“Yes, of course,” she said quickly.
“Hobson will call you and will see that you have everything you want and you can trust Hanson to look after you until you are within sight of your home.”
“Thank you.”
The Duke smiled.
“You will, of course, both be armed, but they say lightning never strikes in the same place twice and I cannot believe that there are many such unpleasant highwaymen lurking in the woods to accost you on your journey!”
“I hope – not!”
“If you do have any adventures, I expect Hanson will tell me all about them. I doubt if we shall ever have a chance of talking to each other alone.”
Aldora was sure that this was true and, as the Duke rose to his feet a little carefully so as not to jar his arm, she said,
“Shall I – ever see you – again?”
“I expect we shall bump into each other at parties or a ball in London,” the Duke replied, “but I suspect your mother will be annoyed with me so that I am not likely to be asked to stay again. Another year I shall be at Goodwood House.”
Aldora did not speak and the Duke went on,
“I do hope there will be no unpleasant repercussions after our cruise, but if we are clever I am quite certain that the secret of what really happened will be known only to ourselves.”
He smiled at her before he repeated,
“Well, goodbye, Aldora, and thank you for saving my life. It was very clever and very brave of you and something I shall always remember.”
She looked up at him as he spoke.
Then, astonishingly, because she had not expected it, he put his arm around her and drew her close to him.
“I wish you every happiness in the future,” he said softly.
He bent her head as he spoke and kissed her gently on the cheek.
Then, when she thought that he would kiss her in the foreign fashion again on the other side of her face, he pulled her closer still and his lips were on hers.
It was a surprise and yet, as it seemed quite a natural thing for him to do in the circumstances, Aldora did not attempt to move away from him.
Her lips were very soft and innocent.
Then, as she felt the hard pressure of his, she felt something strange and warm rise up inside her that was different from any sensation she had ever had before.
It seemed as if the sunshine had invaded her body and moved through her breasts until it reached her throat and joined the Duke’s lips with hers.
It was so exquisite, so different from anything she had known or imagined and somehow a part of the music of the waves and the sunset that was golden in the sky outside.
Then before she could begin to savour or understand the rapture of it, the Duke raised his head and she was free.
“Goodbye, Aldora,” he said again, “and take good care of yourself.”
He walked away from her, opened the door of the cabin and, as she heard him going slowly and carefully down the companionway, she heard Hobson’s voice and knew that he had been waiting for his Master.
It was then she knew, incredibly and yet, if she was sensible, understandably, that she loved the Duke.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Driving away from his yacht, the Duke thought of all the extraordinary things that had happened to him since his arrival at Berkhampton House.
He realised, as he thought about it now, that he had not after riding so precipitately after Aldora, given Fenella Newbury a single thought.
He supposed that if he had been polite he would have written to her at least to say how sorry he was that she had had to leave so unexpectedly.
Then he thought that it was a good thing that he had refrained from putting anything down on paper whether intimate or not and he had no wish to write secret billets-doux to Fenella or, for that matter, to any other woman.
He knew if he was honest that she was a closed chapter in his life and she had disappointed him as had so many other women before her.
What he was concerned with now was to make sure that the Marchioness was not over-curious about his injuries or where he had been to recover from them.
His arm was still a little sore and hurt if he moved it quickly.
But otherwise he felt well, although he knew that to drive his four horses himself would be too much of a strain.
As a rule the Duke disliked being driven, but his Head Groom was very experienced and competent and he found it quite a novelty to be able to sit back and enjoy the countryside rather than concentrate on his horses.
He had known as soon as the phaeton arrived at the Harbour that his plans had worked out as he intended and that Hanson had reached the stables at Berkhampton House, which meant that Aldora was now at home.
He wondered what she would say to her mother and if she would get into a great deal of trouble for having run away in such a ridiculous fashion.
He was aware that since she had been with him on the yacht she had understood what a foolish idea it had been of going to France alone.
The highwayman had naturally been a considerable shock to her, as he had seen from her eyes, although he much admired the way she had kept her head and indeed saved his life.
Afterwards she had not moaned or continually talked about it, as any other woman would have done.
Because he was very astute and also, as he had said to Aldora, perceptive, he was aware too of how frightened she had been when he had suggested putting her ashore at Falmouth to ride home alone.
He could understand that because she was a good shot she had thought that she could protect herself.
But he knew, although she had not said it aloud, that she wondered what would have happened if the highwayman instead of being alone had had another felon with him.
‘She has had to learn the hard way that life is not easy and seldom what one expects,’ he told himself.
At the time he thought it would be a pity if she lost her confidence in herself and an innocence such as he had never known before.
