*
Cordelia looked around the sitting room and gave a little sigh of delight.
Despite the heat outside, the white walls and the sunblinds over the open windows left the room cool.
There were flowers everywhere with great bowls of fragrant blossom on low tables and on Grecian pillars, which Cordelia knew would have delighted Sir William.
It was due to him that they had been provided with this small but exquisite Villa for their honeymoon.
Lady Hamilton had suggested that they should go to the Ambassador’s summer residence at Caserta.
But Sir William with a Diplomatic perception had realised that they would find the proximity of the Royal Family and the house, which he had enlarged, overpowering, when all Cordelia and Mark wanted was to be alone.
He had therefore persuaded one of his archaeologist friends to lend them his Villa built on the coast only a few miles from Naples and it had not taken long for the bridal couple to drive there from the Palazzo Sessa.
The Ceremony had been very quiet, attended only by Sir William and Lady Hamilton.
It was Cordelia’s wish that there should be no curious strangers to watch her pledge herself to Mark and she was moreover in mourning.
It would have been correct to wait for some months after David’s death before she married.
But Mark had asked her to marry him immediately so that they could return to England together on the ship which was carrying the reports of Nelson’s victory to the Admiralty.
She had known that he would allow none of the conventional reasons to delay her from being his wife.
The ship was to leave in three days’ time and they would therefore have a very short honeymoon, but Cordelia was sure that it would be a perfect one.
She was aware that Mark had been afraid she would think that he was hurrying her, but she loved him so overwhelmingly that she was convinced however long they waited she could not love him more.
She had known from the expression in his eyes that he had been afraid of her answer. But her reply was very simple.
“As soon as you – want me.”
She had felt his lips on her hand.
Then his mouth sought hers and all the rapture and ecstasy she had known the first time he had kissed her seemed to mingle with the sunshine and the flowers.
The wonder of it was part of the lucidity of light that hung over the bay.
Mark raised his head.
“I love you, my darling! I love you!”
She had known then that she already belonged to him and they were no longer two people but one.
*
Their Wedding in an ancient Church that had an atmosphere redolent with the faith of countless worshippers had been to Cordelia so sacred and so beautiful that she felt those she had loved were there beside them.
She was certain of her mother's presence and of David’s.
She had thought too that perhaps the spirits of the men who had died on the St. Jude were not far from them.
They had admired and respected Mark and they would have wanted his happiness.
‘I will make him happy,’ Cordelia vowed. ‘Help me – God, please – help me.’
She knew that never again would she doubt the validity of prayer when a miracle had saved them from drifting onto the rocks of Sicily.
When the Priest who married them pronounced the Blessing, she thanked God in her heart for having blessed them already in that they were both alive.
As they drove back to the Palazzo Sessa in an open carriage, Mark had held her hand tightly in his.
There had been no need for words. They were both filled with a mystic happiness, so holy and so perfect that spiritually they were one.
At the British Embassy they had an early meal, cut a Wedding cake made by the chef and responded to the toast that Sir William drank to them in champagne.
Then, pelted with rose petals by the staff, they had said ‘goodbye’ and been carried in the Ambassador’s carriage to the Villa on the Bay.
Cordelia turned towards Mark with a smile.
“It is so beautiful!” she exclaimed. “Look at the vases, which must make Sir William quite envious, the Greek pillars and that adorable little stone statue. Do you not find it exquisite?”
“There is only one thing I wish to look at at the moment and it is indeed breathtakingly exquisite.”
He put his arms around her.
Because she thrilled at his touch and at the same time feeling shy at the intensity of her own feelings, she said impetuously,
“Let’s go and look at the garden. I am told it is very lovely.”
“We will see it later on, when it is cooler,” Mark answered. “This is the hottest time of the day and you have to rest.”
“I have no wish to rest,” Cordelia said quickly.
“The doctor instructed me that you are not to do too much too quickly,” Mark insisted, “and you have already done a great deal this morning.”
“I have been married for – one thing!”
“You must tell me about it later,” Mark smiled. “But now I want you to rest.”
“And if I don’t want to?”
“You have promised to obey me!”
She looked at him mischievously, wanting to tease him because he was so solemn.
“Suppose I forget my vows and disobey your august commands?”
“Then I will have to punish you with kisses!”
