Their Search for Real Love

by Barbara Cartland

  The yacht was up to date and had the very latest engines. It had been built for an American millionaire who at the last moment had either changed his mind or lost his money, but he had gone back to America without it.

  To Sir John it was an exhilarating moment when they moved out of Port and into the Mediterranean.

  He was determined to take Melita to Greece first.

  He was not really surprised to find that she knew all about the Gods and Goddesses and had read many more books about Greece than he had.

  “I always feel that this country invented the love we all seek,” he said at dinner speaking more to himself than to Melita.

  She looked up at him and he saw that her eyes were twinkling.

  “So you do believe in the real love, which is very different from what is written about in some of the novels,” Melita commented.

  “Of course I do,” Sir John replied, “but it is not a subject I often talk about.”

  “But you must talk about it to me,” Melita insisted. “Because that is why I am determined not to be married until I find the love that people have fought and died for since the beginning of the world.”

  Sir John was interested.

  He had never heard any woman he had been with in the past talk like this.

  They discussed what they had read about love and what, as far as he was concerned, he had felt in one way or another until it was after midnight.

  “We must now go to bed,” Sir John said, “and don’t forget that if anyone, not particularly on this yacht, but where we will be going afterwards, thinks it is strange that we don’t share a bedroom, you must tell them I snore very loudly and it keeps you awake!”

  Melita laughed.

  “Do you really snore?” she asked.

  “I am sure I do,” he answered. “But, of course, I am not awake to listen to myself.”

  “Well, it’s a good excuse at any rate,” she said, “for us sleeping apart. I expect both our families when we meet them in England will think it odd.”

  “Of course they will,” he agreed. “Just as they will think it odd that we have married without having a grand Wedding with hundreds of guests, which means hundreds of presents.”

  “I think we can live without them quite happily,” Melita said. “But it is exciting to know that we can afford anything we want.”

  She was looking round the yacht as she spoke.

  Sir John thought that she was really thinking that love could not be bought.

  Not at all the kind of love she was seeking and what he supposed he had been seeking himself.

  *

  It was when they were thinking of leaving Greece that Sir John called at the British Embassy to find out if there were any letters for him.

  He had cabled his family telling them that he was visiting Greece before returning to England and if there was anything of importance they were to let him receive it through the British Embassy.

  There was just one letter to tell him that his sister thought that he should return home as his mother was not at all well.

  As she had not seen him for quite some time, it was worrying her as to what he was doing and why he had not communicated with them as much as usual.

  “We will have to go home,” he told Melita when he returned to the yacht.

  “I think perhaps that it is something we should have done sooner,” she said, “for the simple reason I found in a newspaper which was several weeks old, that there was quite a lot written about Gavron Murillo.”

  “I suppose that his death was just as significant to England,” Sir John said, “as it was to France and every other country where he had spent, as well as acquired, a good amount of money.”

  “Well, this newspaper lists many of the Companies, which he founded or supported and mentions you as one of his beneficiaries,” Melita told him.

  Sir John frowned.

  When he then picked up the newspaper, he saw that Melita was quite right and that he had been quoted as one of the beneficiaries of Gavron Murillo’s will.

  He turned to another newspaper which was printed at the same time.

  In this one there was a long article of how brilliant Gavron had been in supporting and starting up Companies, which had turned into huge successes.

  But in this newspaper it not only added his name to the list of people to whom he had left his fortune but also mentioned Melita.

  He was still frowning when Melita said, looking up at him,

  “I suppose I am included.”

  “You are and I can only imagine that they gained this information by paying one of the servants.”

  “They were devoted to him,” Melita pointed out, “and would not have wanted to hurt him in any way.”

  “I realise that, but I would rather they had kept it secret. You will be inundated with people begging you to help them and I had hoped that, while I was bound to be written about, you would be safe from the embarrassment and inevitable greed of everyone you met.”

  “Now you are being depressing,” Melita protested. “I am sure, as there are so many rich people in England, I will soon be forgotten.”

  “You may be quite certain that money is something few people forget and everyone desires,” he said almost sharply.

  Melita took the newspaper from him and read what was written.

  “At least they have not put exactly the sum we will receive,” she remarked. “But I agree with you that we will be swamped by begging letters from anyone who has ever heard of us.”

  Sir John looked at the newspapers again and he saw that at least they had not mentioned Melita’s surname as he had been careful not to mention it while they were in Paris.

  But it was inevitable that, if anyone had seen the actual will, they would realise that he had put Melita down as the daughter of Lady Evelyn Sternwood and there would be no argument about that.

  Having turned the yacht round they began to move away from Greece.

  It was then that Melita said,

  “I did not see the Greek Islands. I did so want to visit them. I hoped that you would take me on to Egypt.”

