63 Ola and the Sea Wolf (17 page)

He smiled and it seemed to illumine his face as he added,

“But then you have always been very original, Ola, and extremely unpredictable ever since we met.”

“I know,” she agreed, “but I will try, I will try – desperately hard, not to do anything – outrageous again, but to be quiet and – well-behaved so that you will be – proud of me.”

“I have a feeling if you tried too hard to alter yourself it might be rather dull,” the Marquis said. “After all, I have grown used, by this time, to dramatics and I have a feeling I might miss them if they were no longer there.”

He was teasing her, but his hand still held hers closely as Ola said,

“You – know I want to – please you.”

“Why?” the Marquis asked.

She was surprised at the question and she felt that he was waiting for an answer as she said,

“You have been so – kind and it is only – right that I should want to – please the man who is my – husband.”

“Is that all?”

She looked at him enquiringly and then, because of the look in his eyes, felt her heart beating even more violently than it had done previously.

What was more, it was impossible to look away and, although the Marquis did not move, she almost felt as if his hand was pulling her nearer and nearer to him.

She did not speak and after a moment he said,

“I think, Ola, it would be impossible for you not to feel very strongly about anything one way or another and I am therefore asking you what you feel about me? Not as a Good Samaritan or as a sea wolf, which you told me I was, but as a man and your
husband
.”

Now there was a depth in his voice that made Ola feel as if she listened to music. She felt too that there were vital vibrations passing from his hand to hers.

“What can I – say?” she asked a little helplessly.

“The truth!” the Marquis replied. “That is what I want from you, Ola. The truth now – and for ever. I cannot bear to be lied to.”

The way he spoke told her that a woman had lied to him in the past and left a wound that was not yet healed.

Because she had no wish, as she had said, to think of what had happened to him before their meeting, she merely said simply,

“I will never lie to you. But what I feel is difficult to put into – words.”

How could she describe to him, she asked herself, the feeling she had now in her breast, which seemed to be rising into her throat and moving towards her lips.

How could she tell him that she wanted him to kiss her again?

Perhaps he would be shocked that she had such thoughts! Perhaps he would think her fast and immodest, or in Giles’s words, behaving like a strumpet!

Because she was suddenly agitated in a manner that she could not understand, she released her hand from the Marquis’s and rose from the table.

“I think – perhaps it is – getting – late,” she said a little incoherently. “It has been a – long day and I – should go to – bed.”

The Marquis did not move, but merely looked at her standing in the centre of the Saloon, her red hair gleaming beneath her veil, the exquisite line of her figure revealed by the clinging white gauze against which her hands, wearing only the gold ring that he had put on her finger, moved restlessly.

“I am waiting for an answer to my question, Ola,” he said.

“I do not know – how to – reply. I cannot find the – right – words.”

The Marquis rose from the table.

“Words are often quite unnecessary.”

He moved towards her as he spoke and, as she looked up at him, very conscious of his closeness, his arms went round her.

He pulled her against him, saying,

“Let us express our feelings in a far easier way!”

Then his lips were on hers.

As he kissed her, Ola knew that this was what she had wanted, this was what she had longed for, for a very long time.

But, as his lips held her captive, it was impossible to think of anything but the wonder of his kiss.

She felt as if the silver of the moonlight on the sea rippled through her body, as the strange sensations that had been in her heart seemed to move from her breasts into her throat and onto her lips.

She was not certain whether she gave the wonder and the beauty of them to the Marquis or he gave them to her. She only knew that they were joined with a rapture that was too perfect to find an expression in any other way.

What she was feeling was
love
. The love she had thought she would never find.

The Marquis’s arms tightened, his lips became more demanding, more possessive and she wanted to be closer to him, so close that she lost herself in him. She was his completely and was no longer alone and afraid.

He raised his head.

“I love – you! I love – you!”

The words seemed to burst from Ola’s lips.

“That is what I wanted you to say, my darling,” he answered.

Then he was kissing her again, kissing her fiercely, passionately and with an insistence that made Ola know he dominated her and yet she was not afraid.

She felt as if her whole body had come alive and she was no longer human, but was flying through the sky towards the stars. She was part of the Universe and life itself and very much a part of the Marquis!

