For a moment, Max was unable to absorb the full shock of that. He stared at her in disbelief, his reaction quite forceful, which surprised her. ‘Marry? But you are just seventeen years old. He is old enough to be your father. It’s insane.’
‘What is?’ She already sensed that Lord Trevellyan felt a certain amount of antipathy towards Teddy and had already deduced that it might be because Teddy spent too much time with his wife.
‘Marrying a man like Teddy Longford. You’re not considering it?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I couldn’t marry him—although I suppose if I did, I would be able to remain here.’
‘You would be marrying a father figure.’
‘But—wouldn’t I learn to love him—as a wife, as my mother loved my father?’
He shook his head, his features tense. ‘Love can’t be forced. You can’t will love to happen.’ If you could, Nadine and I wouldn’t be where we are now, he thought bitterly.
‘But won’t love come with marriage?’ Marietta asked with the innocence of a seventeen-year-old girl who had been raised in a loving household with loving parents.
‘Don’t ever let anyone convince you that you can be happy with someone who doesn’t love you, and don’t ever love anyone more than he loves you. Don’t allow yourself to do it.’
‘I won’t,’ she whispered. ‘When I marry, my husband must love me at least as much as I love him. I shall marry someone just like my father, and I won’t marry until I know my own mind.’ Suddenly the last image she had of her mother lying in her own blood raised the ugly thought of what she would have to endure as a wife and she shuddered.
Max noticed. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘No. Just a memory.’
‘An unpleasant memory?’
‘Yes.’
Max’s mind flashed back to the conversation they had had on the veranda at Government House, when she had told him she didn’t want babies. He thought that perhaps her memory might have something to do with that, but decided not to pursue it. Perhaps most young ladies had an aversion to giving birth, so she was no exception. He had no doubt that when she married all that would change.
Marietta raised her disconcertingly direct green gaze to his and quietly said, ‘I suppose if I were to marry Teddy I would be doing so for no other reason than to stay on the island.’
Her blunt candour amazed Max, but he must make her see what a mistake it would be for her to marry a man as worthless as Teddy Longford. ‘I sincerely hope you won’t marry him for any reason. The man is not to be trusted and, with any luck, in time he will dig his own grave.’
‘How can you say that? I may not like Teddy perhaps as well as I ought to, but he is my father’s business partner and not a criminal, so please don’t speak of him like that. You shouldn’t.’
‘Someone has to. Since your father is unable to and there is no one else, the task has fallen on me.’
‘Why? You don’t know me.’
‘I know Teddy Longford and he is not—respectable.’ What Max said was true.
‘Not respectable? Why do you say that? It’s clear you know something. I want some answers. Credit me with a little intelligence, please. I am only ever told what is fit for a female’s understanding.’ She was tense all over, waiting to hear what Lord Trevellyan had to say. ‘Are you trying to tell me Teddy has been doing something illegal? Is that it? And please, I don’t want you to mention my father in any of this. Not now. It would be disrespectful.’ Marietta didn’t want to know what her father did in his private time. She didn’t want to think about it so she wouldn’t. ‘It would not be appropriate.’
Max drew a deep breath and returned her expectant gaze as steadily as he could, aware that she was awaiting his answer. There was every chance his next words might shatter any fondness she might have for Teddy Longford. Her feelings for her father were strong and constant. Max didn’t want to say anything that would damage that and hurt her, but Longford was another matter.
But whatever shady deals Westwood and Longford were mixed up in, they were amazingly good at it, at making money. Monty Westwood had become wealthy in his own right from his trade in luxury goods in India before he’d met Longford, and on his death his daughter would become an extremely wealthy young woman and a target for fortune hunters. It was as well that she was forewarned what she would be up against when she found herself without her father.
