A Flight To Heaven
Page 14
Then he headed off towards a bent ragged figure, wobbling up the drive on a battered bicycle.
“I suppose now that you will want to go back to St. Petersburg – to the theatre,” Chiara quizzed Karine.
Karine shook her head, but her eyes looked sad and Chiara knew that she was torn between wanting to stay and longing to go back to the life that she loved.
“My Lady,” Jonah came back, sounding flustered. “The man says he must speak to you. I told him to find the gardener and ask if there are any odd jobs, but he wouldn’t listen.”
The ragged bicyclist was now standing underneath a chestnut tree, staring at her, a grubby cap pulled down over his eyes.
He looked very disreputable.
“Shall I ask the butler to come, mademoiselle, and send him away?” Karine asked.
“No,” Chiara replied. “I shall deal with it.”
She felt nervous as she approached the unkempt man, as his face was smudged with dirt and he was staring at her intently, but somehow her feet kept walking towards him.
As she stepped under the green leaves of the tree, he swept off his cap and a lock of dark hair fell over his forehead.
“So, you are still speaking to me – ” he began.
It was the Count.
Chiara’s hands flew up to her throat, as she choked with shock and emotion.
“Why did you run away?” he asked, twisting the cap in his hands. “I came back to the apartment to find you, after your friend spoke to me – and you were gone!”
“My – friend?” Chiara managed to say.
“Yes – the dancer.”
The Count glanced in the direction of Karine.
“The Russian girl.”
So that was the errand that Karine had carried out just before they joined the ship. She had gone to the Count to speak on Chiara’s behalf – to tell him the truth!
“Why did you not come?” he was asking, his deep voice making her tremble with its intensity.
“I thought that – you would not – believe me – ”
Chiara felt a single hot tear slide down her cheek.
“I was angry, yes, bitterly angry, when I thought that you might have played false with me, but if you had come yourself, how could I have not believed you?”
“I am so – sorry,” Chiara stammered, as shame and confusion overwhelmed her.
Why had she not trusted him? If she had gone to him then and there and tried to explain, she might still be in St. Petersburg now.
He then stepped towards her and her body and soul expanded with happiness.
He was going to take her in his arms.
But he suddenly halted and stood in front of her, a doubtful expression on his face.
“I cannot – kiss you in this coat,” he said, looking down at his torn and greasy sleeves.
Chiara’s tears melted into laughter.
“Of course you can,” she exclaimed. “I love your disguise! I still have the other old coat you wore when we first met. It’s my most treasured possession!”
Now the Count threw back his head and laughed too and caught her in his arms.
“My beautiful glorious angel,” he sighed, his breath warm against her hair. “That more than any words of love tells me that you care for me.”
Chiara lay against him, filled with a bliss that was as warm and bright as the summer day glowing all around them.
She thrilled at the thought that he might kiss her, but instead, he took her shoulders in his strong hands and held her a little away from him, his face now drawn and tense.
“I have come,” he said, “to ask you to marry me. I am dressed as a beggar, oh – partly because I feared that if Arkady Dimitrov came knocking at your door, you would turn him away. But, also, because I am so utterly humble before you, my darling. My love for you makes me always a beggar at your feet.”
He let go of her and flung himself to his knees, his head hanging.
“Don’t, please don’t!”
Chiara touched his head and felt the softness of his dark hair under her fingers.
“You must not beg! I am – yours. I have always been. I love and adore you, Arkady, and will for eternity.”
She knelt down with him, under the tree and put her arms around him and then he raised his head.
At last his lips were on hers in the tender kiss she had craved for so long.
*
Six months later a dazzle of twinkling stars shone down on the Count and Countess Dimitrov, as their troika sped through a forest not far from St. Petersburg.
Three elegant black thoroughbreds snorted as they raced across the sparkling snow, pulling their illustrious cargo as fast as they possibly could, their breath making a pale cloud in the icy night air.
“We are flying!” Chiara whispered, peering out of her fur-lined hood as the tall fir trees whisked by.
“Oh, this is sheer Heaven and I love you with all my heart and soul, my wonderful husband.”
“So – you are not sorry that I did not take you to Paris for our honeymoon, my adorable angel?”
“No! I love it here – so much.”
“You will not miss your home?”
“Of course I will – but Mama is married now. She is so happy in Pembrokeshire – and Rensham Hall is there for us to visit whenever we like.”
“I should love that and we will gallop on the wild sands of Norfolk until we fly up to Heaven and I can tell God how much I love you!”
Arkady transferred the reins of the troika to one hand, so that he could slip his arm under his wife’s thick cloak and hold her to him.
“But you have given your heart to Russia now?”
Chiara closed her eyes, picturing the brightly-lit streets of St. Petersburg, glowing under their white blanket of snow.
She thought of all the rooms in the glorious white-and-gilt Palace that now were hers to roam and explore as she chose.
She saw again the packed theatre they had just left and her dearest friend Karine, pirouetting across the stage with exquisite grace, her eyes glancing up to the back of the gallery, where her young English fiancé, Jonah, was watching her, his heart aflame with love and admiration.
And she turned to her husband and replied,
“I love Russia,” she said. “But my heart belongs to you, Arkady. Wherever you are, whatever happens to us, my heart belongs to you. When I am with you, I am in Heaven.”
* * *
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 FLIGHT TO HEAVEN
THE BARBARA CARTLAND PINK COLLECTION
Titles in this series
THE LATE DAME BARBARA CARTLAND
CHAPTER ONE 1903
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Where to buy other titles in this series
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