Free The Cross of Love by Barbara Cartland

Papa?"
    "Of course I promise," Rena replied. "If it's a secret I won't tell anyone at all."
    "Very well." Matilda took a deep breath. "I am in love, with a man who loves me as much as I love him."
    As she spoke she looked over her shoulder as if she was afraid someone would hear her.
    Dropping her voice almost to a whisper, Rena asked: "Does your father know?"
    "No, of course not!" Matilda said. "And you've promised not to tell him."
    "Don't worry. I'll keep my word. But what are you going to do?"
    "I don't know. We're only here because he wants me to have a title. Last month he tried to trick a Duke into marrying me. But the Duke escaped and Papa was lividly angry. I thought he was going to kill somebody. He's capable of it, you know."
    "You mean he already has killed someone?"
    "No - at least - I don't know. It's only a suspicion and I may be wrong. A man was causing Papa trouble, and he vanished a little too conveniently."
    "Good heavens! What happened?"
    "I don't know. He just vanished and was never seen again. Papa was trying to get control of a railroad in America, and this man was trying to stop him. Maybe it wasn't Papa. The man had other enemies. It's more that I'm certain he could do something like that. It's there, inside him.
    "I've seen him flex his fingers against the air, like this - " Matilda made the gesture. "As though he had somebody's neck in his hands, and would enjoy squeezing it."
    Rena nodded. Mr. Wyngate had struck her in exactly the same way.
    "But it doesn't last, you see," Matilda went on. "He has a brief spell of being murderously angry, and then he puts it behind him and goes on to the next thing."
    "And the 'next thing' is Lord Lansdale?" "Yes. Papa read about his inheriting the title in the newspapers, and said 'All right, he'll have to do'. He said he was sure Lord Lansdale was in love with me. Well, I could hardly keep from laughing. "John and I met at a ball my father gave. He danced with me twice and we chatted over a glass of wine. The only thing he could talk about was his ship, but according to Papa he'd been giving me languishing looks, and would have confessed his 'love' but that he had nothing to offer me."
    "Did you believe that?" Rena asked, frowning.
    "Not for one moment," Matilda said emphatically. "I know when a man's in love with me."
    "Do you?" Rena asked, startled. "I mean, even if he doesn't say anything?"
    "Good heavens, he doesn't have to say anything?" Matilda said with a chuckle. "It's there in how he looks at you, an inflexion in his voice and - oh, you know."
    Rena didn't, but it was impossible to admit.
    "Anyway, Papa started 'reminding' me how much I'd liked John. Honestly I barely remembered him, but when I tried to say so, Papa got angry. He wants that title and he won't listen to anyone who says he can't have it."
    "If he's got so much money why doesn't he just buy his own?" Rena asked.
    "He tried, but the most he could get was a knighthood. Not good enough, you see. An Earl is the least he'll settle for."
    "Does the man you love have a title?"
    "No, he's just plain Mr. Cecil Jenkins. But as long as I can be with him, I'm happy to be Mrs. Cecil Jenkins."
    She spoke bravely, but she also looked over her shoulder.
    "It's all so exciting," Rena said, "but I am afraid your dreams may never come true."
    "I'm determined to make them come true," Matilda retorted. "But we have to wait a little while. If I elope now Papa would cut me off without a penny."
    "Is that ever going to change?"
    "No, but we are saving money. I'm getting as much as I can from Papa without him being suspicious. Then when we can afford it, we'll get married and hide until he's forgiven us, which he'll have to do in the end."
    "Unless he writes you off, takes another wife and has more children," Rena pointed out.
    "Good heavens, you're right. I must make him double my allowance without delay."
    Rena was torn between admiration of the girl's courage and a slight feeling of unease at the ruthlessness