The Glittering Lights (Bantam Series No. 12)
Page 20
But as if he could not help himself, his mouth sought hers.
For a moment his lips were hard and rough. Then as he felt her body soft and yielding against his and as he knew that a flame had been ignited in them both, his kiss became more tender and at the same time more demanding.
It seemed to Cassandra that the room whirled round her and she was dizzy with the wonder of it.
Then the Duke was kissing the tears from her cheeks, her wet eyes and again her mouth with a passion that made her quiver and tremble. Yet her whole being responded to the fire that consumed him.
When finally he raised his head to look down at her she turned her face and hid it against his shoulder.
“I am ... sorry,” she whispered.
“How could you have done anything so crazy, so reprehensible, so incredibly naughty?” he asked.
She did not answer and he went on:
“God knows in what sort of trouble you might have found yourself, if I had not been there to protect you.”
“But you were ... there!” she murmured. “And I ... had to find ... out the ... truth.”
“There would have been better ways of doing it than acting a part though having no conception whatever of the type of woman you were pretending to be.”
“You ... were ... deceived!”
“I was completely bewildered,” the Duke replied. “I fell in love with you when you were shocked by the Can-Can that first evening at Carwen’s house, but I could not understand what was happening. How anyone who looked as you looked with your painted face could be so innocent and so obviously ignorant of the world was beyond my comprehension!”
“I ... thought I was rather ... clever!” Cassandra murmured.
“As a performance it was lamentable! And let me tell you another thing: if I ever catch you reddening your lips again, I will beat you! Do you understand?”
He held her very closely against him, and Cassandra said in a small hesitating voice:
“Does that... mean that... you are ... going to ... marry me?”
He looked down into her eyes and there was a smile on his lips.
“I suppose I shall have to!” he said. “After all, the fact that you slept in my suite is extremely compromising.”
“I locked ... the door.”
The Duke laughed.
“Because I told you to! Oh, my darling, when I think of how badly you have behaved and what wild, crazy chances you have taken, I am appalled! It terrifies me even now to think of what might have happened to you!”
“I knew I was ... safe with ... you.”
“You will always be safe with me in the future,” the Duke said firmly, “for the simple reason that I shall never let you out of my sight! How could I, when you are so ridiculously lovely? But I am going to punish you because you have deceived me and because you have behaved so badly.”
“How?” Cassandra asked rather apprehensively.
“We are going to be married almost immediately,” he said, “but you are not going to have the pleasure of flaunting yourself in London as the lovely young Duchess of Alchester. We are going on a very long honeymoon trip first to Australia and then to South Africa.”
“How wonderful!” Cassandra cried, her face radiant with happiness.
“When we return,” the Duke went on, “I anticipate it will be time to put our house in order for the future generations.”
For a moment Cassandra did not understand his meaning, then she blushed.
“You mean...” she began and hesitated.
“I mean exactly what you think I mean,” the Duke answered, “and how, when you blush like that, you ever expected anyone to think of you as a hard-boiled, tough little actress, I do not know!” He kissed her again.
“I love you!” he said after a moment. “I love you so much that I can think of nothing but you.”
“That is what I have felt about ... you for years “
“Have you really been in love with me for so long?” he asked wonderingly.
“Ever since I first saw you,” Cassandra answered. “I felt we were meant for each other. Did you not feel the same?”
“I thought it from the first moment I set eyes on you at Carwen’s party,” the Duke confessed. “I was depressed, worried and very apprehensive about the future. Then I saw you standing in front of me and everything was changed from that moment.”
“And nothing else ... matters?” Cassandra asked.
He saw the meaning in her eyes and knew what she asked. “Nothing, my precious,” he said. “Titles, money, rank are unimportant compared with a love like ours! A love which will last all through our lives.”
“I love ... you!” Cassandra whispered. “I love you ... agonisingly.”
Then the Duke’s lips were on hers fiercely, passionately demanding they asked her complete and absolute surrender.
She knew he would always be her Master and gloried in his strength.
She felt that he swept her away into a sunlit, perfect world where there was only themselves.
He raised his head.
“You ... you really ... love me?” she whispered.
“I worship you—my wonderful darling.”
“For ... ever?”
“For eternity and beyond.”
Cassandra gave a sigh of sheer happiness, then the Duke’s lips blotted out thought.
She could only thrill and thrill at the rapture and ecstasy of a love which was part of the Divine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barbara Cartland, the celebrated romantic author, historian, playwright, lecturer, political speaker and television personality, has now written over 150 books. Miss Cartland has had a number of historical books published and several biographical ones, including that of her brother, Major Ronald Cartland, who was the first Member of Parliament to be killed in the War. This book had a Foreword by Sir Winston Churchill.
In private life, Barbara Cartland, who is a Dame of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, has fought for better conditions and salaries for Midwives and Nurses. As President of the Royal College of Midwives (Hertfordshire Branch), she has been invested with the first Badge of Office ever given in Great Britain, which was subscribed to by the Midwives themselves. She has also championed the cause for old people and founded the first Romany Gypsy Camp in the world.
Barbara Cartland is deeply interested in Vitamin Therapy and is President of the British National Association for Health.