“You will never leave me for a moment.”
Then he was kissing away her tears and next her lips, until she smiled again from sheer happiness.
After what seemed a fleeting moment of glory and a rapture that could only be Divine. Lord Kiniston said,
“Now we have to get busy, my lovely one. I am going to see the Duke of Wellington to explain to him that I have to leave for England as quickly as possible. What you have to do is to pack your boxes and be ready at the very latest in an hour’s time.”
“In an hour’s time?” Alecia enquired. “But – how can we do that?”
“It’s only a question of organisation,” he replied. “There are enough servants in the house to pack your boxes and all I have to do is to set the wheels in motion.”
He looked down at her face, which was so radiant with happiness that he thought no woman could look lovelier and added,
“I think when we get to England, we will allow your cousin Charis to have the twenty thousand pounds she wants and we will also permit them to buy my house and my stables at Newmarket, but not all the horses. I will keep the best for you.”
“I want to ride with you – I want to be with you. I want – to do – everything with you – “ Alecia said passionately.
“But of course,” Lord Kiniston agreed, “but most of all, my darling, you have to look after me and save me not only from being blown up by bombs but also from tiresome possessive women!”
He thought as he spoke how very lucky he was to have escaped both from Lady Lillian and from the Duke’s matchmaking.
He knew, although Alecia would not understand that, because he loved her so completely, she would save him in the future from a great many embarrassments that he had not been able to avoid in the past.
‘I love her!’ he told himself, ‘and I want nothing more than to be her husband and to look after her.’
*
Lady Kiniston waited in the huge State bedroom at Kiniston Hall.
She looked very small and ethereal in the satin- draped bed with its canopy of gilt cupids carrying garlands of roses.
She had been married early in the evening in the Chapel, fragrant with the scent of flowers, exactly three hours after she had seen her future home for the first time.
She had found the journey long, irksome and, of course, frightening on her way to Cambrai.
It was very different when she travelled with Lord Kiniston with horses that seemed to fly along the roads as if each one was a winged Pegasus.
Every moment she had sat beside him, every word he said to her, every time he touched her hand, she thought that she fell more hopelessly and overwhelmingly in love with the most wonderful man she had ever met in the whole of her life.
“You are not tired, my darling?” he had asked when they reached Dover in his private yacht, which had been waiting for them at Calais.
“I slept peacefully,” Alecia replied, “and I thought that the waves were enveloping me like your arms and I was safe and so were you.”
“Tonight it will not be the waves that hold you in their arms,” Lord Kiniston replied.
Alecia’s eyes widened.
“You mean – ?”
“I have sent instructions ahead,” he replied, “and we will be married as soon as we arrive at my home.”
He knew that Alecia was surprised and he explained,
“It is unconventional, my precious one, for you to be travelling without a chaperone, but I hope since we left with such speed and no one except the Duke was aware that we were going, we shall not be gossiped about.”
He kissed her hand before he continued,
“But in my home you must have a chaperone and who better than your husband?”
“Oh – Drogo – I cannot believe this is – true and that you really – love me.”
“I will convince you of that tonight!”
When she blushed, he smiled and added,
“I adore you, I love your innocence and the fact that no one has ever taught you about love except me.”
“How could you think that I would want them to?” Alecia asked.
Because it was difficult to explain to her why she was so different from other women, he could only kiss her lips.
There was a well-sprung light travelling chariot waiting for them at Dover and Lord Kiniston’s own horses were waiting to take over every fifteen miles until they reached Kiniston Hall.
They stopped for luncheon at an old village Posting inn, where there were no guests except themselves and the food and wine, which was provided for them by Lord Kiniston’s chef, was delicious.
But Alecia could only think of how much she loved the man beside her and how wildly and ecstatically happy she was every time he looked at her.
“How could I have – dreamed or – guessed that all this would – happen to me?” she said.
“I think you must have had a Guardian Angel looking after you.” Lord Kiniston smiled.
“ – and you,” Alecia said softly.
“I am sure your prayers did that.”
As Lord Kiniston spoke, he thought that he had never known a woman who prayed, as his mother had, and one who was what he wanted as his wife and the mother of his children.
When they reached Kiniston Hall, he insisted that Alecia go immediately to her room to rest.
