A Heaven on Earth Read online

  And then she could feel both of them melt into one with all the sweetness and burgeoning life of the glorious spring day around them.

  She drank his kiss into the very depths of her being.

  “From the first moment I met you,” the Earl was saying as he broke off from the kiss and leant his face next to hers, “I loved you. I wanted you near me. I could not bear to think of you with another.”

  “I was never, never – ” Aurora began, but the Earl grasped her arms in his hands and held her away from him so he could see her face.

  “Please, Miss Hartnell, will you be my wife?”

  The Earl stood before her and she saw for a second a great vulnerability in his dark eyes, as he continued,

  “Will you stay by my side for the rest of our lives and never leave me?”

  “For Eternity, I will be with you,” she whispered and closed her eyes, almost fainting as he bent to kiss her again.

  The short spring day was ending and the light was beginning to fade, as they made their way back to The Hall.

  The Earl held Aurora’s hand tightly in his as she explained that she could not yet leave her Papa, until she was sure that he was truly well again.

  “I will wait for you, my darling,” he said, drawing her to him, and she felt his deep voice vibrate through her being, “for as long as you wish.”

  “My heart is in your keeping, my time is yours to command, my Lord.”

  And Aurora turned to him, as they stood outside the front door of Hadleigh Hall and felt again the timeless and Heavenly blessing of his passionate lips on hers.

  *

  Lord Hartnell seemed to gain strength as the days grew longer and it was just a few weeks later that he was well enough to be wrapped up and carried to his carriage for the short journey to Linford Castle.

  The clouds of daffodils and primroses that grew in little clumps in the courtyard raised their glowing heads to the sun.

  In The Castle’s Chapel the light poured in through the windows in fountains of vivid colour.

  These drew flashing sparkles from the tiny crystals and pearls that covered nearly all the glorious white gown of the young girl who had just become a wife.

  Aurora stood very still, happiness flooding through her heart as her body tingled with excitement.

  She gazed at the smooth golden band on her finger.

  She did not need to look at the tall handsome man, her husband, who stood beside her.

  With every nerve in her body she felt his presence and his love, filling her with the sweet fire of passion and yet holding her safe.

  The Earl’s Chaplain, Mr. Bramley’s cousin, Arthur, who had only just returned from performing the nuptials of Miss Morris in Cornwall, was still speaking.

  Aurora smiled as she peered over her shoulder at the altar where another marriage was taking place.

  A tall redheaded man, swathed in a fine tartan kilt that revealed his splendid muscular legs, stood there, and, at his side, a small dark-haired woman in a demure pearl coloured dress and veil.

  “What is it, my dear love?” the Earl asked softly.

  “I am just so happy,” murmured Aurora, “that clever Phyllis has found a way to stay with me and be married to the man she loves.”

  The Earl laughed.

  “She has had her eye on my Duncan from the very beginning, I think, and I could not wish her a finer match.”

  He took Aurora by the hand and led her out into the courtyard, where a group of local musicians were playing on fiddles and pipes.

  Lord Hartnell was there comfortably tucked into a large wheelchair and he smiled and raised his thin hand to the two of them, his old blue eyes shining with happiness.

  The Earl waved back and then turned to Aurora and looked her up and down, his eyes shining.

  “Your wedding dress is so very perfect,” he sighed, “for, like you, it is as pure and as beautiful as the sunshine falling on a field of snow.”

  Aurora’s heart swelled as she remembered looking out over the Park at Hadleigh Hall after the snowstorm and seeing it shining like a field of tiny diamonds.

  She knew that her Mama had been beside her then and perhaps had even known of this incredible happiness that awaited her.

  “But now, my darling wife,” the Earl was saying, “surely it is my turn for you to work your magic upon my home. I think you promised me once that you would lift the sadness that has always plagued this place, just as I know you did at Valley Farm and at Treworra House.”

  Aurora looked around the courtyard at the flowers and the happy smiling faces –

  And at gracious old Linford Castle, which had been festooned with blossoms and greenery for their wedding.

  She could not see darkness anywhere or feel any sadness.

  Instead, with a shock of delight, she seemed to hear the happy voices of children and thought she saw a troop of little ones running out of the door of The Castle to play in the courtyard.

  “There is no need,” she breathed. “For there is so much Love here that all the sadness has fled.

  “There is nothing here, I can certainly assure you, my wonderful husband, but happiness, beauty and joy.

  “Surely this must be a Heaven on Earth!”

  The Earl caught her in his arms and spun her round, her white skirts billowing out like the petals of a flower, as her heart lifted to join his in an ecstasy of Love.

  For all Eternity and beyond, for ever.

  Where to buy other titles in this series

  The Barbara Cartland Pink collection is available for download at the following online bookshops :-

  www.barnesandnoble.com - epub format for the Nook eReader

  www.whsmith.co.uk - epub format for the Smiths/Kobo eReader

  www.firstyfish.com - epub format

  ebookstore.sony.com - epub format for Sony eReaders

  www.amazon.co.uk - For UK Kindle users

  www.amazon.com - For international Kindle users

  itunes.apple.com - for Apple iOS users

  www.barbaracartland.com - Printed paperbacks