The Chieftain Without a Heart
Page 16
“I can – believe – that,” Clola whispered.
He smiled as he lifted her face up to his.
“Are you jealous, my darling?” he asked. “I should be very proud if I thought anything I could do would make you jealous.”
She did not answer and he looked down at her face to say hoarsely,
“Could anyone be so beautiful, so perfect, so different in every way?”
His lips took hers captive and he kissed her until the room seemed to whirl around them and The Castle itself dissolved into the sunlit sky.
Then urgently, because she loved him and because she wanted the night to come when they could be alone, Clola drew him by the hand down the passage towards their bedrooms with their communicating door.
Clola stirred against the Duke’s shoulder and he kissed her forehead.
“You are not too tired, my darling?”
“How can I be – tired when I have never – known such – happiness?”
“I have really made you happy?”
She pressed her lips against his chest and he tightened his arms about her, thinking that the soft warmth of her body was the most perfect feeling he had ever known.
She had not thought it possible for a man to be so passionate and yet so gentle, so demanding and yet so tender.
The Duke looked up for a moment at the great embroidered canopy overhead just visible in the light from the one candle that still flickered behind the curtains,
“It is Fate that brought you to me,” he said quietly,
“That is – what the – Grey Lady said,” Clola murmured.
“The Grey Lady? How do you know about her?”
There was a little pause and then Clola answered,
“If I tell you – you might – think I am very – foolish.”
“I would think nothing you said or did was foolish. How could I when everything you have done for me, for the Clan and for Torquil, has been so wise and so completely and absolutely right?”
Clola looked up at him and, although she did not ask the question, the Duke realised what she wanted to know and said,
“Torquil told me, my precious, how you saved him from the McAuads. Could anyone else have been so wonderful or so resourceful?”
Clola gave a little sigh of relief and the Duke added,
“Have you forgiven me for what I said to you? I realise now, although I was hardly aware of it at the time, that I was wildly and furiously jealous!”
“How did you – know I had left The – Castle?”
“Mrs. Forse told me.”
“Mrs. – Forse?”
“Yes, that devilish woman through whom I might have lost you.”
There was a note of fear in the Duke’s voice that was unmistakable.
He turned Clola’s face up to his and kissed her first on the lips, then on both her eyes, and finally once again on her lips.
Her response made the fire rise within him.
With an effort Clola moved her mouth from his.
“Go on – telling me about – Mrs. Forse,” she pleaded.
“If only I had known what she was like,” the Duke admitted, “and Dunblane blames himself for not having suspected she was insane.”
“What did she – say to – you?”
“She awoke me to say, ‘I’m awful worried, Your Grace’. ‘Why what has happened?’ I enquired. ‘Her Grace left The Castle nigh on two hours ago and hasna returned’.”
“‘Left the castle?’ I exclaimed. It seemed so incomprehensible that I sent the woman away and went to your bedroom. Your nightgown was lying on the floor, the wardrobe was open and I knew that Mrs. Forse had not lied.”
“I wonder how she – knew I was – gone?” Clola murmured.
“Doubtless because her bedroom overlooks the front of the house,” the Duke answered. “But I was certain that you had some clandestine reason for going out at such an unearthly hour, especially after you had sent me away because Jamie was sleeping in your arms.”
He paused a moment to say,
“Do you know how beautiful you looked with the child’s head on your breast, your hair falling over your shoulders, your eyes wide and a little frightened?”
He pulled her almost roughly against him.
“My adorable little love, supposing you had died and I had never been able to make you mine as you are now?”
“But I am – alive,” Clola whispered softly, “and – I love you!”
“I will make you love me more and more,” the Duke promised, “only never again will there be any misunderstanding between us, nor will we ever be separated.”
He kissed her forehead and then he said,
“You were telling me about the Grey Lady. I cannot imagine how you knew about her.”
“Is she – really called the – ‘Grey Lady’?”
“In all the legends that is how we refer to her.”
“I did not – know that, but the first night when Mrs. Forse – cursed me and said only – evil would come of our – marriage I was – afraid of her and – afraid of you.”
“I promise that you will never feel that way again, my darling.”
“But I knew you – hated the idea of – marrying me! I felt it – when the Minister – joined us as man and wife.”
“I did not look at you then,” the Duke said. “I did not dare to.”
“I can understand that, but I felt – lonely and – afraid,” Clola explained. “Then I felt that, if I watched the Kilcraigs celebrating outside The Castle and – listened to the – music of the – pipes, I would feel better.”
The Duke moved his lips over the softness of her skin. He had been right, he told himself it had the velvet texture of a magnolia.
But though it moved him, he listened to what she was telling him.
“I went into the bedroom on the other – side of the – corridor to look out,” Clola went on, “and, when I was feeling – miserable and – unhappy, I knew a Grey Lady was standing beside me. She comforted me and gave me – courage.”
“How did you know that?” he asked and then added quickly, “That is a stupid question. I know what you felt. Go on!”
“She said quite clearly,” Clola continued, “that it was – Fate that had – brought me here and there were – things for me to do that no one else could.”
“She was right,” the Duke said, “and I know that, while you were born a Kilcraig, you are now irrefutably a McNarn!”
He smiled before he continued,
“The Grey Lady, Morag Countess McNarn, lost her husband in the battle of Flodden. For ever afterwards she wore not black but grey, and she brought up her three sons to be as noble, brave and just as their father had been. The oldest became one of the greatest Chieftains the McNarns has ever known.”
He paused for a moment before he said slowly and impressively,
“Whenever the Chieftain of the Clan is in danger or in real trouble, it is understood that the Grey Lady comes to help and advise him. That she came to you, my darling, is so significant that I know now what I have to do.”
“What is – that?” Clola asked.
“I think you know the answer,” the Duke replied. “‘Stay here with my people as I know you would want me to do.”
Clola gave a cry of sheer happiness.
“I knew when I led them in the Cavalry Review,” the Duke said, “that they meant something that is impossible for me to ignore. I knew when they brought me their problems where my duty lay. And when I thought of you, I realised that my heart, which I never knew I had before, belonged to Scotland.”
“Oh, my wonderful – magnificent husband, that is what I have – prayed you might – feel. Our country needs you so – desperately. There is so much to do, so much to – fight for, so much to – live for.”
Tears came to Clola’s eyes with the intensity of her feelings.
Then the Duke asked,
“Do you love me enough to help me? I shall need your help and your love bec
ause I cannot live without it.”
“I love you!” Clola cried passionately, “with my whole – heart and soul I am yours, completely and absolutely – as you know I am.”
“That is what I want. That is what I must have and, my darling, whatever the difficulties ahead I know that our love will surmount them all.”
His lips were on hers as he spoke the last words.
Then he was kissing her with a passion and fire that seemed to come from the wildness of the moors and the spirit of the mountains.
It was, Clola knew, as beautiful as the music which throbbed within them both and made the desire of their love a rising crescendo of wonder and rapture that carried them away on the wings of ecstasy.
‘I love – you! I love – you!’ she thought with her lips held captive by his.
Their bodies were entwined, and their souls were closer still.
They had found, as few are privileged to find, the perfection of a love that belongs to the brave and valiant and those who must live as well as die for their faith.
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.
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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
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.
THE CHIEFTAIN
WITHOUT A HEART
Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
This edition © 2012
Copyright Cartland Promotions 1978
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