It had been an expensive purchase and in order to buy it her father had pinched and saved.
Mena understood that he loved having it in the garden and in the summer he took his work there and wrote undisturbed.
When they reached the Temple, she could see that Lindon was smiling.
She waited for him to say something appreciative about it.
Instead he just took her into his arms.
He then kissed her passionately and possessively and she felt as if the Heavens opened.
She was no longer on Earth, but flying high into the sky and she could see millions of stars gathered around her.
He kissed her until the ecstasy of it became almost unbearable.
With a little exclamation she hid her face against his shoulder.
He was still holding her close as he said,
“How could you do anything so damnable as to go away without telling me? I thought I would go mad when I found you had gone!”
“I-I wanted to – tell you,” Mena answered in a voice that did not sound like her own, “b-but I – did not know your – name and, although it – sounds foolish – I did not ask you the name of your house.”
Lindon smiled.
“I thought it must be something like that. At the same time I cannot tell you what I felt when I found you had gone.”
“I was so – afraid I would – never see you again!” Mena whispered.
He turned her face up to his and kissed her again. Now his lips were gentle and very tender.
Then, as he raised his head and looked down at her shining eyes and trembling lips, he asked,
“How soon will you marry me, my darling? I cannot go on any longer without you!”
“Oh – Lindon – !”
Mena could only gasp the words.
The rapture and wonder of his words seemed to seep through her body like a shaft of sunshine.
Then she remembered how poor he was.
He saw the expression in her eyes and asked,
“What is wrong? What is worrying you?”
“I-I want to – talk to you.”
“That is why we came here.”
He drew her into the Temple where there was a sofa that her father had used. It was worn and slightly faded, but still very comfortable.
They sat down and Lindon put his arm round her and pulled her close to him.
“You have not told me,” he said quietly, “how soon you will marry me.”
“I love – you!” Mena answered. “I love you – so much that it was an – agony to have to – leave you behind – and I have been – so unhappy – since I came home.”
There was a little break in her voice.
Lindon kissed her before she went on hesitatingly,
“You must – know that I want to – marry you I – can imagine nothing – more wonderful than – being your wife. At the same time – I cannot – I must not hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” Lindon enquired in a puzzled voice.
“What I am – saying,” Mena explained, “is that you have to – work for your living – and I am – afraid I have – no money – ”
“And you think that is important?” Lindon interrupted her.
“It is perhaps – possible for you,” Mena said, “to live on your wages and keep your adorable little house but – have you thought that a wife is – an expense and – ”
She stopped.
“And what?” Lindon prompted.
Mena hid her face against his neck before she whispered,
“S-suppose we – have a – baby?”
Lindon’s arms tightened around her and Mena went on quickly,
“I would – look after you and – be as economical as I can – but I could not – bear it if I was just an – encumbrance and you – regretted marrying me.”
She looked up at him and tears ran down her cheeks.
He looked at her for a long moment and then he took his large white handkerchief from the pocket of his coat and very gently wiped away her tears.
The handkerchief was of fine linen and smelled of Eau de Cologne.
Somehow because he was being kind it made the tears come all the faster.
He pulled her a little closer to him.
“You must not cry, my precious,” he said, “there is nothing to cry about. But I love you because you are thinking of me rather than yourself.”
“I-I am thinking of you because I – love you,” Mena said, “and just as I – prayed on Saturday night that you would not be – hurt by the horse thieves – I know I must not hurt you – or in any way – pull you down.”
She was thinking as she spoke that to make money he might even take on more menial work than what he was doing now.
And if that failed, then he might be forced to sell his treasured house and then he would never forgive her because he had lost it.
The thoughts all passed swiftly through her mind.
But she was aware that Lindon was looking at her as if, because they were so closely attuned to each other, he could read her thoughts.
There was silence before he said,
“I am just wondering, my beautiful and adorable one, how I can have been so lucky as to have found you and how I can ever be worthy of a love that is so selfless and so part of the Divine?”
Because of the depth in his voice and the way he spoke Mena blushed.
“I have never known anyone before who could make me feel like this,” Lindon went on, “but I know I want to kneel at your feet and light candles to you. At the same time I can only express what I am trying to say with kisses.”
