Pure and Untouched Read online

  There was a touch of passion in Anoushka’s voice that had never been there before.

  As the Duke kissed away the last words, he felt as if the stars fell from the sky to envelop them and the love that they felt for each other carried them into a Garden of Eden, where they were alone and there was nothing else in the whole Universe but themselves and their love.

  *

  The Duke woke and realised that it was dawn.

  The light was coming between the wooden shutters that covered the small windows of the hut.

  The fire had burnt down to smouldering ashes, but it was warm and he knew now that the storm had passed and it would undoubtedly be a very hot day.

  Then he was aware that Anoushka was cuddled up against him, her head on his shoulder, her hair falling over his arm.

  He looked down at her and knew it was impossible for any man to be happier than he was.

  Last night when he had made her his, he was aware they had both touched the peaks of ecstasy which with all his experience he had not known existed.

  He had tried to be very gentle with her, but they had both been transported out of themselves into a rapture in which there was neither time nor space and they were blinded by the wonder of it.

  Only very much later when he had been able to think coherently did the Duke ask,

  “My precious, my darling, I have not hurt you?”

  “I love – you,” Anoushka said. “I love you – I love you – and I want to go on saying so over and over again, because it is – so glorious and even to speak the words is like hearing music.”

  “That is what I thought too and, my precious, I am very grateful to be alive and even more grateful to be here alone with you.”

  He kissed her hair before he said,

  “But I never imagined that I would make love to you for the first time in a wooden but and with only blankets on the bed.”

  “Does it matter?” Anoushka asked. “To me it is the most glorious place in the world! Perhaps it is a little planet all by itself to which we have managed to fly – and which therefore belongs only to us.”

  The Duke smiled.

  He was thinking of how his sister had said that to step outside the Convent would be for Anoushka to find herself on another planet.

  “All I know is,” he said aloud, “that because we are here I could not prevent myself telling you of my love, although it was something which was bound to happen sooner or later.”

  “I am glad it is sooner,” Anoushka said, moving a little nearer to him, “otherwise there might have been more days and weeks when you did not kiss me and I should never have known how wonderful your kisses could be.”

  “And when I made love to you?” the Duke asked.

  “I have no way to explain that,” she replied. “I only know that I became one with you and you were not a man but a God from Olympus, or perhaps an Archangel. Now I really belong to you and nobody can – take me from – you?”

  The last words were a question and the Duke’s arms suddenly tightened around her as he said fiercely,

  “I would kill anybody who tried to! You are mine, Anoushka! Mine, now and for Eternity and I will never lose you!”

  “That is what I want you to say.”

  She looked up at him and, while there was a smile on her lips, there was a touch of anxiety in her strange eyes as she said,

  “You told me I should feel jealous of you – but I did not – understand. Now I do. If you loved – anybody else but me – I think I should want to die!”

  “You need not be afraid of that. I have never really loved anybody but you. Like you I had no idea what real love was like until last night. I know now that in the past I was accepting second best, my beautiful darling, and it is something I shall never do again.”

  Anoushka put her small hand on his chest.

  “How can you be so wonderful?” she asked. “How can there be a man in the world like you, who loves me?”

  “You have not met many men, my darling,” the Duke said, “but even if you had I should still want you to think I am unique.”

  “But you are,” she said, “because I think when God made us He intended us for each other – or is that presumptuous of me?”

  “It is what you should think,” the Duke said firmly, “and what I think too. We were made for each other, Anoushka, and I can only be very very grateful that I have found you.”

  Anoushka gave a little cry.

  “Supposing you had not come to the Convent? Supposing you had married somebody else?”

  The Duke had a fleeting thought of Cleodel and realised that now she was no more than a ghost in his life and he could hardly remember what she looked like.

  “We should have trusted Fate,” he said. “Knowing that there is a Power that shapes our lives.”

  He spoke sincerely and thought it was something he would never have said a little while ago.

  He had thought himself so self-sufficient, so much the captain of his own destiny. Now he knew the Power of which he spoke had saved him from the destruction of a marriage which was based on deception and trickery and had taken him in his thirst for revenge to the Convent where he had found Anoushka.

  He turned round so that he could hold her closer to him.

  “We are neither of us going to look back on the past,” he said. “I have done many things, my darling, which I have no wish to discuss with you and which I do not wish you to know about. All I want to think of is the future – our future together.”

  “That is what I want too,” Anoushka answered, “and I will try every second, every minute and every hour of every day to make you happy.”

  She lifted her lips to his as she spoke and, as the Duke kissed her, he felt once again the fires of love burning within them and at the same time they were sanctified by a belief in the power of God that had never been there before.

  Anoushka was his, with her body, her heart and her mind. He knew as he made love to her that their souls were in a way he could not explain, part of the Divine which had brought them together.

  *

  The sun was shining brilliantly when the Duke finally opened the shutters and the door of the hut.

