“I will teach you about the other things that interest me,” the Marquis continued, “which at the moment is only you.”
He pulled her against him and kissed her until Aspasia felt that her feet were no longer on the ground and the Marquis was carrying her high into the sky, where his lips had the fire of the sun in them.
It was so perfect and so wonderful that it flashed through her mind that if she should die now she would have had everything in life that mattered and there was nothing that could be more perfect or more wonderful than love.
Then she knew that she wanted to live and to tell the Marquis how much she loved him over and over again.
She was trying in vain to find words to express the glory and the wonder that was within her when she heard the door of the study open and saw that her uncle had arrived.
*
Later the Marquis took Aspasia upstairs to her room.
She wanted to look round her because there were so many things that she wanted to see. At the same time, because he was beside her, it was impossible to think of anything but him.
He took her by the hand and led her up the stairs and she knew that the touch of his fingers thrilled her and she could only look at him thinking that no man could be more handsome, more distinguished and more wonderful.
‘I love you! I love you!’ she wanted to say and keep on saying it, but she thought shyly that he might think that she was being too effusive.
They walked along a broad corridor and, when the Marquis opened a door, Aspasia was aware that they were in a room that was part of the Master suite.
“All the Marchionesses of Thame have slept here,” the Marquis told her.
After Aspasia had expressed her delight that Martha was there waiting for her, she was able to look around.
The room was beautiful, the walls decorated in white, picked out in gold with panels of blue brocade that were the colour of her eyes.
As she thought of it, she saw that the Marquis was smiling and knew that he was aware of what she was thinking.
“The room might have been decorated for you,” he said, “but actually it was designed nearly a hundred years ago.”
“It is very beautiful,” Aspasia sighed, looking up at the ceiling painted with cupids and Goddesses whose colours echoed those of the Aubusson carpet on the floor.
But what made the colour flood into her cheeks was the bed with its gold corolla from which hung curtains of exquisite lace over blue silk that matched the panels on the wall.
The Marquis watched her eyes, but he said nothing until he raised her hand to his lips.
“Your uncle will be ready to marry us in an hour’s time,” he said quietly and went from the room.
Aspasia turned to Martha to see that she was crying.
“I’ve never been so happy in all me life, Miss Aspasia!” she sobbed. It’s what your dear mother would have wanted for you, but I never thought it’d ever happen livin’ as we were at Little Medlock with nothin’ but the cabbages to talk to!”
Aspasia laughed.
“Oh, Martha, how funny you are. But I too think Mama would have been happy that I should marry such a wonderful man.”
“I can hardly believe it’s true,” Martha said, “and what’ll Master Jerry have to say when he hears of it? It’ll upset him not to be at your Wedding.”
With difficulty Aspasia realised that she must not let Martha know yet that Jerry would have a great many other things to think about besides herself.
Instead she said,
“I want to be married, Martha. At the same time I wish I had a beautiful Wedding gown.”
She thought as she spoke of the white snowdrop gown she had worn at Grimstone House, but she knew that attractive though it was, it was symbolic of all that was evil and bad.
She could not contemplate for a moment wearing it at a Ceremony that was sacred.
Martha blew her nose and put away her handkerchief.
“Didn’t his Lordship tell you that you’ve a Wedding gown waitin’ for you, Miss Aspasia?”
Aspasia looked at her questioningly and Martha crossed the room to open the door of a beautiful inlaid and gilt-ornamented cupboard.
Inside, hanging beside some of her simple dresses that Martha had made, was a white gown that was both fashionable and beautiful.
Martha took it out of the cupboard and held it up for her to see and Aspasia gave a gasp of surprise. Trimmed with fine lace over pure white silk it seemed as if, like the house itself, it had stepped straight from a Fairytale.
“Oh – Martha – !” Aspasia exclaimed.
“I didn’t know when his Lordship asks me last night for your measurements,” Martha said, “that he were thinkin’ of anythin’ like this!”
“It is p-part of his – b-brilliant organisation,” Aspasia stammered.
She told herself that he was not only the most efficient man in the world but also the kindest and the most thoughtful.
‘How could he have guessed,’ she asked, ‘that much as I love him, my Wedding would not have been perfect if I felt that I was not elegant and smart enough for him?’
When she had had a bath, Martha dressed her in the lace gown and she found that there was a family veil to wear over her head and a diamond tiara which made her gasp when she opened the box that it was displayed in.
Perhaps this more than anything else made Aspasia realise that when she was married to the Marquis she would be a Marchioness and socially elevated.
Things would be expected of her that she was afraid she might not be capable of doing.
When she was ready, she went downstairs to where she knew that the Marquis was waiting for her and Martha said as if she knew what she was feeling,
“Your mother, God bless her, will be in the Chapel today, lovin’ you and she’s always there should you need her.”
Her words dispersed a little shadow that for the moment dimmed Aspasia’s happiness.
“Thank you, Martha,” she said, “and thank you for looking after Jerry and me all these years when things have been so difficult.”
She saw the tears come into the old maid’s eyes.
Martha quickly bustled away so that she could be in the Chapel before the bride and bridegroom reached it.
As Aspasia walked down the staircase, she saw the Marquis waiting for her.
He watched her descending slowly step by step, very conscious of the veil enveloping her and the tiara shining on her red-gold hair.
When she reached him, she thought that there was an expression in his eyes that she had not seen before.
He did not speak, he only gave her his arm and drew her down a long corridor to where at the end of it there was the Private Chapel.
Because her arm was through his and because he put his hand over hers, Aspasia was vibrating to him as if to beautiful music.
Her heart was beating frantically because he was so close to her and because the wonder of knowing that she was to be his wife made her feel as if the gates of Heaven were opening.
