63 Ola and the Sea Wolf

by Barbara Cartland

  She was still sitting on the bed and now the Marquis walked to the end of it to lean his arms on the ornate brass end, looking at her.

  Unexpectedly Ola found herself apologising.

  “I am so sorry,” she said, “I did not think when I – forced you to bring me away from England – that I could hurt you – and now – after what Giles has said – I realise what I have – done and I can only say how – very – very sorry I am.”

  “Because you have said that,” the Marquis answered, “it makes it easier for me to tell you how I have contrived that Giles will not be able to damage either of us with the tale he wished to relate in London had I not prevented it.”

  “What have you done? You must tell me!” Ola cried.

  “I told your cousin,” the Marquis said simply, “that we were married!”

  For the moment Ola felt as if she could not have heard him aright.

  Then, as she looked at him, her eyes so wide in her pale face that they seemed to fill it, she saw the confirmation in his and murmured,

  “Oh! How could you have said such a thing? When he finds out it is not true, it will only make things worse.”

  “But it is true,” the Marquis said quietly. “We are, in fact, already married legally, although I am sure that you would like a Church Service. So I have arranged one for this evening.”

  He saw that Ola was so astonished that she was speechless and explained,

  “In France one has to be married first in front of the Mayor at the Town Hall and it is permitted that one of the persons concerned be represented by proxy.”

  He smiled before he continued,

  “The proxy has to be a responsible person and so, as I thought the Captain would qualify in that capacity, I took him with me!”

  “Are you really saying – that I – I am your – wife?” Ola asked.

  “I have the document to prove it,” the Marquis answered, “but, as I think that every woman is entitled to be present at her own wedding, we will be married very quietly tonight after sunset at the Protestant Church. The Vicar is not only very willing to perform the ceremony but has promised to keep it a secret.”

  For a moment there was complete silence in the cabin until Ola said in a frightened little voice,

  “B-but – you said you – hated women and did not want to – marry anybody!”

  “And you,” the Marquis replied, “said you hated men and had no wish to be married either!”

  There was again a long silence.

  Then he said,

  “I feel sure, Ola, you will be sensible and intelligent enough to know that we both have to make the best of a difficult situation that has been brought about through your cousin. It is actually something I should have anticipated, but while you were convalescing I did not wish to trouble you with plans for the future.”

  “That was – kind of you,” Ola said, “but this is – all my fault – and I am – ashamed.”

  “I think any blame you might attach to your action in forcing yourself upon me is certainly fully compensated and erased by the way you saved my life.”

  “I saved you,” Ola said, “but you would not have climbed the cliff and gone into – danger had I not – challenged you to do so.”

  “You can think that now,” the Marquis answered, “but, if I had been alone, I might easily have climbed for the exercise and the same thing would have happened, only with a far different ending to the story.”

  He saw she was not convinced so he added,

  “What has happened has happened and there is never any point in looking back in life and saying, ‘if I had done that or something else, it would all have been different’.”

  He gave a little laugh and went on,

  “Neither of us can rewrite history, but what we can do is to be wise enough not to fight against the inevitable or, as you are very fond of doing, to run away, as that will solve nothing.”

  “I thought if I – left you – you would be able to persuade Giles not to – tell anybody I had been on The Sea Wolf. I am sure, because he is always short of money, that you could have – bribed him to keep silent.”

  “And have him blackmail me for the rest of my life? No, thank you, Ola! I prefer my own solution and perhaps you will not find it so unpleasant being married to me as it would have been married to your cousin or to have been on your own.”

  “I – thought,” Ola said in a low voice, “that when he was lying on the – floor he looked really – evil – and I am sure he will try to – hurt you if he can.”

  “I think we can be sure that he will be unable to do that,” the Marquis said. “As I intend to send a notice of our marriage to The Gazette immediately, he will find when he reaches England that nobody will listen to anything he has to say.”

  Ola thought this over for a minute and then said in a very low voice,

  “He called me a – strumpet. Is that the same as being a fille de joie?”

  The Marquis only hesitated for a moment before he answered,

  “Yes.”

  “And cocotte – means the – same?”

  He nodded.

  “Now – I – understand how horrible and insulting my stepmother was being to me. But perhaps,” she paused for a moment, “p-perhaps your friends will think it – very wrong of you to – m-marry somebody who looks like – me.”

  The Marquis smiled.

  “My friends when they see you will think I am very lucky to have married somebody who is, beyond all question, extremely beautiful!”

  He saw by the expression on her face that Ola did not believe him and exclaimed,

  “Good Heavens, child, you cannot be unaware that, because you are so lovely, your stepmother and, I imagine, many other women you meet, are wildly jealous of your looks?”

  “Do you – mean that?” Ola asked. “I have always felt that there is – something wrong – because people are so – surprised at the colour of my hair.”

  “They are surprised because it is very rare for a woman to have that particular colour and be so beautiful.”

