106. Love's Dream in Peril Read online

  Love's Dream in Peril

  BARBARA CARTLAND

  www.barbaracartland.com

  Copyright © 2007 by Cartland Promotions

  First published on the internet in January 2008 by Barbaracartland.com

  ISBNs

  The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval, without the prior permission in writing from the publisher.

  eBook conversion by M-Y Books

  LOVE’S DREAM IN PERIL

  But Adella had never felt anything quite like the glow that was now spreading through her whole body and pulling her towards the young man who stood beside her.

  In another moment she would be in his arms and everything would be forgotten.

  Digby let go of her hand.

  “I am sorry,” he said.

  Adella knew that she must hurry, that there was still a little way to walk to the teashop and then the long road back out of town to Mottram’s, but she could not.

  The golden spell of the Botanical Gardens did not want to let her go and her steps were slow and heavy as she walked beside Digby to the entrance.

  As they stood beside the great stone archway, he drew her to him.

  “We must leave this other world we have stepped into,” he sighed, “but before we do – ”

  Adella felt all her breath leave her body as his lips touched hers.

  It was the sweetest sensation, as if all the sunshine, the heavenly scents of the gardens, every blissful moment of the magical time she had spent with him, was caught up in his kiss.

  Then he released her.

  THE BARBARA CARTLAND PINK COLLECTION

  Barbara Cartland was the most prolific bestselling author in the history of the world. She was frequently in the Guinness Book of Records for writing more books in a year than any other living author. In fact her most amazing literary feat was when her publishers asked for more Barbara Cartland romances, she doubled her output from 10 books a year to over 20 books a year, when she was 77.

  She went on writing continuously at this rate for 20 years and wrote her last book at the age of 97, thus completing 400 books between the ages of 77 and 97.

  Her publishers finally could not keep up with this phenomenal output, so at her death she left 160 unpublished manuscripts, something again that no other author has ever achieved.

  Now the exciting news is that these 160 original unpublished Barbara Cartland books are ready for publication and they will be published by Barbaracartland.com exclusively on the internet, as the web is the best possible way to reach so many Barbara Cartland readers around the world.

  The 160 books will be published monthly and will be numbered in sequence.

  The series is called the Pink Collection as a tribute to Barbara Cartland whose favourite colour was pink and it became very much her trademark over the years.

  The Barbara Cartland Pink Collection is published only on the internet. Log on to www.barbaracartland.com to find out how you can purchase the books monthly as they are published, and take out a subscription that will ensure that all subsequent editions are delivered to you by mail order to your home.

  If you do not have access to a computer you can write for information about the Pink Collection to the following address :

  BarbaraCartland.com

  Camfield Place

  Hatfield

  Hertfordshire

  AL9 6JE

  United Kingdom

  Telephone: +44 1707 642629

  Fax: +44 1707 663041

  Titles in this series

  These titles are currently available for download. For more information please see the Where to buy page at the end of this book.

