Read Online Bonds of Matrimony by Elizabeth Hunter - Free Book Online

a list of his degrees, and a short piece about a series of lectures he had given on land reclamation in desert lands, and a few facts about his past life: that he had been born in London thirty-four years before; the school he had gone to; and finally a list of the universities where he had either studied or taught at one time or another.
    Hero thrust the book back into the bottom of her suitcase. She felt unsettled by the unexpected knowledge she had acquired about him. She felt she would have to get to know him all over again. This wasn't the work of the Benedict that she knew. This came from a man who was an expert in his own field and who, for some reason best known to himself, had said nothing about his own achievements in any of the conversations she had had with him. And she hadn't asked him about himself either! She hadn't been sufficiently interested, she told herself with unwonted humility, and he had known it.
    It was with a subdued air that Hero went down to breakfast. She helped herself to a slice of paw-paw from the laden table of cereals and fruits in the centre of the room and slipped into her seat opposite Benedict. He stood up as she approached the table.
    'Sleep well?' he asked her.
    'Yes,' she said. 'Did you?'
    'Well enough.' He sat down again. 'I've ordered eggs and bacon and coffee for us both,' he went on. 'I hope that's all right with you?'
    She nodded, not liking to tell him that she seldom ate breakfast. 'I didn't mean to keep you waiting. I couldn't make up my mind what to wear.'
    He looked her over, that detached look of amusement again in his eyes. 'I'll back you for Miss World.'
    'Oh!' The colour fled up her cheeks again. 'I wasn't fishing.'
    'I guess you weren't,' he replied dryly, deliberately misunderstanding and looking out of the window at the arid wastes beyond. 'Water does seem in short supply around these parts.'
    Hero swallowed and, looking at his colourful shirt, instinctively said the first thing which came into her head. 'Were - are you fond of the person who gave you that shirt?'
    'Who said that anyone gave it me, Liebling?'
    'Is she the girl you're in love with?'
    He raised an eyebrow. 'I didn't say it was a girl—' 'No, you didn't,' she admitted. 'Was it - was it Betsy who gave it to you?'
    'Now I wonder what makes you think that?' he drawled.
    'It - it just occurred to me,' she tried to explain. To her relief, the waiter arrived with their bacon and eggs, but even when such an easy let-out had been presented to her she couldn't resist pressing him for an answer. 'Was it?'
    He laughed easily. 'Your interest is most flattering.' Hero shook her head. He was quite at liberty to accept presents from anyone he wanted to - anyone at all! But she couldn't help it if she didn't like the idea of his exchanging presents with Betsy. It gave her a lowering feeling that she couldn't explain. And when had Betsy had the time to get to know him well enough to give him shirts and - and what else had she given him ?
    'If she gave it to you, I suppose you'd better keep it!' she said shortly.
    He smiled at her. 'Thank you,' he said. 'Will this be enough marmalade for you?'
    She recognized that the subject was now closed and accepted his lead willingly enough. She simply couldn't think what was the matter with her, making scenes about nothing in particular, and taking him to task about something that was absolutely no business of hers! She watched him across the table as he poured himself another cup of coffee. He drank it black, piling in the sugar with a liberal hand, and drinking it with a vague, abstracted air that probably meant that he was thinking about something quite different. She wondered what it was.
    'What time do we have to be at the airport?' she asked him.
    He stared at her as though she were a stranger. 'I'm sorry. What did you say?'
    'Nothing,' she said. 'I think I'll go and pack my things. Does it matter how much I take with me?'
    'I shouldn't think so!' His eyes focused on her face.