He pulled her closely against him.
His lips were on hers and it was impossible to move, impossible to do anything but feel the rapture he aroused.
She felt her body melt into his as she drew closer and still closer to him.
But, while she longed for him to go on kissing her, he released her to say in a voice that was slightly unsteady,
“Go and rest, Cordelia. I insist upon it.”
“When I am lying down, will you come and talk to me?”
“Only for a moment,” he replied. “Then I too will rest.”
“In that case I will be – good.”
Cordelia thought perhaps his leg was hurting him and then that remembered he had done a lot of walking and standing during the morning.
‘I must take care of him,’ she told herself.
One of the advantages of the Villa, as Sir William had pointed out, was that the bedrooms were on the ground floor and Mark would therefore not have to struggle up and down stairs.
Cordelia’s bedroom was white like the sitting room. The big bed was draped with muslin curtains falling from a corolla of dancing cupids.
All the flowers were white too.
Lilies and roses scented the air and here too the open windows looked out over the colourful garden to the shimmering sea.
There was a young Neapolitan maid who was, Cordelia knew, the daughter of the couple who staffed the Villa, to help her take off her white Wedding gown.
She had worn nothing elaborate. But of muslin and lace it was a very beautiful dress and she intended to treasure it all her life.
‘I will wear it every year on the occasion of our anniversary,’ she planned.
She had known when she had joined Mark in the Church that there had been admiration as well as love in his eyes.
She looked down at the ring encircling her third finger and thought its unbroken circle was symbolic of their marriage, which would last forever.
‘We will grow closer and even happier as the years go by,’ Cordelia whispered to herself.
She could think of nothing more wonderful than to live with Mark at Stanton Park which, the background of her life hitherto, she had always loved.
He had always seemed to belong there and now it was his.
She had the unshakable feeling that David would be as glad as she was that Mark should carry on the long line of Stantons, who had lived in Berkshire and played their part in the service of their country.
There had been no time to discuss such matters.
But now that Mark wo
uld no longer be able to go to sea Cordelia knew that he would find an outlet for his energy in Politics and in the important County appointments which would be waiting for him when they reached home. The fact that he was now Head of the Family carried both responsibilities and problems.
‘He will do it all so perfectly,’ she told herself.
Having been deep in her thoughts, she had not realised that the maid had taken away her clothes.
Now she was wearing a thin diaphanous nightgown of muslin and lace, covered with a negligée to match that was ornamented with tiny bows of blue ribbon, symbolic of good fortune.
It was too hot to get into bed and Cordelia lay on top of it, her back against the soft pillows and with only the cover of fine lace to hide her naked feet.
The maid curtseyed and withdrew.
The room was very quiet save for the gentle murmur of the bees buzzing among the flowers in the garden.
The door opened and Mark came in.
He was wearing the long white cotton robe with a coloured sash that the Neapolitans took their siestas in.
He must have borrowed it, Cordelia thought, from the owner of the Villa because the initials embroidered on the pocket were not his own.
But it became him and, as he walked slowly and limping a little towards her, she thought how handsome he was. There was something about him that always reminded her irresistibly of a Knight.
“Come and sit down,” she suggested. “You know you should not be walking without a stick.”
Mark looked for a chair and not finding one sat down on the bed facing Cordelia.
She put out her hands towards him.
“Are you – happy?” she asked.
“It is impossible for me to find words to tell you how happy,” he replied. “There are so many things I want to tell you, my precious darling, but it is difficult for me to know how to begin.”
“What sort of things?” she asked.
“First that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Secondly that you are the bravest, the kindest and quite the most perfect woman I could ever imagine.”
“You are – making me – shy,” Cordelia protested.
“I love you when you are shy,” Mark answered. “I did not realise when we talked together in the garden at the Embassy that you were everything I had looked for all my life, but which I had always failed to find.”
“I think actually you found me rather – tiresome.”
“No, never tiresome, but I did not expect to find so much wisdom in that little golden head, nor did I ever imagine that I would fall in love with a young girl.”
“Perhaps because I am – ignorant about so many things – I will bore you?” Cordelia said in a low voice.
Mark smiled.
“That is impossible. You know as well as I do, my lovely wife, that we are an indivisible part of each other.”
“You are – sure of – that?” Cordelia asked, her eyes on his.
