The Cross of Love by Barbara Cartland

I'm expressing myself very badly - "
    "On the contrary," said the Earl. "You have expressed yourself perfectly."
    Mr. Wyngate looked murderous.
    "Get rid of this silly woman," he snapped.
    "You're perfectly right," the Earl said. "Mrs. Colwell, you have leapt to a false conclusion. No nuptials are planned, and no workmen will be coming to this house, next week or at any other time."
    "In my opinion it would be better if they start immediately," Wyngate grated.
    "And in my opinion it would be better if they did not," the Earl said flatly.
    Wyngate changed tack.
    "Now, Lansdale, you don't want to listen to these female fantasies. You can't imagine that I would - "
    "I don't know what you would do," the Earl said. "But the arrival of your men would place me in an equivocal position. My cousin is certainly right about that, and I would hate to attach any scandal to the family name, just as I am sure you would dislike any misunderstandings."
    "Misunderstandings can be sorted out," Wyngate snapped.
    "But how much better if they don't occur in the first place!" the Earl said smoothly. "Now, shall we have some tea?"
    "Don't bother," Wyngate said. "It's time we were going. I told that coachman to wait in the grounds, so I suppose he's still there."
    "I'll summon him," Rena said.
    "I would have liked some tea," Matilda said mildly.
    "Shut up!" her father told her.
    In no time the carriage was at the front door waiting for them. The coachman pulled down the step and opened the door. Matilda stepped in, followed by her father.
    But before he entered the coach Wyngate turned back to face Rena and the Earl, standing on the step.
    "I've never set my heart on anything I didn't get," he grated. "I'll be seeing you again very shortly."
    Then he looked directly at Rena. It was a malevolent look, like a blast of icy wind. It told her that he wasn't fooled. He knew exactly what she had done, and how she had done it. And she would be made to pay for it.
    All this was in the silent, deadly gaze that he turned on her.
    Then he got into the carriage and slammed the door.

CHAPTER SIX
    "Thank goodness for you," John said somberly as they turned back into the house. "If you hadn't come in when you did -" He shuddered. "Rena I hardly recognised you, talking in that half witted fashion."
    "But you understood what I was saying?"
    "Yes. I would have been trapped. I can see it now, but then everything was strangely foggy. I don't understand it."
    "He was weaving wicked spells around you," said Rena.
    "That was exactly how it felt. All the time he was talking I knew there was something wrong, but I couldn't see what it was because my mind seemed to be full of cobwebs. It was as though he had mesmerised me. But then you came in and blew the cobwebs away."
    He grinned. "You were brilliant. You sounded like the silliest woman in the world, not at all like my Rena."
    She smiled. "Sometimes it's easier to say things if people think you're too stupid to be taken seriously. I didn't want to denounce him openly as a scoundrel in case you wanted to go along with his plan."
    "You think I'd do that?"
    "You need money."
    "And you expect me to marry for it?"
    "I expect you to remember that the village is relying on you," she said quietly. "But I'm glad you're not turning to Wyngate. He's evil."
    "Yes, I felt that force in him too. But good vanquished evil." He gave her a tender look.
    "For the moment," she said in a brooding voice. "But he will come back. He isn't going to give up."
    She would have liked to tell him that Matilda had another lover, and would fight the marriage as strongly as they. But she had given Matilda her word not to speak of Cecil, so she contented herself with saying, "Matilda may give him a shock. She isn't as docile as he thinks. She's very much his daughter. She told me that twice, and it's true."
    "Did she tell you anything else?"
    "Nothing that I can repeat. But we're on the same side. Let's go and have some tea."
    In the kitchen they ate the