Authors: Barbara Cartland
A Virgin Bride (18 page)
Rock said much the same when he joined them.
He promised that the old man should not only have the wheelchair he wanted but anything else he needed for his cottage.
“My wife and I arrived only late last night, but we will come and see you tomorrow, and thank you again for all your kindness. But it will be wise for us not to tell the people where I was found or how I was put there.”
The old man nodded to show he agreed and Rock continued,
“If you have kept the secret all these years of how you entered the Temple, then you can keep my secret too. Otherwise all the village will be piling in and that, I am sure, would annoy my great-great-grandfather more than anything else!”
The old man laughed.
“You can trust I, Your Grace. I'll not talk 'bout it for fear I be cursed!”
“I am sure you won't be, but I think we should all say that I dismounted to release an animal that had been caught in a trap and my horse ran away. My leg was then caught in the trap from which I could not escape until Her Grace came to rescue me.”
“They'll believe that story alright,” he chuckled.
“My wife and I will always be eternally grateful to you for your help and if at any time you need anything, whatever it is, you have only to send to The Hall to tell me what you require and I promise you it will be yours.”
“That be very kind of Your Grace, but I'll be 'appy with me wheelchair and anything else Your Grace be kind enough to give I.”
“You have been so wonderful and thank you, thank you again!” cried Venetia.
They untied their horses and as they rode away, she asked Rock,
“Are you quite certain you are all right? I was so terribly afraid he had hurt you.”
“I am just a little bit shaken. As you can see from my clothes, I tried to fight when they first caught hold of me, but there were three of them. When my horse ran away, the Earl watched while they wound the rope round me so that it was impossible to move. They had first gagged me so that I could not call for help.”
“How did they get you in to the Temple, Rock?”
“They must have had an opening ready before we returned. It's just the sort of thing the Earl would do.”
They rode on in silence and then Venetia asked,
“Do you think he will try again?”
“I suppose so, but I will now take every possible precaution.”
He did not say any more and when they arrived back at the Hall, Benson hurried forward.
“We've just heard Your Grace's been found. Are you hurt? Do you require a doctor?”
“I require only my breakfast. Then, as it was most unpleasant being caught in a trap, I intend to rest.”
“I think that be very wise, Your Grace. And if you go upstairs and take your clothes off, which I can see have been torn, I'll take your breakfast to the boudoir.”
“That is a good idea,” said Venetia. “And I've just remembered I have not had any breakfast either.”
She went up the stairs, watching Rock as she did so, in case he was at all unsteady.
Although he must have strained and fought against the ropes, he seemed quite like himself, but she was wise enough to recognise that it had been a terrifying experience for him.
Breakfast was brought quickly to the boudoir and Rock came to join Venetia.
She had already taken off her riding habit that was dirty and stained.
“Whatever have you been a-doin' with yourself, Your Grace?” the maid asked her.
“I had to scramble through the bushes to where His Grace was trapped when saving an animal.”
She knew this would be reported in the servants' hall.
She put on the pretty dressing gown she had bought in Paris â it was of pale blue satin trimmed with yards of Valenciennes lace.
When she joined Rock, he smiled at her and told Benson they would wait on themselves.
When the door closed, he remarked,
“I think we have covered our tracks. At least we will not have half the village pestering my great-great-grandfather!”
“Do you really believe he could curse us, Rock?”
“Apparently he was interested in spiritual matters and he may have found some magical way of using them. He certainly scared the whole village rigid!
He sipped his coffee and then declared,
“I feel so much better now.”
“I am glad, Rock, so very glad.”
“Would you really have minded, Venetia, if I had never been found and you had become a widow before you were a wife?”
She was just about to answer the question when the door of the boudoir opened.
It was Benson.
As Rock looked at him in rather an irritated way for disturbing them, he said,
“I thinks Your Grace ought to know that there has been a terrible accident.”
“What has happened, Benson?”
“A gentleman, who I understands to be the Earl of Darran, has been killed in the wood.”
“
Killed
! How?”