‘Why did no one tell me,’ she wondered, ‘that love is so majestic – and so – irresistible!’

*

The sound of the anchor awoke Ola.

As she realised where she was, she gave a little cry of joy.

She was in the Marquis’s arms, her head was on his shoulder and she could feel his heart beating against hers.

“I love – you,” she murmured.

Then, as she looked up to see him in the pale sunlight coming between the sides of the curtains that hung over the portholes, he was smiling.

“It is – true? Really – true?” she asked. “I am – here in your – arms and you – love me.”

“Do you still doubt it, my darling?” he asked.

“I thought I must have been dreaming.”

“You are awake,” he said, “and if you have been dreaming about me, then it is true!”

She gave a little laugh, which was one of sheer happiness and moved closer to him.

“Were we – really married – last night?”

“I hope so!” he replied. “Otherwise I can only think, my precious, that your behaviour at this moment is somewhat reprehensible!”

She kissed his shoulder with a passionate little gesture that brought the fire to his eyes.

“No one could be more adorable,” he sighed,” but why did I not recognise the moment I saw you that you were what I had been seeking all my life, but thought did not exist?”

“I am – ashamed, too, of being so – unperceptive,” Ola said. “But even though you hated women you were kind to me and as really kind men are few and far between I was very – very lucky to find – one.”

The Marquis kissed her forehead, his lips lingering against the softness of her skin before he asked,

“Am I still a sea wolf in sheep’s clothing?”

“A very magnificent, exciting and – demanding sea wolf, who I – love very much.”

The Marquis laughed.

“I might have known you would give me a different answer to the one I expected! So let me tell you I shall be a very ferocious sea wolf and a very jealous one! If I see any other man admiring your hair or wanting to touch the softness of your skin, I will kill him!”

“There will be no need for you to be jealous,” Ola said in a soft voice. “I still hate all men except you and I love you so much there is no room for anyone else in my mind, my heart or my soul.”

“And I possess all three?”

“You know you do.”

“I also possess your body,” the Marquis said, “and it is the most alluring and perfect possession I have ever had.”

“Perhaps when you get used to it you will put it on a – shelf and – forget it.”

The Marquis’s hands were touching her as he replied,

“I think that is very unlikely and, if I tried to put you on a shelf, my naughty one, I cannot believe you would stay there!”

He paused before he went on,

“I think really I am rather apprehensive about what surprises you have for me in the future. You have already told me that you never repeat your tricks, so I need not be afraid of being drugged with laudanum or murdered by bandits. But there are quite a number of other atrocities in various parts of the world!”

Ola gave an exclamation of sheer indignation.

“How can you be so unfair?” she asked. “The bandits had nothing to do with me and I did save you. Oh, darling! – I am so glad I did! Suppose – you had – died?”

The Marquis pulled her a little closer.

“I am very much alive,” he said, “and at the moment determined to make the very best of it!”

His lips found Ola’s as he spoke.

He kissed her until she felt the fire that was burning in him light a response within herself, which felt like a flame flickering through her body.

She put her arm round his neck, pulling him even closer.

“You are so – magnificent – so wonderful,” she whispered. “Please – teach me to love you as you – want to be – loved.”

“I don’t think you need many lessons, my precious,” the Marquis replied, “so all I want is to teach you to love me as much as I love you.”

“How can you love me after the way I – behaved?” she asked, “and when did you first – think you – did?”

“I knew I loved you when you threw yourself in front of me to save my life,” he replied. “But before that I found myself fascinated by your looks, by your clever little brain and most of all by the magic that makes you different from any other woman I have ever known.”

Ola gave a sigh of happiness.

“How could you say anything so marvellous,” she murmured.

“As I sat by your bed when you were unconscious,” the Marquis continued, “I knew that I wanted to look after you and protect you in a way I had never felt about anyone else. And what was more I wanted you to stimulate my mind and inspire me, which I never thought any woman could do!”

He smiled as he said,

“Before I had felt myself completely self-sufficient as a man, but now I know you have so much to give me that is mental as well as physical and that is something I had never even thought of until now.”

“Suppose I – fail you?” Ola asked in a frightened little voice.

“You will not do that,” the Marquis assured her positively, “because I believe we were intended by Fate for each other long before we met.”