  He was paying her a compliment and yet she thought that his voice sounded almost indifferent as if he was discussing an inanimate object rather than a human being.

  “I am glad – very glad that you need not – be ashamed of me,” she said after a moment.

  “I can promise you I will never be that,” the Marquis replied. “And now, as there need be no more restrictions on your appearance in Nice with me or anywhere else, I suggest after luncheon I take you for a drive. The views from Villefranche, just along the coast road, are very fine.”

  “I would love that! May I really come with you?”

  “I will order luncheon to be served immediately.”

  He left the cabin and Ola sat down in front of the dressing table to tidy her hair.

  As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, she thought of how the Marquis had said that she was beautiful, at the same time with a note in his voice that made her sure it meant nothing personally to him.

  ‘I want him to think me beautiful,’ she told herself.

  Then she remembered that she was now his wife and she felt herself shiver because she was afraid that after all, he hated her because he had been tricked into marriage against his every inclination to remain a bachelor.

  ‘How could I have known that this would happen?’ she asked herself.

  She was suddenly ashamed of the fact that she had behaved in such an outrageous way that would make any man dislike her and decide to keep out of her way.

  She had drugged him so that for three days he had been unconscious. Then, when he could have rid himself of her at Gibraltar or Marseilles, he had been too kind to do so because she had a knife wound in her shoulder.

  And now to save his reputation and hers, he had been forced to marry her. She could see it was a conclusive answer to keep Giles’s mouth shut, but it was a heavy price to pay.

  ‘He will never forgive me – never!’ she told hersel
f and felt something like a physical pain in her heart at the thought.

  Then strangely she found herself praying that somehow she could persuade him not to hate her.

  She prayed that he would find her, although it was unlikely, the type of wife he wanted, who could talk to him about his ambitions, the work he was doing in the House of Lords and try to run his houses in the way he wanted them run.

  ‘I will make no demands on him,’ she told herself.

  Then she wondered if that was all a man wanted in marriage. Surely he would want more?

  She knew the answer almost as if somebody had said it aloud.

  A man would want love and was that something she could give the Marquis?

  She asked the question and saw her own eyes staring back at her, wide and a little frightened.

  Then she knew the answer, but was afraid to put it into words.

  Chapter 7

  “For as much as Boydon and Ola have consented together in Holy Wedlock and have witnessed the same before God and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other and have declared the same by the giving and receiving of a ring and by joining of hands, I pronounce that they be man and wife together, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

  It was true, Ola thought.

  She was married and to the Marquis!

  She had felt ever since leaving the yacht that she was moving in a dream and that everything had such a sense of unreality that she might still be in the fog in which they had first met.

  In fact nothing had seemed real since he had told her they were already married legally and that he had arranged a Church Service for the evening.

  Immediately after luncheon when conversation had been a little difficult, the Marquis had taken her, as he had promised, driving round Nice.

  It had been a short drive because after they had seen the view from Villefranche he had ordered the carriage to return to the yacht.

  “I want you to rest,” he said. “You have been through another dramatic experience today and nothing is more tiring.”

  Although she was thrilled by the sunshine, the sea and the flowers, Ola knew that the way Giles had behaved and the packing she had done herself had left her somewhat exhausted.

  When they arrived back on the yacht, she had obeyed the Marquis, gone to her cabin and climbed into bed.

  She had thought she would lie awake thinking about their marriage, but, as soon as her head touched the pillows, she had fallen asleep.

  It had been a deep and dreamless sleep and she had only awoken when Gibson came to her cabin to insist on looking at her shoulder.

  “It’s all right,” she said quickly.

  “I’ve warned you, miss, against doin’ too much,” Gibson said sternly, adopting his Nanny role as he always did when he was tending to her wound.

  Because she knew it was hopeless to argue with him, she let him take the light dressing from her shoulder and put on another one.

  She suspected that as the wound had healed so well even a dressing was unnecessary, but she had the feeling that Gibson enjoyed nursing her and was determined not to relinquish his authority until the very last moment.

  “Now, I thinks you should get dressed, miss,” Gibson suggested, “and there’s a special gown here for you to wear.”

  “A gown!” Ola exclaimed in surprise.

  “Yes, miss. His Lordship bought it this afternoon and as I gives him the exact right measurements, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t fit.”

  Ola was astonished, not only at receiving a present of a new gown, but because the Marquis had taken so much trouble over her.

  She knew, now she was awake again, that it was impossible for her thoughts not to keep returning to him, remembering that while he had no wish to be married he had been pressured into it through circumstances

  She had been glad that Giles’s evil intentions towards them both had been circumvented by their marriage and that the Marquis would not lose his special relationship with the King.

  At the same time it was not his public life she was concerned about and, when she thought of how she had forced herself on him when he had wished to be rid of her, she felt more and more ashamed.

