The Proud Princess by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland [Cartland, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780709023296
Google: wZTsAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0553029584
Publisher: Hale
Published: 1976-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

"Whatever happens now, however difficult it may be,' Ilona thought to herself irrepressibly,

'I am free of Papa and he will no longer be able to beat me.'

As if the very idea gave her a feeling of freedom, she walked down the staircase to dinner with a smile on her lips.

She knew she looked attractive and that, however angry the Prince might be, he would not be ashamed to introduce her to his relatives.

She remembered the feeling of his lips on hers and she felt a little tremor of excitement go through her as she thought that perhaps tonight, after everyone had left, he would kiss her again.

The servants showed Ilona into a big Salon that was fragrant with the scent of the flowers that stood on every table.

At the far end of the room, about twenty people were talking and laughing.

In the centre of them she could see the Prince, looking, she thought, smarter and more handsome than ever in his evening-clothes.

He walked towards her and she looked up at him, hoping he would understand a little of what she was feeling when he met her eyes.

Although he raised her hand perfunctorily to his lips he did not look at her directly, but led her forward to introduce her to the assembled company.

To Ilona, dinner was a very gay and amusing meal.

She had never before attended a big dinner-party of eaten off gold plates, and certainly she had never before been tempted by such delicious dishes, which succeeded one another until it was impossible to eat any more.

The Prince's relatives not only looked attractive, they were also charming, gay, and witty.

It was not the quiet, erudite conversation of her mother's elderly friends to which Ilona now listened, but the sparkling repartee of people with agile minds who could throw the conversational ball backwards and forwards between them as if playing an intriguing game.

Ilona was not able to take part in much of what was being said, but for the first time in her life she received fulsome but nevertheless sincere compliments both from the ladies and the gentlemen.

The dining-table was a long one.

While she sat at one end, with the Prince's uncle on one side and a young and extremely handsome cousin on the other, the Prince was at the far end.

It was difficult to see him clearly because of the gold candelabra, the great bowls of peaches and grapes, and the intricately arranged table-decorations, which were all white.

When the meal was finished the ladies moved back into the Salon and soon the gentlemen joined them. Several of the older members of the family sat down to play cards.

The rest—and they were mostly the Prince's younger relatives—gathered round Ilona and one of them said to the Prince:

"This is a rather dull evening, I should have thought, for someone as young and beautiful as your bride."

"I am afraid my wife will find Dabrozka very dull and staid after the gaieties and frivolities of France," the Prince replied coldly.

Ilona looked at him in surprise.

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