“As sure as I am that it was your prayers and your faith in God that brought us to safety,” he said quietly.
Cordelia’s fingers tightened on his.
“It was after you – kissed me in Malta that I realised I – loved you. But afterwards I knew I had loved you – a long time before that.”
There was a dazzling light in her eyes as she went on,
“When you were so kind and understanding – when you explained to me that real love was Divine and the dream we hold in our hearts, I fell in love.”
“And my dream has come true.”
There was a deep note in Mark’s voice as he raised her hands to his lips.
He kissed the backs of them and then turning them over he kissed the palms, his mouth passionate and possessive.
She felt a thrill streak through her that was half-rapture and half an exquisite pain.
Her lips were aching for his and there was a flame flickering inside her that grew more insistent every time he touched her and every time she heard that deep note in his voice.
“I must let you sleep, my precious one,” Mark said, “but before I leave you there is one thing I want to say.”
Again his tone was very solemn and Cordelia looked at him wide-eyed, but with a touch of apprehension.
“It is this,” he went on. “We have been married in a great hurry, before you are really well and before we have had time to talk about ourselves and really get to know each other.”
He paused before he continued,
“It was expedient because now I can take you back to England safely in a Battleship.”
His hand tightened on hers as he said fiercely,
“Never again will I risk your life, my sweet darling, never again as long as you live shall you encounter the perils you experienced on the St. Jude.”
“I want you to be – safe too,” Cordelia replied. “But what are you – trying to – say to me?”
“I am trying to say in a rather long-winded manner,” Mark said with a brief smile, “that because I love you so overwhelmingly, I will do nothing that might frighten or perhaps shock you.”
“I could never be frightened or shocked by you,” Cordelia answered. “But I still don’t – understand – ”
“We are married, my adorable wife, but if you think we should wait a little before I make love to you, I will do so, although it will be hard.”
“Are you – saying,” Cordelia asked in a very small voice, “that you do not – want me?”
His fingers gripped hers so hard that she almost cried out with the pain.
“Not want you! I want you as I have never wanted a woman in the whole of my life.”
He drew in his breath.
“I want you not only because I adore your beauty and your exquisite perfect body. My love is far greater than that! I love you in a way I have never loved before. I worship you, Cordelia. I know now what stands in the shrine within my heart. It is you!”
Cordelia felt the wonder of what he was saying sweep over her so that the whole room seemed to be filled with light and she and Mark were enveloped by it.
Then she took her hands from his and put them around his neck.
“I love – you too,” she whispered. “I love you in the – same way that you – love me. You fill – the whole world.”
She drew him a little nearer as she said ,
“I do not need to – wait to know you – better. I know you now and you are all I have – longed for – all I have dreamt of. To be with you – is to be in – Heaven.”
“My beloved, you should not say such things to me,” Mark said and his voice was hoarse.
Then, as if he could not help himself or resist the invitation of Cordelia’s arms, his mouth came down on hers.
He was trying to be gentle, he was trying, she knew, to keep control of himself.
But a flame within her seemed to leap higher and as it rose it ignited a fire in him so that his kisses became fierce, demanding, masterful and wildly passionate.
He kissed her eyes, her cheeks, her ears and the softness of her neck so that she quivered with sensations she had never dreamt existed.
“My wonderful, brave, perfect little wife,” he murmured and pulled aside the lace negligée to kiss her breasts.
Everything seemed to vanish except the insistence and wonder of his lips.
She could feel his heart beating.
“You are mine! Mine for Eternity and beyond!”
Her body moved beneath his.
Then there was only the ecstasy of their dreams and the Divine glory that came from God.
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 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
The Wild Cry of Love
The Blue-eyed Witch
The Punishment of a Vixen
The Secret of the Glen
Bride to the King
For All Eternity
King in Love
A Marriage made in Heaven
Who can deny Love?
Riding to the Moon
Wish for Love
Dancing on a Rainbow
Gypsy Magic
Love in the Clouds
Count the Stars
White Lilac
Too Precious to Lose
The Devil Defeated
An Angel Runs Away
The Duchess Disappeared
The Pretty Horse-breakers
The Prisoner of Love
Ola and the Sea Wolf
The Castle made for Love
A Heart is Stolen
The Love Pirate
The Dream and the Glory Page 15