  She was now an encumbrance not only on a voyage but for life!

  When Gibson returned to her cabin carrying a gown in his hands she could only think that the Marquis was not just making, as he had said, the best of a situation in which they were both involved, but was actually embellishing it in a way she had not expected.

  The gown was lovely and when she put it on, she knew it made her look exactly as a bride should, ethereal, spiritual and like a Fairy Princess.

  The full skirt swept the ground in front and had a train at the back, the bodice tapered to a tiny waist and the white gauze of which the gown was made was ornamented with silver ribbons caught with orange blossom.

  It seemed part of the golden mimosa trees she had seen with the Marquis, the shrubs heavy with brilliant flowers and the shimmering sunlight that gave everything a glittering glow, which seemed to come from Heaven itself.

  “It fits like a glove, miss!” Gibson exclaimed.

  Ola knew he was delighted not only with her but with himself for having got her measurements right.

  He went from the cabin and came back with a wreath of orange blossom to match those on her gown and with it a lace veil so fine it might have been made by a spider.

  Ola allowed him to arrange it over her red hair and she knew that nothing could be more becoming and that it gave her a look of purity and innocence that every bride should have.

  “It’s a pity, miss, you can’t wear one of them tiaras that his Lordship has in the safe at Elvin,” Gibson said. “Very fine they be and there’s emeralds that’ll suit you when you goes to a ball.”

  “I am very happy with the orange blossom,” Ola replied in a low voice.

  She thought it would be pretentious of her to think that she would ever wear the family jewels that belonged to the Marquis and she knew that today she had no wish to open her own jewel case.

  Somehow at the back of her mind she had the feeling that, because her wedding was so strange and unusual, everything about it should be very simple.

  That she looked like a bride at all was the choice of the Marquis and she would leave everything concerning herself in his hands.

  In a way it would be an apology to him, she thought, and wondered if he would understand.

  When she was ready, she suddenly felt afraid of leaving the cabin and she thought that perhaps, when she went into the Saloon, she would see a frown between the Marquis’s eyes and know how much he disliked the ceremony awaiting them.

  ‘Perhaps he would like to run away, as I have always run away when things become too difficult,’ she told herself.

  Then she remembered they were, in fact, married already although she was sure that no one on The Sea Wolf knew anything about it except the Captain.

  Only because Gibson insisted and she could think of no reason not to do so, she walked proudly with her chin up into the Saloon.

  As she had expected, the Marquis was there and when she saw him she was astonished at his appearance because he was wearing evening dress.

  Then she remembered the girls at the Convent had told her that in France the bridegroom always wore evening dress whatever time of day the ceremony took place.

  But, as her wedding was in the evening, it actually was entirely appropriate.

  He certainly looked magnificent and, gazing at him, she forgot her own appearance.

  She saw that he was not frowning or looking disagreeable, but was regarding her with a smile on his lips.

  “Thank you,” she said hurriedly, “thank you – so much for my – gown. I did not expect you to think of – such a lovely present – but I am very grateful.”

  “If you are ready, I suggest we leave for the Church immediately,” the Marquis said. “There is a carriage waiting on the quay. In fact t
here are two as the Captain is coming with us as a witness and will be travelling in the second one.”

  Ola did not reply, she merely followed the Marquis onto the deck and was glad both for the darkness and the veil over her face, which was a protection from any curious eyes that might be watching her.

  There appeared to be nobody about and, when she stepped into the closed carriage waiting by the gangplank, the Marquis joined her and they set off immediately.

  She thought she ought to speak to him, but, as he did not say anything to her, they drove in silence and there were only the lights of the villas and hotels lining the road to make her feel as if she was going on a strange voyage to an unknown destination.

  The Church, however, was not far away and, when they arrived, the Marquis climbed out first to help her alight and then offered her his arm.

  It was only a few steps to the porch and then they were inside the Church and, by the light of the candles on the altar, Ola could see it was small with stained glass windows and stone pillars.

  What made it different were the mass of lilies in the chancel and the profusion of white carnations decorating the base of the pillars and the empty choir-stalls.

  It gave the Church a beauty she had not expected and the fragrance of the flowers filled the air almost like incense.

  The Marquis took her up the aisle to where the Priest was waiting for them and, when they stood in front of him, he immediately began the service.

  The Marquis made his responses in a firm voice, but to Ola her own voice sounded so strange that she could hardly recognise it.

  She knew that she was frightened and she felt as if she was making an irretrievable step into the unknown and yet there was nothing she could do. She felt as if she was being swept along on a tide carrying her into an unknown sea.

  When the Priest blessed the ring, Ola felt the Marquis’s fingers holding her hand and his strength seemed to give her courage.

  They knelt and she found herself praying that somehow their marriage would be a happy one and that the Marquis would not hate her because it was all her fault that he was married.

  The Priest blessed them and, as they rose to their feet, he said in a kindly voice,