He kissed her and Mena felt as though nothing in the world mattered except their love.
If they had to walk barefoot and sleep under a hedge, at least they would be together.
She knew now that without him she would rather die.
He raised his head before he said,
“I have already sent somebody to procure a Special Licence and we will be married, my darling, tomorrow in the Chapel at The Castle.”
Mena gave a little cry.
“M-married at The – Castle? But I have not yet told Mama about you – and perhaps the Duke will not – allow us to use his Chapel.”
Lindon smiled.
“You do realise, my precious, that you do not yet know my name or the one you will bear when you become my wife.”
“It – does seem absurd,” Mena agreed, “but I did not – want to tell you mine – because I thought you might ask questions about – Papa.”
She realised that the Duke must have explained to him who she was.
Nevertheless she said,
“I came to The Castle as Mama’s Companion because Lais had not admitted to anybody that she had a sister.”
Lindon smiled.
“When you stumbled over your mother’s name every time you mentioned her and you were very vague about your association with Mr. Mansforde, besides having a Greek name, I guessed who you really were.”
“It’s a good thing you were not able to say so to Lais! My sister would have been – very angry!”
“I have news for you,” Lindon said. “Your sister is going to marry the Earl of Elderfield!”
“She is?” Mena cried. “How wonderful! I told her that he was the right age for her and therefore much more suitable than the Duke.”
She looked at Lindon a little nervously before she asked,
“You have been told – or perhaps you have – guessed that the Duke is going to marry – my mother?”
“I know,” Lindon replied, “and I am delighted about it.”
“It is so wonderful for Mama that she loves him. She has been a different person altogether since we went to The Castle.”
She gave a little sigh as she said,
“She has been so depressed about losing Papa and has had no interest in anything – but was just pining away.”
“You must have been very unhappy,” Lindon said.
“It was terrible
losing Papa and it has been very lonely here this last year when I had only Kingfisher to talk to.”
“That is something you will never feel again,” Lindon smiled. “I will make you very happy, my precious one. Equally you will have a great many things to do that may not be exactly what you want.”
“I want to do – anything that will – help you,” Mena said. “I will wash your clothes and scrub the floors as long as I can be with you and not – lose you.”
“That is something you will never do!” Lindon answered. “But your duties, my lovely one, are going to be very different from what you expect.”
Mena looked at him nervously.
“What do you mean – what has – happened?”
She had the frightening feeling that he had taken on some new employment, perhaps abroad or in London.
Whatever it was, it would mean that she could not be in his beautiful little Elizabethan house.
Perhaps, if he would be working all day, she would see him only in the evenings.
Lindon was reading her thoughts.
“It is not that, but, because my brother is so intent on creating with your mother’s help the most splendid garden ever in England, he has handed many of his responsibilities over to me.”
Mena stared at Lindon in disbelief.
“D-did you – say – your – brother?” she asked in a voice that did not sound like her own.
“I am Lindon Kerne,” he answered, “and you, my precious one, will be the most beautiful of the Kerne ladies who fill the Picture Gallery and one day will be the most beautiful Duchess of Kernthorpe there has ever been!”
Mena had gone very pale with shock.
Now she hid her face against him to say almost inaudibly,
“I-I don’t – believe it – it cannot be – true!”
“I can understand that you were deceived by my very unconventional appearance when I am working with the horses,” Lindon said with a smile, “but I like to be comfortable and I find a tie very restricting.”
“You are laughing at me,” Mena said. “How can I have been – so foolish?”
“It was not foolish,” Lindon contradicted, “it was in fact the most marvellous thing that has ever happened to me.”
His arms tightened as he said,
“You can understand that as the heir presumptive to a Dukedom I have been pursued by ambitious Mamas ever since I left the schoolroom and their daughters have wanted to marry me not for myself but for my rank.”
His voice deepened as he said very tenderly,
“You love me for myself, which has never happened to me before and, although, my lovely one, you will not have to scrub floors or wash my clothes, we shall have a great many more responsible things to do that without you by my side I would find a huge bore.”
“What – are they?” Mena asked nervously.
“William told me last night that he has always hated The Castle and he wants me to take it over together with the estate and also run his racehorses, which are currently kept at Newmarket.”
