“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, “so ridiculously absurdly beautiful. If you went to London you would have every man at your feet and you could marry somebody who could deck you in jewels, put a Coronet on your head and give you the life of comfort and luxury that your beauty deserves.”
“But nobody could give me a house as perfect as this one,” Lalita replied. “And no man except – you could give me – the stars around my heart and the sun to warm me – every day of our lives – together.”
The way she spoke made Lord Heywood feel as if he was listening to music and he replied in a voice that told her he was very moved,
“What have I done to deserve you?”
As he spoke, he drew his finger along her little winged eyebrows and down the straightness of her nose. Then he outlined her lips, first the top of them and then the bottom, knowing as he did so that once again she was, quivering as he had made her do when he kissed her neck.
“I love – you!” she whispered, “and when you do – that I want to – kiss you – and kiss you and – feel you hold me very – very close.”
“My darling, I have so much to teach you.”
Then he was kissing her again and it seemed to Lalita that it was impossible to feel so ecstatically happy without dying from the wonder of it.
Suddenly Lord Heywood stopped kissing her and, moving away, he slipped off the bed on the other side.
As he did so, he picked up a long silk robe that lay on one of the chairs, put it on and then walked to the window to stand looking out with his back to Lalita.
Now he could see the garden clearly in the starlight and there was the fragrance of freshness after rain.
As he stood there getting back his breath, he heard a little voice behind him say,
“Have I – have I – done anything – wrong?”
Lord Heywood made a sound that was half a laugh and yet a very strange one, before he turned and came back to the bed to sit down beside Lalita facing her.
He could see her more clearly now and he thought that nobody could look lovelier and at the same time insubstantial, as if he had imagined her in his dreams and by some magic she had become reality.
He realised that she was looking at him anxiously and her hands went out to him apprehensively.
“Everything you do is wonderful and perfect,” he said, “but my darling, I am a man and it is difficult to remember when you excite me so tremendously that I must also behave like a gentleman.”
“Do I really – excite – you?” Lalita asked him.
“Far too much for us to continue to live like this,” he replied. “How soon will you marry me?”
She gave a little cry of sheer delight.
“You will marry me – you will – really?”
“If you swear that you love me enough and that you will never regret it or accuse me of taking advantage of you.”
“If you will not marry me,” Lalita said, “I should only want to – die because there will be nothing – left to – live for.”
Her fingers tightened on his.
“How could I – lose you? How could I lose the – happiness that I have never – known, which is so wonderful – so perfect that being – married to you will be like – living in Paradise.”
“I hope you will always think that, my darling.”
“I will try very – very – hard to make you as – happy as I – am.”
“My precious, that is what I should be saying to you,” Lord Heywood answered.
He could see the happiness in her face and a faint reflection of starlight in her eyes as she looked at him.
He knew too that her hand was pulling him towards her and she wanted him to kiss her again.
With a superhuman effort he controlled his desire to hold her close to him.
“Listen, my lovely one,” he said, “you must go back to bed. Tomorrow I will send Carter to London to obtain a Special Marriage Licence and, as soon as he returns, I will ask the local Parson, whom I remember well, to marry us here in the Chapel.”
Lalita gave a cry of excitement and sat up.
“That is what I would love above all else,” she said, “and we will decorate the Chapel with flowers. Although it would be a secret marriage, no bride could feel more sanctified or have a more perfect Wedding.”
“And no bridegroom could have a more beautiful bride.”
“It will be very – very – wonderful,” Lalita murmured.
Then she exclaimed,
“I wish the night would pass quickly – so we can tell Carter to start off for London immediately.”
“You are no more impatient than I am,” Lord Heywood said.
His eyes were on her lips as he rose to his feet and drew her to him.
Now he could see how slender she was through the almost transparent nightgown and it was with an effort that she would not have understood that he restrained himself from holding her close to him again.
Instead he drew her across the room to the communicating door that she had come through to him and they walked into the other bedroom.
All the curtains were drawn, but Lord Heywood lit a candle by the bedside and as he did so Lalita slid between the sheets.
The room smelt of roses and there was a large vase of them, which Lalita had put on a table between the windows and the same scent, Lord Heywood knew, had come from her hair when he kissed her.
He thought that with her innocence and purity she was like one of the white rose trees that grew in profusion in the Rose Garden and which had been one of his mother’s favourite flowers.
He sat down beside her on the bed to look at her and knew in the light of the candle that it was impossible for anybody to look more beautiful, and yet untouched.
There was something young and spring-like about Lalita that made him recognise that he must protect her always, even against himself.
“I love you, my precious one,” he said in his deep voice, “and when we are married, I will be able to tell you how overwhelmingly I want you. But we must wait until we are blessed by God for you to belong to me.”
He spoke gently and quietly and there was a serious note in his voice that told Lalita that she must try to understand what he was saying to her.