“They say, Your Grace, he were galloping through the wood with some men when his horse trod on a wasps' nest. They thinks the frightened horse must have thrown his rider and rolled on him. Then mad with the pain from the wasp stings the horse galloped off and was caught by two of our men who were looking for Your Grace.”
“You say the Earl is dead, Benson?”
“I understands, Your Grace, they takes him down to the village after they had drenched him with water from the lake to clear away the wasps. When the doctor sees him, he says there be nothing he could do.”
There was silence and then Benson added,
“Mr. Mercer thought you ought to know what had happened.”
Mr. Mercer was Rock's secretary and Venetia was not surprised when Rock answered Benson,
“There is nothing I can do, so please ask Mr. Mercer to attend to it and to inform his Lordship's relations what has occurred. They will doubtless send for the body. What has happened to the men with him?”
“I thinks, Your Grace, they rode off. No one seems to know their names or anything about them.”
“Thank you, Benson, just tell Mr. Mercer to see to it all.”
“I'll do that, Your Grace.”
He left the room, closing the door behind him.
As Rock rose, Venetia threw herself against him.
“It's the curse!” she cried. “He has been cursed, so now
you
are safe and nothing can hurt you!”
“Not if I am with you, Venetia.”
“I was so frightened in case after I had saved you that something horrible would happen.”
“Now you need not worry again. Actually I think instead of a curse we have been blessed.”
“Why do you say that?” Venetia asked.
“Because now you love me, just as I love you, and, my darling, we are going to be very very happy together.”
He kissed her tenderly.
She knew without words that he loved her, as she wanted to be loved â
And how much she loved him.
Then he picked her up in his arms.
“We are going to rest now,” he said. “I am going to lock the doors and no one is going to come near us.”
He carried her into the bedroom and set her down on the bed.
Then he walked to the window to pull the curtains and shut out some of the sunlight.
When he turned back, Venetia had thrown off her pretty negligee.
She was lying against the pillows waiting for him.
He stood gazing down at her for a moment.
“How can anyone be so lovely and at the same time so clever, my precious? We have the world at our feet and a thousand years to enjoy it together.”
“That is what I want to hear. Oh, Rock, I do love you. I love you as I have always wanted to love someone with all my heart and soul.”
“That is just how I love you, Venetia.”
He slipped into bed and took her in his arms.
“If only you knew how tortured I have been these last days â when you had all of Paris at your feet and I thought I meant nothing to you.”
“When I was dancing with someone else, I was only wishing I was dancing with you,” she told him. “Nothing was more enjoyable than when we were talking together.”
“We have Eternity to talk to each other, and now, my precious, my beautiful wife, I want to teach you about love. This is a new lesson and we had better start at the very beginning.”
Venetia gave a little laugh of sheer happiness.
“Yes, Rock, let's start at the very beginning. I don't want to miss anything and
please
tell me again you love me.”
“I love you as you want to be loved, Venetia, and I swear to you on everything I hold sacred that what I feel for you is totally different from anything I have ever felt for any woman before in my entire life.”
He kissed her forehead and went on,
“As far as I am concerned, my precious there will never be another woman. There is only
you, you and you
for me forever and ever.”
“Oh, Rock, it is so wonderful to hear you say such beautiful words to me. I love you, but I was frightened you would never love me in the same way.”
“I love you in a thousand ways, Venetia, and this is just what I have never felt before and never said to anyone else.”
Then he was kissing her.
Kissing her gently, at the same time knowing that this was the most exciting and thrilling moment of his life.
Never in his life had he made love to a woman who had never been touched by any other man.
Never before had he felt that the love they had for each other was the love all men and women seek.
The ecstasy rising within them both was spiritual and ethereal.
It was the love he knew would grow deeper year by year.
The love that would produce their children who would be born of divine love.
It all flashed through Rock's mind.
Then, as he held Venetia closer and still closer, there were no words to express what he was feeling.
Yet he knew they were both flying up into a Heaven of their own making, one that they would never lose.
It was a Heaven that came from God and was part of God and would be theirs for Eternity, forever and ever and beyond.
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