Mena looked up at him.
“You will – enjoy that.”
“Of course I shall,” Lindon said, “and I know you will enjoy it too. At the same time there will be a number of important duties we will have to perform in the County now and I suspect a great many more later.”
There was silence.
Then Mena said,
“I-I think because you will be – so grand – it would be a mistake for you to – marry me.”
It seemed extraordinary that she should be thinking of things the other way around.
She wondered how she could ever have been so foolish as not to recognise Lindon for what he was. She had always been aware that he was a gentleman, but she had thought he was ‘down on his luck’.
“I will not have you frightened or upset,” Lindon said, “and I think, my darling, because we love each other so much, that everything will be fine as long as we are doing it together.”
“Of course it will,” Mena answered, “if you are – quite certain that you should not – marry somebody of more importance.”
“I am going to marry you,” Lindon said, “and as quickly as possible. I am only afraid that your mother will take you away with her to Devonshire, although I am sure that William will not want anybody else with them on their honeymoon.”
He saw the light in Mena’s eyes and added,
“And we want to be alone on ours. What I am planning, my precious, is that we go first to my house where nobody will disturb us.”
“Can we – do that – can we – really do that?” Mena asked.
“We are going to do it,” Lindon replied firmly, “and as I intend to take a chef from The Castle the food will be very much better than you had the other night.”
“But it was ambrosia – and the nectar of the Gods!” Mena exclaimed.
She remembered that she had been so entranced she had hardly realised what she was eating.
He laughed.
“That, of course, is what you will find in Greece.”
“In – Greece?” she repeated.
“I am entitled to a long, happy and private honeymoon before we start being grand at The Castle!” he said.
“You are really taking me to Greece?”
“I thought we would go there and see you in your own setting as the Goddess I thought you were when we first met. Then we will go on to Egypt.”
“It all sounds too – marvellous to be believed,” Mena said. “But – anywhere would be Heaven if I was – there with you!”
“That is what I have been thinking ever since I met you,” Lindon said, “and now everything has fallen into place and all we have to do is to get married.”
“And very very quickly,” Mena said, “otherwise I know I am going to wake up.”
Lindon laughed.
“I have arranged it for tomorrow morning and William was talking of being married the day after.”
Mena laughed.
“It all seems so – impossible that I am – breathless!”
Then, as Lindon saw the light in her eyes, she said,
“I know you are going to laugh at me for the rest of our lives because I believed that you were a man employed to look after the Duke’s horses, but why, as you were at The Castle, were you not enjoying the house party?”
“Although William suggested it, the Irish horses had just arrived and I found the idea of being with them more enticing than his guests! How could I resist anything so alluring as Conqueror or Red Dragon?”
Because it seemed so ridiculous Mena laughed.
“Do you realise that if you had not been so enamoured of the horses and I had not come to The Castle in disguise as Mama’s companion, we might never have met?”
“In which case,” Lindon said seriously, “we would both have felt incomplete for the rest of our lives, and very lonely.”
Mena put out her hand to hold onto him.
“You must be very very careful of yourself,” she said. “Those thieves might have taken you by surprise and I would have lost you.”
“I have made quite sure that the horses will be properly guarded from now on,” Lindon assured her, “I realised I had been very remiss in not appreciating how valuable Conqueror is or how vulnerable.”
“I will try not to be frightened,” Mena said. “At the same time I love you so much that I shall be jealous of the horses if they take up too much of your time.”
“We will train them together,” Lindon promised. “I have never seen a woman ride as well as you do. And you quickly realised that Conqueror only responded to a woman rider.”
“I am sure I can teach him to love you,” Mena smiled.
“Then that is task ‘Number One’!” Lindon answered, “And my task, my precious, is to try and make you love me more than you do already.”
“I think that would be – impossible,” Mena answered, “but please – please – do try.”
He gave a little laugh.<
br />
Then he was kissing her again, kissing her in a way that told her that he felt as she did that their love was blessed.
She knew that, as they were to be married tomorrow their love would envelop them with a dazzling light.
She had felt it ever since she had loved Lindon.
It was the light that comes from God and is an expression of the love that He gave to mankind.
The love that is Divine and to which there is no end.
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.
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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
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