‘I understand, and the answer to your question is yes. Please understand that it gives me no pleasure to tell you what I must, but when your father dies and I have left Hong Kong, you will be better prepared to deal with any unpleasant situation which might arise. So listen to me and brace yourself, for what I am about to tell you is not pleasant. There is more to Teddy Longford than is allowed to meet the eye. He is involved in the shady business of opium smuggling and has been for years.’ Max had her attention and he could see he was stirring up her resentment.
Marietta stared at him with disbelief. In a few harsh words Lord Trevellyan had already begun to turn her fears into huge black monsters. But despite her own growing dislike of Teddy, he was her father’s partner and she felt a sense of loyalty. She knew that opium was as important to Hong Kong as its harbour and an aspect of the colony’s prosperity. But after her visit to the native quarter with Oliver, and afraid of what it might do to her friend if he continued to take it, she considered it abhorrent that Teddy had no scruples about using it as an item of trade.
‘That’s a very serious thing to accuse him of. I find it difficult to believe it of Teddy.’
‘If you doubt my word, a few enquiries in the Chinese quarter will tell you all you need to know about your father’s partner. I am a businessman myself, having come here to make investments in what I consider to be profitable ventures. Through studying profit-and-loss accounts and meeting with other businessmen in the colony, I know which firms to trust and which to avoid. It’s a fact that the island is awash with opium and there are several businesses in the colony of which the authorities are suspicious.
‘I have to tell you that they’ve had their sights on your father’s business partner for a long time. Longford is ambitious and greedy for money and too tough-minded to be frightened on to the straight and narrow by the threat of customs officers and having his ships set upon by pirates. When he has opium on board, rather than pay for an armed escort, as most legitimate merchants do to protect their ships against pirates, he avoids the treaty ports where customs duties are levied and actually pays the pirates well to leave the ships of Westwood and Longford alone.’
Max was brutal in his assessment of Teddy. Marietta had said she didn’t want to hear her father accused of any wrongdoing, but now she had to know. ‘Since Teddy and my father are business partners, I suppose it would be naïve of me to believe my father is innocent in all of this.’
‘Yes, I’m afraid it would,’ he replied quietly but firmly. ‘I’m sorry. I beg your pardon if what I have told you has upset and offended you, but you said you wanted to know.’
‘Thank you. I am grateful to you for that at least.’ Marietta bit her lip. She’d been expecting something like this, but it was dreadful to hear it out loud. She closed her eyes. It was too much to absorb all at once. The scale of what her father and Teddy were involved in shocked her. It made her feel angry, sick and utterly stupid for not having known. But how could she? Opium smuggling wasn’t the sort of thing that was mentioned in female company and certainly not with girls of her age.
‘Listen to me and take note of what I am telling you,’ Max said. ‘Be strong, because when anything happens to your father, you’re going to need to be.’
‘When my father dies and Teddy is arrested—for if the powers that be already suspect him of smuggling opium, he cannot continue doing so for much longer—does that mean that I, too, will have to pay for their crime?’
‘No, it doesn’t have to be that way.’
‘Doesn’t it? Are you saying I won’t be ostracised by every de
cent family on the island—by people I have always thought of as friends? They will cease to look on me favourably as marriage material for any one of their precious sons lest I corrupt them.’
‘That is nonsense. You are young and popular and exceedingly pretty. There must be a veritable army of young men on the island who would be more than happy to marry you.’
‘No. I’ve only ever been close to Oliver and Julian—as friends you understand.’
‘Then when anything happens to your father, go to England. That is where your friends will be, don’t forget. Your father’s lawyers will sort out the mess he and Longford have got themselves into.’
The softly spoken words had been filled with such quiet conviction that Marietta simply stared at him before she finally said, ‘Yes, you are right. How clever you are to think of that.’
She smiled for the first time, a slow, enchanting smile that illuminated her face and melted Max’s bones. She looked so lovely, so fresh and unspoiled that the armour of bitterness and cynicism that had surrounded him for more years than he could remember began to melt, leaving him suddenly lonely and empty.