He had never been with a woman who was so supremely unselfconscious, not only as it concerned him, which was surprising, but also never seeming, unlike the beauties who were his usual companions, to think about her own appearance.
With his experienced eye he had not missed the fact that she had with her only two gowns, both of them of very fine muslin, and she wore them in the daytime and in the evening without explanation or apology.
Because she used no cosmetics he could perceive the clarity of her skin and the natural colour of her lips, which with her upturned eyelashes made her seem very young and at times childlike.
At the same time, when he called her into his cabin to massage the pain from his forehead, he had been aware that in her diaphanous nightgown and negligee, which were almost transparent, she was very much a woman.
Also with her golden hair hanging over her shoulders almost to her waist she looked very lovely.
She had not even then been aware of him as a man and with a faint smile on his lips he thought that it was certainly something that had never happened to him before and told himself that it was doubtless a salutary lesson to his ego.
As they drove on, the sun was hot and the Duke, although he was very comfortable and not exerting himself, knew that he would be glad when they reached Berkhampton House.
As they turned in through the imposing gold-tipped gates, he wondered what sort of reception he would receive.
He was certain that there would be congratulations, for he had learnt this morning when the newspapers were brought on board the yacht that his horse had won the Goodwood Cup.
As well two of his other horses had been easy winners on the last day of the races.
He knew in consequence that a large number of people would have noticed his absence.
But he felt sure that the Marchioness with her tact and her quick brain would have made some plausible explanation that everybody would accept.
All he had to consider now was the cause o
f his accident.
He had no intention of admitting to anybody that he had been shot at by a prowling highwayman and even to mention it might somehow connect him and Aldora with the man’s death.
‘I shall tell them,’ he decided, ‘that riding under some trees a low branch I had not noticed caught my head and caused me a slight concussion.’
That seemed reasonable as it was something that often happened to riders out hunting or in the woods with which the countryside was covered.
As he proceeded down the drive, the Duke was suddenly aware that his groom was slowing the horses and looking ahead he saw the reason for it.
Standing in the centre of the drive, as if what had happened at the beginning of last week was repeating itself, was a girl.
It was Aldora and she stood waiting for the horses to come to a standstill, although this time there were no branches of wood to bar the way.
When finally the horses were halted, she ran to the side of his carriage and looking up said to the Duke in a low voice,
“I must speak to you before you see Mama!”
“Yes, of course,” he agreed.
He stepped down from the phaeton and Aldora put out her hands to help him.
As he reached the ground, the Duke said to his groom,
“Take the horses under a tree where they will be out of the sun.”
“Very good, Your Grace!”
The groom turned the horses to the right across the grass and the Duke walked as he had before between two of the oak trees.
As he did so he was aware that they were a little further down the drive than they had been on the previous occasion and now there was a small copse of birch trees immediately ahead of them.
“I was thinking,” Aldora said, “that it would be wise if we entered the wood. It would be a mistake for anybody to see us talking together and then tell Mama.”
They went a few steps further into the copse and found inside a clearing where there was a fallen tree trunk where they could sit if they wished to.
He stood, however, looking down at Aldora and waiting for her to explain why she wished to speak to him.
He noticed that she was very differently dressed from the way she had been on the yacht.
Her gown was an elaborate and very expensive one and her hair, which she had worn twisted into a simple chignon at the back of her head, was now more skilfully arranged.
She indeed looked very lovely, but her eyes turned up to his were, he thought, apprehensive.
As she did not speak, he asked,
“What has happened? Has anything gone wrong?”
“No – nothing,” Aldora replied quickly. “Mama was angry with me for running away, but she believed that I have been staying with one of my old Governesses who lives near Chichester.”
There was a little silence.
Then the Duke was aware that her fingers were entwined and because she was pressing them together her knuckles showed white.
“What is it?” he asked.
She looked away from him, her small straight nose silhouetted against the trunks of the birch trees.
“I – have something to – say to you – ”
“As you have already told me,” the Duke replied, “and I am listening.”
“I-I was thinking as I – rode home,” Aldora said hesitatingly, “of what you – said about a – a man wanting a – challenge.”
“I remember that conversation, amongst many other interesting things we said to each other.”
Aldora drew in her breath.
“I-I know,” she said in a voice he could hardly hear, “that it would be a great challenge for you – and one you would enjoy – if you were to be – the Viceroy of India.”
She paused as if she was expecting the Duke to say something, but when he did not she still did not look at him, but went on hesitatingly,
“I therefore thought that – because you are so – clever and because I think you are undoubtedly – needed in India at this moment – I will, if you still want me – agree to come – with you!”
The words seemed to be almost dragged from her lips as if it was a tremendous effort to say them.
