Rivals for Love (16 page)

As he greeted the Duke he said,

“I was not expecting Your Grace to leave so soon, but the gentleman from the British Embassy has informed me that you wish to put to sea immediately.”

“I have reasons for such haste, Captain, and I only hope you have no men ashore at present.”

“As it happens thankfully they are all on board.”

“Then as soon as our guests leave us,” ordered the Duke, “let us put to sea.”

Mr. Barnier and Mr. Sharp were inspecting the
Sea Horse
and making most complimentary comments about everything they were shown.

The Duke did not invite them down to the Saloon. He just shook them warmly by the hand.

“I am exceptionally grateful to you, gentlemen, for all your help while we have been in St. Petersburg, and I will inform the Prime Minister how grateful I am for your assistance.”

Mr. Barnier looked pleased and the Duke added,

“I hope, as Prince Alexander has suggested, that nothing will ever be heard in St. Petersburg about the unfortunate incident this morning, and I will certainly not breathe a word about it in London.”

“I think that is very wise of you, Your Grace,” replied Mr. Barnier.

The Duke thanked them again and so did Elva.

The two diplomats stepped ashore as the sails were being set. The
Sea Horse
was released from her moorings and as they began to move down the river the Duke turned to Elva,

“I think, my darling, that as we have both had a disturbed night and an even more disturbed morning, we will ask for some breakfast and then retire to bed.”

“I hope you managed some sleep last night,” asked Elva.

“I was not as clever as you were, my loved one.”

“I cannot imagine how I could have slept at all,” sighed Elva. “But I was so very tired.”

“Which was not surprising,” commented the Duke.

They walked to the Saloon, where the Steward had just finished laying the table for breakfast.

Elva had no idea what she ate and drank.

She only knew that the Duke's eyes were on her all the time, which made her feel just a little shy, but equally wildly excited.

She was
married
, she was now his
wife
.

It all seemed too incredible.

Yet it was the most marvellous thing that could have happened in the whole world.

‘I love him, I adore him,' she kept saying to herself over and over again.

When she looked at him she could see the love in his eyes.

Because the Steward was in the room waiting on them, they did not speak while they ate their breakfast.

By the time they had finished the
Sea Horse
was well out of the River Neva and moving down the Gulf.

They went down below and found that Danton had unpacked most of Elva's clothes and the sheets on the bed in the Master cabin had been turned down for her.

The Duke walked to his own cabin.

As Elva undressed she noticed that Danton had put out an especially pretty nightgown for her and she thought it was just like him to be so sensitive.

The sunlight was pouring in through the portholes turning her golden hair into a halo.

When the Duke did return to the Master cabin, he stood for a moment just inside the door looking at her.

She did not speak but held out her arms to him and then he walked to the bed and sat down on the side of it.

“My darling, my sweetest,” he began in his deep voice, “
you are now my wife
.”

“How could I have known – how could I have ever guessed that you would think of – marrying me in such a wonderful way?” asked Elva.

“I hope it did not shock you, but we have a long way to go. I knew last night I could no longer pretend that I had no wish to be married.”

“A long way to go? But I thought we were going back to England.”

The Duke shook his head.

“We are sailing first to Rotterdam, my dear sweet darling, where I will send a classified message by courier to the Prime Minister as well as an equally important letter to your father.”

“To Rotterdam?”

“We shall need to take on provisions,” explained the Duke, “and the Prime Minister must know that I have obtained the information he required.”

He reckoned as he was speaking that Prince Ivor had arranged for the Empress's secrets to be passed on to him by his sister only to further his own ends.

Which was to seduce Elva
!

Otherwise it might have taken him much longer to find out and he might have failed altogether to obtain the information that Princess Natasha had so gratuitously given to him.

The Prince had obviously calculated that having heard so much intelligence from his sister, the Duke would have wanted to hear much more, so he counted on having plenty of time to seduce Elva before the Duke left Princess Natasha to return to the Palace.

“After we have stopped at Rotterdam,” Elva was saying, “where are we going to next?”

“You told me you wanted to see the world,” the Duke replied. “I thought we would sail down the coast of France, Spain and Portugal, and once we have arrived in the Mediterranean I will have a great deal more to show you.”