  Wearing a shirt that belonged to the doctor and a pair of trousers that were too long for him, he thought the world seemed to glow with a light that came from both himself and Anoushka.

  She was wearing the same shirt that she had worn during the night and her hair fell silkily over it.

  As she set the plates and cups on the table and found the food which the doctor had told her they could eat, she looked very alluring.

  Their own clothes were nearly dry, but the Duke said they should lay them out in the sun before they put them on.

  “When we have had breakfast,” he said, “I am going to swim in the sea.”

  “You are quite certain the exercise will not make your head ache?” Anoushka enquired.

  “I have forgotten about my head. I think loving you, my darling, is more efficacious than any cure the doctor could prescribe!”

  Anoushka laughed before she said,

  “You can always suggest that he tries it on his other patients!”

  The Duke turned from the open door to walk towards Anoushka and take her in his arms.

  “Every time I look at you,” he said, “you are lovelier than you were a moment before. I think it would be a mistake to waste time and money going back to civilisation. Let us live here for the rest of our lives and you can wear what you have on now, although actually I prefer you with nothing!”

  She laughed up at him completely unselfconsciously.

  “It might be rather cold in the winter,” she said. “The Russian winters, even in Odessa, can be very very cold.”

  The Duke looked at her.

  “Now you are going to tell me your secret?” he asked.

  “Not at this moment,” she replied. “I think you had a reason for bringing me to Odessa and that is where I will tell you what I have neve
r told anyone else.”

  “You shall have it your way, my darling one,” the Duke said, and kissed her, at first gently, then with a fierce, demanding passion which seemed part of the sun.

  *

  It was the following morning before the yacht steamed into Odessa Harbour.

  The doctor had kept his word and sent fishermen to tell the yacht where they were and it had actually arrived in the little bay near the hut at four o’clock in the afternoon.

  The doctor himself had reached them about midday and after they had thanked him he had gone fishing and once again they were alone in the hut.

  “I am so happy – I don’t want to be – rescued,” Anoushka sighed.

  “Nor do I,” the Duke replied.

  He shut the door and bolted it, then carried her back to bed and it was several hours later when they looked out to sea and saw the yacht steaming down the coast towards them.

  The Duke had never seen Odessa before, but it was just as he expected it to be.

  Beyond the harbour which was beautiful, he could see a great number of turrets and towers of the buildings which he knew from his study of Russia had been built by Prince Voronzov himself when he had become Governor-General of New Russia and Bessarabia and under his guidance the land around Odessa had flourished.

  The Duke was interested in seeing what he had read about the City, but equally it was difficult to think of anything but Anoushka.

  He knew by the way her eyes shone that she was excited and yet, when she slipped her hand into his, he knew she was also apprehensive.

  He had already found she had little endearing gestures he had never expected after growing used to her serenity and her innocently impersonal ways until now.

  As his fingers closed tightly over hers, he felt everything she did and everything she said brought him a new happiness and he had never known that he could feel so different or so complete as a man.

  He knew that he still had a great deal to teach her about love and that she was like the bud of a flower, its petals just opening to the sunshine.

  The fact that he was the sun to Anoushka made him feel proud and yet at the same time humble, as he had never humbled himself in the past.

  “I love you! I adore you!” he said to her a hundred times.

  Yet he knew that words were inadequate to express the breadth and depth of his love which grew every minute he was with her.

  The gangplank was let down and the Duke saw one of the Stewards hurry onto the quay.

  He had been told to procure for them a troika to carry them to where Anoushka wished to go and a few minutes later they saw one coming towards the ship.

  It was drawn by three horses and was painted and carved in a very attractive manner.

  The coachman with long hair, moustache and beard swept his strangely shaped cap from his head with a courteous gesture as Anoushka explained to him in Russian where they wished to go.

  She did not tell the Duke where she was taking him, but, as the horses started off at what seemed a tremendous pace, she put her arm into his and said,

  “This is something I never dreamed would happen.” “That you would come back here?” he asked.

  “That I should be able to do so without being afraid.” “Afraid?” he questioned.

  “No one can hurt me now that I am your wife, can they?”

  “No one!” the Duke insisted firmly.

  He laid his hand on hers and asserted,

  “I knew last night, when we loved each other that I would protect and fight for you and not allow anything or anybody ever to frighten you.”

  “I knew you felt like that,” she said simply, “and it makes me feel different from the way I have been able to feel all these years.”

  The Duke did not ask for an explanation. They were now climbing away from the lower part of the town where the harbour was situated to where high on the cliffs, which rose sheer above the sea, there were the beautiful buildings which had been erected by Prince Voronzov.

  They passed the Palace and then came to another very fine building which the expression on Anoushka’s face told the Duke meant something personal to her.

  The troika stopped and they both got out. He thought she would go to the front of the building, but instead she led the way to one side of it and the Duke realised it was a Chapel.

  It was ornately built and in Russian fashion was painted in brilliant colours with a gold dome shining brilliantly in the sun.