As they knelt side by side in the Chapel and her uncle blessed them, Aspasia knew that not only was her mother beside her, but that a celestial light enveloped them that came from God.
Martha looked around the bedroom to see that everything was tidy and then she blew out the candles on the dressing table and walked towards the door.
“Goodnight and God bless you,” she said as she had said every night since Aspasia was a child.
“Goodnight – Martha.”
It was hard to say the words or to realise that she was not in her little bed in the Vicarage where she had slept all her life.
Instead she was in the most beautiful room that she had ever seen in a bed that could only have belonged to a Princess in a Fairytale.
And she was waiting for the Marquis.
He came in through the communicating door, which, she had learned, led into his bedroom and she thought that it was impossible for any man to look happier.
He
came quietly across the carpet and stood for a moment looking down at her before he sat on the side of the bed.
“This is what I have been waiting for all day, my darling,” he began, “and I feel as if I have in fact waited an Eternity.”
“We are – married. We are really – married!” Aspasia said as if she would convince herself.
“We are married,” the Marquis repeated in a deep voice, “and tonight, my beloved, there will be no pillow between us.”
Aspasia gave him a shy little smile.
Then she said,
“There is – something I want to – say to – you.”
“You are not worried about anything?” he asked quickly.
“Only – about what I have to – say.”
“What is it?”
The Marquis looked down at her fingers and saw that she was twisting them together as if she was nervous.
“My darling,” he said quickly, “I will not frighten you.”
“I-I am not frightened of you,” Aspasia replied. “It is just that – I am afraid – because I am so – ignorant.”
She did not wait for the Marquis to speak, but went on quickly,
“S-supposing that I do – something that is – wrong and then you don’t – love me any m-more?”
The Marquis reached out and put his hand over hers.
He felt her fingers tremble as if he held a small bird in his grasp.
“My precious little wife,” he sighed. “There is nothing you could do that would be wrong unless you no longer loved me.”
“I love you! I love you!” Aspasia answered. “I love you so – much that you fill the – whole world and the sky – there is nothing – else but – you.”
The Marquis’s fingers tightened on hers, but otherwise he did not move.
“But still you are afraid.”
“Only that I shall – fail you in some way – supposing you are – disappointed that you have m-married me?”
“I am quite certain I shall not be that,” he said, but Aspasia was following the train of her thoughts.
“You said – I know about your interests – but I know – nothing about – love or what a man – wants from a – woman.”
The Marquis thought that she was thinking of the behaviour of the men and women at Grimstone House and the naked actors and actresses on the stage.
He drew in his breath thinking that in all his numerous affairs he had never had to explain love or teach it.
But because Aspasia was so different and because he knew that her shyness came from a purity that he had never found before, he felt that his love almost overwhelmed him in its intensity.
He knew now that what he felt for her was not just the desire of a man for an attractive woman but something so spiritual and so essentially good that it was impossible for him to express it.
He only knew that he wanted to look after her, to protect her and love her so that never again would he see an expression either of fear or disgust in her eyes.
Now he said very quietly,
“This evening when we were married, my darling, I vowed that I will love adore and worship you all our lives and will continue to do so in the life to come.”
The Marquis was astonished at his own words, and yet they came from his heart.
Then he saw a light come into Aspasia’s eyes and her fingers no longer trembled on his.
“You are so – wonderful!” she exclaimed. “How could I do – anything but – worship you?”
“I think, my precious one,” the Marquis said, “that all we have to do is listen to our hearts and love will show us the way.”
As he spoke, he put his arms around Aspasia and his lips found hers.
He kissed her very gently until he felt her respond and then, as he went on kissing her, he knew that he was igniting a little flame within her.
Then Aspasia said with a note of passion in her voice that he had never heard before,
“I love – you and I – want to be – closer and closer – to you so that I can – can tell you how much I – love you and I am – no longer afraid – because I am in your arms.”
The Marquis took off his robe and climbed into the bed and, as Aspasia moved closer to him and he felt her body warm against his, he thought that he did not know such happiness existed.
Looking up at him in the dim light of the candles shining through the lace curtains, she said,
“This is – how I wanted – us to be last night – but I – thought you would be very – shocked if I moved – next to you.”
“If you only knew how much I wanted it too,” the Marquis replied, “but now, my precious darling, we are married and I can hold you close and even closer.”
“I want to be – very – very close,” Aspasia whispered, “but when you kiss me – it is so exciting that – it is difficult – to breathe.”
She gave a little sigh.
“It is – impossible to explain – but please – teach me about love – and make me love you as you – want to be loved.”
“That is what I intend to do,” the Marquis said and his voice was very deep and a little unsteady. “And this, my adorable one, is your first lesson.”
Then he was kissing her again, kissing her lips, until his mouth moved to the softness of her neck.
Aspasia felt a sensation like a shaft of lightning streak through her and her breath came in little gasps.
“I – love you – Oh – I love – you!”
The Marquis pulled aside her nightgown and kissed her breasts and then again her lips until she put up her hands in protest.
“I am not frightening you, my precious?” he asked hoarsely.
“No – but you – make me feel – so – strange.”
“In what way?”
“As – if – there is a fire burning – inside me but I also – want you to kiss me – and go on – kissing me more and more – but still it – is not enough.”
“My sweet perfect little wife.”
The Marquis held her mouth captive, his hand was touching her and the flames in Aspasia leapt higher and higher.
It was no longer possible to think or to be afraid.
All she knew was that the Marquis was lifting her into the sky, the gates of Heaven were open and, as they entered them together, they were one 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
&n
bsp; 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