Love In the East by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-906950-71-2
Publisher: Barbara Cartland.com

CHAPTER SIX

Shona stared after Lionel’s retreating figure, wondering at the strange tension that had inspired his words.

What was it about the Marquis that alarmed Lionel so much that he feared to discuss it? What mystery was he concealing?

The ship lunged and she braced herself against the dipping and swaying of the deck. The wind was blowing harder now, creating huge waves and causing the rain to lash against her face.

She welcomed it. Perhaps the shock of cold water might help her recover her scattered wits.

Today she had avoided the Marquis, knowing that she could never look him in the eye after her shameless behaviour of last night.

He had aroused feelings in her that were as confusing as they were treacherously sweet. She knew she must not yield to them and she was not ready to face him.

And yet she had not been able to avoid him. Even while she shunned his presence, she discovered that she seemed to carry him about with her as a torturing memory.

Would she ever be free of the feel of his lips on hers and the feel of his arms holding her tightly? Lost in her dream, she took a moment to realise that a voice was calling her.

“Are you all right?”

She looked and found the Marquis moving slowly along the deck in her direction.

“Are you all right?” he called again.

He came to stand beside her. In the semi- darkness and the moonlight, his face damp with spray, he seemed different.

“You should go below,” he suggested firmly. “It isn’t safe in this weather.”

“I like it here,” she told him. “I always come on deck in the rough weather. It is exciting.”

“I wonder that your husband permitted you to do so.”

She frowned slightly, wondering what he meant. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be a widow. The real world seemed strangely distant.

“I did not ask my husband’s permission,” she said, slipping back into character. “Why should I?”

“Is not a woman duty bound to obey her lord and master?” he asked.

Shona could hardly have explained her own feelings to herself at that moment. But somewhere, at the back of them, was anger.

She was angry with this man because he had brought to life such strange emotions inside her, emotions that she would rather not have experienced.

She tried to tell herself that she was not in love with him. She was strong-minded and would not allow herself to fall in love with a man who could not offer his heart to her.

Nonetheless, she had been growing increasingly angry at her own confusion and now she lost her temper.

“My lord and master?” she said furiously. “I never considered him in that light. He was my true love. We loved each other in total freedom of heart and with complete equality.”

There was a shocked silence. The Marquis was taken aback by her outburst.

At last he said,

“He must have been a very rare kind of man.”

“He was,” she declared firmly. “I shall never know anyone like him again.”

“Then you have been a very lucky woman.

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