When she had finished speaking, it seemed as if everything was very quiet and even the birds did not move or sing as she waited for the Duke’s reply.
It was a long time, she felt, before he answered in his deep voice,
“This is a surprise, Aldora! And are you thinking of me?”
“Of course I am thinking – of you!” she said quickly. “And I know only somebody as intelligent as you could undo the harm done – in Afghanistan by Lord Northbrook and the Gladstone Government.”
“And you think that is more important than your feelings?”
“I-I would – like – to go to India.”
“Even though it involves going with me?”
She did not answer and after a moment the Duke said,
“I think you have forgotten something, Aldora, something very important.”
She glanced at him quickly and then away again before she asked,
“What have I – forgotten?”
“That your father said you should only marry for love.”
The Duke spoke very slowly and quietly. Then, as he watched the colour flood into Aldora’s face, he thought that it was like the dawn moving into the sky and just as beautiful.
There was silence and after a moment, as Aldora still did not speak, he went on,
“Now that I know you so well, Aldora, I am convinced that your father was right. It would be not only a mistake, but a crime for you to marry a man unless you loved him.”
He was aware as he spoke that Aldora was trembling and now he had the distinct feeling that she wanted to run away and hide.
And yet she was unable to do so because she wanted to stay.
He did not move, but she felt that he had come nearer to her as he said,
“You told me that you no longer hated me, but I would be interested, Aldora, to know exactly what you do feel for me now.”
He saw a little quiver go through her as he spoke.
Then her eyelashes flickered and her lips parted.
The Duke waited, not moving, until in a strangled voice he could hardly hear Aldora said,
“I-I cannot – tell you – ”
“Perhaps we could make it a little easier.”
As he spoke, he put his arms round her and drew her close to him.
She did not resist and in fact he was sure that it was what she wanted, but was too embarrassed to say so.
Then, as if he compelled her to look up at him, she raised her head, their eyes met and for a moment it was impossible to breathe.
Then slowly, very slowly, as if he savoured the moment and etched it on his memory, the Duke’s lips came down on hers.
He was very gentle and yet once again the softness, sweetness and innocence of her mouth aroused in him, as it had last night, sensations he had never known before in all his many affairs with so many women.
He knew when he kissed Aldora that it was not only the first time that a man had ever touched her, but also the first time she had felt the response of a woman towards a man.
It was as if her vibrations had joined with his and she had been swept into a strange world that bewildered and entranced her.
He had been aware for some time that to awaken her to the wonder and rapture of love would be the most exciting and thrilling thing he had ever done in his whole life.
All the time they had been together on the yacht he had found that she intrigued and entranced him.
He had watched for her dimples, for the little specks of gold in her grey eyes and the way, because he was so experienced, that she was opening out to him like a flower towards the sunshine.
She thrilled and excited him and he had known that for the first time in his life he had to fight to win a woman and was far from certain if he would succeed.
Although he had been aware that her hatred for
him was vanishing, he knew that he could easily frighten her away by an unwary word or action.
Just as, when in training a young horse he had to approach it subtly and very cautiously, so he had known that he must be very careful of everything he said and did.
At the same time he had used all his intelligence in his campaign to capture her elusive heart.
It was something he had never done before and, when he had lain awake at night thinking of Aldora and what he would say to her the following day, he knew that he was in love.
But in a way that was so different, so utterly alien to anything he had ever felt before, that at first he could hardly believe it was true.
Now, as he kissed her for the second time, he knew that while she excited him wildly as a woman, her clever mind stimulated his and they were linked together spiritually and mentally with a bond that would deepen and increase in the years ahead.
As he kissed her, he knew that she was already his, even though she was hardly aware of it and that he would fight to the death to keep her and would kill anybody who tried to take her from him.
To Aldora it was as if the gates of Heaven had opened again and the ecstasy and rapture of the Duke’s kiss lifted her up into the sky.
It was impossible to think of anything but the wonder of it.
Then, as his lips became more insistent and more demanding, the sunshine she had felt moving through her body last night, and which was there again, became more intense until it changed from the golden glow of the sun into little flames that seemed to burn in her breast and on her lips.
It was as if they were ignited by the fire she sensed burning in him.
Only when she felt as if the glory of it was too overpowering and the Duke raised his head, did she make a little murmur and hid her face against his neck.
As he felt her whole body quivering against him and knew that she was shy, he thought it the most perfect thing that had ever happened and at the same time very exciting.
“Now tell me what you feel about me,” he said and his voice was very deep and a little unsteady.
“I – love you!” Aldora whispered. “I – love you – but perhaps you – don’t want my – love.”
The Storms Of Love Page 13