65 A Heart Is Stolen (19 page)

“I think – because it is so – marvellous,” Ivana mumbled, “I am going to – cry.”

“You did not cry when you were threatened with a knife,” the Marquis said. “You did not cry when I told you that you might be hanged. If you cry now, I shall feel I have failed to give you the happiness that you have given me.”

Ivana blinked the tears away from her eyes.

She looked so lovely as she did so that the Marquis moved his lips first over the softness of her cheeks, then lower to the rounded column of her neck.

Ivana felt a strange thrill run through her body like quicksilver and her lips parted.

“Please – please – ” she whispered.

The Marquis raised her head.

“Do you not like my kissing you like that, my darling?”

“I like it – but it – makes me – feel so excited – and – wild!”

He smiled.

“That is how I want you to feel – I have so much to teach you, my dearest heart.”

She moved a little closer to him.

“Teach me – please teach me.”

He looked down at her with a tenderness that no woman had ever seen before.

“I worship you,” he said softly.

“And I love – you – I adore – you!” Ivana said with a touch of passion that made the Marquis seek her lips.

He kissed her until the room seemed to spin dizzily around them both and once again Ivana felt that he carried her into the blazing light of the sun and they were one with the burning glory of it.

Then the Marquis set her lips free and it was as if she broke under the very strain of it, Ivana made an incoherent little murmur and hid her face against his shoulder.

She was conscious as she did so that his heart was beating as violently as hers and she thrilled to know that she could arouse and excite him.

Because he was human as well as divine, it made her feel even closer to him than she was already.

“You are so – magnificent!” she exclaimed.

“And you are so soft and sweet as well as beautiful that I have no words to tell you how much I want to kiss you from the top of your head to the soles of your little feet.”

He spoke with a deep passionate note in his voice and Ivana whispered,

“You – make me feel – shy.”

“I adore you when you look shy,” the Marquis replied. “I had forgotten there were women in the world who could blush and your shyness, my precious one, thrills me in a way nothing has ever done before.”

His lips moved across her forehead before he said,

“Look at me.”

She raised her head and his eyes searched her face before he said hoarsely,

“I want you – I want you now, this moment and for all eternity.”

The words seemed to come from the very depths of his being and then, as if he tried to speak more calmly, he said,

“I suppose I should really be taking you to task, my lovely one, for stealing from me one more of my possessions.”

“Stealing?” Ivana questioned.

“You have stolen my heart. It is something that I thought was safe from the most determined and experienced of robbers and now I have lost it. It is in your keeping for all time!”

“I will never – let it go,” Ivana cried, “I shall love it – cherish it – adore it and, as long as I can keep it, I want nothing else in the – whole world.”

The last words were swept away by the Marquis’s lips.

Then, as he kissed her fiercely, demandingly, possessively, Ivana knew they had found that which all people seek, the perfect love that can never, in fact, be stolen, but only given by God.

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.

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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
    

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.

Although she is often referred to as the ‘Queen of Romance’, Barbara Cartland also wrote several historical biographies, six autobiographies and numerous theatrical plays as well as books on life, love, health and cookery.  Becoming one of Britain’s most popular media personalities and dressed in her trademark pink, Barbara spoke on radio and television about social and political issues, as well as making many public appearances.

In 1991 she became a Dame of the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to literature and her work for humanitarian and charitable causes.

Known for her glamour, style, and vitality Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime.  Best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels and loved by millions of readers worldwide, her books remain treasured for their heroic heroes, plucky heroines and traditional values.  But above all, it was Barbara Cartland’s overriding belief in the positive power of love to help, heal and improve the quality of life for everyone that made her truly unique.

A Heart is Stolen

Barbara Cartland

Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd

This edition © 2013

Copyright Cartland Promotions 1980

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