  The Cross Of Love

  Love In The Highlands

  Love Finds The Way

  The Castle Of Love

  Love Is Triumphant

  Stars In The Sky

  The Ship Of Love

  A Dangerous Disguise

  Love Became Theirs

  Love Drives In

  Sailing To Love

  The Star Of Love

  Music Is The Soul Of Love

  Love In The East

  Theirs To Eternity

  A Paradise On Earth

  Love Wins In Berlin

  In Search Of Love

  Love Rescues Rosanna

  A Heart In Heaven

  The House Of Happiness

  Royalty Defeated By Love

  The White Witch

  They Sought Love

  Love Is The Reason For Living

  They Found Their Way To Heaven

  Learning To Love

  Journey To Happiness

  A Kiss In The Desert

  The Heart Of Love

  The Richness Of Love

  For Ever And Ever

  An Unexpected Love

  Saved By An Angel

  Touching The Stars

  Seeking Love

  Journey To Love

  The Importance Of Love

  Love By The Lake

  A Dream Come True

  The King Without A Heart

  The Waters Of Love

  Danger To The Duke

  A Perfect Way To Heaven

  Follow Your Heart

  In Hiding

  Rivals For Love

  A Kiss From The Heart

  Lovers In London

  This Way To Heaven

  A Princess Prays

  Mine For Ever

  The Earl’s Revenge

  Love At The Tower

  Ruled By Love

  Love Came From Heaven

  Love And Apollo

  The Keys Of Love

  A Castle Of Dreams

  A Battle Of Brains

  A Change Of Hearts

  It Is Love

  The Triumph Of Love

  Wanted – A Royal Wife

  A Kiss Of Love

  To Heaven With Love

  Pray For Love

  The Marquis Is Trapped

  Hide And Seek For Love

  Hiding from Love

  A Teacher Of Love

  Money Or Love

  The Revelation Is Love

  The Tree Of Love

  The Magnificent Marquis

  The Castle

  The Gates of Paradise

  A Lucky Star

  A Heaven on Earth

  The Healing Hand

  A Virgin Bride

  The Trail to Love

  A Royal Love Match

  A Steeplechase for Love

  Love at Last

  Search for a Wife

  Secret Love

  A Miracle of Love

  Love and the Clans

  A Shooting Star

  The Winning Post is Love

  They Touched Heaven

  The Mountain of Love

  The Queen Wins

  Love and the Gods

  Joined by Love

  The Duke is Deceived

  A Prayer For Love

  Love Conquers War

  A Rose in Jeopardy

  A Call of Love

  A Flight to Heaven

  She Wanted Love

  A Heart Finds Love

  A Sacrifice for Love

  Love's Dream in Peril

  THE LATE DAME BARBARA CARTLAND

  Barbara
Cartland, who sadly died in May 2000 at the grand age of ninety eight, remains one of the world’s most famous romantic novelists. With worldwide sales of over one billion, her outstanding 723 books have been translated into thirty six different languages, to be enjoyed by readers of romance globally.

  Writing her first book ‘Jigsaw’ at the age of 21, Barbara became an immediate bestseller. Building upon this initial success, she wrote continuously throughout her life, producing bestsellers for an astonishing 76 years. In addition to Barbara Cartland’s legion of fans in the UK and across Europe, her books have always been immensely popular in the USA. In 1976 she achieved the unprecedented feat of having books at numbers 1 & 2 in the prestigious B. Dalton Bookseller bestsellers list.

  Although she is often referred to as the ‘Queen of Romance’, Barbara Cartland also wrote several historical biographies, six autobiographies and numerous theatrical plays as well as books on life, love, health and cookery. Becoming one of Britain's most popular media personalities and dressed in her trademark pink, Barbara spoke on radio and television about social and political issues, as well as making many public appearances.

  In 1991 she became a Dame of the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to literature and her work for humanitarian and charitable causes.

  Known for her glamour, style, and vitality Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime. Best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels and loved by millions of readers worldwide, her books remain treasured for their heroic heroes, plucky heroines and traditional values. But above all, it was Barbara Cartland’s overriding belief in the positive power of love to help, heal and improve the quality of life for everyone that made her truly unique.

  “No sacrifice is too great for love.”

  Barbara Cartland

  CHAPTER ONE

  1880

  “I cannot believe it’s the end of term. Tomorrow we will both be leaving here forever!” seventeen-year-old Adella May said to her dearest friend Jane Hartley, as they both prepared to go into the Chapel for early Morning Prayers, a ritual at Mottram’s School for Young Ladies.

  Jane sighed,

  “All good things must come to an end.”

  Adella leapt up from her dressing table, where she had been sitting to comb out her glorious mane of golden curly hair.

  “Don’t be miserable, Jane. Please! Endings lead to beginnings, all sorts of good things might happen to us!”

  The two girls, both orphans, had grown up together at the school and had always been inseparable.

  As they stood in the bright June sunlight streaming in through the window of Adella’s bedroom, they could not have looked more different.

  Adella was a slight girl, small in stature with bright gold hair and brown eyes the colour of rich honey.

  Her complexion was fresh and clear and she was almost always seen with a smile on her face, for everything about her glowed with light and warmth and the joy of life.

  Jane Hartley was tall and slender with smooth black hair, dark eyes and a pale ivory complexion. Jane rarely smiled, as she was a thoughtful girl, but, when she did, the true sweetness of her character shone out of her face.

  “No doubt they will, Adella. Shall we go down?” Janer suggested.

  Adella put a comb through her hair one last time.

  “There’s just one little knot I can’t untangle, but if I use this, I’m sure old Mottram will not notice!”

  And she twisted a pink ribbon around her curls and tied it in a graceful bow.

  The girls at the school were not allowed to wear pink, but Adella was a favourite of the Headmistress, Mrs. Mottram, and sometimes she would get away with it.

  “I cannot wait to have my own lady’s maid, when I move to London,” she said. “I hope that she is young and cheerful, not like Pargetter.”

  Pargetter was the stout Oxfordshire countrywoman who acted as maid to the older pupils at the school. Being ordered about by so many young ladies sometimes made her very irritable indeed.

  “Well, you shall soon find out!” Jane replied. “And how will you get on with your Uncle Edgar?”

  Uncle Edgar was Adella’s Guardian, her father’s older brother, and he lived in a big house in London.

  “I hardly know him,” Adella answered. “He has always been very generous in paying for everything while I have been at school. But he is always away, working in India. I have only met him a few times.”

