“I agree with you,” Marcia said. “At the same time it would be – wrong.”
“I know,” the Duc responded, “and later this afternoon I will send some of my men to find out what has happened.”
“You will – not go with – them?”
The Duc shook his head.
“No, I think that would be a mistake. Besides, I want to be with you. My Estate Manager, who is a very intelligent man, will be in charge of the rescue operations.”
Marcia shuddered.
She could not help feeling that once Sardos was free he would be thinking up other ways of destroying the Duc.
As if he knew what she was thinking, the Duc put his fingers under her chin and turned her face up to his.
“I am going to make you my wife, my darling, and once we are married you can look after me as you have done already. Perhaps God will be merciful and find some way of keeping us safe.”
Impulsively Marcia put her arms around his neck.
“I love you! I love you!” she cried, “How can I – lose you?”
He kissed her before he answered,
“This is our Wedding Day and nothing must disturb our happiness. I will leave you now, my precious wife-to-be. When my ring is on your finger, I will show you how much you mean to me.”
He kissed her again and she saw the love in his eyes.
She knew then that this was what she had wanted and what she had waited for.
When the Duc left her, she rang for the maid.
Because she did not wish to face the Comtesse or any of the other members of the house party, she had her breakfast in bed.
It was eleven o’clock. She was thinking she should get dressed, when Jacques knocked on her door.
He brought her a veil, which he told her had been in the Roux family for two centuries.
He also handed her a wreath of orange blossom made in diamonds.
It was unique and very beautiful and Marcia hid it from her lady’s maid until the last minute.
First, to the maid’s surprise, she put on a very beautiful gown of white chiffon and lace.
She had worn it at a State Ball at Buckingham Palace.
The veil went over her hair and the orange blossom wreath held it in place on her head.
She knew when she looked in the mirror that the Duc would not be ashamed of his English bride.
“Please, do not say a word to anybody until after we are married,” she begged the maid.
“Mais non, m’mselle! It’s so exciting! May le Bon Dieu bless you and Monsieur le Duc.”
“He has blessed us already,” Marcia said softly.
The Duc came into the boudoir looking magnificent in his full evening dress, the correct wear in France for a bridegroom.
His coat was covered with decorations and there was another on a ribbon round his neck.
As Marcia advanced towards him, he did not move but only watched her until she reached him.
There was an expression on his face that she had not seen before.
She knew that it was love, the love she had sought, but believed she would never find.
She thought of the nurseries upstairs and knew that their children would be born of love.
If God was merciful and the Duc survived, there would never be anyone else in either of their lives.
The Duc gave her a small bouquet made of white orchids and then he kissed her hand before taking her arm and leading her from the boudoir.
To reach the Chapel they went down the same side staircase that they had climbed last night.
The Duc’s Chaplain was waiting for them.
Marcia saw that the altar was amassed with lilies and the same white orchids that comprised her bouquet.
She felt that she could read the Duc’s mind and he was saying to her with flowers that she was everything he wanted as his wife.
That she was different from any other woman who had amused him but whom he had always found somehow disappointing.
The Marriage Service was begun.
Because it was also a Mass there were two servers and Marcia recognised one of them as being Pierre.
She knew that there was nothing that could have given the boy more pleasure.
The village would be gratified when it was known that he had actually been present at the Duc’s marriage.
Because the Duc was so wonderful he had known how the boy would feel.
It was a quality that she had always wanted in her husband.
Her fingers tightened on his, and he knew by the expression in her eyes that she understood.
When the Chaplain blessed them, it seemed to Marcia that the angels were singing overhead.
The Light of the Divine enveloped them both.
When they rose to their feet, the Duc kissed her gently before they went down the short aisle and out of the Chapel.
“Now, my precious,” he said, “I am afraid that we have to face the music, but I do not want you to be upset.”
“Nothing can upset me now that I am your wife,” Marcia sighed. “Oh, darling, did you pray, as I did, that we could have a long honeymoon?”
“I prayed that God would be merciful and not punish me for my sins,” the Duc answered.
He looked at her for a moment before he added,
“I love you and I want you! Let’s get all the congratulations over and then we can be alone.”
“That is – what I want,” Marcia answered.
