65 A Heart Is Stolen (18 page)

“These’ve just arrived from London. The coachman were sorry ’e were a bit late in bringin’ ’em, but the roads were more crowded than ’e expected.”

“Well, they’re here now and that’s all that matters!” Nanny said breezily.

The footmen left the room and Ivana found her voice.

“Those – cannot all be – for me!”

“I hardly think as his Lordship’ll be wearing a gown that comes from Bond Street!” Nanny chuckled as she glanced at the names on the boxes.

Then, as if she was too excited to wait, she started to lift the lids and unpack gowns, pelisses, night attire, chemises and shawls that made Ivana gasp as Nanny held them out for her inspection, one by one, before she laid them on the bed.

Never had she dreamed of seeing, let alone owning, so many fashionable and exquisite clothes each of which she was aware must have cost more than she spent in the whole year.

Finally, when the bed seemed to be piled with diaphanous, exquisite, elaborate garments, Nanny turned to tackle the bonnet boxes.

Then Ivanna gave a little cry and leaving her bedroom ran down the stairs.

She expected the Marquis would be in one of the drawing rooms where they usually took tea and, as she entered the room, she saw the tea table set out with its sparkling array of silver on the hearth rug.

The Marquis was standing at the long open window looking out into the garden.

He turned at her approach and she ran to him to say,

“How – could you? How could – you give me all those wonderful exciting clothes? You know I – cannot accept – them.”

The Marquis smiled.

“It would look very strange if as my wife, you possessed only what you are wearing now and anyway I am curious to see you in the height of fashion.”

“I agree that I should not – shame you when we have to – call on the Prince Regent and Mrs. Fitzherbert, but what you have – given me is – enough for – ”

She stopped and the Marquis finished the sentence.

“ – a trousseau,” he said quietly.

Ivana made a little gesture with her hands.

“You said that people might call here,” she said almost accusingly,” which was one – reason for me to be well dressed – but in the last four days – nobody has come and it had not – mattered what I wore.”

“You have been incorrectly informed,” the Marquis replied, “for as it happens, a number of people have made an attempt to see us, but Travers on my instructions, has sent them away.”

“I – did not – know.”

“There was no reason to bother you with the information,” the Marquis said, “and, as I had no wish to entertain visitors, they therefore had to drive back to Brighton without any titbits of information with which to regale those who are as curious as they are themselves.”

The Marquis spoke in a contemptuous manner and Ivana said,

“I don’t like to – think that I am – stopping you from seeing your – friends and being with – them.”

“Shall I say I have been quite content,” he replied. “But you know as well as I do that sooner or later we shall have to be a little more sociable.”

Ivana drew in her breath.

“After we have – visited the Prince Regent and Mrs. Fitzherbert – I think that will be the – moment when I should – disappear.”

Even as she spoke the words, she felt as if the mere idea of disappearing was like stabbing herself with a sharp knife such as the one the sailor had produced.

Then she tried to think that she was being ridiculous and she had known all along that this would happen. The only real question was when?

“Where are you going to disappear to?” the Marquis asked.

Ivana shrugged her shoulders. Then she said,

“I have a cousin who lives in Dover. Perhaps – I could stay with her for a little while.”

“And that would make you happy?”

“It need not be a long visit – and maybe when you have g-gone away, I could come – back to Flagstaff Manor.”

“I thought we had already agreed that might be dangerous for you?”

“If you don’t take Travers to any of your other houses, he could keep an – eye on us.”

The Marquis did not answer and Ivana said hastily,

“Only if you would – allow him to do so. I promise you that I will – never again use your servants unless you – permit it.”

“Do you not think people might consider it very strange if the new Marchioness of Veryan is living in a separate house from the Marquis?” “I had the idea that nobody need be – aware of it,” Ivana answered quickly.

“You know that would be impossible.”

“Then I must go – somewhere else,” she said in a low voice. “Perhaps to Scotland or Ireland – anywhere where I would not be – known.”

