Read And No Regrets for Free Online

hysterically, feeling as though he and the world had gone mad. Then, with the lightning playing lividly over his face, he hoisted her off her feet and carried her across the room to the shutters, and he made he r stand there while he fastened them. She was sobbing tearlessly through her teeth—she hated him—hated him!
    “ I warned you what it would be like, living with me out here,” he said through clenched teeth. “Are you satisfied with your glimpse over the wall of Ridgley into the big, untamed world? Does this tropical Eden live up to your girlish expectations?”
    F right and hate boiled up in her and had to find relief in physical action. She raised her hand and slapped him across the face, hurting her fingers, feeling them tingling as with fire as she turned and fled into her bedroom. She threw herself on the bed and cried like a hurt child.
    S he didn’t hear him come in, a nerveless, washed-out bundle as he gathered her into the crook of one arm and made her sip whisky from a glass in his other hand. She shuddered as the burning stuff went down her throat, her face wet with tears, her dark hair streaked with sweat. “You’re the hardest man I know,” she whispered.
    “ And you married me,” he gibed. “There, d’you feel better?”
    “ Considerably.” She gave a little hiccup.
    “ So the girl who calmly accepts all other evils is afraid of a flash or two of lightning,” he mocked.
    “ A flash or two!” She pushed at her hair and gave him a disgusted look. “Well, now you know that I’m not such a hardy scout, Mr. Brennan.”
    “ The endurance really snapped, didn’t it, my pet?” His smile, now, was not quite so unkind. “You’re not afraid of bush noises in the dark, nor flying beet l es and great red ants. Even snakes don’t terrify you unduly—and, God knows, even a man may be excused fear where snakes are concerned. But a thunderstorm!” he gave a brief incredulous laugh.
    “ I’m a floundering chick, remember.” She sat up and pushed out of his encircling arm; his touch right now did not thrill or comfort. His hardness only appalled. “Perhaps I had a fright as a kid a—and the noise— ”
    He gazed reflectively at her ravaged young face, then he said: “Honey, will you trust me to do what I think is best for you?”
    S he gave him a swift glance. “W—what are you going to do?” she asked, nervously.
    “ Nothing, unless you agree. Will you go to t h e veranda door with me? You can hide your eyes in my sleeve if you want to.”
    Her nostrils twitched uncontrollably! Then: “All right,” she said, and on shaky legs she followed him out of her room, across the living-room and so to the door of the veranda. He put an arm around her, then pulled open the long door, so that the noise of the storm rushed in at them.
    C lare shrank against his side. Livid flashes lit up the trees and the foliage all around. The driving wind bent the slender palms to its will, rain hurtled down, so that great leaves seemed to cower together for protection. Suddenly there came a sizzle of lightning, a long glittering revengeful blade, shearing down out of the sky and rending a nearby tree from its crest to its heart. It seemed to shriek and roar with pain, but was in reality Clare’s cry of fright as she buried her face hard against Ross and clung to him.
    A gain he lifted her, carried her to the cane lounger and set her down among the cushions. “You’ve seen the lightning do its worst, honey,” he murmured just above her head. “When we’ve seen the worst of anything, or anyone, we have from then on the courage to face them with confidence.”
    “ Th—thank you for the lesson, boss-man,” she murmured, deep in the cushions like a kitten. “ I’ll really be fit to face anything after a year and three more months with you.”
    “ You’ll have graduated to the big league,” he agreed, ruffling her hair. “But there was colour out there, didn’t you see it? Tropical lightning like