He drew her from the Chapel down the long corridor that led them towards the Salon d’Or.
She could hear voices and looked enquiringly at the Duc.
“I told everybody to wait for me here as I had an announcement to make,” he explained.
“I hope they will not be angry that they were left out of the Wedding Service,” Marcia said.
“Let them,” he replied. “No one and nothing can upset us now.”
Marcia thought that he was tempting Fate by saying something like that.
She quickly said a prayer that Sardos would not appear.
The Major Domo was waiting in the hall ready to open the salon door.
“Announce us,” the Duc ordered, “as man and wife!”
In a stentorian voice the Major Domo obliged.
“Monsieur le Duc and Madame la Duchesse de Roux!”
There was an astonished silence from the party gathered in the salon.
Then, as they saw how Marcia and the Duc were dressed, there were shrieks of excitement.
It was the Comtesse who reached them first.
“You have been married!” she exclaimed. “I don’t believe it. How can you have done this without telling me?”
“That is a story you will hear later,” the Duc stipulated firmly.
Marcia had run to her father.
“This is a surprise,” the Earl reacted.
“I know, Papa,” Marcia replied, “and I will tell you all about it later, but not here – not in front of all these people.”
The Earl, however, was so delighted that his daughter had done exactly what he wanted that he was not really curious about the details.
All he wanted was to toast them and wish them endless happiness forever.
Everybody seemed to want to make a speech until they went into the dining room for luncheon.
Afterwards the Duc and Marcia escaped upstairs.
Marcia found when she went into her bedroom that, on the Duc’s instructions, the room had been decorated with white flowers.
Her boudoir was also full of them, but she had eyes only for her husband.
“I love you so wildly,” he said, “that I cannot believe that this has all happened so quickly. My darling, I will be very gentle with you and you must prevent me from frightening or hurting you.”
“I love you – I love you so much,” Marcia answered, “and I know that only God could have brought us – together and made it possible for us to find – the love we were both seeking.”
“That is true,” the Duc
agreed.
Then he was kissing her until there were no difficulties, no horrors and no fear.
There was only Love – Love – Love!
As the Duc made Marcia his, they entered a Heaven that was all their own.
*
It was late in the evening.
The Duc was giving orders to Jacques that he and Marcia would dine in the boudoir.
“We will wait on ourselves,” he said, “and make it clear to everybody that we do not wish to be disturbed.”
“I’ll see to it, monsieur,” Jacques answered.
He was thinking as he spoke that he had never seen his Master look so happy.
“There is, however, one person who would like to speak to you first, monsieur,” he said aloud.
“Who is it?” the Duc asked impatiently.
“The Estate Manager you sent to the cave,” Jacques answered. “He came back half an hour ago and is waiting to speak to you, monsieur, when it is convenient.”
It was not convenient.
He had no wish to think of anybody but Marcia.
But the Duc thought that, if he did not see the man, he would be wondering what they had found.
“Send him in, Jacques,” he said resignedly.
He walked back into the bedroom where Marcia was lying under the canopy of the huge bed.
She was surrounded by orchids and lilies and was looking very much like a lily herself.
The Duc sat down on the side of the bed.
“My Manager is back,” he informed her. “I sent him, as I told you I would, to dig Sardos and those men out.”
“Yes, of course – you were – right,” she said in a low voice. “But – oh, darling – you do not think that – Sardos will come here?”
“I am quite certain that he will do nothing like that,” the Duc answered. “He is free, at least for the moment, and like an animal he will slink away to lick his wounds.”
There was a harsh note in the Duc’s voice that Marcia did not miss.
“Then let’s hear the worst,” she said, “and I hope he has gone to – Paris!”
The Duc kissed her.
“Try not to worry, my precious one,” he urged her.
“I am thinking only of – you,” Marcia whispered.
“That is exactly what I was going to say to you,” he answered.
He went back into the boudoir and told Jacques to send in the Estate Manager.
The man, who had been in the Duc’s employment for nearly ten years, was very competent.
He came into the room.
“What has happened?” the Duc asked.
“I’m afraid I’ve brought bad news,” the Manager replied.
“What is it?” the Duc asked quickly.
