As Eagles Fly by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbara Cartland EBooks ltd
Published: 2013-07-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

When Lord Athelstan left the sitting room, Natasha turned and went back into her bedroom.

She did not know quite why but she felt angry at the thought of him making love to the Baroness.

She had taken a strong dislike to the beautiful Austrian because of the insinuations she had made about Princess Anna and, by implication, herself.

‘How dare she think that we would enjoy being prisoners of Shamyl!’ she fumed again to herself. ‘How could she suggest that any decent woman would desire or submit to the embraces of an uncivilised Tartar?’

At the same time she was intelligent enough to admit that there were women who would enjoy the excitement of being kidnapped by the mountaineers who were, if nothing else, exceedingly good-looking.

‘That might also be said of Lord Athelstan,’ she told herself.

She had been so angry with him when at the Great Aôul he had refused to agree to take her with him to Constantinople that she had not thought of him as a man.

She had only known that he was deliberately putting obstacles in the way of her scheme to save her brother from being brought up as a Caucasian.

She had hated him with a violence that surprised even herself.

When, having discovered her success in foisting herself upon him, he had raged at her and it had given her pleasure to know that she had broken through his reserve and incensed him to the point where he could barely control his temper.

She had, however, since they had arrived at the Palace heard a great deal about Lord Athelstan that had surprised her.

She had thought in her ignorance that he was just a stupid Englishman, a Nobleman who worked in the Diplomatic Service in a dilettante manner and had obtained his position thanks merely to his rank and breeding.

But she had heard the respect in the voices of those who spoke to and about Lord Athelstan and she could not attribute it solely to the fact that the Russians were anxious to be friendly with Great Britain.

The other guests in the Palace and the Viceroy himself talked of Lord Athelstan in such glowing terms and praised him with such sincerity that, despite herself, Natasha was impressed.

She learnt of the journeys he had made all over the world on Britain’s behalf and how his tact and charm had settled differences between nations that everyone had been quite certain must end in war.

She was told that even the most stubborn and obstinate Rulers would become amenable in Lord Athelstan’s hands and there was no doubt that the Russians felt positively honoured by his presence.

She found herself looking at him with different eyes and now realised that he was exceedingly handsome.

Perhaps the most handsome man she had ever seen!

Even in St. Petersburg, she thought, where the Russians in their splendid uniforms caused every woman’s heart to beat faster, he would not be overshadowed.

She discovered too that he was younger than she had at first supposed.

In her anger and resentment she had thought of him as middle-aged, someone too old in years to take a risk or relish an adventure.

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