A Road to Romance Read online

  “Well, now I am going to take you up to your rooms,” Lady Cecily replied. “Batley will take this little boy to his wife and I am sure that she would like to look after him.”

  Mrs. Batley was the cook and Velina remembered her as a very friendly woman. When she was small and had stayed with her aunt, Mrs. Batley had always cooked special dishes for her and sent her favourite cakes up to the nursery.

  They walked from the room and along the passage.

  As they did so, they saw a carriage moving away from the front door.

  It contained Velina’s stepfather.

  She was so thrilled to see him departing that she slipped her arm into the Marquis’s.

  “He has gone back to London!” she cried.

  “I thought he would,” the Marquis replied. “Forget him! You need never see him again.”

  “If that is not true, at least he will not interfere,” Lady Cecily said. “I always thought him a snob when he was married to your mother. I am quite certain now as you are to marry Neil that he will be trying to ingratiate himself with you rather than fighting against your marriage.”

  “I am so glad, so very glad about that,” Velina said.

  The Marquis smiled down at her.

  “I am still prepared to run away with you if it is necessary!” he told her.

  Velina then pressed her cheek onto his arm and he thought it was a very touching gesture.

  Batley moved from the front door, which had been closed by one of the footmen.

  Lady Cecily went up to him.

  “I want you, Batley, to take this boy to your wife. He has ridden a very long way with Lady Velina and his Lordship and I am sure he must be thirsty and tired.”

  “My wife’d love to look after him,” Batley said.

  He put out his hand and took hold of Johnny’s.

  “Come along and let’s see what we can find for you and that nice dog to eat. I expects he’s hungry too.”

  “We ’ad a good luncheon,” Johnny told him, “but we ’ad no tea and Jimmie’s always ’ungry at this hour.”

  “And you are too,” Bates said. “Now come along, young man.”

  They disappeared down the passage that led to the kitchen and Velina and the Marquis followed Lady Cecily up the stairs.

  “As I told you,” Lady Cecily said to the Marquis, “there is a surprise for you in this room.”

  She opened the door.

  To his astonishment the Marquis saw Herbert, his trusty valet, standing by the dressing table.

  “Herbert!” he exclaimed. “How on earth did you get here?”

  Herbert laughed.

  “I thought your Lordship’d be surprised. I drove up rather than goin’ by sea as you had suggested. At the first hotel I stayed at I found Lady Velina’s stepfather who said his stepdaughter had run away from him. His valet and I became friendly and he tells me that the young lady was bein’ forced by her stepfather into matrimony to a man who was after her money.”

  Velina was listening wide-eyed at what was being said, as Herbert continued,

  “His valet and I arranged to meet at the next place, which was on the main road. It was there the three men turned up to say they’d seen her Ladyship on Fireball, but you’d escaped during the night.”

  The Marquis laughed.

  “It was very clever the way we did that.”

  “So I gathers, my Lord,” Herbert said. “But her Ladyship’s stepfather went into a terrible rage and said that they wouldn’t have a penny from him unless they found you again. It was then I learns that he thought her Ladyship was goin’ to her aunt in Yorkshire. He said the man who was with her was ridin’ a horse called Samson.”

  Again the Marquis laughed.

  “So that is how you found out where I was.”

  “I didn’t have to put two and two together to guess that,” Herbert replied, “so I comes here. But, of course, I didn’t tell them who you was, my Lord, as you’d told me you was travellin’ in disguise for a bet.”

  “I have not had time to tell you everything, but you shall hear it all tonight. All I can say is that I am delighted to see you, Herbert, and I will have a change of clothes. I am sick to death of being Mr. Barlow in this outfit!”

  “I’m not surprised, my Lord.”

  As he had his bath, the Marquis was wondering whether his adventures, which certainly were fantastic and would please the Duke, would be topped by those that Lord Alfred would encounter on his journey to Land’s End.

  ‘At least we will have something to talk about,’ he said to himself, ‘when we next meet at White’s.’

  Then he found it difficult to think of anything but Velina.

  She and Lady Cecily left the Marquis talking to his valet and crossed the corridor to where there was a lovely room with a four-poster bed.

  A maid was unpacking the things that Fireball had carried for her.

  “It’s not fair,” Velina said. “Neil has all his best clothes with him, but I only have one dress that I am tired of wearing.”

  “I am sure we can find you something, my dearest child,” her aunt said. “Your cousin, Arabella, often stays here and last time she told me that she had left many of her clothes behind when she went to Edinburgh.”

  “Oh, please Aunt Cecily, find one pretty dress for me so that I will look attractive for Neil.”

