She was certain that the Duke initially would try to take the blame, but that was something she could not allow him to do.
Under an interrogation the whole sordid story would be revealed, the tale of her uncle’s cruelty would strip her naked to the public gaze and she would never again be able to hold up her head.
If, on the other hand, everything worked out as the Duke planned, then he would say good-bye, perhaps suggesting that she could stay a little longer with his grandmother.
But she could hardly remain an uninvited guest forever, and in fact from today she must start planning her own future.
Perhaps she could rent a house in London and pay some respectable elderly woman, or a widow to chaperone her?
Or perhaps it would be better to leave England and return to a life of travelling restlessly to any part of the world that was not at war.
She would be alone, completely alone, and she knew that in the future no man would ever attract her, for having given her love once it was no longer hers to give again.
She wanted to cry at the misery of her own thoughts. Then she told herself that if the Duke found her in tears he would despise her for not being able to carry out his orders more competently.
Already his grandmother suspected that something was wrong because she was ‘so pale’, and perhaps Simpson had not really believed the story she had told him.
Because she was disturbed and upset everything seemed ominous and frightening as the difficulties, the problems and the questions closed in upon her.
She suddenly felt almost as if she must scream aloud, when she looked up and the Duke was there!
He had approached without her hearing him, and now he stood just outside the arbour, though for one moment she thought he was just a figment of her imagination.
Her heart seemed to stop beating before she sprang to her feet and with a cry ran towards him.
“What has – happened? Why have you been so long? Is – anything wrong?”
The questions seemed to tumble incoherently from her lips and she could not control them.
Without thinking, without even meaning to do so, Giona held onto him almost as if he might escape and leave her without replying.
“Everything is all right,” the Duke said soothingly. “I am sorry if I have been a long time in coming to you, but it was unavoidable.”
The calmness of his voice made Giona look up at him searchingly and her eyes seemed to fill the whole of her small face as she asked,
“They believed it? They – accepted that it was footpads who killed Uncle Jarvis?”
The way she spoke was so unsteady that the Duke put his arm around her as if to support her.
“The military are already searching for the murderer, although they admit that without any idea of what he may look like, they have little hope of capturing him.”
He smiled slightly as he spoke. Then he said very quietly,
“There is no need for you to worry any more. You saved my life, Giona.”
He felt her tremble as if she remembered the moment when she thought he must die and it was still too vivid to be anything but an agonising terror.
“Forget it,” he added, “and let me thank you instead, because I am in fact very grateful indeed for being here with you.”
There was a note in his voice that made her look at him wonderingly, but without the fear that had been there before.
The Duke gently pulled her a little closer.
Then he said,
“I have been wondering as I came here how I could express my happiness at being alive, and this is the way I wish to do it.”
As he spoke his lips came down on hers.
Just for a moment Giona could hardly believe it was happening and as the Duke took possession of her mouth she knew that this was what she had longed for!
This was the only way it was possible to express the love that had made her yearn for him, and pray for him all through the darkness of her misery and despair.
Now she felt as if her whole body came pulsatingly alive and there was no longer darkness but a light that enveloped them both yet came from their hearts.
The Duke’s kiss was at first very gentle, as if he was afraid to frighten her.
Then as he felt the softness of her lips and the quiver that went through her at his touch, he pulled her closer still and his mouth became more insistent, more demanding.
He knew as he felt her respond that the feeling he had awoken in her and felt in himself was different from anything he had known before, but he could not explain it in words.
He only knew that everything about Giona was different from all the other women who had attracted and intrigued him, but inevitably sooner or later bored him.
What he felt for her was not only physical, although he certainly wanted her as a woman, but she also aroused something entirely spiritual in him.
It was a secret ideal which he had always been aware of and which lay at the back of his thinking, but which he had never shared with anybody else.
Now as he felt the same adoration on her lips that he had seen in her eyes he knew because she believed in him that he would strive to live up to her idea that he was Apollo bringing light and healing to the world.
It flashed through his mind that there was a great deal they could do together to prevent other monsters like Sir Jarvis from perpetrating cruelty on those who were too weak to resist them.
Although the slave trade had been abolished by Act of Parliament twelve years ago there was still slavery in many other walks of life which, although it might have a different name, still meant the strong exploiting and degrading the weak.
Then as he raised his head Giona murmured,
“I love you!”
As the Duke heard the irrepressible note of rapture in her voice and saw by the expression in her eyes what she felt for him, he knew he was the most fortunate man in the world.
“I love you too, my precious!” he replied, “and nobody shall ever frighten or ill-treat you again.”
Her face was transformed with happiness then as she gave an inarticulate little murmur, he said,
“I will look after you, and now there is nothing to prevent us from being married as soon as possible.”
“M – married?”
It was difficult to articulate the word.
“There is nobody to whom we must apply for permission,” the Duke said, “and the only Guardian you will have in the future, my lovely one, will be your husband, who will be me!”
“Are you – are you – really asking me to – marry you?” Giona whispered.
“It is not really a question,” the Duke replied, “for I will not allow you to say ‘no’. I want you, my darling, and it is difficult to tell you how much.”
“I love you until you – fill the whole world – and the sky – and there is nothing else but you!” Giona said. “But you ought to marry somebody very much more – important.”
“I intend to marry you,” the Duke said firmly, “and the person who will approve of my choice and who matters to me more than any of my other relatives is my grandmother.”
“You are – sure? Quite sure of that?” Giona asked.
“Very sure,” the Duke smiled, “but it is really of no consequence what Grandmama or anybody else thinks. I love you, and that is the only thing that matters to me.”