  Each time he came to the school, he asked Adella if she still enjoyed her lessons and told her that he hoped she would be very good and do as she was told. He never once asked her what she had bought with the money that he sent to her from India.

  “Come on,” Jane interrupted her thoughts. “We’ll be late for Prayers.”

  The two girls left Adella’s bright sunny bedroom and went to the Chapel at the back of the house in Oxford where Mrs. Mottram kept her School for Young Ladies.

  Mr. Mottram had been a Captain in the Navy and had been lost at sea many years before.

  His widow, a large woman with a severe expression and a mass of thick grey hair rolled on her forehead, ran her school with the same tight discipline that her husband had employed on his ship.

  She cast a stern eye towards Jane and Adella as they hurried into the Chapel as they were the last to arrive.

  When Prayers were over and a moment of peaceful silence had descended upon the rows of schoolgirls, all in the school uniform of grey dresses with white collars, the Headmistress rose to her feet to address them,

  “It has come to that time of year when we must bid farewell to those pupils who have completed their studies at the school,” she began.

  Adella stared down at her white-gloved hands and hoped that Mrs. Mottram would not say anything about her pink ribbon. Surely she would not single her out for any criticism when she was about to leave the school forever?

  But the Headmistress did not seem to notice it.

  “It is my dearest wish,” she carried on, “that those who leave us will take with them not just the fluent French, the elegant dancing, the skilful drawing, without which no young woman may call herself a Lady, but will also take with them the true values of refinement and character.”

  Adella stifled a yawn. Old Mottram did go on a bit.

  It was difficult to keep concentrating on the long rambling speech when she was longing for her breakfast. “So I shall say no more at this time.” At last the Headmistress was drawing to a conclusion. “But I should like to ask each of those pupils who are leaving us to come to my study for a private interview after breakfast.”

  She then dismissed the assembly of girls and there was a rumbling of feet and a flutter of hymn books as the long line of pupils hurried off to breakfast.

  “What do you suppose she will say to us?” Adella asked, as she helped herself to bread and jam.

  “Something about how we must always be ladylike and set a good example. Isn’t that what she always says?” Jane replied.

  Adella laughed.

  “Do you think Mrs. Mottram lies awake at night, worrying in case one of her ex-pupils misbehaves and casts a bad light on the school?”

  “I am sure she does,” Jane replied and her heart sank as she saw the figure of the Headmistress beckoning to her. “It looks as if I am the first for a lecture!”

  “Good luck!” Adella wished her, as Jane hurried away from the table.

  “Jane Hartley, I have little to say but good about your work,” Mrs. Mottram began, sitting upright in her red velvet armchair. “You apply yourself to your studies with energy and intelligence.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Jane said.

  It was a rare event to receive such praise from the Headmistress and she ought to feel proud and happy, but something about the way Mrs. Mottram was looking at her made her feel uneasy.

  “It is always a great responsibility to stand in loco parentis and I am sure that I don’t need to translate, Jane, for I know that you have a good knowledge o
f Latin.”

  Jane nodded as Mrs. Mottram was referring to the fact that Jane’s mother had died some years before and her father even longer ago.

  “Especially when the young person, as in your case, has no family at all and is without means of support.”

  Jane was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. It was true that she had no fortune, as her dear Mama had died penniless, all her money gambled away by her stepfather. But what was Mrs. Mottram getting at?

  “I have incurred considerable expense and devoted a great deal of time and attention to your education, Jane. So I am pleased that you have worked so hard and been so diligent a pupil.”

  Jane thanked her again for her kind words.

  “I understand that you would wish to take a post as a Governess. And I should be happy to offer you board and lodgings at the school for your services as a teacher.”

  Jane was taken by surprise.

  She had a small amount of money saved up and had hoped to rent a room somewhere until she could find work as a Governess.

  “What do you say?” Mrs. Mottram frowned. “I should think that you might be grateful to have the means of returning the kindness I have done to you in keeping you at the school for so long without any fees being paid.”

  “Yes – I – ”

  Deep down inside, Jane did not want to accept the offer, but she could not think how to refuse.

  “Good.” The frown melted from the Headmistress’s face. “I am glad you are showing such good sense, Jane. I must say, I have been quite worried that you might intend to continue your friendship with Adella May – ”

  “We will always be friends!” Jane said quickly.

  Mrs. Mottram shook her grey head.

  “It is one thing, Jane, to befriend Adella while you are schoolgirls. I had wondered in the past if it was wise to allow you to become so close.”

  “She is my dearest friend!”

  “Indeed. But pause and consider. Adella will come into a considerable fortune left to her when her father and mother so sadly passed away in India. She will be one of the richest young women in England. And you will be a penniless Governess. How may you continue to be friends in such different circumstances?”

  “What do you mean?”