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He proved a true friend in trouble, and not many people
are that when it comes to the crunch.'
'It was lucky he was at home that evening,' said Annis.
'Yes, incredibly lucky. I don't like to think how it might
have ended had he not been. So you see, any slight mis-
givings which you may have had about him and me were
entirely unfounded. I'm part of his past, but not of his
present and future. They are your domain,' said Fiona,
leaning forward to tap on the glass. 'Do you want to be
taken home now?'
Annis looked to see where they were, and noticed the
clouds had passed over and, with them, the threat of a
downpour.
'No, if he'll drop me here, I'll walk the rest of the way.'
She would have paid some of the fare, but Fiona would
not allow it.
'Shall you tell Drogo we've met? I rather hope not,'
she admitted. 'I should hate him to feel annoyed with me
when I'm so much in his debt.'
'I don't know,' Annis said candidly. 'I think I might
have to. I would always prefer to be straight with him.
But it could have been sheer coincidence that caused our
meeting, Mrs Riversley. I don't have to say there were
other seats you could have taken.'
The tall, slender woman in green, who had turned out
to be so unlike Annis's idea of her, gave her a warm smile.
'Goodbye, Mrs Wolfe and good luck. I can see why
Drogo fell in love with you.'
BED OF ROSES 183
And then she climbed back in the cab, and waved her
hand once before it sped her away.
Annis walked home on air, thinking He loves me.
Drogo loves me.
But if he loved her, why had he never said so?
As soon as she reached the apartment, she put through
a call to his hotel, forgetting that late afternoon in London
was noon in New York, and he was unlikely to be there at
that time of day. The switchboard operator promised to
have the message that she had called him left in his suite.
From eleven o'clock until midnight, she lay in bed read-
ing and hoping there might be a call from her husband
who by now should be back at the hotel, changing to go
out to dinner.
She had fallen asleep with the light on when at last the
telephone rang. She heard an American voice saying,
'You're through to London, Mr Wolfe,' and then Drogo's
distinctive, deep voice, 'Annis? I'm sorry to wake you,
but I've only just come in and found your message waiting
for me. Is anything wrong? Why did you call?'
She sat up in bed wide awake, although it was now half
past five, and half past midnight where he was.
'Nothing's wrong. How is your trip going?'
'Satisfactorily. Why did you call?'
'To tell you I miss you. To ask if there was any pos-
sibility of your coming home sooner than you planned.'
There was silence at the other end of the line.
'Perhaps. I'm not sure. I could try.'
Before her encounter with Fiona, Annis would have taken
his tone to indicate reluctance. Now her enlightened ear
detected only the cautious response of a man unaccustomed
to the idea that his bride could be lonely for him.
'I should have gone with you,' she said. 'I didn't realise
184 BED OF ROSES
a few days could seem like weeks, or how large a double
bed is when there's only one person in it.'
There was another long pause.
At length, Drogo said, 'I may be able to cut some of my
appointments.'
'Oh, don't, if it's very inconvenient. I daresay I shall
survive without you till Saturday. But it will be lovely to
have you back.'
She was really burning her boats now. She could only
have made it plainer by saying, Darling Drogo, I love you
desperately. But that irrevocable admission she would save
till she was in his arms.
'I'll see what can be done. You'd better go back to sleep
now, and I must get some rest, too. Goodnight, Annis.
Thank you for calling.'
The words were unemotional, even formal. But it seemed
to her that she could hear an undertone of strong emotion
in his voice.
'Goodnight... darling.'
Perhaps the last word came too late for him to catch it
before he put down his receiver and cut the connection.
But it didn't matter if he hadn't heard it. She had the
rest of her life to speak the soft words of love to him.
Leaning over to replace the receiver and switch out the
light, she then snuggled down under the clothes, and lay
counting the hours to his return and the true beginning of
their life together.
She did not expect him to call her again much before noon
the next day. But when the afternoon passed with no call
from Drogo to say he had re-thought his schedule and either
could or could not fly home a day or two earlier, she began
to fidget and worry.
BED OF ROSES 185
She had lived too long under a dark cloud of insecurity
for her new-found confidence in the future to be invulner-
able to fresh doubts.
She was alone in the flat that day, Rosie and Theron
having left early to visit some friends now in business on
the south coast. They were not coming back until late.
So it was with surprise that, while she was in the kitchen,
making herself a light supper of devilled scrambled eggs, as
she often had in her bedsitter days, that she heard the sig-
nal that the lift was ascending to the top floor.
Concluding that they had come back early for some
reason, she went on beating the ingredients while the
butter heated in the pan.
When a voice called out, 'Where are you, Annis?' she
was so amazed and excited that she almost forgot to draw
the pan off the heat before rushing to answer that un-
mistakable voice.
'Drogo! How did you get here so quickly?'
'On Concorde. You haven't changed your mind and
decided you like being a grass widow, have you?'
'No . . . no, I've spent all afternoon wondering why you
hadn't been in touch. It never even crossed my mind that
you might be on your way back. What a glorious surprise
but what about the rest of your engagements?'
'To hell with them,' he said dismissively. 'They can
wait, but I couldn't after talking to you last night. Come
here.'
He held out his arms to her and, with shining eyes, she
flew into a crushing embrace.
They kissed until she was breathless. When at last Drogo
raised his head, he said huskily, 'I should have gone away
sooner if I'd thought that a few days' absence would result
in this warm welcome back. The old saying must be true:
186 BED OF ROSES
absence does make the heart grow fonder.'
Her face hidden against his shoulder, she said, 'The heart
has always been fond, but I never dared to admit it be-
cause you once told me a girl should never let a man know
that she loves him before he's told her he loves her.'
She leaned backwards in his strong arms and looked up
into his face. 'I thought at the time it was good advice
especially with someone like you. But now I think it's very
bad advice. Love shouldn't make cowards of people; it
should make them brave and generous. I haven't been
either, but I mean to be from now on. I love you, Drogo.
I love you so much that I don't even care if, later, you
have other women. As long as I'm '
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