Kiss the Moonlight

by Barbara Cartland

"You have washed my gown!" she exclaimed. "Oh, Madame Argeros, it must have taken you half the night! How can I ever thank you?"

  "I could not have you leaving us in such a state," Madame Argeros said, "especially as it was through no fault of your own that your dress was dirtied."

  "But you have done it so beautifully," Athena cried.

  The gown had in fact been exquisitely laundered as the Greek women wash their own blouses and their men's shirts.

  It glowed with a whiteness that seemed to reflect the sunshine.

  As Athena slipped it on she thought with delight that now she would not be ashamed for Orion to see her.

  "You have been so kind—so very kind," she said to Nonika, because Madame had already hurried down the stairs.

  "We are glad we could be of help to Orion's wife," Nonika replied.

  "You have been more than that," Athena said. "I felt like a real bride in your beautiful gown, and it has brought me so much happiness that I know it will do the same for you."

  "I hope so," Nonika smiled.

  "And as a wedding present," Athena went on, choosing her words with care, "I hope you will allow me to send you a part of your trousseau. I thought perhaps you would like some nightgowns like mine, and perhaps some petticoats and other garment made of the same material."

  She saw Nonika's eyes widen in sheer astonishment. Then the Greek girl said stammeringly:

  "D ... do you really mean that? I thought your nightgown so ... pretty that I might try to ... copy it."

  "I will send you a dozen," Athena said. "In the meantime keep this one if it is any use to you as a pattern."

  Nonika drew in her breath, then she said:

  "It is too kind ... too generous. Perhaps I should not ... take such a gift."

  "I should be very hurt and disappointed if you refused," Athena replied. "After all, you lent me something of such inestimable value, which could never be calculated in any currency except that of friendship."

  She smiled as she went on:

  "We are friends, Nonika, and that is what I hope we shall be all our lives. Nothing is too good or too precious to give in return for friendship." "You are right," Nonika said, "and I can only say thank you." She paused, then she said as if it was impossible to suppress the words: "You will not... forget?'

  "No, I promise I shall not forget," Athena laughed.

  She put her arms round Nonika's shoulders and kissed her; then picking up her bonnet she ran down the stairs, eager to be with Orion again.

  There were so many goodbyes to say when they had hastily eaten their breakfast that it was only when they were outside that Athena looked at the horse she was to ride, expecting it to be the one belonging to Spiros.

  But she found it was in fact a very different animal which awaited her.

  Although it did not equal the well-bred qualities of Orion's stallion, it was obviously a horse capable both of endurance and of speed.

  Athena looked questioningly at Orion and he explained with a smile:

  "Your first wedding-present, my darling. I bought it for you this morning. It is the best the village can provide."

  "I am delighted with it," Athena answered.

  "At least it will carry you where we have to go," he said, "and you have not yet told me where that is." Her eyes widened and she laughed.

  "I know it cannot be far," he went on, "because you came to the Port of Itea."

  "It is ridiculous how little we know about each other," she said.

  "On the contrary," he replied. "I know everything about you, everything that is important, and to me our love is a miracle!"

  She blushed at the passion in his voice and her eyes fell before his.

  They were talking in English so that no-one else could understand. Then she said, having already decided what to say:

  "I am staying at Mikis."

  "At the Hotel Poseidon, I suppose?" he said. "It is a favourite spot for tourists, but I thought you were more likely to be at Ossios."

  "Mikis is nearer," Athena replied, realising that Ossios was on the opposite shore to the promontory on which the Palace was built.

  Orion helped her onto her horse, arranged her full skirts over the pommel and said a little anxiously:

  "Do you think you will be comfortable? We have a long way to

  go-"

  "1 am used to riding," she answered, "and I seldom find it tiring." "That is what I thought you would say." "How did you know I could ride?"

  "I knew you would ride superbly well, like everything else you do," he answered, and she smiled from sheer happiness.

  He swung himself onto the stallion's back who was behaving in his usual obstreperous manner. Then amid the cheers of the crowds who had come to see them off they rode down and along the first part of the thirty mile road which led eventually to Thebes.

  After they had left Delphi behind there was a long and lonely descent from the mountainside.

  Athena stopped and drew her horse to a standstill as Orion suggested she should look back.

  Now she could see almost the whole range of the Parnassus mountains and there was snow on the tops of some of them, gleaming dazzlingly in the sunlight, and there was also a superb view over Delphi itself.

  "I hate to say goodbye," Athena said in a low voice.

  "It is only au revoir," Orion replied. "We will come back perhaps every year to celebrate, and in the years to come we will bring our children, and I shall show them where I found a goddess asleep amongst the ruins of her own Temple."

  Athena's eyes met his and he said hoarsely:

  "If you look at me like that I shall have to kiss you and that means we shall never reach our destination."

  "Do we ... have to go ... back?" Athena asked. There was a little pause before he replied:

  "I cannot help feeling that your relatives must be getting worried by now, unless you gave them a very good explanation for your disappearance. We would not wish them to send out a search-party looking for you."

