Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [113]
But all this had made her see another side of him, a darker one. She was absolutely certain he had cheated at that game. Why did he have to do that? Surely the whole point of gambling was taking the losing streaks with the winning ones?
Was he a cheat at everything? Was he making love to other women besides her? He had put Sam and Jack at risk. Could he be trusted never to do that again?
A rustling sound across the room alerted her that he was awake.
‘Beth!’ he said softly. ‘Are you there?’
‘Of course I am,’ she snapped. ‘Where else would I be in the middle of the night in a strange country?’
‘Come back to bed,’ he said.
‘I don’t think I ever want to be in a bed with you again,’ she retorted.
Theo struck a match and lit the candle. ‘Why are you so angry?’
He was wearing his undershirt, and with his dark hair all tousled and a dark shadow on his chin he didn’t look the dapper gentleman he usually did.
‘Because you are responsible for this,’ she said, and moved closer to the bed so she couldn’t be overheard by any other guests. ‘We all had a good life in Philly; you’ve ended that. Why did you have to cheat?’
He didn’t answer for a moment and she waited for a further denial.
‘I know you did,’ she said. ‘Lie to the rest of the world if you must, Theo. But not to me.’
‘All right, I did cheat,’ he admitted with a little tremor in his voice. ‘I wasn’t going to see all my money vanish into Sheldon’s pocket.’
‘But cheating is wrong.’
‘I’ve been cheated too, lots of times.’
‘But that doesn’t make it right by you doing it as well.’ She was exasperated now. ‘You put my brother in danger. As it is, the police will be after him and if he’s caught he might be hanged, or whatever they do with murderers here.’
‘It wasn’t murder, it was an accident.’
‘Accident, murder, a man is still dead and my brother is on the run.’
‘I doubt the police will even attempt to find out who did it; they’ll just think it was gang warfare. Sheldon was a thug, not much different to Heaney in New York, no loss to the country. And even if they do find out it was Sam, they can’t get him back from here. A couple of years and it will all be forgotten.’
‘Not by me, and I doubt by Sam either,’ Beth said.
Theo lay back against the headboard and just stared at her for some little while until Beth felt very uncomfortable.
‘Are you going to stay being mad with me for much longer?’ he said eventually. ‘Only it’s the first time we’ve had the chance to spend all night together without you rushing off to pretend you’ve been in your own bed all night. Can’t we enjoy you being Mrs Cadogan instead of you sitting out there freezing to death and looking like you hate me?’
‘This has all been a big shock to me,’ she said, wishing she could find the right words to make him see what he’d done to her. ‘I never wanted to go to Canada. As far as I know it’s all wilderness and frozen up half the year — what will we do here?’
‘There are bars and saloons in every corner of the world,’ he said with laughter in his voice. ‘And I’m sure almost every one of them would like to be entertained by you and your fiddle. Look on it as a new adventure, Beth. You’ve got your three musketeers with you to keep you safe. Now, come to bed and let me show you how much I love you.’
‘Do you?’ she asked. Her heart leapt because he’d never said that before.
‘Of course I do,’ he said, holding out a hand to her. ‘I felt something for you right from the night we met on the Majestic. You looked so cold and pinched, but I liked the way you answered me back. I tried to find you on the morning we disembarked. But I didn’t know your name, nothing about you. When I eventually came across you fiddling in Heaney’s I was so thrilled. You were much prettier than I remembered — and your music!’
Beth had to smile then and she reached out to take his hand. ‘Promise you won’t ever cheat again?’ she said.
‘Not you anyway,’ he said. ‘Now, come back to bed.’
Montreal was beautiful, a city of elegant new buildings, wide roads, gracious squares and parks. Beth and