would liked to have been more comforting, more intimate in her sympathy, but she had known him only hours and she was as yet uncertain of him, but she knew how he was feeling and her heart went out to him. T suppose you do,' he said shortly a moment later, and disappeared into the stable to appear a few minutes later leading a tall, gentle-looking bay. 'I've given you this one,' he told her as if their previous conversation had never been. 'He's not one of the bloodstock animals, but the two we still have are a bit of a handful and they're not used to a woman's hand, they may play you up.' 'I'm a little out of practice,' Cerys confessed, 'so 27 something quiet will suit me better. He looks well-behaved enough.' She patted the velvety nose thrust forward for her attention. 'His name's Ben,' Liam informed her, 'and you'll find him quite respectful, though he does get a bit frisky on occasion.' 'I'll trust him,' she said with a smile. 'I'm sure he won't let me down.' He helped her to mount, then fetched his own animal from another stall a beautiful pure-bred Irish black with a small, exquisite head and a dainty step, but who looked as if he would need a firmer hand than she was able to give. Liam mounted easily and with a minimum of effort, and Cerys though
t he would know how to deal with any nonsense the black might have in mind as he danced across the yard. 'Shall we go?' Liam asked, and Cerys nodded. The animals seemed to welcome the outing and stepped out willingly along the tree-lined ride towards the open parkland, the black occasionally skittering shyly at the shadows dappling the way. Liam, she noticed as they went, rode well and with all the confidence of long practice, and she found herself wondering if he came by his skill naturally or if it had been acquired along with the rest of his polished manner. The gypsies, she remembered, were noted for their knowledge of horses and their ability to handle them so it could be that his skill was inherited. A moment later she condemned herself for a snob and cast a surreptitious glance at the tanned and good-looking face that was so different from what she had expected. 'Shall we go as far as the river?' he asked, surprising her by turning his head suddenly while she still studied him. 'Is that too far for you?'' Cerys shook her head. 'I don't think so,' she said. 'I 28 saw the river along the far side of the park, didn't I?' He smiled. 'It's all round us,' he told her, 'but if we turn left at the top here we shall come to the nearest point.' She nodded, 'Then I think I can manage that far without mishap.' They rode across the wide, undulating expanse of grassland at a gentle trot and Cerys was surprised to find how little out of practice she was. It was exhilarating, with the light wind blowing through her hair and bringing a colour to her cheeks, and her companion looked over at her and smiled in what she took to be approval. 'You ride well,' he told her, 'and you don't seem much out of practice to me.' 'Not as much as I feared,' she admitted with a smile. 'I'm enjoying it enormously.' 'Not too fast?' he enquired, and she shook her head. 'No not at all, I'm fine really.' They rode in silence for a while, pausing at last on' the top of a slight rise that gave them a view of the distant hills she had seen from her window. 'Where are those hills'?' she asked, pointing to them. 'County Tron,' he told her promptly, and she diought she detected a flicker of a frown across his face as if he v/ould rather she had not asked. 'It looks lovely,' she ventured. Ts it far?' 'Too far to ride over there if that's what you have in mind,' he told her. 'It's nearly ten miles away.' 'Oh, as far as that!' she laughed. 'Well, I'll have to discover County Tron some other time if it's worth discovering, is it?' 'It's pretty enough,' he allowed, and again she thought she detected that air of reticence that puzzled her. It was evidently a subject he found discomfiting, 29 although she could not imagine why. 'But you don't like it very mudi?' she guessed, and looked at him from under her black lashes, seeing the frown that greeted her question. 'Native envy, perhaps?' 'Not that,' he informed her with surprising shortness. 'I know County Tron, it's where where Father found me.' So that was it, she thought, he had only the memory of being abandoned to remind him of those hills and he shied away from the subjects as his skittish mount shied away from the shadows he found disturbing. 'I'm sorry, Liam.' She leaned across and touched his hands as they lay tight-clenched on the saddle the reins gripped hard. 'I didn't know.' He smiled then, a rueful, apologetic smile that warmed the deep grey eyes and gave him a curiously vulnerable air. 'I have no reason to feel sorry for myself,' he said. 'Your unde has more than made up to me for any hurt my own parents might have given me. I should be grateful to them really.' 'They abandoned you!' Cerys protested. 'That's not cause for gratitude.' He smiled, more easily now, turning his hands to encompass hers. 'But to what a fate,' he said with a grimace at his choice of words. 'I've been treated like a son for the past seventeen years, Cerys, I have no right to complain about anything. I owe more than I can ever repay to Sean Brady I can only do as he asks me to, anything he asks me to, no matter what it costs me.' She looked at him curiously for a moment, puzzled by his words and made uneasy by something she could not put a name to, but struck by the sincerity and determination in his voice and plain on his good-look30 ing face. 