All the pictures were by French artists, such as Bucher, Fragonard and Greuze and the furniture was also French and very old.
“This is a room for love,” he said as he closed the door, “and I am going to tell you, my darling, how much I love you.”
He picked her up again in his arms.
Sitting down on the sofa he cradled her against him as if she was a child.
Then he was kissing her passionately, demandingly and possessively.
Once again they were flying in the sky and it was impossible to believe there was the world beneath them.
*
It was a long time later and, although they had not spoken, Aletha felt as if they had said a thousand things to each other.
There was no need for any explanations.
No need for anything but love.
“How can you make me feel like this?” Miklós exclaimed.
“Like – what?” Aletha asked for the sheer joy of hearing him say it.
“It is something I have never felt before. But then I have never loved anyone as I love you.”
“Could – anything be more – wonderful?” Aletha sighed. “And I was so – unhappy last night.”
“You are not to think about it anymore,” Miklós ordered. “I was mad, crazy, to think that we could ever be without each other.”
The fire was once again back in his eyes as he vowed,
“You are mine and I will kill any man who tries to touch you!”
“I-I think the – Baron intended to take me prisoner,” Aletha volunteered.
“And to escape him you might easily have killed yourself.”
There was a note of horror in Miklós’s voice that was very moving.
“But – I am alive – and I am here.”
“You are, my precious, and now we are going to be married immediately.”
He put her down as he spoke and then rose to his feet.
“I do not intend to waste any more time,” he asserted. “We will go and tell my father that you are to be my wife and there is nothing he or anyone else can say or do to prevent us from being married at once.”
Aletha stared at him in surprise.
Then, as he was kissing her again, it was impossible to tell him the words that trembled on her lips.
As he set her free, she had a sudden glimpse of herself in a gold-framed mirror.
She was horrified at the untidiness of her appearance.
“Let me first go and change,” she said quickly, “and then I have something to tell you.”
Miklós glanced at the clock.
“They will have finished having their breakfast by now,” he said, “and my father will be alone, dealing with his correspondence.”'
He stopped to look at her lovingly before he went on,
“But hurry, otherwise he may become involved with other members of the family before we can tell him what we are planning to do.”
Aletha had no wish for anyone to see her as she looked at this moment.
So she allowed Miklós to take her up a side staircase and he left her at her bedroom door.
“I will come back for you, my lovely one, in ten minutes,” he said, “so hurry. I am afraid of being away from you even for a minute.”
“I will – still be – here,” Aletha promised with a smile.
She knew that he wanted to kiss her again and she quickly went into her bedroom.
She then rang for the maid.
By the time she arrived Aletha had already washed herself and taken off her riding skirt and blouse.
She put on one of her prettiest gowns and had just finished arranging her hair when there was a knock on the door.
She knew that it was Miklós and she could not help running across the room.
It was with the greatest difficulty that she did not throw herself straight into his arms.
“I am – ready,” she said breathlessly.
“You look very lovely.” he answered. “I am determined that we shall be married tonight or at the very latest tomorrow.”
She wanted to tell him there and then why it was impossible and then she saw a servant coming down the passage.
She was silent as Miklós took her down the stairs.
They went across the hall and down another corridor that led them to his father’s study.
Aletha already knew that it was a very impressive but comfortable room.
She thought if she did not have a secret that would surprise them all she would have been nervous.
Instead with her hand held tightly in Miklós’s she felt as if her heart and the whole world was singing.
He loved her!
He loved her enough to marry her whoever she might be.
He strode ahead of her, knocked and without waiting then opened the door of the study.
As they went in, Aletha felt a stab of disappointment as she saw that the Prince was not alone.
Standing beside him at the window was another man.
Then, as the two men turned round, Aletha gave an audible gasp.
It was her father who stood there in front of her.
He looked tall and very distinguished as he always did.
“Papa!”
Her voice rang out as she ran towards him.
She flung herself against him.
“You are – here! How is it – possible? Why have – you come?”
The words seemed to fall over themselves as her father put his arms around her.
Then he said,
“The King of Denmark was ill and therefore all the planned Festivities were cancelled. So I returned home to find that my daughter had been incredibly naughty and had run away!”
Aletha drew in her breath.
“Were you – very – angry with me?” she asked in a wavering voice.
“Very,” the Duke replied, “if I had not been aware that Heywood would take great care of you. But I did not expect to find that in buying my horses for me, he had also taken on the role of your grandfather.”
His eyes were twinkling as he was speaking and then Aletha knew at once that he was not really angry with her.
It was then that she glanced at Miklós and saw his astonishment.
She put out her hand towards him.
“This was the – secret that I wanted to – tell you about,” she confessed.
She thought for a moment that perhaps he would be angry because she had deceived him.
Then he answered,
“It is really true,” the Duke said before Aletha could reply, “and I have been apologising endlessly to the Prince because my daughter has been deceiving you all!”
“Of course I understand,” Prince Jözsel said, “that in the circumstances, it was the only way that Lady Aletha could travel if she had no proper chaperone.”
“Well, I will look after her now,” the Duke said.
He spoke as if he thought that he must gloss over anything that might affect Aletha’s reputation.
“At least, Your Highness, I shall now have the pleasure of seeing your splendid horses for myself.”
“And, of course, riding them,” Prince Jözsel added with a smile.
Aletha drew herself from her father’s arms.
