The Wild Cry of Love by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782131977
Publisher: Barbara Cartland EBooks ltd
Published: 2012-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Riding beside Roydon Sanford, Valda thought she had never been so happy.

It was early in the morning and the air was crisp and clear, the sky, deep blue and infinitely high, promised a hot summer’s day.

They had been riding for half an hour and the colour of the flowers and the butterflies fluttering above them was breathtaking.

Yellow flags lined the banks of the irrigation ditches and the shallow edges of freshwater swamps.

Some of the ponds were covered with the delicate star-shaped blossoms of the wild buttercup, the dainty tamarisks were a warm pink and swarming over them were thousands of yellow, red and brown dragonflies.

‘Everything that has happened since I left home has been an enchantment,’ Valda told herself.

Last night having dinner alone with Roydon Sanford, she had enjoyed it as she had never enjoyed a meal before.

She felt a little shy as they sat down at the table, wondering how she should amuse and interest him and suddenly feeling inexperienced and very young.

But as the delicious food was put in front of them by Madame Porquier and they both started to eat hungrily, the barriers seemed to disappear and there was so much to say, so much to discuss.

They started the meal with the asparagus that grew in long beds outside the farm and to follow there was young lamb cooked with herbs and garnished with mushrooms, small green peppers and courgettes, which had a special flavour.

To drink there was a famous Rhône wine, which Roydon Sanford told Valda he had brought with him from the vineyards and which tasted like bottled sunshine.

The dinner ended with a local cheese and fruit picked only a few hours earlier and served in a wicker basket. Even then Valda felt as if they had only just begun their conversation.

There was so much more to say, but despite her interest she could not help feeling a sudden sleepiness creep over her.

It might have been in part due to the Rhône wine, but, as her eyelids drooped a little, Roydon Sanford exclaimed,

“You are tired. You have had a long day and must go to bed. If we are to go riding and try to take photographs of the foals and the flamingos, you will need to be up early.”

“I was awake soon after four o’clock this morning,” Valda told him almost apologetically. “The gypsies were on the road by five.”

“Then you have every excuse to be sleepy,” he smiled, “and I need not attribute it to the boringness of my conversation!”

“It is certainly not that!” she answered. “I have never enjoyed a dinner more, especially as this is the first time I – ”

She was about to say this was the first time she had ever dined alone with a man, but she felt that would be too revealing. He might ask her questions she would find difficulty in answering.

She knew from what he had said earlier that he was suspicious that she should be travelling alone and unchaperoned.

She thought that only by

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