As soon as they had come aboard, the yacht moved slowly out of the Harbour.
When they had gone a little way, the Marquis said,
“Now we will have a quiet night, without being disturbed, and tomorrow we set off for exciting new places, which I am hoping you have never been before.”
“Do tell me about them,” Ursa begged him.
He shook his head.
“I will tell you later,” he said.
He went to the cabin next door and Ursa undressed and climbed into bed.
It was a very large, very comfortable bed.
Lying in it, she could see the stars overhead.
When they anchored in a quiet bay, there was just the lap of the waves against the side of the yacht.
She did not have to wait long.
The door opened and the Marquis came in.
He stood for a moment gazing at her.
‘No one,’ he thought, ‘could look more exquisitely beautiful with her fair hair falling over her shoulders.’
Then as he got into bed and pulled her into his arms, he felt her quivering with excitement.
He knew for him that this was the most exciting and thrilling moment of his life.
“I love you, my precious, my adorable little wife,” he said. “Now at last you belong to me and no one can ever take you from me.”
“I love – you,” Ursa whispered.
“And I adore you,” he breathed.
There was no need for words.
He kissed her until the rapture he evoked in her was rising higher and higher within her.
When his hands touched her body and drew her closer and closer to him, she felt as if he was carrying her up into the sky.
The stars were glittering in her breast.
The Marquis kissed her eyes, her cheeks, her lips and in the softness of her neck.
It kindled a rapture that Ursa had never known possible.
Then the stars in her breast turned strangely into little tongues of fire.
She felt it was impossible to feel such ecstasy and still be alive.
When the Marquis made her his, they were one person complete in each other now and for Eternity.
*
The Marquis spread the plans out on the table saying,
“This is what we have to offer. It is up to you, because you speak Greek so much better than I do, to explain exactly what the effect will be on the Battleships we are currently using.”
“I will do that,” Ursa said, “and I hope he will be thrilled with what you have invented for him.”
“What we have invented,” the Marquis corrected. “You are part of this, my precious, and a very big part.”
“I think you are flattering me,” Ursa said. “And I enjoy hearing you say so. But I am trying to understand the very complicated construction of a Battleship.”
“I know that,” the Marquis said, “and you have been absolutely brilliant so far. Orestes never stops telling me how wonderful you are until I feel jealous of his attention to you.”
Ursa laughed.
She knew that she had been very clever since they had arrived in Athens in making the Greeks appreciate the Marquis’s inventions even better than they had before.
He was certainly bringing their Battleships up to date.
In fact it put them in some ways ahead of all the other warships in the Mediterranean.
She thought that it was the strangest honeymoon anyone could ever have.
The Marquis had taken her first to Africa because he said that they were unknown there.
He wanted to speak to no one and to look at no one except herself.
It had been two weeks of such perfect happiness that Ursa could hardly bear to think that they must leave.
Yet, as they moved slowly through the Mediterranean, the Marquis began to talk about his work for the first time.
She found herself interested and thrilled in a very different way.
She understood exactly what he was asking her to do.
When they finally arrived in Athens it was to find Mr. Orestes waiting for them.
She stepped into her part almost as if she had acted it a dozen times before.
The Greeks had certainly been very enthusiastic about everything that had been suggested to them.
Now it was time for them to move on as they had accepted the final plans.
‘‘Where are we going now?” Ursa asked.
There was a little pause and she realised that her husband was keeping something from her.
“What is it, what has happened?” she asked quickly.
“Nothing frightening, my precious one,” he replied. “In fact it is a very great compliment.”
“What is?” Ursa asked.
“What I have here,” the Marquis said.
He picked up from his desk an envelope and Ursa saw that it had an important-looking crest printed on it.
“Do you want to read it?” he asked. “Or shall I tell you?”
“You had better tell me,” she said, “and soften the shock if there is one.”
“It is not as bad as that,” he smiled.
He looked at her and then moved towards her.
“It is a long time since I kissed you,” he said. “When you start talking to me like my partner and a man, I find myself forgetting for the moment the softness of your lips and how I love holding you in my arms.”
He pulled her almost roughly against him.
Then he was kissing her possessively and passionately.
She felt that the fire was burning once again in both of them.
“Darling, wait, we have work to do,” Ursa managed to gasp.
“Work can wait, work is unimportant beside my need for you,” the Marquis answered.
He took her from the cabin that they had made their study and into the one where they slept.
He locked the door and lifted her onto the bed.
She did not protest because she loved him.
She knew that nothing was more important than the happiness they found in each other’s arms.
He pulled off his coat and his tie and now he was kissing her.
It was impossible to think of anything but him and the ecstasy that was consuming them both.
“I love you,” Ursa murmured.
“You are mine,” the Marquis said, “Mine completely. Tell me now if there is anything else of any value except our love.”
“You know there is nothing else,” Ursa said. “I want you always to feel like this.”
She knew as she spoke that they were flying up into the sky.
Now it was the sun that was waiting for them.
The burning fiery sun which seemed to invade them both and then there was only love, love which came from God.
*
It seemed a long time later before they went back to the cabin where their plans were lying open.
On top of them was the envelope they had been discussing.
“I had forgotten that this was what started it all,” Ursa said with a smile.
The Marquis was looking at her in a rather strange way and she asked,
“What is it, what have I done wrong?”
“I was just thinking how different you are to any other woman and, when I make love to you, it seems as if it is something new that I have never done before,” he answered. “It is the same, my precious, with your adorable active little brain. You never say what I expect you to say, it is always something that awakens new ideas and new inventions in me.”
