The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,163

no blame or responsibility directed at the fathers, I really can’t see what choice you have. I’m so very sorry. Keep in touch, won’t you?’ Katherine squeezed Cecily’s hand.

‘I will, and send my love to Bobby.’

Cecily watched Katherine leave and thought that she would be the person she would miss most when she left here.

A few minutes later, there was another knock on her bedroom door.

‘Come in.’

Bill appeared, taking off his hat as he entered and standing uncomfortably near the door.

‘Hi, Bill. Please, come sit down.’ Cecily indicated the chair by her bed.

Bill ignored her, walked to the end of the bed and stared down at her. ‘Glad to see you have a little more colour in your cheeks now.’

‘Yes, thank you for rescuing me. For the second time.’

‘Today was just a happy coincidence. Or not, as the case may be.’

Cecily watched as Bill began to pace up and down.

‘Are you okay, Bill?’

‘Yes, I’m very well indeed. As a matter of fact, Cecily, there was something I wanted to ask you.’

‘Then ask away. I’ll do anything to repay you for your kindness since I’ve been here in Kenya.’

‘Well, the thing is, that . . .’ Bill fiddled with some loose change in his pocket. ‘It transpires that I’ve become rather fond of you since you arrived here.’

‘Oh, really?’ Cecily waited for the insult to follow the compliment, as it usually did with Bill.

‘Yes, really. So, I was wondering whether, well, you would consider, well, marrying me.’

‘I . . .’ Cecily looked up at him, stunned. ‘Please, Bill, don’t tease me. I’m all out of humour just now. What is it you actually want to say?’

‘Exactly that. I mean, it really is time that I took a wife to run the homestead, so to speak, and you and I seem to rub along together quite well, don’t we?’

‘I . . . well, yes, I suppose we do.’

‘And I did hear a little of your current . . . predicament when I was searching for you along the lakeside. So, as you were lying there on the bench, dead to the world, I thought that it might be possible to come to some sort of an arrangement which would be beneficial for both of us. If you see what I mean.’

Cecily could only stare at him in shocked silence. The fact he was telling her that he knew she was pregnant and was still offering his hand in marriage was beyond her scope of understanding. Besides which, this was Bill, the eternal bachelor.

‘I do understand that I am a good few years older than you – I turn thirty-eight this autumn – and that my home is, well, basic to say the least. If you were to say yes, I would make sure to build a proper one for you and the child. It would be our child, of course. As far as anyone else need know, that is.’

‘Oh. I see. I think.’

‘There’s no reason why we couldn’t have more if we wanted, I suppose. People do, don’t they?’

‘Yes, but . . .’

‘I’m sure you have lots of “buts”, and this can hardly be the proposal a young woman like yourself would have expected when she was dreaming of her future. But . . .’ Bill sighed, ‘we are where we are, and I rather did feel that I might miss your presence if you were to scurry off to Switzerland and then back to America. It’s not a declaration of love, but it’s certainly the nearest I’ve got to one in a very long time. We’ve both been scarred by our past experiences and we should go into this . . . arrangement with our eyes wide open. That is, if you were to agree to it. Now, I will leave you alone to think about it, but if you did feel it was a possible solution to your quandary, then I would suggest that we announce our engagement sooner rather than later, which will stop tongues wagging and salvage your reputation. I’ll drop in again tomorrow to see how you are, by which time I hope you will have had the chance to consider my proposal. For now’ – Bill strode over to the bed, took Cecily’s hand in his and kissed it – ‘I will say goodbye.’

And with that, Bill turned on his heel and left the bedroom.

Cecily kept what Bill had said to herself – she’d learnt enough to know that Kiki was an impulsive person; parties were