Free Bride by Arrangement by Rose Burghley

weapon she possessed was Pierre.
    Chloe went cold at the thought that if she knew the truth ... What, then, would she s ay? What use would she make of that as a weapon?
    As she accompanied Eunice in a taxi to the latter’s club for lunch, she knew that there was no real reason why she should allow Eunice the opportunity to poison her mind against Pierre; to try in advance to wreck their marriage! She had only to tell Eunice that she preferred to buy her own wedding outfit, and she preferred to be married without the assistance of anyone at all.
    But that would hurt David, who was really kind. There had been moments in her past when she had been grateful for David’s friendship, and she would not willingly hurt him now. David was possibly the only disinterested friend she had in the world, and it never even occurred to her that he was not really disinterested. That his interest was growing ...
    That night a friend of Eunice’s took them out to dinner, and Chloe wore one of her smart new frocks, and tried to pretend that she enjoyed the meal, and the night club that followed, and wasn’t dreaming of Cornwall, and in particular Trelas, and one man who might be walking beside the sea.
    One slightly built man with dark velvet eyes, and a voice with a trace of French accent at times that throbbed along all her nerves ... Darling little Chloe! Don't bother about clothes. They are quite unimportant!
    When they returned to their hotel, in the early hours of the morning, David was waiting for them in one of the big public lounges. His eyes lighted up at sight of Chloe, looking somewhat heavy-eyed and tired, but unusually attractive in a soft green dress and leaf-green sandals that lent her the appearance of a tired nymph or dryad.
    “I decided I couldn’t stick it any longer alone at High Cross,” he announced, as his sister stood looking at him with a vague suspicion of triumph in her eyes. “You and Chloe having a gay old time, and with no one really suitable to escort you!” He took Chloe’s hands, and held them gently. “I know Eunice has heaps of friends, but they’re not your sort, Chloe, and I thought you needed someone like myself to protect you from them.”
    “What about Pierre?” Eunice enquired drily, as she pressed the bell for drinks. “Isn’t it his place to protect Chloe? Couldn’t you persuade him to come with you?”
    “As a matter of fact I didn’t try,” David admitted, still looking down at Chloe with his vivid blue eyes that were so like his sister’s and caressing her with them. “I haven’t seen much of him for the past few days, but I believe he divides his time between Trelas and the King’s Arms, as usual. It’s probably dull for him at Trelas, but I loathe poky little pubs myself, and I can’t imagine the attraction one like the King’s Arms has for him.”
    “Particularly now that Fern has gone,” Eunice murmured. David lifted his head and gazed hard at her.
    “Of course she’s gone!” he exclaimed rather sharply. “You know she’s gone. She left before you and Chloe came up to town, didn’t she?”
    “So far as I know, darling,” Eunice answered him very softly, looking like a silvery dream in her silvery dress. “What I really mean is, I have absolutely no reason to think she hasn’t gone, but I’m surprised you didn’t invite Pierre to stay at High Cross and keep you company until our return—if you couldn’t entice him to London!”
    “I did invite him to High Cross,” David admitted, rather shortly, “but he didn’t seem keen. And I didn’t press him to come to London.”
    “Does he know you’re in London?” Eunice asked, as if she was interested.
    David shrugged impatiently.
    “I didn’t get him on the telephone and inform him of my movements, if that’s what you mean,” he said. “After all, I don’t have to inform anyone of my movements, and if Pierre wants to come to London he’ll come. And, in the meantime, I shall squire Chloe when she