“Oh, darling, I do hope I can go on doing that,” Ursa said. “Because working with you is nearly the most thrilling thing I have done in my life.”
The Marquis’s eyes twinkled.
“And what was the most thrilling?” he asked.
“You know without me telling you,” she said.
“If you look at me like that,” the Marquis said, “I will take you back next door and the subject of the letter that lies between us will never be raise
d.”
Ursa laughed.
“Tell me now and get it over with. Is it something that is going to upset me?”
“I hope not,” the Marquis replied.
He opened the letter and said,
“As it is in French and your French is as good if not better than mine, you had better read it.”
Although she was a little apprehensive, Ursa took it from him.
As she held it in her hand, she saw that it was from the French Ministry and concerned the Navy.
It did not take her long to read it and it was extremely complimentary.
The French Chargé d’Affaires said that he had heard of the tremendous work and innovations the Marquis had made on the Greek Navy.
He had the pleasure of asking him if, at his own convenience, he would visit Marseilles and discuss improvements on the French fleet.
Ursa read the letter through and then she exclaimed,
“Is it possible that you have become so important that everyone is going to want you? And you will have to make them wait in a queue before you receive them like a Sultan or a King!”
The Marquis laughed.
“It sounds very impressive. But at the same time, my darling, it is a compliment and I suppose it is one we should accept.”
“They say there is no hurry,” Ursa said.
“Yes, I read that,” he answered. “But I cannot think of any reasons why we should wait and perhaps the Italians, the Germans and even the Scandinavians may be requiring our services as well.”
“Why not?’’ Ursa said, “But I have another suggestion to make, which you may not like.”
The Marquis looked at her.
“Why should you say that?”
She rose from the table where she had been sitting while she read the letter from France.
She walked to the porthole.
Outside the sun was shining and the sea was the blue of the Madonna’s robes.
The islands in the distance were very beautiful.
Then the Marquis was behind her and he asked,
“What is worrying you? And what are you trying to tell me?”
For a moment Ursa did not move and then she turned quickly and hid her face against his neck.
His arms went round her.
“What is it, my precious?”
I just think it – would be – nice if we – went home.”
For a moment the Marquis was still and then he said,
“Any particular reason?”
“I think – you have – guessed what – it is,” Ursa said very softly.
His arms tightened.
“It is true then, you are quite sure?”
“Our first – child,” she said in a voice he could hardly hear, “will be born in – about six months’ time and I want to be – at home.”
“So do I,” the Marquis said.
He pulled her closer still as he asked,
“Are you quite certain?”
“I saw a doctor this morning, when you were with Mr. Orestes. He congratulated me on looking and feeling – so well and as far as he was concerned everything was perfect.”
The Marquis’s lips were close to hers.
“My darling, my precious,” he said, “you know what this means to me.”
“And to – me,” she said. “And you did want a large family?”
“The larger the better,” he said. “We have to fill The Court and a great number of other houses before we have finished.”
Ursa laughed.
“Now you are going too fast, but I hope the first baby is just like you and just as wonderful.”
“You are not to love him more than you love me,” the Marquis said. “But I think, my darling, we shall be very proud of him and if he has our brains then he will be a very useful addition to the staff!”
Ursa laughed.
“You are still going too fast,” she said. “Firstly, I want him to be English and to love the horses and everything you have at Charnwood Court. It does seem quite a while since we have been at home.”
“And that is where we are going,” the Marquis said. “The French can wait, but we will call as we pass Marseilles and assure them that they have their rightful place in the queue.”
Ursa laughed.
“Now you are being very autocratic.”
“That is what I intend to be as father of my family,” the Marquis said.
He pulled her a little closer.
“I love you, I love you,” he sighed, “and as you say our first son will be a very important person to us both and I hope eventually to the world.”
“Just like you are, my darling,” Ursa murmured.
“If I am important it is because that is what you are making me,” the Marquis said, “But you are quite right, we must not forget our own country and our own people. The people you told me about a long time ago who were essential to me because they worked on my land and looked to me to solve their problems and their troubles and preserve their happiness.”
“And that is what you have been doing,” Ursa said. “But at the same time I think they should see you and talk to you and who knows we might find a mass of new ideas that will be as useful to the countryside as the Battleships are to the sea.”
“That is exactly what we shall do,” the Marquis agreed. “But, my darling, I have not yet told you how thrilled I am by your news and how much it means to me and how you, my nymph of the sea, is everything in my life. In fact the beginning and the end of it and I can do nothing without you.”
“That is what I want you to think even though it is not quite true,” Ursa said. “But it is true to tell you Guy, that every day I love you more than I loved you yesterday and now because this is a very special day, I love you with all my heart and soul.”
“I also want your brain and – your beautiful body,” the Marquis added.
Then, as he was kissing her, there was no need to say any more.
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-e
yed 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
As Eagles Fly
The Magic of Love
Love Leaves at Midnight
A Witch’s Spell
Love Comes West
The Impetuous Duchess
A Tangled Web
Love lifts the Curse
Saved By A Saint
Love is Dangerous
The Poor Governess
The Peril and the Prince
A Very Unusual Wife
Say Yes Samantha
Punished with love
A Royal Rebuke
The Husband Hunters
Signpost To Love
Love Forbidden
Gift Of the Gods
The Outrageous Lady
The Slaves Of Love
The Disgraceful Duke
The Unwanted Wedding
Lord Ravenscar’s Revenge
From Hate to Love
A Very Naughty Angel
The Innocent Imposter
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.
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