Love Casts Out Fear by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782137849
Publisher: Barbara Cartland Ebooks ltd
Published: 2015-12-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter five

Alecia sat in her bedroom, forcing herself not to burst into tears, as she wished to do.

She felt as if she had suddenly been drawn into a whirlpool and was being spun round and round until she could not think.

All she was conscious of was the dread that everything she might say or do would be wrong and Charis would suffer because of it.

She could not imagine what Charis would think when she read of her engagement to Lord Kiniston, unless she understood that it was subterfuge forced upon her in order to play for time.

It was all so complicated and so frightening that Alecia could only sit with her hands over her face trembling until she realised that it was nearly luncheontime and it would seem strange if she did not appear.

She was frightened of the questions that those staying in the house would ask if Lord Kiniston told them of his engagement and she could only pray that he would not say anything for the moment.

If only he would wait, perhaps for a few days, by which time she might have fled to Paris and could escape home.

She was not quite certain how she could do that – for every conceivable means of extricating herself from an unpleasant situation seemed to flash through her mind and, almost before she could consider one, another took its place.

Finally she tidied her hair and thought when she looked in the mirror that she was extremely pale.

Then she went slowly downstairs to the large salon, where she knew that Lady Lillian and the other members of the house party would be assembled.

To her relief Willy was there and he immediately came to her side to say,

“Good morning, Aphrodite! And let me tell you, you are looking more beautiful than you did yesterday!”

As she knew that he was teasing her by using the nickname by which Charis was known in London, she managed a brief little smile.

Then, as she and Willy walked together to join the others, Lady Lillian said with a sharp note in her voice,

“I understand, Lady Charis, that you have been out riding this morning! As I am your hostess, it would have been polite to let me know where you were going.”

“I am so sorry,” Alecia answered humbly, “but you had not been called and I did not like to disturb you.”

“You would not have disturbed me,” Lady Lillian replied disagreeably, “except that I would have cautioned you about risking your reputation as a young and unmarried girl by riding alone and unchaperoned.”

As it had never struck Alecia for a moment that she should have been chaperoned, she could only look at Lady Lillian in surprise.

Before she could defend herself Willy said,

“Really, Lady Lillian, I think the conventions of Rotten Row are unnecessary here in Cambrai and you can be sure that anywhere that his Lordship and Lady Charis went, they were not alone, but watched by hundreds of curious and, of course, admiring eyes.”

Lady Lillian gave him a sour look, but before she could say anything, Mrs.

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