An Angel Runs Away (18 page)
“We are going to spend the night in a house I have been loaned by the Lord Lieutenant, who is a friend of mine,” the Marquis replied. “No one can possibly find us there and there will be no disruptions.”
He smiled as he went on,
“Then tomorrow we are going to my home in Oxfordshire, which will be yours, my precious, in future. After that we are setting out on our honeymoon, which will be a surprise.”
“It sounds – too perfect,” Ula murmured.
Then she gave a little cry.
“The gypsies! I must let them know what has happened to me.”
“I thought of that and, while you were dressing, I sent one of my grooms to tell them you were to be married and also to express your gratitude and mine for their kindness in a more practical manner.”
“I hope they will not be insulted that you gave them money,” Ula said quickly.
“I told my groom to be very tactful,” the Marquis replied, “and I also informed them that any gypsies would always be welcome on any estate I own.”
“You could not have given them a better present!” Ula exclaimed.
They drove on and came to the house where the Marquis had been staying while he waited for her.
It was very pretty, beautifully appointed and she learned later that the Lord Lieutenant had been preparing it for one of his relatives who had been abroad for some time.
Everything about it was fresh and bright and, Ula thought, very beautiful, as well as a perfect background for the occasion.
There were discreet servants to wait on them and, when they had finished luncheon, the Marquis took her upstairs.
They went into a delightfully decorated bedroom with a large bed draped with silk curtains, that were as blue as Ula’s eyes, falling from a carved gold corolla.
“What a lovely room!” she exclaimed.
“I thought, my darling,” the Marquis said, “you would want to change from your wedding gown and your trunk which was brought here while we were having luncheon has been unpacked.”
She smiled at him.
“You think of everything!”
“I think of
you
,” he answered. “How can I think of anything else when you are so perfect and exactly what I always wanted my wife to be.”
Just for a moment Ula thought of Sarah.
As if the Marquis read her thoughts, he said,
“Forget about her! We all make mistakes in our lives and from now on your job, my lovely one, is to see that I make as few as possible in the future.”
As he spoke, he lifted her wreath from her head, then her veil and taking out the pins that held her hair in place, let it fall over her shoulders.
“Now you look like the angel you are,” he sighed, “my angel, who will guide and inspire me for the rest of my life.”
“Can I – really do – that?” Ula asked.
“It is what you have done already,” the Marquis replied, “and because of you I am very different from the man I was before.”
“I love you – just as you are,” she whispered.
Because she could not help it, she moved closer to him.
Then, as he kissed her, she felt him undoing her wedding dress.
As it fell to the ground with the softness of a sigh, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the canopied bed.
She lay against the soft pillows, feeling as if she was floating on a cloud and that once again she was dreaming.
Then, as the Marquis joined her, she knew it was no dream, but a glorious reality, so that once again her whole being was lifted up in a prayer of gratitude.
But, as she felt the Marquis’s lips on hers, his hands touching her, his body hard against the softness of hers, she could think of nothing but him.
“I – love you – I adore – you!” she whispered.
“I worship you,” he replied, “and it is something I shall do, my beloved, all my life!”
As he spoke, he felt her quiver from the movements of his hand to a first awakening to sensuousness and thought it the most exciting feeling he had ever experienced.
“You are not frightened,” he asked.
“A – little!”
“I will be very gentle.”
“I am not – frightened – of you.”
“Then of what, my precious?”
“Perhaps you will find me – dull and – disappointing and you – will no longer – love me and I will be all – alone again!”
“My angel, that is impossible!”
“Why?”
“Because I do not love you for your beauty and for your exquisite body only, but I adore your kind heart and more than anything else what is called your soul, which will make me love and worship you for ever.”
“How can you say such wonderful – wonderful – things to me?”
The tears ran down Ula’s cheeks as she asked,
“Do you really think – I have the – Divine Light that Papa said was – so important?”
‘To me,” the Marquis answered, “you shine like a star in the darkness, a star I will follow all my life.”
“Oh, darling – darling – I love – you.”
He kissed the tears away from Ula’s cheeks.
Then, as he held her closer still, she felt as if there were shafts of light flowing from his body into hers and from his mind into her mind.
She knew it was the Power of Divine Love, which was not, as she had thought, soft and gentle as the moonlight, but burning, as the heat of the sun.
She could feel it sweeping through her and rising from her breasts into her lips to meet the fire within the Marquis.
She knew then that love was strong, overpowering and an irresistible force that would drive them into doing great deeds and seeking far horizons.
The ecstasy and glory of it was a rapture beyond words.
The Marquis made her his and they became one, not only with their bodies but with their minds and their hearts.
The Divine Power carried them into the Heaven that exists for all those who find the true love which comes only from God.
It is the beauty and perfection of Eternal Life.
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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- 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-eyed 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
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.
An Angel Runs Away
Barbara Cartland
This edition © 2013
Copyright Cartland Promotions May 1987
eBook conversion by
M-Y Books