Double the Love Read online

  Double the Love

  BARBARA CARTLAND

  www.barbaracartland.com

  Copyright © 2014 by Cartland Promotions

  First published on the internet in March 2015

  ISBNs

  978-1-78213-652-1 Print

  978-1-78213-688-0 Epub

  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

  DOUBLE THE LOVE

  She and Lorenc were now sitting at the rough-hewn trestle where the brigands often dined and he slammed his fist down hard on the surface.

  “I swear you need a beating, Lady. What other way will they find the money to continue their struggle?”

  “What struggle?” asked Ariana.

  Lorenc then drew in his breath in the manner of one who has revealed more than he intended.

  “Hunting, fishing, growing food, this keeps a man’s body alive,” he said in a low voice. “But then the hope of justice and the means to acquire it needs money. And if you and your companion might prove a means to an end, they will use you.”

  “Why, you are no better than – beasts of the field,” retorted Ariana, with no clear thought behind her words.

  Lorenc’s eyes blazed. Reaching across the table, he gripped Ariana so hard by the chin that she could not avoid his gaze.

  Then he stood, leaned over and brought his angry lips to hers. His kiss was rough, brutal and intense and when he released her she could barely breathe.

  “So does a beast of the field kiss!” he said coldly and stalked away.

  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

  Soft, sweet & Gentle

 
An Archangel Called Ivan

  A Prisoner in Paris

  Danger in the desert

  Rescued by Love

  A Road to Romance

  A Golden Lie

  A heart of stone

  The Earl Elopes

  A Wilder Kind of Love

  The Bride Runs Away

  Beyond the Horizon

  Crowned by Music

  Love solves the Problem

  Blessing of the Gods

  Love by Moonlight

  Saved by the Duke

  A Train to Love

  Wanted - A Bride

  Double the Love

  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.

  “I have always thought that there was something terribly romantic about being abducted by a tall good-looking brigand and taken away to his cave in the mountains, but be warned, it rarely happens outside my novels!”

  Barbara Cartland

  CHAPTER ONE 1871

  Konstantin Bardici raised an eyebrow as his niece approached the breakfast table.

  “You are late, Ariana.”

  Ariana looked quickly at the blue ormolu clock on the mantelpiece. Breakfast was at eight o’clock sharp and it was now four minutes past.

  “I am sorry, Uncle Konstantin,” she said.

  If she had arrived only five minutes early, he would probably have complained that she was intruding upon his few minutes’ privacy before the affairs of the day began.

  She glanced at the large pile of letters on the silver salver by his elbow.

  She wondered at the small square box sitting amid the envelopes. Had that arrived this morning too?

  Her uncle’s voice roused her from her thoughts.

  “Since you finished with your schooling you have become somewhat idle in your habits.”

  Ariana sighed.

  “I would not be idle, Uncle, if I had actually been educated to do something.”

  “I’m not sure that I like your tone, Miss Dancer.”

  ‘Miss Dancer!’ Ariana grimaced to herself. This was the title her uncle used to remind her that she was, and had been for some years now, utterly in his power.

  “All I am trying to say, Uncle, is that I have few accomplishments that would afford me a way of using my leisure time to some purpose.”

  “You play the piano,” he persisted.

  “Every young woman of my age plays the piano.”

  He leaned on the table with hands under his chin.

  “But not every young woman speaks Albanian.”

  Ariana lowered her eyes.

  “No, I suppose they don’t,” she conceded, a weary edge to her voice.

  Her uncle tapped his fingers together.

  “That in itself should remind you that you are not and never will be like every young woman. Neither was your mother. She forgot that fact and paid the price. I do not expect you to make the same mistake.”

  Ariana reddened. The mistake that her mother had made was to marry without her family’s permission.

  “I don’t consider marrying for love a mistake,” she said with as much defiance as she could muster.

  Her uncle snorted,

  “Love! What good is love? What did it do for my sister, Mariamne?”

  Ariana then drew in her breath painfully. How often was this exchange with her uncle to recur in the future?

  “What did it do for Mariamne?” he repeated.

  “It made her happy,” returned Ariana softly.

