A Very Special Love by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788672511
Publisher: Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd
Published: 2019-10-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The Marquis stared at Harry and was about to reply when the door opened and the butler announced,

“Lord Charles Fane, my Lord.”

A good-looking and impeccably dressed young man came into the room saying as he did so,

“I have just learnt, Rayburn, from your grandmother that you are back in London and I decided to come and see you right away.”

The Marquis held out his hand.

“How are you, Charles? Behaving badly as usual, I suppose?”

“Of course,” Lord Charles replied, “but I wanted to talk to you for a moment about your party as unfortunately Evelyn’s husband has just returned from the North and therefore she cannot come.”

“Another casualty!” Harry exclaimed before the Marquis could speak.

“Hello, Harry,” Lord Charles greeted him. “Who is the first one?”

Realising that he had made a mistake, Harry replied hastily,

“Rayburn will tell you our troubles.”

“Before I do that,” the Marquis said, having no intention of confiding in Lord Charles, “would you like something to drink?”

“Naturally,” Lord Charles responded. “I always think that your champagne is medically speaking the best tonic I know.”

The Marquis laughed and went to the grog tray, while Lord Charles seated himself in a comfortable chair near Harry.

“I was wondering what had happened to you,” he said to the Marquis who had his back to him, “when I just happened to meet your grandmother, who was accompanied by the most beautiful creature I could possibly imagine!”

“That is exactly what I have been saying,” Harry chimed in.

“She really is unbelievably lovely,” Lord Charles went on, “and, if you don’t ask me to dinner, I shall sit on your doorstep until I can see her again!”

He was speaking lightly, but the Marquis suddenly felt annoyed.

He knew that Charles Fane was one of the most amusing men in London, but at the same time, he did little but trek from boudoir to boudoir and his love affairs were too numerous to count.

He was the last man he would think of as suitable to be with anyone as innocent as Zia.

“Now listen to me, Charles,” he said as he handed him a glass of champagne, “Zia is young and unspoilt. Harry and I are going to find her a suitable husband among the young men who do not have a reputation like yours. So keep away!”

Lord Charles stared at him.

“Are you really giving me orders, Rayburn?” he asked. “I have never heard anything so outrageous and I have no intention of being told to keep off the grass where anything so delectable and unusual is concerned.”

The Marquis felt his temper rising.

Then he told himself that if Zia looked on him as a father figure, she would presumably feel the same about Lord Charles, who was two years older than he was.

Equally he would take care that she saw as little of him as possible.

“Now, what I want to know,” Lord Charles was saying, “is where you found her and who she is.”

As the Marquis did not reply immediately, Harry obliged by saying,

“She is Colonel Langley’s daughter. You must remember him.

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