'I never expected to see Uncle Sean again,' she said slowly. 'I knew he was very ill, but I never expected to come over here to Ireland.' She looked at him for a moment. 'You knew he asked me to come over and see him again?' He nodded. 'I think it was a_a sentimental gesture in a way. I was his only family except you and he wanted to see me again before_I haven't seen him for ten years until now.' Liam nodded, his eyes distant. 'Not long after he came home he had his first attack,' he said. 'It was a slight one and he took little notice at first. He's a stubborn man and it took several more, much more severe ones, before he would take things easy. Now he's__' He dioked on the words, unable to voice the truth that must seem to him unbearable. 'It's meant a lot to him too, Liam,' she said softly, 'having you here. He never had children of his own and you took the place of the big family he always wanted. You've been as good for him as he has been to you.' 'I've done nothing except be here,' Liam said. 'There's little enough I can do for him, but what I can I will, he's all I've got.' 'And you're all he's got,' Cerys told him gently, touched by his obvious feeling of inadequacy. 'Not quite,' Liam denied, 'he has you too, you're part of his family.' 'Well, us two, then,' she amended. 'We're rather a small clan, aren't we?' 'Yes.' He glanced at her as if he was about to say more, then apparently thought better of it and put his heels to the black and set him moving again, with Cerys following suit. They rode as far as the river and there they dismounted and let the horses stand for a while. The 31 water was dear but browny-coloured and deeper than she had expected, with trees and bushes clustering in little groups along both banks, the lush green grass coming right to the water's edge then sloping over pebbles washed dean by the running water and shining in the sun. 'It's lovely here,' Cerys sighed. 'So quiet and peaceful, I could stay here for ever.' 'Perhaps you will,' he suggested, and she glanced at him hastily, perhaps reading something into the remark that was not intended, but certain that he meant it as more than an idle comment. 'I shouldn't be surprised,' she said with a smile, uncertain what her answer should be. 'But there are drawbacks to this rural life, aren't there? Like being snowed in in winter and being isolated for days perhaps.' 'Oh, come on!' he laughed, his eyes teasing her, 'it isn't the middle of nowhere, Cerys, we don't get isolated or not very often anyway.' Cerys sighed, watching a wagtail swoop in search of his breakfast over the sparkling water. 'It's more like the garden of Eden at the moment,' she said, and turned a curious gaze on him. 'Haven't you a beautiful Eve round here somewhere, Liam? I can't believe you haven't.' He looked definitely discomfited at her teasing, she thought, and realised that she'd possibly been indiscreet in mentioning that particular subject. 'I'm not Adam,' he informed her, and she recognised the answer as an evasion, but decided not to press further. There was something puzzling somewhere and she would have liked to know what it was, but it was not her place to probe too deeply into Liam's private affairs. She had neither the right nor the inclination to know 32' what he did not choose to tell her and, at the moment, he evidently did not. Secretiveness, she remembered wryly, was another gypsy trait. She looked at the face of the man beside her and saw ; him preoccupied, his eyes scanning the far bank, an air ; almost of expectancy about him. Cerys looked beyond , the wide ribbon of water to the same bank he was ; watdiing so intently, trying to guess who or what he : sought and so obviously hoped to see. 'Who lives across there?' she asked, catching sight of a cottage through the trees. It was mostly hidden by the surrounding trees, but she had a glimpse of white walls and a dark roof and what could have been a garden. He made no answer for a moment, but stood looking ' across at the cottage as if he half expected to see some one and was disappointed not to. 'Tom Flaherty,' he said at last. 'A good old Irish name,' Cerys said, smiling in an attempt to lighten their mood. 'Is he a crusty old countryman or a delightful old no-good--somehow he sounds as if he should be one or the other?' 'He's neither,' Liam answered after a moment's hesitation. "He used to be Father's keeper in the old days, but he's retired now. He's rather a nice old man, actually.' She looked again at the half-hidden cottage through the trees. 'Does he live there alone?' Again his hesitation spoke of reluctance to discuss the subject. 'No,' he said at last, 'he has his gra
nddaughter living with him.' 'Oh, I see.' She laughed briefly. T am curious, aren't I? But I like to know about people, they interest me enormously.' 'It's a common failing,' he told her, half teasing, she was relieved to note. 'We're all of us inquisitive to a 33 certain degree, aren't we?' 'And that's a very nice way of telling me that I'm no more nosey than anybody else,' she laughed, pulling a face at him. 'Shall we go back?' he asked suddenly so suddenly that Cerys looked surprised. 'Yes, of course, if you think we should,' she agreed, and looked across the water again towards the white cottage barely visible among the trees. Someone was moving in the garden, only a flash of colour briefly against a white wall and it could have been man or woman, but Cerys doubted if a man of Tom Flaherty's reputed years would be wearing a pale pink shirt. Liam stood ready to help her mount. 