He pulled her towards him as he spoke and his arms were round her, holding her close against him, his lips on her hair.
“We have won, my darling. We can be married and you can be mine. I shall no longer have to go on searching for my little Virgin of the Lilies.”
Cyrilla’s face was hidden in his shoulder and after a moment he said in a different tone,
“You are crying! My precious darling, don’t cry!”
“I cannot – believe it is – true! I cannot – believe that Papa really – means it!” Cyrilla replied. “I am – crying because I am – so happy.”
The Marquis had the uncomfortable feeling that he might cry too.
He knew it was weakness and he knew too that it was an unutterable incredible relief to know that Cyrilla would now be his.
Then, with a touch of his old masterfulness, he put his fingers under Cyrilla’s chin and turned her face up to his.
“Everything has changed,” he said softly, “and now there will be no more tears, no more unhappiness.”
He looked down at her and there was a radiance in her eyes even while the tears were still on her cheeks and on her eyelashes.
“I love you,” he murmured. “I will make you happy and after this you will never cry again!”
“It is – true – it is – really true?”
“It is true!”
Then his lips were on hers.
As he kissed her, Cyrilla knew the wonder and glory she had known before and yet there was a new dedication in the Marquis’s kiss and he felt that he was as overwhelmed with gratitude as she was.
This was the miracle she had prayed for, this was the moment when the darkness disappeared and they were swept away together into the light, the radiant light that came from God.
“I love – you! I adore – you!” she cried.
The Marquis, holding her closer still, said quietly,
“It was love that made us find each other and has brought us through all our difficulties until we are together as we were always meant to be.”
“It is so – perfect – so wonderful,” Cyrilla said. “Now I know something – which I shall never forget.”
“What is that, my lovely one?” he asked.
“However much one tries, when love is real – the love that comes from God, no one can deny it.”
‘It is something we both tried to do,” the Marquis answered, “but it proved impossible not only for us but also for your father not to acknowledge it.”
“We must thank him,” Cyrilla said. “Just as we will thank God because He has – given us the gift that is – part of Himself.”
“That is exactly what it is,” the Marquis agreed, “and you, my darling, are a child of God – good, pure and perfect in every way and I need you to help me.”
Cyrilla gave a little smile that he thought was the loveliest thing he had ever seen.
“I want to help you,” she said, “but not to alter you, because I love you just as you are. You are everything I always thought a man should be – kind, gentle, and very very brave. How could I be so lucky as to find someone like – you?”
“It was not luck, it was Fate,” the Marquis said firmly, “the Fate which has been manipulating us since the very beginning.”
As he spoke, he thought how true that was.
It was Fate that he had made Frans Wyntack paint a fake of the Lochner, Fate that had taken it to the Prince of Wales, Fate that had made him paint Cyrilla again when he faked the Van Dyck.
Apart from even that long chain of strange coincidences which could have been directed only by some force beyond themselves, it was Fate that had brought him to The Castle when he had almost despaired of ever finding Cyrilla again.
A shower of rain, an accident and damage to his wheel and there was Cyrilla where he had least expected to find her!
The Marquis realised that he had been silent for some seconds and Cyrilla was looking at him enquiringly,
“Are you thinking about fate?” she asked him.
“I suppose really I was thinking of you,” the Marquis said. “I find it impossible to think of anything else.”
“As I thought of you,” she answered. “How could I have thought of anyone else when you were so near me? Yet I dared not – go to you. Sometimes I would – listen outside your door, hoping I would – hear your voice.”
“That is something you will never do in the future,” the Marquis said. “You will be inside the door, close against my heart and never – and this is a vow – I will never, never lose you.”
She smiled at him and he thought it would be impossible for a woman to look so lovely and still be human and part of this world.
“I adore you!” he said now with a note of passion in his voice that had not been there before. “How soon can we be married?”
“The – garden is looking lovely – now!”
“Let’s go and see your father,” the Marquis said, “and please, my precious, impress upon him that if we are not allowed to marry very very quickly, we will both waste away and there will be no wedding but only two ghosts to haunt the future generations at The Castle!”
