As she said the last word she drew in her breath and felt herself blush because it came out of her lips without thinking.
But fortunately the doctor was too busy picking up his hat and bag that he had left in the hall to notice.
“I will see you tomorrow morning,” he called out, “and don’t let our patient do too much too quickly. It’s always the same with these men, once they are on their feet they want to be on a horse and it’s far too soon for that.”
He had gone out to his carriage before she could think of an answer.
Then she ran back upstairs simply because she was so excited and pleased that Alister was really better.
She played the piano to him again and they talked when he was not sleeping.
*
It was the third day after he had recovered before the doctor said that he could go downstairs.
This was what Georgina was frightened of, not only because it might hurt him to do too much too quickly but because she was afraid of what he would say when he saw how many new servants had been engaged.
Also how different the rooms looked since they had been cleaned, polished and decked with flowers.
“Perhaps you had better wait until another day,” she suggested when they had breakfasted together.
“What for?” Alister asked. “I am feeling exactly like my old self and I am tired of being an invalid. I want to be downstairs and I want to see the garden. I want to see the new arrivals in the stables.”
“How do you know there are new arrivals?” she asked.
“You told me there had been new foals born,” he replied, “and also one of the racehorses had twins.”
“You really heard me tell you that?”
Alister smiled.
“I admit that Dawson has confirmed it to me.”
“Well, if you come downstairs, I will get the horses paraded in front of you, but I am sure that it is too soon for you to go to the stables.”
“I might have guessed that you would bully me,” he laughed.
She could not help thinking that if he had been honest he would have said,
‘I might have guessed, as you are a woman, that you would bully me.’
But she merely replied meekly,
“I am only saying what is best for you and after all I don’t want to nurse you again. I was so afraid I might fail and lose you.”
She spoke lightly and Alister asked,
“Would that really have mattered to you?”
Despite an effort not to feel shy, she felt the colour rise in her cheeks.
She was relieved when he did not say anymore.
Both she and Dawson helped him down the stairs and, when he reached the drawing room, he sank down in a comfortable chair saying as he did so,
“Now this room looks as I always thought it ought to look,” he remarked.
Georgina looked at him in surprise.
“I was half afraid,” she admitted, “that you would be angry that we had opened all the rooms.”
“And that you have an Army to protect them?”
“I suppose Dawson told you that.”
“He told me that you did the sensible thing and it’s something I should have thought of myself. But, of course, that article in the newspaper would attract thieves and I am thankful that we can now meet them on equal terms if nothing else.”
“You mean they had the guns when they came to take away the Fragonard?” Georgina questioned.
“Apparently you had one that saved my life,” he replied.
Georgina looked away from him, thinking perhaps he would be shocked at a woman using a man’s weapon.
He rose to his feet and walked slowly towards the garden and, because she was worried that he might fall, she joined him.
They stood together at the open window looking out at the flowers which gave a riot of colour on either side of the lawn.
In the centre of it the fountain was playing and the water rising towards the sky was the colour of rainbows in the sunshine.
Georgina felt a little throb go through her in case this was a scene that she would have to leave.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Alister said,
“I am Monarch of all I survey, but I am wondering if in the future I will find my Kingdom rather lonely.”
“A thousand people are only too willing to share it with you,” Georgina replied. “You have only to send them an invitation and your relatives, and I expect your friends, will come any distance to see anything so beautiful and so precious.”
“I will still have no one to talk to at night, as you have done and to speak to me with music.”
Because she did not understand, Georgina looked at him in a puzzled way.
Then he said very quietly,
“Why did you kiss me when you knew that I could not respond?”
It was a question she had not expected.
Although she wanted to turn away so that he could not make her answer it, he put his hand on her shoulder.
“You kissed me,” he said, “and I knew that you had done so, even though at that moment I could not move. Why did you kiss me?”
She wanted to hide her face, but his arm held her firmly.
She could only look down and stammer,
“I did not know – you were aware of it.”
“But I was fully aware of it. I think it was that kiss which brought me back to life and, of course, to you.”
She looked up at him in surprise and there was an expression in his eyes she had not seen before.
“I suppose you know what you have done to me,” he said very quietly.
“What have I done?”
“You have made me fall in love,” he replied. “It was something I had vowed never to do.”
Georgina drew in her breath.
“I don’t know what you are saying.”
“I think you do,” he insisted, “because you kissed me, it is now my turn to kiss you.”
He pulled her close to him.
As his lips held hers captive, she felt her love for him swell up in her body.
She moved closer and still closer until she felt that she was a part of him.
He kissed her at first very gently and then more demandingly.
The wonder and glory of it swept over them both.
They felt that the sunshine was moving within them and carrying them up into the sky.
Alister raised his head.
“I love you,” he murmured, and his voice was very deep. “I love you as I have never loved anyone else. I could not go on living here or anywhere else without you.”
“I love you too,” Georgina whispered. “I love you and I did not know that love could be so wonderful.”
“You are the softest, the sweetest and the gentlest woman I could ever imagine. You gave me your mind, your body and your soul when I was unconscious and I knew then that you were the only woman for me in the whole world.”
There was no need for any more words.
Alister kissed her again and she felt as if he carried her up into Heaven.
She knew that they were in a Heaven of their own.
They were together and their hearts were beating as one.
They were in The Castle which was to both of them a Heaven on earth.
“I love you, I adore you,” Georgina whispered to him again.
“And I love you, my darling, my precious,” Alister sighed. “You have given me the happiness I thought I would never find. When I am well, we will be married here at The Castle and we will rule our Kingdom together.”
Then he was kissing her again.
She knew that her prayers had been answered and God had given them both the love which comes from Heaven, the love which, because it came from Him, would make their life a Heaven on Earth.
Where to buy other titles in this series
The Barbara Cartland Pink collection is available for download at the following online bookshops :-
www.barnesandno
ble.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
107. Soft, Sweet & Gentle Page 14