The Power and the Prince by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788671279
Published: 2018-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

As soon as Alana started to play the violin and Charlotte saw that the Prince was listening to her intently, she backed towards the door, certain as she slipped out of the room that neither of them noticed her leaving.

She ran almost frantically back along the corridor that they had just come down feeling as if she had escaped from a trap that had cleverly been baited by her aunt and which for one terrifying moment she had thought would keep her a prisoner forever.

As she drew nearer to the ballroom and could hear the sound of the band, she moved more slowly, trying to think how she could find Shane.

She remembered that her aunt had gone to the Card Room, but there was still a chance that she might not be playing but might merely have settled her guests down at the Baccarat table and moved back to the ballroom to see what was happening there.

Sensibly Charlotte did not enter the ballroom by the main door, but instead managed to find her way to the other end of it.

Here she surreptitiously peeped into the room to see all the young guests who had been at dinner dancing a quadrille with exuberant verve.

Charlotte looked round for Shane and then with a leap of her heart she saw him almost opposite her, not dancing but talking to another man, a glass of champagne in his hand.

She looked at him intently, willing him to be aware of her. Then when she caught his eye she beckoned with her hand before she moved back into the passage.

A second later Shane was beside her.

“What is it?” he asked. “Why are you here alone?”

“I will tell you – everything, but let’s go – somewhere where we will – not be seen.”

There was a frantic note in her voice that Shane did not miss and, taking her by the hand, he drew her to a sitting room where there was no one except themselves.

As they went inside the room, he turned to lock the door behind them.

Charlotte realised what he had done and flung herself against him and, as his arms went round her, she cried,

“Oh – Shane – Shane, I love you! Tell me you – love me.”

“You know I do, my darling,” he replied. “But what has upset you?”

Then, as if nothing mattered except the fact that he was holding her close against him, his lips found hers and he kissed her until they both were breathless.

“I love you so – desperately,” Charlotte insisted when finally he raised his head. “If I cannot – marry you – I swear I will – kill myself!”

Shane kissed her again and then drew her to a sofa and they sat down side by side, his arms still round her.

“Tell me what happened after I left you in the salon,” he asked. “I wanted to wait for you, but I thought it would be a mistake.”

“Aunt Odele made me stay behind,” Charlotte replied. “She said that the Prince wanted to – show me the – Music Room.

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