Elva gave a little gasp and the Duke continued,

“You will undoubtedly enjoy Gibraltar, Rome, and of course, Venice.”

“I don't believe it!” she exclaimed.

The Duke smiled.

“Then I really would want to show you Greece and see you dance among the other Goddesses. Then perhaps you would like to ask the Sphinx to tell you its secrets?”

“How could you think of anything so wonderful?” Elva sighed breathlessly. “But I know that anywhere I go with you – will be like reaching Heaven.”

“That is exactly what we are going to make our life together, my darling Elva.”

He climbed into the bed beside her and drew her into his arms.

“How can you possibly be everything I thought I would never find in a woman?” he murmured. “That was why I was determined to remain a bachelor for ever.”

“You are so clever – so kind and – so marvellous, my wonderful husband. I am so – frightened I will – disappoint you.”

“It is just not credible you could ever disappoint me, but, my darling, exceptionally well-educated as you are and intelligent with your brilliant brain and intuition, there is one matter you are particularly ignorant about.”

“What is that?”

“
Love
,” the Duke answered, “and that, my lovely one, is what I am going to teach you. It will be the most exciting adventure I have ever undertaken.”

“If your lessons make me feel as I do now, then I will no longer be human – but a little angel flying in a Heavenly sky.”

“It will be just as marvellous as that and more. Do you realise, my precious, that from the first moment we met we have each known instinctively what the other was thinking? I have never seen you do anything which was not perfection itself.”

“That is just what I want you to say, Varin, but as you have just said, I am so very ignorant about love. You must be patient and – not be angry with me – if I make mistakes.”

The Duke laughed very gently.

“I could never be angry with you, my beautiful Elva, and there is one thing of which I am quite certain. We shall be wonderfully happy for the rest of our lives and when we die we shall meet again as we have met before so many times. This is definitely not the first time we have found each other.”

“I feel the same about you, my dearest – husband, and I think that no one could have had a more unusual and exciting wedding than us.”

She gave a little laugh before she added,

“How could you have thought of getting married at the last moment in that dear little Russian Church?”

“I had intended, my darling, to ask the Captain to marry us at sea which, as you know, is completely legal. But when I spied the Church, I felt that the angels from Heaven were pointing it out to me.”

He held Elva a little closer.

“I am so very certain of one thing, that never again would I go through the night with a bolster between us!”

Elva hid her face against his neck.

“I did – just think,” she said in a whisper, “that it would be very thrilling if you had – pushed it on one side and – kissed me goodnight.”

“It is exactly what I longed to do and it would not have been just a kiss. But I had promised to protect you not only from real devils like Prince Ivor, but also from myself!”

“But now I am yours,” mumbled Elva very softly.

“You are mine, my precious Elva, and I will never, and this is a vow, lose you again. I don't think I have ever been as frightened as I was when I ran up the stairs and heard you scream.”

“I believed that when you appeared you must be the Archangel Gabriel or a Knight in shining armour. You had come to save me, and it was then that I knew that what I had been feeling for you was – love, although I could not put a name to it.”

“Now,” asserted the Duke, “I crave your love, I want it desperately just as much as I desire you from the top of your adorable head to your tiny feet. You are mine, Elva, and as I have just told you, I will never let you go.”

As he finished speaking the Duke pulled her closer still and her lips were captive.

Elva had no wish to say any more.

Not only because it was impossible to do so, but because of the strong feelings that he was evoking in her, which felt like the glory of the sun moving through her breast.

It was not only the light and brilliance of it.

His kisses were fanning little flames of fire in her body, which she realised was an essential part of their love for each other.

‘I love you. I adore you,' she wanted to say, but it was impossible to speak.

The Duke was carrying her up into the sky.

They were touching the sun itself and the glory of it surrounded them.

Then as he made her his own, she believed she was in Heaven itself and God was blessing them.

“I worship you,” the Duke was saying. “I adore you, my own darling, my precious, my adorable little wife. Our love will never leave us, but will grow and grow until we reach Eternity.”

“And I will love you forever, Varin,” Elva whispered.

It was impossible to say any more.

She only knew that they were at the moment no longer human but part of the Divine.

The love within their hearts and souls was, as the Duke had said, theirs for Eternity.

It had come to them with the blessing of God and was God, because God is Love.