She thought as she spoke that it would not only be very frightening but also the expense of the journey and having to pay for a roof over her head would be more than she could afford.

“I can only ask you the same question again,” the Marquis said. “Do you think living in Scotland, Ireland or anywhere else in obscurity will make you happy?”

Ivana wanted to answer that she would be absolutely miserable, but, because she was determined he should have no idea of her real feelings, she answered,

“I expect I will – get used to it and find – something to do.”

“I think you have forgotten one very important factor in your plans for the future,” the Marquis said.

There was no need for Ivana to ask him what he meant and, as he glanced down at her wedding ring, she knew that, because the Marquis had not mentioned her husband since her arrival at Heathcliffe, everything about him had slipped from her mind.

The Marquis unexpectedly reached out and took her left hand in his.

“I have a suggestion to make to you,” he said, “and it is something I have been thinking about for some time.”

He felt her fingers tremble in his, as she asked nervously,

“What – is it?”

He drew the wedding ring from the third finger of her left hand.

“As this is obsolete,” he said, “I would like to replace it with something more suitable.”

As he spoke, he drew from his pocket another ring, which he put on her finger.

She was so bemused by what he was doing that she found it impossible to move or to protest, until she found herself staring down at a large and very beautiful diamond ring, which, glittering in the sunshine, seemed almost to blind her.

“I think,” the Marquis was saying quietly, “it was a very wise and sensible move on your part, considering what you were doing, to pretend to be married, but I never felt the mythical husband whose existence you kept forgetting, had any substance in fact.”

“Y-you –
knew
?” she whispered.

“Almost from the first,” the Marquis replied, “and let me say that you are not only an extremely bad liar but you also don’t look married. Even Anthony was aware of that the first time he saw you.”

Ivana stood staring at the ring.

“It is – very beautiful,” she sighed, “but to – convince the Prince Regent, I shall still – need a wedding ring.”

“That I intend to give you,” the Marquis said, “but not until we are actually married.”

Ivana gave a little start. Then, as she looked up at him, her eyes very wide, she saw that he was smiling.

“I am asking you in a rather roundabout way, my darling, if you will marry me.”

For a moment she was unable to breathe and then barely above a whisper she managed to murmur,

“What – are you saying – ? You cannot mean – really mean – ?”

“What I really mean,” the Marquis said, “is that I am fed up with having a pretend wife, when I have discovered quite unexpectedly that more than anything else in the world, I want to be really married.”

“Is that – true – ?”

“That is something I asked myself at first,” the Marquis replied, “until I realised it was impossible to contemplate life without you.”

“You are not saying that – just because you – feel you must – or wish to – deceive the Prince Regent?”

“I am quite prepared to deceive him and anybody else,” the Marquis answered, “but I can no longer deceive myself. In other words,
I love you
! Is that what you are waiting for me to say?”

He saw the light in her eyes and the sudden radiance that swept over her face.

Then he put his arms round her and pulled her close against him and his lips found hers.

To Ivana his kiss was a miracle that swept away her fears and her apprehensions and she felt as if suddenly she had been carried into the blazing glory of the sun.

She had never been kissed before and the Marquis’s lips gave her an ecstatic feeling which made her respond to him with a joy and a rapture that seemed to invade her whole body like the waves of the sea.

She did not know it was possible to feel anything so wonderful, so perfect and, as she pressed herself closer and still closer to the Marquis, she was sure that she must be dreaming.

Yet he filled the whole world and there was nothing else but the wonder of his lips and the security of his arms.

‘I am safe!
I am safe
!’ she thought, ‘and I need never be – afraid again.’

Then the Marquis was kissing her demandingly, passionately, until she was unable to breathe or even think because of the sensations he aroused in her.

The Marquis raised his head.

“My darling, my sweet,” he said a little unsteadily. “I can hardly believe it true, but I believe I am the first man who has ever kissed you.”