'You mustn't overdo it on your first time out, you'll probably be stiff as it is tonight,' he told her lightly. 'I don't doubt it,' Cerys agreed, still puzzled by his manner, 'but the best way to cure that is to come out again as soon as possible.' 'I hope you'll come out often with me,' he told her as he remounted. 'The horses don't get enough exercise these days and I'll be happy to come with you whenever I can.' 'Thank you.' She made him a mock bow as best she could for her position. 'I shall hold you to that. I also want to do some walking. There are places I could reach on foot and I love walking almost as much as I do riding.' He pulled a wry face at the information. 'I used to,' he confessed, 'but I've grown lazy, I'm afraid. I ride almost everywhere, either on horseback or in the car.' Cerys eyed his tall, hard-looking but quite heavily built body and laughed. 'You'll be putting on weight,' she warned, 'and that's something I can't afford to do.' The grey eyes turned to her with an expression that 34 was half admiration and half teasing. 'I don't think you need worry about that,' he told her. They rode back across the parkland in the opposite direction to the way they had come, coming on to the drive just above the tall stone gate posts she remembered. There was a particularly thick dump of trees a little further on and Cerys spotted the cottage that must be the one Mrs. Duffy had pointed out as the one rented by Doctor O'Rourke. It was almost hidden from the back by the surrounding trees, but as they came along the drive she could see more of it and she wondered why she had not noticed it yesterday, unless she had been so absorbed in something across the other side that she had failed to see it. She looked at the small white-walled building curiously, sitting snugly against a background of protective trees, and wondered if the 'lovely man', as Mrs. Duffy had termed him, was at home. T suppose,' she ventured, 'that your doctor tenant is in surgery now?' Liam arched surprised brows at her. 'I imagine so,' he agreed glancing at his watch briefly, raising his eyes a moment later to look at her with a glint of amusement. "Your interest in people again, I suppose,' he guessed, and Cerys shook her head, pouting reproach at his conclusion. 'No, it wasn't,' she said. 'Mrs. Duffy. told me about him when I mentioned the cottage I could see from my window.' 'Duffy would,' he said shortly. 'She's a fan of his.' ^ 'I rather gathered that everyone was,' said Cerys, ^curious to know why he did not share in the popular p.adulation, as he obviously did not judging by his frown and the tone of his voice. I' 'I suppose she's probably right,' he allowed grudg-Igingly and with a wry smile. 'But I'm afraid I don't S P,K fe-Jo share popular opinion. I don't like him.' 'Oh, I see.' She wondered if she dare ask his reason for dissenting, but decided not to. 'Does Uncle Sean share your view? It he does I'm surprised he rents him the cottage.' 'He doesn't,' Liam said shortly. 'He likes O'Rourke and he thinks I'm just being difficult because I don't. But_well, I have my own reasons for not liking him.' 'Let's hope you're never ill,' Cerys laughed, 'or you'd find yourself at his mercy.' 'Oh, he's a good doctor,' Liam hastened to assure her. 'In fact if it wasn't for him I think Father would have have gone by now.' Cerys looked surprised at the admission. 'Oh, so we owe him that much anyway? I rather imagined he was just a an ordinary country doctor with no special qualifications, just enough to deal with cuts and bruises and the occasional baby.' Liam smiled wryly at her. 'In an Irish village community of some thirty married couples,' he told her dryly, 'it's rather more than the occasional baby.' Cerys laughed at die truth of it. 'I suppose he is kept pretty busy in that event,' she allowed. 'I hadn't thought of it.' 'Anyway,' Liam admitted, grudgingly honest about the man he professed to dislike so much, 'O'Rourke has very good qualifications and he seems to inspire his patients to take a fresh interest in life. He's done wonders with Father, as I say, but ' 'You don't like him,' Cerys finished for him. 'What a shame!' She thought he looked uneasy for a moment, then he shook his head slowly. 'I have my reasons,' he said as he had done before. 'But for one thing we disagreed just after he first moved into the cottage, about him park36 ing that awful old tin-can of his in the driveway I'm glad to say I won, but there were some pretty harsh words said at the time.' Cerys stared at him for a moment, feeling an awful sinking sensation, in her stomach as realisation dawned on her. 'Did you say tin-can?' she asked, and he nodded, looking at her curiously. 'What does he look like? Doctor O'Rourke, I mean?' She thought that possibly Liam's description would be less fanciful than Mrs. Duffy's had been, but probably biased in the opposite direction. 'Look like?' he echoed. 'Oh, I don't know. Ordinary, I suppose. Red hair, tall.' 'And his car?' Cerys almost held her breath. 'An ancient old rattletrap,' Liam told her, confirming her worst suspicions. 'Black with the dirome chipped and looking as if it should be in the scrapyard.' 'Oh dear!' He eyed her in surprise, brows raised, his eyes curious and half amused. 'What's wrong?' he asked. 'Nothing really, I suppose,' Cerys replied faintly, 'but I thought the man who met me at Killydudden station was some sort of local odd-job man and I gave him a real telling off both yesterday and today.' She turned wide, dismay-filled eyes to him. 'Now I realise it must have been your Doctor O'Rourke.' 37