Then he would keep her with him for the rest of their lives.
He had known that the Lord Lieutenancy or any other position he might occupy was of no interest to him beside the fact that he wanted Isla as he had never wanted a woman before.
She was everything he wished for in a wife.
He told himself that he would marry her even if it meant that he had to lose most of his Society friends.
If he had to spend a great deal of time in retirement in the country, every sacrifice would be worth it to hold Isla in his arms.
No one else would make him feel as she could.
He wondered frantically where she could possibly be or what she meant by saying that she had found somewhere where she thought she would be safe.
He had learnt while they were in the country how few people she had known in London and she had actually said that she had no friends to whom she could turn for help.
Then he went over in his mind every word they had ever said to each other.
He suddenly remembered she had told him that she had been at a school where they were very particular about the backgrounds of their pupils.
They accepted only the aristocracy and that was why she had been known as ‘Isla Arkray,’ after her grandmother.
It had taken the Marquis a great many hours of despair during the darkness of the night to recall the name.
As soon as he did, he determined to visit the College of Heralds as soon as it opened the following morning.
The College of Heralds took a long time to discover what he wanted to know.
Finally they produced the family tree of Sir Robert Arkray, the last Baronet, who he learned had only one daughter, who had married a Major Bruce McDonald.
They had a daughter, Janet, who had married the Earl of Strathyre.
It seemed unlikely that this had any possible connection with Isla, but the Marquis was determined to leave no stone unturned until he found her.
He remembered that he had met the present Earl of Strathyre, who was a pleasant young man, at Tattersalls, where they had been introduced and had discussed the merits of certain horses.
Then they had met a second time at the house of one of his friends.
Because Strathyre was not a familiar name in London, he had gone to see that friend to discover Strathyre’s address, which he then discovered was not far from his own house in Park Lane.
“You did not expect to find me here?” Isla asked when he told her of his search.
“I had the idea that you would go to Scotland,” he replied, “and I was quite prepared to follow you there.”
“I hope you will both come to The Castle after you have finished honeymooning,” Iain remarked. “The grouse should be very good this year!”
The Marquis’s eyes twinkled.
“That is certainly something I must not miss!”
He looked at Isla as he said,
“I think, darling, we should go together, if it would not bore you.”
“How – could I ever be – bored with you?” she asked.
For the moment they forgot that there was anybody else in the room except themselves.
“I refuse to wait a long time before Isla and I are married,” the Marquis said to Iain a little later. “We want our wedding to be quiet, without hordes of people gaping at us and asking a lot of extremely tiresome questions.”
“I am sure you are right,” Iain agreed. “I suggest that you get married quietly, have a glass of champagne here and a cake if you like, then go off on your honeymoon.”
“Shall we do that?” the Marquis asked Isla.
“Can – we?” she asked.
“It is what we are going to do,” he answered, “and, with your brother to give you away, you have nothing else to worry about.”
“Now I am – sure I am – dreaming!” Isla whispered.
*
The Marquis and Marchioness of Longridge left Strathyre House with only the staff to throw rose petals as they stepped into the chaise.
The Marquis was driving, as Isla expected, his new team of horses and she thought that no man could look more handsome, more exciting or drive with such expertise.
Before she left she had flung her arms round Iain’s neck and said,
“You are the most marvellous brother I could ever imagine and please – can we come to stay with you as soon as we come back?”
“I shall be waiting to welcome you with the pipers in full dress,” Iain replied, “so don’t disappoint me.”
“We will not do that and I am so happy!” Isla smiled.
It was only when they had driven some way through the traffic that she asked the Marquis,
“Where are we going? I did not ask questions until now because I felt that you wanted to keep it a secret.”
“It is the last secret we will ever have from each other,” the Marquis replied. “I am taking you to Longridge Park first to make sure that it is not all a dream and the house is still there!”
Isla gave a little cry of delight.
“That is what I want more than anything else! Your house is so beautiful that I cannot believe it is to be my – home in the future.”
“And you will be the most precious treasure in it!” the Marquis said.
“You remember our conversation?”
“I remember everything we have ever said to each other,” he answered, “but I have not yet had time to tell you how beautiful you looked as a bride.”
He had, in fact, thought as she had come up the aisle of the Grosvenor Chapel where they had been married that she was too beautiful to be real.
He felt that she was some Divine creature who had come to him from the stars.
Then, as he felt her fingers tremble in his, he had known that he would look after her, protect her and love her for the whole of his life.
She was everything he wanted, everything he had ever desired.
It seemed incredible that everything had gone so smoothly and so happily.
He had been prepared to marry Isla even if she had been known to be Keegan Kenway’s daughter.
Yet he was aware what unpleasant things people would have said.
The way she would have been treated by his relatives and the Society women with whom he had spent so much of his time in the past would not have been pleasant.
Everything had been made easy because Isla was the sister of the Earl of Strathyre, the Head of and the Chieftain of one of the oldest and most respected Clans in Scotland.
The Marquis was quite certain that he and Iain had arranged everything in such a manner that as far as Isla was concerned, Keegan Kenway would be completely forgotten.
The scandal that had been caused by her mother running away eighteen years ago would, as they had never subsequently been heard of together, die a natural death.
All that mattered, he thought as he drove on, was that Isla was now his.
Everything about her thrilled and delighted him and every time he saw and touched her he fell more deeply in love.