“The – only one and I did not – know a kiss could be so – wonderful!”

“Tell me what I make you feel,” he asked masterfully.

“I – love – you. I have loved you – ever since I first – saw you – but I did not know it was – love, until I came here to Heathcliffe.”

“Then what did you feel?”

“I dreaded the – moment when I had to – leave and perhaps never – see you again.”

“That is something which will never happen,” the Marquis asserted. “You are mine, Ivana, mine completely and absolutely and we will be together always by day – and by night.”

He said the last words slowly and watched the colour flare into her cheeks. Then he pulled her close against him again.

“My darling, innocent little love,” he said. “How could anyone believe for a moment that you are a married woman when you blush like that?”

“I felt sure you – believed me,” Ivana stammered, “even though you asked such – embarrassing questions about – my husband.”

“The only husband you are going to have is me,” the Marquis declared, “and let me say that now you have my engagement ring on your finger I shall not allow Anthony to go on flirting with you in that outrageous manner!”

He saw the question in her eyes and added,

“I have been jealous, crazily jealous of my best friend, very apprehensive lest you fell in love with him and there would be nothing I could do about it.”

“It was you – always – you,” Ivana said with a little throb in her voice.

She turned her face against his shoulder, but the Marquis put his fingers under her chin and looked down into her eyes.

“How can I have been so lucky as to have found you?” he asked.

He would have kissed her, but Ivana whispered,

“I was afraid – terribly afraid that you would change your mind – and would want – after all to marry – the beautiful Lady Rose.”

“That I have never wanted to do,” the Marquis said positively, “and, my darling, in case you are worrying about her, I promise you that there will be no more Roses or women of her sort in my life. I know now that what I was seeking, undoubtedly in all the wrong places, was you.”

“I will try to be – everything you want me to be,” Ivana said humbly, “and do exactly what you – wish.”

The Marquis laughed.

“I very much doubt it,” he said, “and I think because you are so original and have so much personality, my lovely one, you will intrigue, delight and even mystify me, however many years we are together.”

He put his lips against the softness of her cheek before he said,

“How could I have imagined in my wildest dreams that I would marry a highwayman?”

His arms tightened as he added,

“You looked very elegant in your breeches, but they are something you will never wear again for any man to see, except myself.”

“You sound as if I – shocked you.”

“I was shocked that I should be held up by a woman, but I am much more shocked now I know that it was someone adorable and very alluring who is to be my wife.”

Ivana gave a little sigh of sheer happiness. Then she said,

“It is not really – right for you to marry – anyone like me. Supposing you are – disappointed when you see me among your – friends and are able to compare me with great beauties who – I am sure – love you as I do?”

There was a deep tenderness in the Marquis’s eyes as he looked down at Ivana’s worried blue ones before he answered,

“I think the love that you and I have for each other, my precious one, is very different from the love that is talked about so lightly in the fashionable world.”

“The love I have for you,” she said very softly, “is sacred and part of God. I love you until you fill the whole world and the sky! The only thing I want and pray for is that I shall make you – happy.”

The Marquis held her so tightly that she could hardly breathe.

“This is the love I have been looking for,” he said, “and this is the love I thought I should never find.”

He kissed both her dimples before he added,

“I am the most fortunate man in the world and just as you want to make me happy, my sweet darling, I want to give you the sun, the moon and the stars and a love that is greater than any woman has ever received before.”

“How can you say such – wonderful things to me?” Ivana asked. “First you frightened me – then when I loved you, I thought you were so far out of – reach that apart from the fact that we were – involved together in a – pretend marriage I would never be really close to you, like – this.”

“You will be closer still,” the Marquis affirmed, “but I think we should get properly married first.”

He smiled very tenderly, as he saw Ivana blush again. Then he said,

“I will send Markham to Canterbury for a Special Licence. Then, my sweetheart, we will be married very quietly early in the morning in the village Church with only Anthony as a witness. Will that please you?”