Marietta was not yet awakened to the ways of men. She had young male friends and soaked up their admiration and flattery and knew, although she had no experience of it, the minds of men in love. Max recognised something in her expression as he looked at her, something joyous, yet reverent. Her gaze was warm and gentle, at the same time vivid and urgent. Her feelings shone luminously from her smiling face, and her mouth moved and lifted in its desire to be about something of which she was scarcely aware. But Max knew and his heart lurched with the pain of it.
Reaching out, he tilted her chin with the tip of his finger and reverently looked down into her eyes. ‘I hope the man you eventually fall in love with is worthy of you,’ he said gently. ‘I hope he is a man who will have your head spinning and your legs turning to jelly.’
For an endless moment Marietta searched his features and suddenly her world seemed safe and secure again and warm. ‘I think,’ she whispered softly, ‘that it will be more a question of whether I can be worthy of him, since everyone who knows me would tell you that I am troublesome and opinionated. I’ve never talked to a man like this before. It’s a pity you are married, Lord Trevellyan, for I am beginning to think you are different and the only man who would understand me and put up with me.’
Max stared down at her, then abruptly turned, staring down at the harbour, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Uncertain of his mood, Marietta remained silent. His profile was harsh. He looked like a man in the throes of some deep, internal battle. A gentle breeze lifted her hair. Suddenly it seemed colder and she shivered.
‘I suppose I should go and find the others,’ she said when some time had passed and his silence had become unsettling. ‘But—before I do, I would like to take the opportunity of saying thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I appreciate your kindness and your friendship.’ She felt a wave of gratitude, and something else, too—a desire to show her appreciation.
Max turned and looked at her. ‘It was my pleasure.’ He meant what he said. Beneath the heavy fringe of her dark lashes, her eyes were amazing, mesmerising in their lack of guile.
‘I...will never forget it,’ she said softly, hesitantly, her words sincere and heartfelt. He was looking at her intently and suddenly, taking her courage in both hands, she raised herself on tiptoe and placed her mouth on his.
She felt his initial surprise, his shock, his withdrawal, but she kept her lips on his, feeling him respond and gently take her arms and draw her towards him. His lips began to move on hers. It was the most wonderful, warm feeling.
Max was a man used to taking what he wanted when it presented itself. He was also a man who had just left his wife after yet another blistering row and he wanted to forget it—and what better way than being with an innocent girl, pliant and sweet in his arms, seeming to welcome his embrace? He felt his own response, but his conscience chose that unlikely moment to suddenly assert itself.
Marietta pressed towards him, longing for him to kiss her more deeply, but urgently, almost violently, he pushed her back.
‘No, Marietta. This has to stop. I deserve to be horsewhipped. For God’s sake, you are a child still. I’m not in the habit of kissing innocents. Do you forget that I am a married man—that I have a wife?’
‘No,’ she said, her lovely face mirroring her bewilderment at his abrupt change of mood. He was angry, and why shouldn’t he be? He saw her as a child, a stupid, pathetic child who had a lot of growing up to do. ‘It is I who should be horsewhipped. It wasn’t your fault. I made you do it.’ She was engulfed with shame that she could so easily have put aside his marital state. She had not meant for this to happen—before God she had not, but it had and could not be undone.
Marietta saw his shoulders stiffen and he took a step back. She could see by his expression that she had gone too far. Reaching out, she placed a hand on his arm. The gesture was spontaneous, but one she immediately regretted, for Max drew back further, resisting her. She dropped her arm and he took another step back. His expression was a curious blend of withdrawal and derision.
‘What exactly did you think you were doing?’
‘I—I acted without thinking. I’ll know better next time.’
Max’s gaze narrowed on her face. ‘Of course you will. But there won’t be a next time.’
Marietta placed her hands to her burning cheeks in an attempt to fend off the hurt she had inflicted on her raw emotions. ‘No, of course not. I’m so sorry. I’ve gone too far. I shouldn’t have done that. It isn’t what you want.’ She widened the gap between them, almost tripping in her eagerness to get away from him. How he must despise her.
