Beatrice laughed. ‘You are very knowledgeable about the stars, Lord Chadwick. Do you make a study of the galaxies yourself?’
‘I spend a lot of my time travelling. On board ship the nights are long and one spends many hours on deck, looking at the sky. The northern sky—which you are looking at—is very different from the southern sky and so is the sky around the equatorial zone. I’m sure you would find it interesting.’
‘I’m sure I would—if I ever get the opportunity to travel. It never occurred to me that the sky would look different in other parts of the world. Do you think anyone lives up there, that any of those stars are inhabited with people like us?’
‘I don’t know. What do you think?’
‘I don’t—not really. But then, it would be arrogant of us to assume that out of all those thousands and millions of stars the Earth is the only planet where life exists. It’s like saying the Earth is the centre of the universe and everything revolves around it.’ She dragged her gaze from the sky and looked at him when she heard him chuckle. Her lips broke into a smile. ‘What is it? Why do you laugh?’
‘I am astonished. Since when did young ladies begin studying astronomy?’
‘I don’t know about the others, but this particular young lady began as soon as she learnt to read.’ He was smiling, a smile she found almost endearing. He did seem to have a way about him and she could not fault any woman for falling under his spell, for she found to her amazement that her heart was not so distantly detached as she might have imagined it to be. Even his deep mellow voice seemed like a warm caress over her senses. For all the animosity she felt for him, she could not deny what a fine specimen of a man he was.
He took her hand to kiss it. He looked so relaxed that she found herself responding to him. Then a glint of mischief in his eyes reminded her of who he was. Shaking off the effects of his winning smile, she took herself mentally in hand and snatched her hand free. She tossed her head proudly, but Julius Chadwick was undaunted by her show of indignation. He touched her arm very gently and reached so close that she could smell the sharp scent of his cologne.
‘Please forgive me,’ he murmured, softly and with disconcerting sincerity. ‘I was boorish in my behaviour to you earlier when you accepted my wager. It was never my intention and now I heartily beg your pardon.’
Beatrice was astonished. She stared into his deep amber eyes, looking for the mockery, the veiled contempt. She found neither. ‘No more than I was,’ she conceded.
‘You were angry and I understand the reason and you intend to punish me for it. Will you not tell me that I am forgiven?’
Beatrice found herself weakening before his smile. Her own smile came slowly. ‘Very well. You are forgiven.’
‘Then I am once more a happy man and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.’ He raised her fingers to his lips and pressed a light kiss on them. As he did so he surreptitiously pressed a small object into the palm of her hand. ‘I would like you to have this. It is just a small token of my respect and admiration,’ he said. ‘May it serve to remind you of happier times and of the value I place on your forgiveness.’
Beatrice uttered her thanks and watched him turn and stride away. When he was out of sight she opened her hand and looked down at the small object he had placed there. Only then did her brief softening turn to humiliation. The colour drained from her face. Damn him, she thought. He had used subtle trickery and flattery on her and she had fallen for it and allowed herself to become as stupid and gullible as all those silly girls who simpered and followed him around like sheep.
What he had given her was a gold signet ring she had last seen on her father’s finger. She had not given it a thought during all the years she had been without him, and now she knew that this, too, must have been among the things he had taken from her father. It did remind her of happier times, but it also reminded her of how those times had cruelly ended. With