  “We will do it another time,” Sir John promised. “But, as my mother is ill, you will understand that I must go to her and we have to be brave and face the family sooner or later.”

  “Of course we must,” Melita agreed. “But I was so enjoying what was supposed to be our honeymoon.”

  She gave a little sigh as she added,

  “It all seems to happen so quickly and I suppose I am greedy, but I wanted it to go on for years and years.”

  Sir John laughed.

  “I think that is asking too much,” he said. “But I am sure if you get married for the second time it may well be different from what our pretend one has been, but then a honeymoon is always a honeymoon.”

  “I hope you are right and that one day I will go to Greece with a husband I love who will love me in the same way as the Ancient Greeks, who taught the world about love, expect one to do.”

  She looked so pretty when she was speaking that Sir John could not help thinking that any man who met her, regardless of her being so rich, would fall in love with her exactly in the way she wanted.

  *

  It did not take them long to reach Dover.

  As Sir John had telegraphed his family to say that he was returning, his fastest horses were waiting for him.

  Their luggage was piled in behind them and with Sir John driving they set off immediately for London.

  Melita was looking around her at the countryside as they drove on.

  Sir John knew that she was appraising England and remembering all the history that she had read about, which she told him was a subject she had studied very carefully because she was her father’s daughter.

  It was only when they were nearing London late in the evening that Sir John thought that it was a mistake to rush in on his family when they were both feeling tired.

  “I am going to my own house first,” he said, “and I
think it would be wise for me to talk with my family before I introduce you as my wife.”

  As Melita looked surprised, he explained,

  “As my mother was taken ill, she was moved into a smaller house which overlooks the Thames.”

  He smiled before he added,

  “I hope that you will like my house in Grosvenor Square as much as I like it.”

  “I expected you to say that,” Melita replied. “But be careful to tell me exactly what you have said so that I will not make any mistakes.”

  “I promise you I will try to remember every word.”

  He thought, as they arrived at Grosvenor Square, that few women on such an occasion would be as calm as Melita was. They would have insisted on going with him to make a triumphant entrance as a newly married couple.

  ‘She is beautiful and clever,’ he thought to himself. ‘Just as clever as her father so wanted her to be.’

  Then, as if he could not help it, he added silently,

  ‘Her real father, of course.’

  It was something that was in both their minds the next day when after breakfast Sir John said that he was taking her to meet his family and that they were waiting to receive her warmly.

  In fact they were delighted that after all he had said about waiting until he was older, he had actually married now before he was thirty.

  “They will welcome you with open arms,” he had told her. “And, of course, they are delighted that you are not only part of their family but also so rich.”

  There was a sharp note as he said the last words which Melita did not miss.

  She was silent and, as he looked at her waiting for her answer, Sir John said,

  “It would be a great mistake to let money spoil you. You have always been so charming and so natural. I am not sure who, but someone once said, ‘money is the root of all evil’. It is also a provider of comfort and a quiet mind and no one can argue about that.”

  “Personally I think it is a great worry,” Melita said. “Look for instance how you are worrying now and why my real father worried because he was afraid that I should be pursued by fortune-hunters and married to a clever man, who would deceive me into thinking that he was marrying me entirely for myself.”

  “As your father’s daughter,” Sir John said, “I think it is unlikely that anyone will deceive you.”

  He gave a little laugh and then went on,

  “Incidentally we must both play our parts perfectly today of all days and if things seem uncomfortable or we are being asked too many questions about the father you have never seen, I will make an excuse to take you home.”

  “I think we are word perfect and acting brilliantly,” Melita laughed.

  “That remains to be seen,” Sir John retorted. “Now if you are ready, we will face my family and I am certain that members of your family will be there too, which I admit is quite an ordeal. So if you are rather shy and have little to say it will be quite acceptable.”

  Melita grinned.

  “Now you are telling me how to act my part,” she said indignantly. “Actually I have thought it over myself and decided I would allow you to do all the talking while I was, of course, rather shy at meeting my mother’s family of whom I have heard so much but never seen until now.”

  “That is just how you will be expected to behave. Leave the talking to me and just let them admire you while you know that at the back of their minds they are counting up the golden coins you represent!”

  “Now you are making me feel nervous,” Melita complained, “and it is most unkind of you. I have been rehearsing my part word for word as I had my bath. I expect to be a very good actress and for you to commend me as I leave the stage.”

  “I promise to do that,” Sir John replied. “To make sure you act the part exactly as we planned it I suggest you put a ring on the third finger of your left hand.”

  Melita gave a cry.

  “Of course! As usual I have forgotten it. I did not think that you noticed I was not wearing it in Greece, but somehow it makes me feel as if it is criticising me and it is almost shouting aloud that I am a liar!”

