She admired all the beautiful pictures, furniture and the Palace itself.
To her surprise Clive knew the whole story.
“I have always been very interested in Palaces,” he explained, “and Hampton Court has a special history of its own that has always intrigued me.”
After dinner was over and Clive had proposed a toast to their future happiness, Nanny helped Alissia into the bed which had held so many Kings and Queens in the past.
Alissia felt that the Royal bedroom had a special atmosphere all of its own.
Nanny paused at the door and turned.
“You look so lovely, dearie,” she said as she looked back. “May God bless you and give you endless happiness for ever and ever.”
Alissia looked very small in the great bed.
Yet with the heavy curtains on each side of it and her golden hair falling over the pillows, she looked, as her bridegroom was to think, as if she had stepped straight out of a fairy story.
Clive came into the bedroom very quietly through the communicating door.
As he walked towards the bed, Alissia put out her arms towards him.
“I still cannot believe this is really happening,” she murmured. “I still think I must be dreaming.”
“I have felt the same all day,” replied Clive. “You realise, my darling, that we have won a great victory on our own. You and I have found each other and that is the most important achievement of all, nothing and no one can spoil for me the wonder of knowing that you are my wife and no one will ever take you from me.”
Alissia could find no words to say.
She just looked up at him.
She had a rapt expression in her eyes he had never seen in any woman’s.
It was not just ordinary love.
It was a love that was Holy and perfect.
And he knew it came from a beautiful girl who had never even been kissed by another man.
She was his – all his – completely and absolutely.
As she had been, although he had not been aware of it, since he had left her in the nursery all those years ago and in spite of incredible dangers he had reached his own Castle in Scotland.
It had all happened in the past.
Now they were starting a new future together.
Tomorrow they would be leaving England.
They would start, as he so wanted, his marriage in his own country and in his own Castle.
Without Alissia’s help he might never have seen them again and he would not have been here with her at this magical moment.
He threw off the robe he was wearing and climbed into the bed.
As he put his arms round Alissia and drew her close to him, he thought she was trembling.
“You are not frightened of me, my darling one?” he asked her tenderly.
“No. I am only so excited and it is so wonderful that I am still afraid I may wake up and find it all a dream,” Alissia whispered.
“Then I will make sure that you don’t wake up – ”
He bent his head and kissed her very gently.
As he went on kissing her, each moment becoming more possessive and more passionate, he felt as if her soft body melted into his.
“I love you. I adore you,” Alissia was saying.
Clive repeated the words and he knew as he did so that the ecstatic love they had found was something he had searched for for thousands of years.
It was the love that came from God and which had, through all Alissia’s prayers, brought them both to safety together.
“You are mine, mine,” he breathed as he kissed her.
When he made her his, he knew that they had both entered a special Heaven of their own.
A Heaven that had been waiting for them ever since they were born.
Which by the mercy of God they had found at last and would never lose.
“I love you, Clive.”
“I love you, Alissia”
The words kept repeating themselves until locked in each other’s arms they fell into a blissful sleep.
Where to buy other titles in this series
The Barbara Cartland Pink collection is available for download at the following online bookshops :-
www.barnesandnoble.com - epub format for the Nook eReader
www.whsmith.co.uk - epub format for the Smiths/Kobo eReader
www.firstyfish.com - epub format
ebookstore.sony.com - epub format for Sony eReaders
www.amazon.co.uk - For UK Kindle users
www.amazon.com - For international Kindle users
itunes.apple.com - for Apple iOS users
www.barbaracartland.com - Printed paperbacks
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
A ROYAL LOVE MATCH
THE BARBARA CARTLAND PINK COLLECTION
Titles in this series
THE LATE DAME BARBARA CARTLAND
CHAPTER ONE 1651
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
Where to buy other titles in this series
A Royal Love Match Page 14