Their gazes linked and held, hers horrified by her actions, his a blend of seriousness and anger and frustration. She was the first to look away.
‘No, it isn’t, Marietta. Friendship is no basis for a love affair.’
‘But I never meant—’
His voice cut across hers with the slashing force of a knife blade. ‘Don’t make the mistake of falling for me. That would be a foolish thing to do.’
‘I won’t, and why are you saying these things? You are heartless.’
‘You’re right,’ he bit out, his voice all the more frightening because it was so low. ‘I don’t have a heart. Whatever sentiment I have created, you have deceived yourself. And don’t kid yourself into believing that beneath my harsh exterior, I’m as tame as a lapdog. Many women have made that mistake and regretted it.’ When she opened her mouth to speak, he said, ‘Stop it, Marietta. You will oblige me by refraining to speak of this again.’
Flinching from the sting of his tone, Marietta looked at his hard, handsome face, at the cynicism that was a part of him. She swallowed convulsively. ‘But—that isn’t what I want—not what it meant,’ she said in an attempt to relieve the tension vibrating in the air between them. She felt her control collapsing and there were tears in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry if I offended you. I didn’t mean to. Oh dear! I don’t know what I was thinking of. I’m such an idiot. I’m stupid, embarrassingly naïve and gullible. I—I must go. There is nothing left to do or say—at least, nothing you want to hear.’
‘No.’ He stood still, taut, fierce tension marking his mouth.
Marietta heard the absolute finality of that word. She could no longer look at him. ‘Please excuse me...’
Never in all her life had she felt so humiliated. The memory of what she had done was intolerable and she wished she were dead. She walked away from him on legs that shook, trying to retreat from a predicament into which she should never have put herself in the first place. Not until she was well away from Max did she dare to reflect on what had just happened. He had made her head spin and her legs go weak and set a fire burning in the pit of her stomach and her breasts to tingle. But what had she been thinking of? Lord Trevellyan wasn’t a youth like Oliver and Julian, but a man. Yang Ling had often remarked tha
t all men were boys at heart—but that certainly didn’t apply to Lord
Trevellyan.
He had a wife and she should not have kissed him—it had been sinful of her to do it. She chided herself as being stupid, for that was exactly what she was—seventeen years old and stupid. But ever since she had met Lord Trevellyan she had been struck by a tempest of emotions, which had led to the incredible realisation that what she felt for him was different to anything she had ever felt before.
But as her battered nerves cried out for relief, she remembered the cruelty with which he had rejected her kiss. Her eyes turned stormy with indignation. How could she have imagined they might be friends! He was cold and cynical and hard—and he had a vicious, unreliable temper. But why had he spoken to her so harshly, as if she were a mentally deficient schoolgirl, when all she had wanted to do was to thank him for his kindness? Had he deliberately wanted to hurt her?
* * *
Max watched Marietta run up the hill in search of her friends. He knew how upset she was and his conscience tore at him, but he would not go after her. His rejection had hurt her, but he’d done so because he had to, he reminded himself. He couldn’t let her waste one moment of her precious life believing she was in love with him. Cursing softly, angry with himself, but none the less inclined to change nothing, he strode down the hill.
* * *
Two days later Monty’s condition was unchanged. Feeling the need to get out of the sickroom, out of the house, remembering Lady Trevellyan’s fan, Marietta went to the hotel. Initially she had intended sending one of the servants to return it, but in the light of the conversation she had overheard between Lord and Lady Trevellyan—and also swamped with guilt and misery following Lord Trevellyan’s kiss, full of regret and extremely upset about it and not wishing to be the cause of any unpleasantness between Lord Trevellyan and his wife—she decided to return the fan herself, hoping to explain to Lady Trevellyan that she really had nothing to worry about.
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