“It was as you thought, monsieur. The rocks had fallen across the entrance, which prevented those inside from escaping. It took some time for us to remove them and when we did we found the three men, including the Comte de Thiviers, just as you had expected.”
“They were alive?”
“Non, monsieur.”
“Dead – all dead?” the Duc exclaimed.
“The Comte and a large man who looked like a pugilist were both shot.”
“Shot?” the Duc expostulated.
“It looked, monsieur, as if each of them shot the other simultaneously. Both men had revolvers still in their hands.”
The Duc drew in his breath.
“And the third man?”
“He too is dead, monsieur, but I think from fright and from the cold.”
The Duc was silent.
It was a most convenient ending to what had been a very difficult and perilous situation.
There was a long silence while the Manager waited.
At last the Duc ordered,
“Have the body of the Comte de Thiviers taken to the crypt of the Chapel and arrange for the burial to take place quietly and if possible without the newspapers getting to hear about it.”
“Oui, monsieur, I understand,” the Manager replied.
“The other men should be buried in the Cemetery in Bergerac. I feel sure that the doctor can arrange it.”
“I will see to it, Monsieur le Duc.” the Manager said.
“Thank you,” the Duc replied. “I am very grateful.”
The Manager paused.
Then he said,
“May I wish you, Monsieur le Duc, and Madame la Duchesse every happiness. We are all very thrilled and delighted that you are married.”
“It took place very quietly,” the Duc said, “but you can tell everybody on the estate that we intend to celebrate in the usual way with a feast and fireworks in three or four weeks’ time when we come back from our honeymoon. I know that I can leave it to you to make all the arrangements.”
“Certainement,” the Manager said, “and it will be something very exciting for everybody to look forward to.”
*
The Duc walked back into the bedroom from the boudoir.
Marcia was not in bed, but standing waiting for him by the window.
As he entered the room, she ran towards him and cried,
“What has – happened? Is everything all right? Oh, darling – darling, you are – not in danger?”
The Duc put his arms around her.
“Our prayers have been answered and now we can live the life we both want without fear and without anybody trying to hurt us.”
“Is that – really true? Is Sardos – dead?”
“He is! That man, Albert, must have shot him.”
“Oh, Armond – I was so frightened for – you!”
The tears were running down Marcia’s cheeks as she clung to the Duc.
They were tears of happiness and he felt like crying himself because he was so grateful and so thankful.
He could love Marcia the way he wanted to without being afraid for them both every time a door opened.
‘Thank you, God,’ the Duc said in his heart as Marcia was saying it in hers as well.
Then they were kissing each other wildly, fiercely and passionately, as if they had both come back from the grave.
They knew in fact that this was the beginning of a new life.
It was a life in which their children would be surrounded by a love that was pure and perfect and came from God.
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
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
Wish for Love
Dancing on a Rainbow
Gypsy Magic
Love in the Clouds
Count the Stars
White Lilac
Too Precious to Lose
The Devil Defeated
An Angel Runs Away
The Duchess Disappeared
The Pretty Horse-breakers
The Prisoner of Love
Ola and the Sea Wolf
The Castle made for Love
A Heart is Stolen
The Love Pirate
As Eagles Fly
The Magic of Love
Love Leaves at Midnight
A Witch’s Spell
Love Comes West
The Impetuous Duchess
A Tangled Web
Love lifts the Curse
Saved By A Saint
Love is Dangerous
The Poor Governess
The Peril and the Prince
A Very Unusual Wife
Say Yes Samantha
Punished with love
A Royal Rebuke
The Husband Hunters
Signpost To Love
Love Forbidden
Gift Of the Gods
The Outrageous Lady
The Slaves Of Love
The Disgraceful Duke
The Unwanted Wedding
Lord Ravenscar’s Revenge
From Hate to Love
A Very Naughty Angel
The Innocent Imposter
A Rebel Princess
A Wish Comes True
Haunted
Passions In The Sand
Little White Doves of Love
A Portrait of Love
The Enchanted Waltz
Alone and Afraid
The Call of the Highlands
The Glittering Lights
An Angel in Hell
Only a Dream
A Nightingale Sang
Born of Love Page 13