“That is – something that will – never happen.”
Cyrilla rose to her feet as she spoke and the Marquis got to his.
Then, as they looked at each other, everything went from their minds and she was in his arms and he was kissing her passionately, fiercely and insistently and yet she was not afraid.
This was love, divine and yet very human.
Cyrilla could feel the fire on the Marquis’s lips and she knew that he was igniting a fire within her too.
She wanted him to kiss her and go on kissing her and for them to be closer and still closer to each other.
She did not quite understand what she felt, she knew only that it was very wonderful and it was love – the love from which they could never escape and which neither of them could deny.
* * *
OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
The Barbara Cartland Eternal Collection is the unique opportunity to collect as ebooks all five hundred of the timeless beautiful romantic novels written by the world’s most celebrated and enduring romantic author.
Named the Eternal Collection because Barbara’s inspiring stories of pure love, just the same as love itself, the books will be published on the internet at the rate of four titles per month until all five hundred are available.
The Eternal Collection, classic pure romance available worldwide for all time .
Elizabethan Lover
The Little Pretender
A Ghost in Monte Carlo
A Duel of Hearts
The Saint and the Sinner
The Penniless Peer
The Proud Princess
The Dare-Devil Duke
Diona and a Dalmatian
A Shaft of Sunlight
Lies for Love
Love and Lucia
Love and the Loathsome Leopard
Beauty or Brains
The Temptation of Torilla
The Goddess and the Gaiety Girl
Fragrant Flower
Look Listen and Love
The Duke and the Preacher’s Daughter
A Kiss for the King
The Mysterious Maid-servant
Lucky Logan Finds Love
The Wings of Ecstacy
Mission to Monte Carlo
Revenge of the Heart
The Unbreakable Spell
Never Laugh at Love
Bride to a Brigand
Lucifer and the Angel
Journey to a Star
Solita and the Spies
The Chieftain Without a Heart
No Escape from Love
Dollars for the duke
Pure and Untouched
Secrets
Fire in the Blood
Love, Lies and Marriage
The Ghost who Fell in Love
Hungry for Love
The Wild Cry of Love
&nb
sp; The Blue-eyed Witch
The Punishment of a Vixen
The Secret of the Glen
Bride to the King
For All Eternity
King in Love
A Marriage made in Heaven
Who can deny Love?
Riding to the Moon
THE LATE DAME BARBARA CARTLAND
Barbara Cartland, who sadly died in May 2000 at the grand age of ninety eight, remains one of the world’s most famous romantic novelists. With worldwide sales of over one billion, her outstanding 723 books have been translated into thirty six different languages, to be enjoyed by readers of romance globally.
Writing her first book ‘Jigsaw’ at the age of 21, Barbara became an immediate bestseller. Building upon this initial success, she wrote continuously throughout her life, producing bestsellers for an astonishing 76 years. In addition to Barbara Cartland’s legion of fans in the UK and across Europe, her books have always been immensely popular in the USA. In 1976 she achieved the unprecedented feat of having books at numbers 1 & 2 in the prestigious B. Dalton Bookseller bestsellers list.
Although she is often referred to as the ‘Queen of Romance’, Barbara Cartland also wrote several historical biographies, six autobiographies and numerous theatrical plays as well as books on life, love, health and cookery. Becoming one of Britain’s most popular media personalities and dressed in her trademark pink, Barbara spoke on radio and television about social and political issues, as well as making many public appearances.
In 1991 she became a Dame of the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to literature and her work for humanitarian and charitable causes.
Known for her glamour, style, and vitality Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime. Best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels and loved by millions of readers worldwide, her books remain treasured for their heroic heroes, plucky heroines and traditional values. But above all, it was Barbara Cartland’s overriding belief in the positive power of love to help, heal and improve the quality of life for everyone that made her truly unique.
ELIZABETHAN
lover
Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
This edition © 2013
Copyright Cartland Promotions 1953
eBook conversion by M-Y Books
Who Can Deny Love Page 16