  "No, of course not!" Athena exclaimed.

  "Leave everything to me, my darling," Orion said. "I promise you I will sort it out with the minimum of difficulty and trouble. Do you trust me?"

  "You know I do."

  "Then let us go on," he said. "The sooner we are free of all such tiresome obligations, the sooner we can think of ourselves, which means that I can think of you."

  As if his words spurred them on they set off at a sharp pace and after proceeding for some miles they left the main road to begin what Athena knew was the descent which would lead them eventually to the sea and Mikis.

  The land was very undulating and it was impossible to ride direct since they had to take various detours to avoid the hill-tops.

  But away from the heights of Delphi the flowers intensified in beauty and the blossom was richer on the trees, and it also grew a great deal hotter.

  Athena was glad after all that she had worn her bonnet for the journey, because the sun would have been too hot on her head. She hoped that her white skin would not be sun-burnt, even though she thought that the brown of Orion's bare neck and arms was exceedingly becoming to him.

  About eleven o'clock they stopped in the shade of some trees to eat the luncheon with which Madame Argeros had provided them.

  "I thought it would be more fun for us to be alone," Orion said, "than to eat in some small Taverna where doubtless the food would be indifferent and the wine flavoured with resin, which you would not like."

  "I am feeling hungry even though it may be unromantic," Athena smiled.

  "Then suppose you unpack what there is to eat, while I cool the wine in that small cascade," he suggested.

  Athena followed the direction of his eyes and saw a waterfall in a ravine near where they had stopped.

  He walked away towards it, having given her some packages from his saddle-bag.

  Athena opened them to find as she expected that Madame Argeros, despite the earliness of their departure, had cooked them a whole lot of
delicious Greek specialities that would have tempted the appetite of anyone far less hungry than they were.

  She was not certain what all the things were although she recognised dohnades which were vine-leaves folded over mince-meat and rice.

  But whatever was provided Orion was prepared to eat it, and he lay on the ground beside her and somehow there was no need to talk because they were so happy.

  Only when they had finished nearly everything that Madame Argeros provided for them and Orion was drinking the last of the wine, did Athena realise that now was the moment when she should tell him about herself.

  "What are you thinking about?" he asked unexpectedly.

  "You," she replied.

  "That is the right answer, my darling, you should always be thinking of me, as I am thinking about you."

  "What were you thinking about me?" Athena asked.

  "I was thinking how much I love you," he answered, "and how fortunate I am—the luckiest man in the world—to have found you."

  "That is what I feel about you."

  "We think the same, we feel the same, we are the same," he said softly.

  He stretched out his arms. "Come here!"

  It was a command and for one moment Athena hesitated. Then she-knew that she wanted the touch of his lips so urgently, so insistently, that she could not wait.

  What was the point of talking when they could he kissing? Why should she spoil this moment with what might prove to be unpleasant information ?

  She moved swiftly towards him, and close in his arms it was impossible to think of anything else but him.

  When they rode on there was a flush on Athena's cheeks and she felt warm and weak with sheer happiness.

  She did not wish to make decisions, she did not wish to force herself to choose the right moment in which to make revelations about herself to Orion.

  She only wanted to know that she was loved.

  She loved him so overwhelmingly that she was afraid, as she had never been afraid in her whole life, that her happiness was only a glorious iridescent bubble and it might burst if it was roughly handled.

  "I adore you!" Orion said as he lifted her into the saddle and that was all she wanted to think about as she rode along beside him.

  They had come a long way since the morning, and two hours later, in the distance Athena had her first glimpse of the blue of the Gulf of Corinth.

  It was still a long way ahead but growing nearer all the time, and when suddenly they dropped down to sea level she realised with a frightened leap of her heart that she had still not said what must be said.

  "Are we far from Mikis now?" she asked in a small voice.

  "Only about a mile or so," Orion replied. "You are not too tired, my darling? It has been a long way, but you have ridden magnificently and it was really much easier than if we had come by sea. If we had done that I would not have known what to do with my horse."

  "We could hardly put him in the boat," Athena smiled, "or make him swim behind us."

  Orion laughed.

  "That is what I thought."

  "Orion ..." she began in a tremulous little tone, but he did not seem to hear her because he said:

  "I have decided what we will do. I will leave you at the Hotel and as now it is getting on for two o'clock I suggest you follow everyone else's example and have a siesta.

  "When the whole world stirs again at about four you can tell your relations that you are married and that I shall be arriving at six. You can then introduce me and explanations can be made on either side."

  He smiled as he added:

  "I do not think they will be too angry with you, my precious. I promise that I will give a good account of myself."

  "I am ... sure you ... will ... but ..." Athena began.

  Again what she was about to say was lost because Orion had spurred his horse and they were moving more quickly than they had moved before over a piece of flat grassland to where in the distance there were the roofs and the dome of the Church in the small Harbour of Mikis.

  "I will have to tell him later," she thought and hurried her own horse forward to catch up with him.