“Now that you are here, Papa,” she said, “there is something more important than even the horses and Miklós will tell you what it is.”
The Duke held out his hand to Prince Miklós.
“I guessed that was who you are,” he said, “and I am delighted to have the pleasure of meeting you.”
“As Aletha has just said, Your Grace,” Miklós replied, “I have something very important to say and that is that I wish to marry your daughter!”
*
Aletha stood looking at the view.
She thought that nothing in the world could be more beautiful or more compelling.
The mountain where she stood was high above the valley in whic
h a river was glinting in the bright sunshine and there was green meadowland on either side of it.
Beyond was another range of mountains as high as the one on which she was standing at the moment.
Miklós’s house, which was his own private retreat, was small but exquisite.
It had every possible comfort.
They had arrived late last night and this morning she had awoken to think that he must have taken her up to Heaven itself.
“Have you been awake for long?” she asked him when she opened her eyes.
She looked very lovely with her fair hair falling over her shoulders.
“I found it hard to sleep,” Miklós said in his deep voice, “when you were beside me and at last we were alone.”
He was touching her body and a flame began to flicker in her heart.
“I thought all the Festivities and good wishes would never end,” he went on. “I wanted you like this, where no one could disturb us and I could tell you how much I love you from first thing in the morning and again all through the night.”
Aletha laughed.
“Oh, darling, no one – wanted it – more than I did – but I had no idea that it would be so beautiful or that I could be – so happy.”
It had been impossible for Prince Jözsel and the Duke to allow them to be married as quickly as Miklós wanted.
First they had gone to England where he had met most of the Ling relatives, all of whom found him charming and courteous.
They made such a fuss of him that Aletha was half-afraid that he would find somebody he loved more than her.
When they were alone, she expressed her doubts.
But Miklós kissed her so demandingly that he made it very clear how much he wanted her.
He told her a thousand times how frustrating it was for them not to be married, as he had wanted, immediately.
Then at last, with what the Duke called ‘indecent haste’ they were married in the Chapel at Ling Park.
Crowds of their relations had filled the great house and the neighbours’ houses as well.
After a few days honeymoon in England, they had come back to Hungary.
Prince Jözsel had no intention of not celebrating their marriage in style at The Palace.
All the rooms were packed to bursting.
The Wedding Festivities included gypsy music besides a formal ball with the very best orchestra from Vienna.
Johann Strauss had even come himself to The Palace to conduct it.
As Aletha repeated over and over again, how could anybody possibly ask for more?
“All I ever want is you to myself,” Miklós had complained a few times.
At last they had escaped.
This morning Aletha had her first chance of seeing in the daylight how fantastic the view was from Miklós’s house in the mountains.
As he put his arm around her waist, she said,
“Now I know I have reached Paradise.”
“That is how I want you to feel, my precious darling. When I built this house, I thought it was the right setting for me. Now I know it is the right setting for you. You are not a sylph, you are an angel, my angel. Who will always belong to me.”
His lips were on hers.
He kissed her until she felt as if they were touching the sun and its light was burning through them.
“I love you – oh, Miklos – I love you!” she whispered.
“As I love you! And I want to tell you how much, but you are standing precariously on top of a precipice, so I suggest we go back into the house.”
She saw by the fire in his eyes what he intended and exclaimed,
“But darling – we have only just got up!”
“What does it matter?” he asked. “When one is in love, time stands still and I only know that I love you, I want you and you are mine forever.”
Aletha laughed.
She let him take her back to the house.
They walked into the beautiful room with the amazing view over the valley.
It was where they had slept the previous night.
As Miklós closed the door behind them, Aletha put out her arms towards him.
He crushed her against him and she sighed,
“Darling – darling – I love – you! But I am – sure that there is a lot – more for me to – see outside.”
“There is tomorrow and the rest of our lives to see it,” Miklos answered. “At the moment there is only love.”
He carried her to the bed.
Then he was kissing her wildly, passionately and demandingly.
She knew that this was the love that she had prayed for and nothing else in the whole world mattered.
Position, wealth, even beauty itself, could not be compared to the wonder of what they felt for each other.
Then, as Miklos made her his, she could hear the music that was the beat of their hearts.
The sunlight was seeping through their bodies like leaping flames of fire.
The light that came from God and was Divine completely enveloped them.
And then there was nothing either in Heaven or Earth but Love.
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 Pira
te
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
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
Pride and the Poor Princess
Stars in my Heart
The Fire of Love
A Dream from the Night
Sweet Enchantress
The Kiss of the Devil
Fascination in France
Love Runs In
Lost Enchantment
Love is Innocent
The Love Trap
No Darkness for Love
Kiss from a Stranger
The Flame Is Love
A Touch of Love
The Dangerous Dandy
In Love In Lucca
The Karma Of Love
Magic For The Heart
Paradise Found
Only Love
A Duel with Destiny
The Heart of the Clan
The Ruthless Rake
Revenge is Sweet
Fire on the Snow
A Revolution of Love
Love at the Helm
Listen to Love
Love Casts out Fear
The Devilish Deception
Riding in the Sky
The Wonderful Dream
This Time it’s Love
The River of Love
A Gentleman in Love
The Island of Love
Miracle for a Madonna
The Storms of Love
The Prince and the Pekingese
The Golden Cage
Theresa and a Tiger