“It has been a long journey, whatever you may say, my precious,” he said, “and I want you to look beautiful for me tonight because I think that both of us will always remember our Wedding Day.”
“How could I forget it?” Alecia asked.
*
Alecia knelt beside Lord Kiniston in the ancient and very beautiful Chapel in front of his Chaplain, who had loved him ever since he had been a small boy.
Lord Kiniston thought that it was the most moving moment of his life.
The Chaplain blessed them with a sincerity that brought tears to Alecia’s eyes and she was sure that he spoke for God.
Afterwards there was a glass of champagne for everybody in the household, who were the only people to know that they had been married and they had promised Lord Kiniston to keep the Wedding secret.
Then he sent Alecia up to bed and Sarah undressed her, saying as she did so,
“You look so lovely, my Lady! I feels as if you was an angel come down from Heaven to dwell amongst us.”
“I hope you will always feel like that, Sarah.” Alecia smiled.
When she climbed into bed and was alone, she prayed that she might make her husband happy and not disappoint him.
He came into the room and, when he saw her in the great bed, he thought that no one could look lovelier and at the same time so spiritual yet utterly and completely desirable.
He sat down facing her and said,
“If you are feeling tired, darling, after our journey, then, although it will be hard to leave you, I will let you rest tonight.”
“How could you think of anything so – cruel or so – unkind?” Alecia asked. “I want to be close to you – I want to be – sure that you love me – and I would be – frightened all alone in this big bed!”
Lord Kiniston gave her a smile of sheer happiness.
He took off his robe and got into the bed beside her And, holding her close to him, said,
“I will never allow you to be frightened again!”
“Suppose there are still – Frenchmen trying to – kill you?
“How could they succeed if you are with me? And, while we are on our honeymoon, we must forget the French and think only of ourselves.”
Alecia moved a little closer to him to whisper,
“Suppose I – disappoint you – and you wish instead that you had married – Lady Lillian?”
Lord Kiniston turned her face up to his.
“Who is Lady Lillian?” he asked. “Are there any other women in the world? I can think of only one woman and she is so perfect, so adorable and so ideal in every possible way that I love her as I have never loved anyone befor
e or will in the future.”
Alecia gave a little sigh.
“That is a beautiful thing to say to me and I have prayed – and – prayed that I will make you – happy.”
“I am happy now,” Lord Kiniston replied, “and I wonder why I ever thought that I was happy in the past. What have you done to me, Alecia, that my whole world has changed since I met you?”
He pushed back the hair from her forehead as he said,
“It is not because you are the most beautiful person alive, it is not because I adore your character, your personality, your innocence and your purity. It is because you are utterly and completely what I thought I would never find in any woman.”
“Oh, darling, you are making me nervous,” Alecia protested. “Suppose you find that I am not as perfect as you think I am?”
“I know you are!” Lord Kiniston insisted. “And, when you prayed in the Chapel you would make me happy, I was thanking God that I had been so fortunate as to find the counterpart of myself – the woman who I firmly believe was meant for me since the beginning of time.”
He kissed her forehead before he went on,
“You are all the things I am not and therefore together we make one complete person and, because our love will protect us and keep us safe, nothing wrong or evil shall touch us.”
He was saying what Alecia had always longed to hear from the man who loved her!
She was so moved that she put out her arm and pulled Lord Kiniston’s head down to hers.
“Kiss me,” she murmured. “Please – kiss me. Teach me to love you – as you want to be loved – I am so very, very – grateful that we are – together.”
“We are together,” Lord Kiniston agreed, “and no one shall ever separate us.”
Then he was kissing her, kissing her passionately, and at the same time with a tenderness that had something reverent in it.
He knew, because she was so young and so innocent, that he must be very gentle.
But, as he kissed her, he realised that the fire within him was lighting an answering flame within Alecia and that, as he had said, his love would make them one complete person.
Then, as the flames increased and became the Divine Light, which is the light of God, Lord Kiniston carried Alecia up into a special Heaven, where there is no evil.
Only the perfection and the purity of the true love that casts out fear.
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
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 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.
Love Casts out Fear
Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
This edition © 2016
Copyright Cartland Promotions 1987
eBook conversion by M-Y Books