  “Your imagination is running away with you,” Sir John remarked. “For Heaven’s sake just be your natural self. Otherwise they might guess that we are playing a part and that, as you well know, would be disastrous.”

  Melita put on one of the rings that her mother had left her when she died and obviously when she had been in the Convent she had not worn it.

  She had put it on a few times while they were in France in case one of the French servants thought it strange that she was not wearing a ring.

  Sir John had told the staff before they left that they had been married quietly, but he had not given the name of the Church.

  Indeed, as the servants were so surprised that they had been married so quickly, they had not asked him where the marriage had taken place.

  It was only when they had boarded the yacht that he had told himself they had jumped the first fence in their disguise without there being any uncomfortable questions or enquiries that inevitably they would receive when they reached his family.

  Now, driving towards his mother’s house, Sir John was thinking about exactly what he would say to his family who were waiting expectantly for him.

  Melita was tactful enough to say nothing.

  When he pulled up the horses outside his mother’s house, Sir John turned to smile at her and said in a soft voice which only she could hear,

  “Good luck and good hunting!”

  “Don’t worry,” she replied softly. “We will win this race as we will win a great many others.”

  Leaving the horses with two grooms, they walked up the steps as the door was pulled open by a butler who had been waiting for them.

  “Welcome home, Sir John,” he said as they entered the house. “It’s a real pleasure to see you again. I’ve been asked by the staff to give you their warm congratulations.”

  “Which we are delighted to have,” Sir John replied. “Are the family in the drawing room, Baxter?”

  “Yes, and they’re waiting for you, Sir John,” he replied, “and excited, as we all be, at meeting your bride.”

  Having said his piece, Baxter went ahead to open the door into the drawing room.

  In a stentorian voice that he always used on special occasions, he announced them.

  As they walked in, Sir John saw that there were at least eight of his family and the same number of Melita’s waiting eagerly to receive them.

  His mother, looking rather pale, was lying on the sofa against a pile of cushions and her legs were covered with a rug.

  She held out her arms to him and he went to her first bending down to kiss her.

  “I have been very worried about you, Mother,” he said.

  “I am delighted, dearest, to hear you are married,” his mother answered instantly.

  Sir John was sure that she was about to say ‘at last’, but bit back the words rather obviously.

  “I knew you would be pleased,” he said after he had kissed her cheek. “Now let me introduce you to my lovely wife.”

  “Who is already one of the family,” she replied.

  Holding out both hands to Melita, she said,

  “I loved your mother. She was my greatest friend.”

  Melita bent down and kissed her cheek.

  “I know she loved you too,” she answered gently.

  After that Sir John introduced her to the rest of her family and his.

  They were all, he was aware, very excited that he had married a member of the family, even if they had not met her before.

  Even more delighted, he thought cynically, that she was so rich.

  As they talked, he was well aware, as he expected, that the newspapers had if possible made Gavron Murillo even richer than he had been in real life. And he had been on the front page of every newspaper.

  John was well aware that they were all staring at Melita.

  Not only because she was his wi
fe but because she was undoubtedly a great heiress as well as beautiful.

  Fortunately, the majority of the party would have thought it very bad manners to have referred to her wealth.

  They confined themselves to being curious about how they had met and how long they had known each other.

  Fortunately Melita had worked out all this in her mind.

  Any questions which were difficult or too intimate she managed to evade with a brilliance that made Sir John want to applaud her.

  It had been expected they would stay for luncheon, but he said that most unfortunately he had been obliged to ask two or three people to luncheon at his house.

  But, if they were not too tired, they would return later in the afternoon for tea, as he wished to spend more time with his mother.

  Finally Melita and Sir John managed to slip away to meet the people Sir John had mentioned without having to reveal their names.

  Only when they were driving off with all the male relatives going to the door to see them off, did Sir John say, as they turned away from the house,

  “You were splendid! I feel that we have both been very astute in managing to escape.”

  “I thought you were brilliant,” Melita replied. “I was sure that they had thousands more questions that they wanted to ask you, but did not have the opportunity.”

  “I know,” Sir John laughed, “but now we have time to breathe and think up exactly what we will say in chapter two.”

  “I think we have gone further than that. In fact we might almost say we are four or five chapters ahead!”

  “Don’t boast,” Sir John chided. “It’s easy to fall from a height.”

  “They were all, on the whole, being polite,” Melita said. “But I am sure that, when we are alone with them, especially where you are concerned, they have a thousand questions that they expect a coherent answer to.”

  “I have thought of that and that is why I am going to suggest, although you may not agree, that we go to the country. I want you to see the house where we will spend more time than in any other.”

  He paused before he added,

  “It is right that you should see how much Gavron helped my father and how different everything was when he became a kind of Fairy Godfather. Having waved his wand, the house is one of the great sights of England.”