He thought, as he spoke, that it was Fate that had prevented him almost at the eleventh hour from marrying Sarah, Fate that had made him find out about her treachery, Fate that had sent him running away as a solution to his problems and Fate that had taken him to
The Three
Bells
in the thick fog to meet Ola.

From that moment everything that happened seemed, in retrospect, incredible and yet Fate had meant it to culminate in this moment, when the Marquis knew he was happier than he had ever been or ever expected to be in the whole of his life.

This was love, yet he had the feeling that he and Ola had only touched the fringe – there was so much more to discover and savour.

He had known when he made love to her last night and made her his, that Ola was different from any other woman he had ever known and the feelings she aroused in him were not only the rapture of desire but something far more ecstatic and sublime.

Because he had loved her and had remembered her youth and innocence and had been very gentle and controlled so they had both touched the Divine and become for the moment like the Gods themselves.

He felt a surge of gratitude sweep over him because, when he had least expected it life had brought him the greatest reward possible for mankind to have.

A true and perfect love!

Then, because the softness and the beauty of Ola aroused him, because his body was throbbing and burning for her, his lips sought hers again.

As he kissed her, he knew that she too desired him and, innocent and inexperienced though she was, she had an instinct that made her respond to everything he asked of her and give him not only what he sought but so much more besides.

“I love you, my darling,” he breathed, “and we will spend our lives finding a happiness that is greater than anything we have even thought of or imagined.”

“That is the – happiness I want to – give you,” she whispered.

And then, as the Marquis took the words from her lips, she felt them merge together into one person.

She knew that the voyage ahead of them towards an indefinable horizon would carry them over an unknown sea that was sometimes smooth and sometimes rough and tempestuous.

But Fate had saved them for each other and Fate had brought them together. It was also Fate that would bring them safely into harbour because their ship was guided by love.

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1. Elizabethan Lover
   
2. The Little Pretender
   
3. A Ghost in Monte Carlo
   
4. A Duel of Hearts
   
5. The Saint and the Sinner
   
6. The Penniless Peer
   
7. The Proud Princess
   
8. The Dare-Devil Duke
   
9. Diona and a Dalmatian
   
10. A Shaft of Sunlight
    
11. Lies for Love
    
12. Love and Lucia
    
13. Love and the Loathsome Leopard
    
14. Beauty or Brains
    
15. The Temptation of Torilla
    
16. The Goddess and the Gaiety Girl
    
17. Fragrant Flower
    
18. Look Listen and Love
    
19. The Duke and the Preacher’s Daughter
    
20. A Kiss for the King
    
21. The Mysterious Maid-servant
    
22. Lucky Logan Finds Love
    
23. The Wings of Ecstacy
    
24. Mission to Monte Carlo
    
25. Revenge of the Heart
    
26. The Unbreakable Spell
    
27. Never Laugh at Love
    
28. Bride to a Brigand
    
29. Lucifer and the Angel
    
30. Journey to a Star
    
31. Solita and the Spies
    
32. The Chieftain Without a Heart
    
33. No Escape from Love
    
34. Dollars for the duke
    
35. Pure and Untouched
    
36. Secrets
    
37. Fire in the Blood
    
38. Love, Lies and Marriage
    
39. The Ghost who Fell in Love
    
40. Hungry for Love
    
41. The Wild Cry of Love
    
42. The Blue-eyed Witch
    
43. The Punishment of a Vixen
    
44. The Secret of the Glen
    
45. Bride to the King
    
46. For All Eternity
    
47. King in Love
    
48. A Marriage made in Heaven
    
49. Who can deny Love?
    
50. Riding to the Moon
    
51. Wish for Love
    
52. Dancing on a Rainbow
    
53. Gypsy Magic
    
54. Love in the Clouds
    
55. Count the Stars
    
56. White Lilac
    
57. Too Precious to Lose
    
58. The Devil Defeated
    
59. An Angel Runs Away
    
60. The Duchess Disappeared
    
61. The Pretty Horse-breakers
    
62. The Prisoner of Love
    
63. Ola and the Sea Wolf
    
64. The Castle made for Love
    
65. A Heart is Stolen
    
66. The Love Pirate