  “Happy!” He lowered his hands and thumped the table. “Who was she to have the right to be happy? The daughter of an Albanian aristocrat, who once owned land from Berat to Fieri. Land that was lost when we were driven from our country by all those Ottomans with their fezes and hookahs! It was her duty to marry an Albanian and carry on the sacred blood tie with her country.”

  Ariana waited patiently. She was well used to these unreasonable outbursts from her uncle.

  How many times had she heard of the flight of the Nationalist Bardiccis in 1862 from political repression in the lowlands of Albania? Her ailing widowed grandfather had arrived in London with only his fifteen year old son, eighteen year old daughter and a bag of jewellery that had enabled him to find a lucrative niche in the banking world.

  As her uncle ranted on, her gaze moved from his shaking jowls to the portrait on the wall of her grandfather, Felim Bardici.

  Plump and sour, he looked like his son, her Uncle Konstantin. And then next to her grandfather was Ariana’s pretty grandmother and she looked just like her daughter Mariamne, Ariana’s mother.

  Ariana knew how her mother looked, as among the meagre possessions she had brought into her uncle’s house was a miniature of her.

  It was lovingly painted by the husband for whom Mariamne had relinquished her family almost as soon as she arrived in England – Simon Dancer.

  Of Simon, her father, Ariana had no image but the one etched in her memory.

  He had been a portrait painter, engaged to teach the restless Mariamne about art. She had fallen in love with him and, when her father objected, the couple had eloped.

  In response Felim Bardici had immediately cut his daughter off without a penny and he had died without ever setting eyes on his granddaughter, Ariana.

  She had often wondered whether his vengeful spirit would have been gratified to learn that the daughter and son-in-law he had repudiated had barely outlived him, both succumbing to typhoid in the summer of 1866.

  Thinking on the short and sad lives of her parents Ariana’s eyes filled with tears.

  She barely remembered her father and mother, but the love they had felt for each other burned like a beacon in her heart and she wanted no less for herself.

  “Are you listening, Ariana?” Her uncle’s eye was sharp and he had noticed her wandering attention.

  “Yes, Uncle.”

  “Your mother was educated, as were you, in order to be able to dedicate her future to her ancestral homeland. Her schooling was, if you like, a political strategy.”

  Ariana stiffened with sudden alarm. Her uncle had never quite referred to her mother’s education and her own as ‘political strategy’ and she struggled to remember what aspect of her schooling might come under such a heading.

  She had been sent away to
be educated almost as soon as she had passed into her uncle’s sole Guardianship.

  Thirteen years ago he had been a mere twenty years of age and had made it clear that he had no intention of devoting his precious bachelor days, now his father was dead, to the care of his orphaned four year old niece.

  Rizgard Academy was a school for the children of European émigrés and Ariana had mixed with the offspring of exiled Princes, deposed tyrants and expelled Ministers. Ariana could not see how any of this befitted her to be part of some ‘political strategy’ unless that aspect of her education was the language lessons during the holidays.

  While Uncle Konstantin travelled in Europe, Ariana had spent every summer in his airless study with a crusty old Albanian lady, who taught her to speak the language of a country she never thought she would visit.

  She took a deep breath and asked her uncle,

  “What did you mean by – ‘political strategy’?”

  “In what context?”

  “You said that my mother was educated in order to be able to dedicate her life – to her ancestral homeland,” Ariana reminded him. “You said that it was a kind of – ”

  “ – political strategy,” took up her uncle. “Yes, yes. What I meant was that in Albania marriages are arranged so as to strengthen ties between important families. So you could say that marriages have a political significance. And arranging them requires political strategy.”

  “You mean it was intended that my mother should marry an Albanian, Uncle?”

  “Quite!” he said and signalled to the maid to leave.

  Ariana met her uncle’s gaze with trepidation. She now sensed that the whole confrontation this morning had a purpose, a purpose that would not be to her liking.

  “So when my mother – ran away with my father – it was then a double blow to the family? They lost not only a daughter but – a political pawn?” she asked.

  Uncle Konstantin drew back in distaste.

  “What a way to put it!”

  “How else should I put it, Uncle?” Ariana sighed.

  “You could put it this way. Mariamne lost a great opportunity to do her family and her homeland a service. Had she married, as was intended, an Albanian Prince, she would have forged a link between his family and ours that might have served us well.”

  There was silence for a moment.