  “I will,” Lady Cecily said. “So come now and look in the room Arabella always has when she stays here.”

  They found the room further down the passage and, at the wardrobe, Velina gave a cry of delight.

  Her cousin, Arabella, was just the same size as she was and she had left a large selection of evening gowns.

  “I am sure they will fit you and anything that is too big can be pinned to make it smaller,” her aunt advised.

  Velina kissed her and went on,

  “Thank you, thank you, for being so kind to me. I was so frightened that you would be shocked by Neil and send him away.”

  “My dearest, I am simply thrilled that you are to marry anyone so delightful. His father and yours were the greatest of friends. Although unfortunately your father died early in the War you must be aware of how popular he was with all the people who really mattered and that, of course, included the Marquis of Whisinford.”

  Velina kissed her aunt again.

  Then she went to her bedroom for a scented bath and to be helped into the evening dress that belonged to her cousin. It was a very soft pink trimmed with real lace and embroidered with diamanté on the bodice.

  Then when she went down the stairs, she felt that at last the Marquis would see her the way she wanted to look.

  Batley was in the hall and Velina said to him,

  “I feel that I have rather neglected Johnny. Is he all right with you?”

  “Come and see him, my Lady,” Batley suggested.

  He took her down the passage to the kitchen and, as he opened the door, Velina heard Johnny laughing.

  They went in and he was sitting at the kitchen table eating what appeared to be something really delicious from the plate in front of him.

  However, when he saw her, he then jumped down and ran towards her saying,

  “I’ve somethin’ special to show you! Something you’ll think very lovely, miss.”

  Velina took his hand in hers as he pulled her across the kitchen.

  In the far corner, she saw a collie dog sitting in a large basket and beside the dog were two small puppies.

  “They were born two days ago,” Johnny was saying excitedly. “I’ve been tryin’ to think of names for them.”

  “I am sure that you can think of very good ones,” Velina answered. “But what does Jimmie think about it?”

  “He likes them very much as I do and I’m goin’ to play with them when they’re bigger.”

  Velina looked up at Batley and smiled.

  “He loves all animals,” she told him, “and he has ridden a long way. In fact he is a very sporting little boy.”

&
nbsp; “That’s what I thought,” Batley replied.

  Velina moved to one side so that she could speak to Batley without Johnny hearing.

  “He is an orphan,” she told him. “Both his father and mother are dead and his only relation is a cruel wicked man.”

  “I know what you’re saying alright, my Lady. It’ll be a miracle for the Missus to look after him. She’s been ever so miserable ever since our little ’un passed over and already she’s smiling as I’ve not seen her smile for weeks.”

  “I cannot imagine two people more suitable to look after Johnny than you and Mrs. Batley,” Velina murmured.

  She thought as she spoke that tomorrow she would give Batley some money to spend on clothes for Johnny and would make him understand that she was responsible for any expenses that he and his wife may incur.

  “I thinks,” he was saying, “the little boy’d be happy if he slept down here next to us. I’ve told him he can have the room that opens into the garden so that his dog can run out whenever he wants to.”

  “That will be wonderful,” Velina agreed. “I know that he will be very happy with so many animals including, of course, the horse the Marquis has given him.”

  “He’ll be fine with us. So you don’t need to worry your head about him, my Lady. We’ll make a good home for him and that’s what every child needs.”

  “It certainly is,” Velina agreed.

  She thanked Mrs. Batley profusely, kissed Johnny, who was still thinking of names for the new puppies, and then went back with Batley to the front of the house.

  As she entered the drawing room, she realised that she was now seeing the Marquis as he should look, in full evening dress with a pearl stud on his chest and buttons to match on his waistcoat.

  In his satin breeches and silk stockings he looked very different from how Neil Barlow had looked.

  For a moment they just gazed at each other.

  Then, as they were alone, the Marquis held out his arms and Velina ran towards him.

  He kissed her until the whole room seemed to be spinning round.

  Then he declared,

  “You are lovely, you are adorable and, my darling, the Fairytale has come to its traditional ending.”

  “Of course it has,” Velina whispered. “I love you, I love you, Neil, and we will live happily ever after.”

  Then the Marquis was kissing her again.

  Kissing her until they felt they reached the stars.

  They had found the other half of themselves.

  They had found the sublime love that comes from God and which Velina had always prayed for.

  It was a love that came not only from their hearts but from their souls.

  “I love you, I adore you,” the Marquis was saying as he kissed her again.

  Then he went on kissing her.

  And Velina knew that their Divine love, which can only come from God, was all theirs for this life and for all Eternity, for ever and always.

  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