  Orion drew his stallion to a standstill when they were within a hundred yards of the Hotel Poseidon which stood above the town looking down on the harbour.

  It was quite an impressive looking building and had, Athena thought, only recently been built.

  One of the results of a united Constitution and peace within the country was that visitors were now flocking back to Greece and there was every likelihood that the tourist trade would bring the Government the foreign currency they needed so badly to balance their economy.

  "I am going to leave you now, my precious," Orion said. "Go straight to the Hotel and, if you can have a rest before you become involved in explanations for your absence, so much the better."

  He paused then added:

  "I will come to you at six o'clock. Do not be worried or upset in the meantime. There is no need for it—that I promise you!"

  "You will not... forget?" she asked, as Nonika had done.

  "That would be impossible, Heart of my Heart!"

  He put out his hand and she laid her fingers in it.

  "I love you, my darling," he said. "I love you, completely and overwhelmingly, and I swear to you that never again will we be parted for a single moment. We will be together and nothing and nobody shall come between us."

  "You are ... sure of ... that?" Athena asked in sudden fear. "Trust me." "I do trust you."

  He raised her fingers to his lips. Then as if he had no wish to say more he moved to his horse.

  "Go straight to the Hotel, my precious," he said. "I shall watch until you are safely there so that nothing can happen to you when my back is turned."

  "I will be ... all right."

  Athena smiled at him and rode off conscious that he was watching her.

  As she went she decided she would have to go to the Hotel to make quite certain he did not see her ride up the twisting road towards the Palace.

  When she reached the Hotel entrance she looked back. Although there was no sign of Orion she could not be certain that he was not watching her from the hillside, so she dismounted and went inside.

  Having told a groom to hold her horse for a few minutes she ordered herself a glass of lemonade.

  When she had drunk a little of it she paid the waiter who seemed to be half asleep and resentful at having to attend to her when he might be dozing, and went outside.

  The groom helped her back into the saddle.

  She was certain that by now Orion would no longer be watching for her but had gone to his own home, wherever it was in the vicinity.

  Although it was only two o'clock, she felt there was a lot to do before she must be back in the Hotel to meet Orion at six. So she forced her horse as fast as possible up the road to the Palace.

  It did not take long and as she rode in past the sentries she thought how lovely the building looked, gleaming white against the mountainside, its garden a riot of colour with two fountains playing on the green lawns.

  But she was no longer interested in the Palace and intent only on planning exactly how she should behave once she was inside it.

  As she had expected, everything was very quiet and there were only a few junior servants on duty who did not seem in the least surprised at her appearance.

  Without making any explanations as to why she had returned she merely told the senior amongst them to inform Lady Beatrice Wade when the siesta was over that Lady Mary was in her bed-room.

  The servant bowed and Athena knew that he would obey her orders and would not think of disturbing her Aunt for at least two and a half hours.

  Then she went upstairs and once inside her own room rang for her maid.

  Because she wished to obey Orion she undressed and got into bed. "Call me at four o'clock," she told the maid, "when I would like a bath."

  Athena realised as she spoke that she was almost too tired to say the words and lite
rally as her head touched the pillow she fell asleep.

  She awoke to realise that she had been dreaming of the sound of rushing water that came from the Castalian spring, but it was in fact her bath being prepared next door.

  The bathrooms in the Palace had been designed in the Roman manner, sunk deep into the floor and Athena thought there was something very attractive in stepping down into her bath and sitting with the cool water reflecting the tiles which had been copied from some of the ancient Roman Villas.

  The thought of bathing got her out of bed, and only when she had washed and was drying herself with the big white Turkish towel did she begin to think apprehensively of what she must say to her Aunt and even more important the explanation she must make to the Prince.

  It was not going to be easy—she was aware of that—and what frightened her more than anything else was that the Prince might try to denounce Orion as a "fortune-hunter".

  It was a thought that had lain at the back of her mind and now the idea forced itself upon her.

  "It is so obvious that to discredit him they will say that he must have known all along who I am and married me so hastily to make quite certain that my money became his.

  "How could anyone think such things of Orion?" Athena asked indignantly.

  But she knew it was because she had come back from the sacred peace and serenity of Delphi to the world where people's minds were suspicious and bad motives were easier to believe than good.

  "Orion will answer for himself," she thought proudly.

  At the same time she knew that she was a coward because she was afraid.

  Her maid was waiting for her in the bed-room and as she put on the beautiful lace-trimmed underclothes like those she had promised to Nonika for her trousseau Athena was thinking deeply.

  She was dressed as far as her petticoats and was arranging her hair in the mirror when the door was flung open and Lady Beatrice came into the room.

  "Mary!" she exclaimed. "I have just learned that you have returned! How could you go away in such an irresponsible manner without even leaving an address ? "

  "I am sorry, Aunt Beatrice," Athena said rising, "but..."

  "I dare say you have a good explanation," Lady Beatrice interrupted, "but I have not time to hear it now. All I can say is that I consider it extremely thoughtless of you."