  The Duke opened the door and there was the scent of incense and he saw that, while the Chapel was not very large, it was very beautiful.

  There were ikons on the walls, silver lamps hanging from the ceiling and there were flowers, candles and an inescapable atmosphere of sanctity.

  Anoushka walked up the aisle and, as the Duke followed her, he saw kneeling ahead of the Sanctuary there was a Priest.

  He was obviously deep in prayer and as Anoushka stood still as if she was waiting for him, the Duke also waited watching her.

  Then, as if Anoushka’s presence communicated itself to the Priest, he rose to his feet and turned round.

  For one moment Anoushka was still and then she ran forward to kneel in front of him.

  The Priest spoke and the Duke fancied it was a question as if he asked what she needed.

  Then she looked up at him from her knees and said in Russian,

  “You don’t recognise me, Mon Pere, which is not surprising.”

  The Priest looked round and the Duke saw that he was a very old man and his hair was white and he thought perhaps he had difficulty in seeing clearly.

  Then he exclaimed also speaking first in Russian and then in French,

  “It cannot be – but it is! Anoushka! Ma petite! You are really here?”

  “I am really here, Mon Pere, and I have brought my husband to meet you.”

  “Your husband!” the Priest exclaimed.

  Anoushka rose and, as the Duke came forward, she said,

  “This is Father Alexis, who baptised me when I was born, instructed me in my faith and taught me my lessons before I went to the Convent.”

  The Duke held out his hand and the Priest bowed over it.

  “I am the Duke of Ravenstock, Father,” he said, “and as Anoushka has told you, we are married.”

  “I pray you will both be very happy,” the priest answered, “and you must tell me all about it, my children. Come with me.”

  He led the way out by another door and they found themselves in a cloister.

  The Priest took them through a door which led into what the Duke was sure was his own private house.

  It was small, austere, but at the same time beautiful and he led them into a room where, while the furniture was sparse, the walls were all decorated with very fine ikons.

  Anoushka gave a cry of delight,

  “This is where I came for my lessons and only when I reached the Convent did I realise how well you had taught me.”

  The Priest smiled.

  “I am glad about that, but let me look at you, Anoushka. You were a pretty child, but you have grown into a very beautiful woman.”

  Anoushka did not reply. She merely looked at the Priest as if she wanted him to say more and, as if he understood, he added,

  “You are very like your mother.”

  “That is what I wanted you to say!” Anoushka exclaimed, “but I think I have also a resemblance to Papa.”

  “How when you were loved so much could you be anything but like them both?” the Priest asked. “But you must sit down.”

  He indicated two chairs near each other with his hand and, when they had seated themselves, he said,

  “I am not surprised that you have married. I always felt somehow that you would not take the veil and, if it was God’s will, He would provide you with a very different life from that of a nun.”

  “God has been very very kind to me,” Anoushka said. “And now, please, as I have kept the secret of Papa and Mama all these years, will you tell my hus
band what happened, because, as you can imagine, he is very curious.”

  The Priest smiled.

  “That’s not surprising and, although you were very young, Anoushka, you were wise beyond your years and I knew you would never betray your father or do anything that might constitute a danger to him.”

  “It was not difficult to keep it a secret until I was married.” She gave the Duke a little understanding smile as she spoke and he said,

  “I am very anxious to hear what this momentous secret is.”

  “Let me start at the beginning,” the Priest said. “Anoushka’s mother was born in 1830 and she was a niece of Czar Nicholas.”

  “His niece?” the Duke murmured, realising the importance of her position.

  “Her Serene Highness Princess Natasha”, the Priest went on, “was born into a position of luxury and elegance that I am sure I need not describe to Your Grace.”

  The Duke inclined his head to show he understood and the Priest continued,

  “As she grew up, Her Serene Highness was very different from the other pleasure-loving Royalty at the Court of St. Petersburg. When she was twenty it was decided she should marry and a husband was chosen for her without her being consulted, which I am sure that Your Grace will understand is traditional.”

  “Of course,” the Duke agreed.

  “The Princess, however, was appalled by the suffering of the serfs and the poorer citizens of St. Petersburg and, disliking the man who had been chosen as her husband, she decided to withdraw from the world and enter a Convent.”

  The Duke was listening intently, but he did not interrupt as the priest carried on with the story,

  “Because she thought nobody would listen to her while she remained at Court, Her Serene Highness ran away and travelled before anybody could stop her to Odessa, where her father had a Palace he never used and which had over the years fallen into disrepair.

  “When the Princess arrived she was so beautiful, so young and so full of life, that I told her I thought it was a mistake for her to withdraw from the world and she should think over seriously what she was about to do before she finally committed herself.”

  The Priest smiled at Anoushka before he said,

  “As perhaps you will remember, my child, your mother was a very determined person and she told me that she had made up her mind. I think she was also afraid that if she did not do something quickly the Czar would have her brought back to St. Petersburg.”