"Well, Hester?"
"I...er...I..." She took a deep breath and began again. "Your note this morning... The cipher was harder than usual. I...I didn't manage all of it."
"Dear me—didn't you?"
"Er...no. This bit..." She took out a piece of paper and showed it to him. "Wh...what does it mean?''
He looked at her with a gleam in his eye. "Shall I show you?"
"Er...yes. Please."
Robert Dungarran took her in his arms and kissed her, sweetly and gently. "Was that it?"
"N...not all of it. There's more." And she pointed to the following paragraph.
"That? I wouldn't have thought that difficult. Let me see... How do I begin?" His hold grew tighter and this time his kiss lasted until Hester was trembling in his grasp. Her arms crept round his neck and she returned the kiss with fervour. The passion between them slowly mounted, their bodies melting into each other in the dancing leaping light surrounding them...
"Hester!" Robert Dungarran raised his head and held her away until the white hot feeling running between them gradually cooled. He considered her for a moment.
"Unless you are an unprincipled wanton, my sweet love, you've just made a declaration."
Hester held shaking hands to her cheeks. "I...I didn't know how to bring the subject up," she said. "And you have recently been so discreet..."
"Discreet! If you knew the restraint I've had to put on myself... So you knew what was in my note all the time?"
"Most of it, yes. There's a piece at the end..."
"Ah, yes! The last paragraph. That was quite deliberately hard. And it defeated you!" His smile was complacent.
"I could have done it if I'd had more time!" cried Hester, jealous of her reputation. "But with the fete..."
"How sad! Time is not what you're going to get."
"Oh! Then will you tell me? Or..." she smiled invitingly. "Show me?"
"I'll tell you, if you do something first. Showing will come afterwards."
"After what?"
"First," he said, taking her in his arms again, "you have to kiss me and promise to marry me."
Hester put her arms up and brought his head down to hers. This kiss was different again from all the rest. It was long, sweet, and serious, a solemn dedication. "I'll marry you, Robert, and do my best to be what you want me to be."
"My dear love!" He lifted her into the air, laughing with triumphant joy, and then brought her slowly down again to his lips.
"And now will you show me?"
"No, my darling Hester. Not now. That comes later. After we are married."
"Tell me then!"
He bent his head and spoke softly in her ear. Hester's eyes grew round and her cheeks grew rosy. "Robert!" she said. "Is that really so? Then...how soon can we be married?"
An Unreasonable Match Page 19