As if he sensed that she was a little bewildered, he added with a smile,
“What I am saying, my darling, is that you must not come to my room as you did tonight until my Wedding ring is on your finger unless, of course, something frightens you.”
Lalita gazed at him.
“Perhaps it may have been – unconventional – and even a little – improper,” she said, “but I am not sorry. If I had not come – perhaps you would – never have told me that you – love me.”
This was undoubtedly true and Lord Heywood could only appreciate the quickness of her thinking.
“Eventually,” he said, “I should have found it impossible not to kiss you. The thunderstorm, of course, was a perfect excuse, but it is something I have wanted to do for a very long time.”
“You – did want to – kiss me?”
“You are a very kissable woman, my sweet.”
“Then please – kiss me now.”
She held up her arms as she spoke and Lord Heywood pulled her quickly against him, his arms went round her and his lips found hers.
It was a quick kiss, then he released himself and sat up.
“Go to sleep my little love,” he said firmly, “and tomorrow, as you have said, we will start getting everything ready for our Wedding. Until then I am going to behave as your mother would expect me to do.”
“I am sure too that your mother knows how – happy we are,” Lalita replied, “and I know that she would want me to – look after you and – love you.”
“As I will look after you.”
He bent forward and kissed her once again, a very gentle kiss.
Then he blew out the candles.
“Goodnight, my darling wife-to-be,” he breathed, “dream of me.
”
“How could I dream of – anyone else?” Lalita asked.
She heard the communicating door between their rooms close and felt that she wanted to run after him and tell him once again how much she loved him.
Then she realised that she must behave as he wanted her to.
As she snuggled down against the pillows, she could only think of the wonder of his kisses and the glorious feelings he had awoken in her and the incredible marvellous happiness they would find together.
‘How could I have been so lucky, so incredibly fortunate, as to find such a wonderful magnificent man?’ she asked herself in the darkness.
Then she was thanking God so fervently that her words fell over themselves as she said over and over again,
‘Thank You, God – for giving me – love, thank You for – letting me – find love with a man who is so – perfect that he might have – come from Heaven itself.’
*
It was impossible to sleep once dawn had broken and because the sun was shining Lalita could not bear to miss one second of the day when she might be with Lord Heywood.
She wondered if perhaps he could be tired after being awake so late, and, while she was thinking about him, she heard the door of his room close and his footsteps pass hers and reckoned that he was already dressed.
Quickly she jumped out of bed and, while she wished to hurry womanlike because she was in love, she took longer in arranging her hair and dressing than she would have done on an ordinary day.
Then she sped downstairs wearing the habit that had belonged to Lord Heywood’s mother.
As it was too hot for the jacket, she only wore a pretty white muslin blouse inset with lace that made her look very young and little more than a schoolgirl.
When she entered the breakfast room, Lord Heywood felt as if the sunshine came in with her.
He rose from the table in the window where he was sitting and, as she ran to his side to stand gazing up at him, her eyes seemed to fill her whole face.
“You slept well?” he asked.
“I dreamed of you – as you told me to do.”
Lalita’s voice was very low and then she asked,
“It was – true last night? You did say you – loved me?”
“I love you!”
There was no need for either of them to say anything more.
Their love vibrated between them and, although he had not touched her, Lalita felt as if she was in his arms and his lips were on hers.
Then Carter came into the room and broke the spell, but whether he was there or not, words seemed unnecessary and every minute or so one of them forgot to eat as they looked at each other across the table.
After breakfast when Lord Heywood told Carter that he required a Special Licence, he knew by the expression on his face that it was no surprise.
“Congratulations, my Lord!” Carter beamed. “And if you asks me, it’s the best possible thing your Lordship’s ever done. Miss Lalita’d be just the wife I’d choose for you, if you’d asked me that is.”
Lord Heywood laughed.
It was the sort of thing that only Carter would say.
“I am glad it pleases you, Carter.”
“It does, my Lord!” Carter replied, “and Miss Lalita could no more manage on ’er own than a babe in arms, so we can see she comes to no trouble ’ere with us.”
“Yes, Carter, we will make certain of that,” Lord Heywood nodded.
It was only when Carter was ready to leave and Lord Heywood realised that he must write down their names for the Special Marriage Licence that he said to Lalita,
“It seems absurd, my darling, and no one would believe it, but I do not know your surname.”
“It is – Duncan.”
She said it in a way that told Lord Heywood that she expected him to recognise it, but, although he tried to remember any association with that name, for the moment his mind was blank
“Surely,” he smiled, “it is about time you told me your momentous secret?”
“It is a – long story and we – have so much to do – today,” Lalita replied. “Please can it – wait until – tonight?”
“If that is what you want,” Lord Heywood replied.
She looked so lovely that he thought that he would try to give her the moon if she asked him for it and her secret was not important now that they loved each other.
He did not realise that Lalita was thinking frantically that she could not dare not tell him her secret until they were married.