“And to me!” Giona cried, “but are you certain, really certain in your heart that you want me – forever?”
“Forever and ever as I have never wanted anybody else,” the Duke confirmed. “Oh, my darling, do you not realise how sweet and beautiful you are?”
She turned her face up to his and he looked down at her with an expression in his eyes that made Giona’s heart turn over in her breast.
It was the look she had longed to see and she knew that unbelievable though it might seem, the Duke loved her as she loved him.
She had a feeling that what they were saying to each other had been ordained
long before they met or were even born.
He would say it was fate, or the gods that had brought them together, but she knew she had been right in thinking that like Apollo he had brought light into the darkness and misery of her world, when there had been nothing but pain and the expectation of dying.
As if he knew what she was thinking the Duke drew her closer to him and said,
“Never again, and this is a vow, my dearest heart, will I allow you to be unhappy or afraid. Never again will you suffer or feel alone and without love.”
“How can you say such wonderful things to me?” Giona asked.
“They are easy to say,” the Duke answered, “because you are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.”
“That is what I should be saying to you,” Giona said passionately. “You came to me when I was in despair, and now I want to – kneel at your feet and pour out my love as a – thanks offering.”
The Duke gave a little laugh as he answered,
“I will not have you kneeling at my feet so long as I can hold you in my arms, my beautiful one. But I want you to pour out your love because it is the most precious thing I have ever known, and I need it and want it.”
He did not wait for her answer but was kissing her again with possessive demanding kisses that seemed to Giona to hold the fire of the sun.
She felt an echoing flame within herself and as the Duke drew her closer and closer still she thought the wonder and glory of it seemed to leap in a shaft of crimson towards the sky.
It was so wonderful, so ecstatic that when finally his kiss ended she turned to look up at him wonderingly, as if she stared at the glory of the Divine.
At the same time she was aware that the Duke’s heart was beating violently, as hers was, and they were both a little breathless.
“I want you!” he said, and his voice was deep, “I want you, my darling, in a thousand ways, but only when you are my wife will I be able to show you how much you really matter to me.”
He touched her cheek with his fingers, running them along the line of her chin then down the side of her soft neck.
It gave Giona a sensation she had never known before and made her breath come quickly between her lips.
“You make me feel – very strange,” she whispered.
“What is it like?” the Duke asked.
“Like – like – a shaft of sunlight.”
The Duke smiled.
“My darling, you are so sweet and unspoilt!”
“Are you laughing at me because I am ignorant?”
“Only adoring you because your innocence is what I never thought to find but it excites me!”
“I – excite you?”
“More than I dare tell you at this moment.” He felt her draw in her breath and he said,
“I will ask you again, how soon will you marry me?”
“Now! This – second!” Giona cried.
He laughed gently.
“That is what I wanted you to say, and so let us go and talk to Grandmama, for it will cure her rheumatism and make her twenty years younger if you are married here from her house, and she can make all the arrangements.”
“I am sure she will do that, if only she will agree that I am – good enough for you.”
“I think she had the idea that you might marry Lucien.”
“Lucien?” Giona exclaimed in astonishment. “But how ridiculous! He is only a boy.”
“I am rather afraid that you may think I am too old for you.”
“I think that you are perfect – the most wonderful man that ever existed and when one is in love I do not think that age matters one way or the other.”
“That is true,” the Duke agreed, “and when we are together, my darling love, we are the same age because we think the same and feel the same, and in the future, because of our love, we will grow more and more like each other.”
“That is true – I am sure it is true!” Giona cried. “But will my love be – enough?”
She looked away from him before she said in a low voice,
“You do realise that I am very ignorant about all the things that interest you in – England because I have never – lived in this country? I shall make mistakes – and perhaps you will be – ashamed of me.”
The Duke smiled and pulled her close to him again.
“You are insulting me by telling me I am very insular,” he said. “But I think we both agree that in our minds and our imaginations we can encircle the world, in which case what does it matter what happens in London if we are touching the peaks of the Himalayas or sailing over the Red Sea?”
Giona laughed and he thought it was the prettiest sound he had ever heard.
“Only you would say something like that.”
“Actually, I am rather surprised at myself,” the Duke admitted. “I am not as a rule given to poetic fantasy!”
She looked up at him and he knew what she was thinking by the expression in her eyes.
“You are right,” he said softly, “it is love that has changed me, love for you, my precious little goddess with the Greek nose, love which makes me feel entirely different from any way I have felt before. I shall never again be surprised at anything I say, think, or do.”
“That is how I love you,” Giona murmured, “only – please – because I want to be with you – and you to teach me – let us be married very, very quickly.”
“That is one thing about which we are in complete agreement!” the Duke said firmly.
He put his arm round her shoulders as they walked together back to the house, then as if he could not help himself, he drew her almost roughly against him and once again he was kissing her.
This time his lips were demanding and fiercely, insistently possessive, as if his need of her spirit or her soul made him attempt to draw it from her lips, and make it his.
The fire in him awoke a fire within Giona and she felt as if they were both being consumed by their love until it carried them into the sky.
They were one with the stars under which they had once sat and talked, one with the sun, crimson and gold, moving around the world whose light was never extinguished.
Shining, dazzlingly, brilliantly and compelling, it was part of God.
A shaft of it joined Giona with the Duke to bind them together for 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 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.
A SHAFT OF
SUNLIGHT
Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
This edition © 2012
Copyright Cartland Promotions 1982
eBook conversion by M-Y Books
A Shaft of Sunlight Page 14
