She waited with bated breath for his reaction and couldn't have explained even to herself what she wanted it to be. Just hearing his voice sent shivers down her spine.
'Why?'
'Why?' she repeated. His voice had been strange, thick and husky, and now she felt a sick dread that he had thought again, and had realised that he was giving far too much and receiving very little in return. He could have almost any woman he wanted; it had been madness to think he was for real. She should have known—
'Why have you changed your mind?' he asked in his usual voice now, the tone slightly wry and definitely cool. 'I presume you've been to visit your father tonight?' he added quietly, as though the two things were linked.
'I've just got back.' There was no point in lying. If this crazy idea was going to get off the ground, and it didn't seem too promising at the moment, then at the very least she was going to have to be completely honest about everything. 'He wasn't too good,' she continued painfully, 'and I don't want… I don't want him to lose this house,' she said slowly. 'It means far more to him than you could realise, more than even I knew. I'm frightened he won't get better if he has to see it go,' she added when he still didn't say anything, her voice very small. 'In fact I'm sure he won't.'
'I see.' There was a brief pause. 'Did you say anything to him?' he asked quietly, his voice devoid of any expression.
'No.' She took a deep breath as her heart began to thud so hard that it actually hurt. 'He had other people there.'
'So he doesn't know yet? Are you going to tell him about…our arrangement?' he asked flatly.
'No.' The answer was immediate and instinctive. 'That would make everything just as bad. He has to think that you've found something, done something that enables him to keep the house through his own good fortune. We'll have to tell him that we—we've fallen in love,' she added painfully.
'And you think you can fool him?' Carlton's voice was gentle and for some reason that very fact made her knees tremble. 'You think you can act that well?'
'We'll have to.' She closed her eyes tight and prayed for calm.
'I didn't say 'we',' he said slowly. 'I can do my part, but can you do yours?' There was a strong element of doubt in the deep voice.
'Of course.' She still wasn't sure if he was saying yes or no. 'I can do anything at all if it helps him to get well.'
'I'm not so sure, Katie.' There was a moment's silence.
'Unlike nearly every other woman I know, you would not make a good liar.' There was a note in the deep voice she couldn't identify and she would have given anything to see his face at that moment. 'You know I want you and I'll agree to anything you want regarding David but he is not a fool. He's a very astute and intelligent man, and, more than that, he loves you. That makes him particularly perceptive where you're concerned.'
'Carlton, just because I'm his daughter, it doesn't automatically mean he loves me,' she said with a flat pain that wasn't lost on the man listening to her. 'You don't understand—' She stopped abruptly. There was no way she could tell him how the years had been since her mother had died. She couldn't tell anyone—it was too complicated, too harrowing to put into words. 'Things aren't always black and white,' she continued slowly.
'No, I know that,' he said blandly.
'It has to be as I've said.' She paused, searching for a way to make him understand. 'If he thought he'd been bailed out, that in some way he had still failed and lost the house through his own misjudgement, he wouldn't try again,' she finished painfully.
'And he's not trying now, is he?' Carlton said gently. 'You've noticed that too. He's in danger of giving up.'
'Then you agree?' she asked carefully, her nerves jumping wildly.
'Yes.' The answer was immediate. 'I told you, I want you, Katie. I want you very badly.' There was that thickness in his voice again that sent a little shiver flickering down her spine. 'And you're aware of exactly what you're promising?' he asked slowly.
'Of course.' She couldn't keep the note of indignation out of her voice. She was twenty-three years of age, for goodness' sake, and after several years at university she was well aware of the facts of life, in all their diverse branches, even if she hadn't actually participated herself.
She remembered the paper-thin walls of her small room on campus and the energetic activities of one of her friends next door, whose morals had matched Jennifer's, and smiled mentally. Carlton would be amazed at what she knew! There had been mornings when she had found it difficult to face Sally without blushing!
'Shall I come round now?' he asked quietly.
'What?' For a heart-stopping moment she thought he was demanding his proposed marital rights immediately, and from the note of unforgivable amusement in his voice when he next spoke she knew he had recognised her blunder.
'Relax, Katie…' His voice was soft and deep and she shut her eyes against its seductiveness. 'I was merely asking if you would like me to come round to iron out the details tonight.'
'No.' She took a deep breath and prayed for dignity. 'The morning will do.' The morning will more than do, she thought weakly.
'I'll see you at eleven.'
As the phone went dead she blinked in surprise, standing with the receiver in her hand for a good half-minute before she replaced it slowly and glanced about the wide, spacious hall.
Everything looked the same. The beautiful wood panelling still gleamed and shone in the dim light, the expensive water-colours in their gilt frames, which her mother had loved so much, still hung silently in place, and yet everything was irrevocably, frighteningly different She had just promised to marry a man she didn't love and who didn't love her. A marriage of convenience.