"Oh, couldn't you see? How blind men are!"
The little man, moved to his soul because this proud beauty was so deeply in love with him, took her in his arms and kissed her.
A little shudder went through her blood. It had not been two hours since Jack Kilmeny's kisses had sent a song electrically into her veins. But she trod down the momentary nausea with the resolute will that had always been hers. Verinder had paid for the right to caress her. He had offered his millions for the privilege. She too must pay the price for what she received.
"We must go in," she told him presently. "They will wonder."
"They won't wonder long, by Jove," he replied, a surge of triumph in his voice.
Joyce looked at him quickly. "You're not going to tell them to-night?"
He nodded. "To-night, my beauty."
"Oh, no. Please not to-night. Let's ... keep it to ourselves for a few days, dear." The last word was a trifle belated, but that might be because she was not used to it.
Verinder shot a look of quick suspicion at her. "I'm going to tell them to-night—as soon as we get back into the room."
"But ... surely it's for me to say that, Dobyans. I want to keep our little secret for awhile." She caught with her hands the lapels of his dinner jacket and looked pleadingly at him.