‘Tonight I will make some – excuse,’ she decided, “then once we are married there will be nothing he – can do however – angry it makes him.”
When Carter had left, Lord Heywood and Lalita went out riding.
They resolved not to do anything too strenuous because Waterloo was tired after two days of long journeys and, as Carter had taken Conqueror to London, Lalita rode the horse from the farm.
But they were quite content to move slowly through the woods where it was shadowy, talking to each other or just to be side-by-side and knowing that they communicated without words.
Back at The Abbey they went once again to work in the Chapel. There were two little birds fluttering around the ceiling when they entered it and Lord Heywood looking up at them said,
“We shall have to try to find somebody who will put in a few panes of glass, although I suppose it would be cheaper if I climbed up on a ladder and covered the holes with paper.”
“Do you think you should do that?” Lalita asked him.
“Of course,” he replied. “I hope you realise by now that I am very handy about the house.”
“I think you could do anything you wanted to,” Lalita said. “I told you, you always win.”
“I have won the only thing in life that matters to me,” he sighed, “and that is you.”
They looked at each other, but, as they were in the Chapel, Lord Heywood did not kiss her.
He merely started once again to sweep the flagged floor while Lalita polished the rail across the Chancel and the candlesticks that they had found thrown down at the back of the altar and which had become almost black with neglect.
Only when they paused because it was luncheon time did Lalita ask,
“Do you think Carter will really be back this afternoon?”
“He assured me he would be here in time to cook our dinner,” Lord Heywood replied.
“Then can we be married – tomorrow?”
“Why not?”
Lord Heywood saw by the radiance on her face how much the idea thrilled her.
Then she pulled off the apron she was wearing over a pretty muslin gown that had belonged to his mother and they walked back from the Chapel along the corridor that led to the main house.
They had reached the hall when they both heard the sound of wheels outside the front door.
Lalita looked at Lord Heywood uncertainly.
“It must be somebody – calling on you,” she said quickly. “Shall I – hide?”
“Certainly not.” he replied. “We will stick to our story and say we are married.”
He walked towards the front door, which Carter had left open as it was so hot.
A man was coming up the steps and behind him there was a phaeton in which another man was picking up the reins as if he had just sat down in the driver’s seat.
As Lord Heywood had a quick impression of this, he suddenly heard Lalita give a little cry and, as the man walked into the hall, she exclaimed in a voice that was hardly audible,
“Uncle Edward!”
The man who had simultaneously seen her was, Lord Heywood thought, a gentleman, but an unpleasant-looking one.
He had a long nose, eyes that appeared to be too close together and there was something dissolute and distinctly unattractive about him.
“So here you are!” the newcomer exclaimed, “and the last place I should have expected to find you. Yet when Lady Irene Dawlish came to The Manor to shelter from the storm and described t
he woman her paramour had married, I felt that I was not mistaken.”
While Lalita was obviously speechless and Lord Heywood could feel her trembling beside him, he moved a step in front of her to say,
“As you have not introduced yourself, I should be glad to know your name. Mine, as I imagine you already know, is Heywood.”
“And mine, as I expect you are aware, is Edward Duncan,” was the reply. “Although, Lord Heywood, you may think you have been very clever, I consider you to be a dirty sneaking fortune-hunter and you are not going to get away with it!”
He spoke with such violence that Lord Heywood stared at him in astonishment.
“If you imagine,” Lalita’s uncle went on, his voice rising with fury, “that you can abduct an heiress and marry her without her Guardian’s permission you are mistaken.”
“No, no, Uncle Edward,” Lalita cried, moving towards him. “What you are saying – is untrue. Lord Heywood has no idea that I have a fortune. He married me because we are – in love with – each other and there is – nothing you can do – about it!”
“There is everything I can do and everything I intend to do!” Edward Duncan replied. “No Court, I can tell you, will believe that ‘Heywood the Penniless’ is not well aware that with your fortune you are the answer to his problem of how to keep up the house and pay off his father’s debts.”
Edward Duncan’s sneering voice rose as he went on,
“Come, I am taking you away. Your marriage will be termed invalid and you will then marry Philip as I intended you should do in the first place.”
“I will not marry Philip – or anybody – else!” Lalita cried.
Edward Duncan reached out his left hand to grasp her wrist and, as Lord Heywood stepped forward to intervene, he drew a pistol from his pocket.
“Now keep back, Heywood,” he ordered, “or I will shoot you down where you stand! I am taking my niece away with me and you can try to substantiate your claim later. In the meantime Lalita is coming with me and I advise you not to try to prevent it.”
“I will not – go with – you. I refuse!” Lalita shouted out.
“You will leave Lalita here,” Lord Heywood retorted sharply.
“Why should I?” Edward Duncan asked. “You have committed an illegal act, Heywood, and if you interfere I will have you transported for abducting a minor.”
203. Love Wins Page 11