They arrived in record time and it was a wedding present in itself that he should achieve it.
They drove down the drive and saw Longridge Park in front of them, the statues on top of the roof silhouetted against the sky, the windows gleaming in the sunshine.
Isla knew that once more she was stepping into a ‘dream world’ that was so perfect and so beautiful that she prayed she would never lose the enchantment of it.
As if the Marquis knew what she was thinking, he turned towards her and said softly,
“Welcome home, my darling!”
She smiled at him and then she said in a whisper,
“It is – true – really true that I am your wife – and this is now – my home as well as yours?”
“Our home!” he corrected her. “A home that will always mean love and happiness for us, our children and the generations that come after
them.”
He felt Isla press her cheek against his shoulder and he knew that she was moved by his words.
After they had dined quietly in the boudoir that lay between their two bedrooms, Isla walked to the window to look up at the stars as she had done before.
The Marquis followed her.
“If you are still thinking of giving me a star as a present,” he said, “it is something you have already done. You are my star, my precious, and you will guide and inspire me for the rest of my life.”
“Can I – really do – that?” Isla asked, her lips raised to his.
“You can do it only if you are close beside me as you are now,” he answered. “I do not want you in the sky, I want you, my darling, here with me and closer still.”
He gave a laugh of sheer happiness as he picked her up in his arms and carried her from the boudoir into her bedroom.
The air was fragrant with the scent of flowers and she saw and knew that it was on his orders, that the curtains were drawn back so that they could see the stars in the sky above.
He put her down beside the bed and removed the elaborate satin negligée trimmed with lace that she had worn during dinner.
She did not speak as he lifted her onto the bed and laid her back against the pillows.
She looked up at the sky remembering how she had thought that the Marquis, like the moon, was out of reach, yet she was now his wife.
It did not seem possible, but he was beside her, taking her into his arms.
“You are thinking of me?” he asked.
“How could I – think of anything – else?”
“I love you!” he said. “I love you so completely that I am jealous of your thoughts.”
He paused to smile down at her and then continued,
“Just as I shall be jealous of anything that absorbs your attention, even the flowers, the woods and the horses, if they keep you from thinking of me.”
“They are all a – part of – you,” she said softly, “all the things here that I have – never had in my life before and – oh! – you – and you – and YOU!”
The way she spoke brought the fire into his eyes.
He looked down at her and thought that she was so alluring and so exciting that he was half-afraid, as she had said so often, that this was only a dream.
Then he knew it was reality and he had to be very gentle, very controlled, and, as Isla had said, very kind, so that he did not frighten her.
Then, as their lips met, the sensations within them both mingled together and created an irresistible fire that neither of them could escape.
“I want you! Oh, God, how I want you!” the Marquis cried. “But, darling, I am so afraid of frightening you, so that I might lose you again!”
“How – can I be frightened of you – when I love you so that you – fill the – whole world?” Isla asked. “I thought you were like the – moon and out of reach – but now that I am – close to you – I know that anything is possible – just because we are – together.”
“You are right,” the Marquis said, “anything is possible and because you are part of the Divine, my whole life has changed.”
“I want you – just as you are!” Isla whispered. “But I am – still afraid that I am – dreaming.”
“We are dreaming together, but it is a dream that will go on and on and grow more intense and more beautiful because we will never wake!”
“You are – sure of that?”
“I will make you sure of it!” he answered.
Then he was kissing her beguilingly, wooing her with his kisses.
He kissed her eyes, her lips, the softness of her neck, and then her breasts.
As she felt the starlight in the sky invading her body, she knew that just as she would guide and inspire him, he would be everything that was safe and secure for her.
‘We are – one person,’ she thought.
Then, as the Marquis went on kissing her and his hands were touching her, she felt the starlight turn to flame and her dream came true.
They were one person in mind, in heart, in soul, and – in body.
They were part of the Divine Love, which was theirs for all Eternity.
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
Pride and the Poor Princess
THE LATE DAME BARBARA CARTLAND
Barbara Cartland, who sadly died in May 2000 at the grand age of ninety eight, remains one of the world’s most famous romantic novelists. With worldwide sales of over one billion, her outstanding 723 books have been translated into thirty six different languages, to be enjoyed by readers of romance globally.
Writing her first book ‘Jigsaw’ at the age of 21, Barbara became an immediate bestseller. Building upon this initial success, she wrote continuously throughout her life, producing bestsellers for an astonishing 76 years. In addition to Barbara Cartland’s legion of fans in the UK and across Europe, her books have always been immensely popular in the USA. In 1976 she achieved the unprecedented feat of having books at numbers 1 & 2 in the prestigious B. Dalton Bookseller bestsellers list.
Although she is often referred to as the ‘Queen of Romance’, Barbara Cartland also wrote several historical biographies, six autobiographies and numerous theatrical plays as well as books on life, love, health and cookery. Becoming one of Britain’s most popular media personalities and dressed in her trademark pink, Barbara spoke on radio and television about social and political issues, as well as making many public appearances.
In 1991 she became a Dame of the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to literature and her work for humanitarian and charitable causes.
Known for her glamour, style, and vitality Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime. Best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels and loved by millions of readers worldwide, her books remain treasured for their heroic heroes, plucky heroines and traditional values. But above all, it was Barbara Cartland’s overriding belief in the positive power of love to help, heal and improve the quality of life for everyone that made her truly unique.
Only a Dream
Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
This edition © 2014