Wish for Love Read online

  The Earl kissed her again until she asked,

  “What are we to say if we find your – sister is waiting for you when we go – back to the house? Surely she will think it – strange that you did not go to Madresfield, as you intended, and she has doubtless come here to find you?”

  “I have a feeling,” the Earl replied, “that she will not be particularly agitated about us. She will be quite happy sitting talking to your father.”

  “Papa loves having her to talk to.”

  “And my sister loves being with him.”

  The way he spoke made Mariota look at him in surprise.

  “You – do not mean – ?” she began.

  “Why not?” the Earl asked. “Your father is a very handsome man and, if my calculations are right, he is only about forty-three. If you are not there to look after him, Mariota, as you will not be, then my sister could manage very efficiently.”

  “I never thought of such a possibility,” Mariota exclaimed. “How stupid of me! But of course it’s a wonderful idea if only it comes true. Lady Coddington is so sweet and I know Papa has been very lonely, besides having been abjectly miserable since Mama died.”

  She gave a little sigh before she added,

  “We have all tried to do our best, but children are not the same as a – wife.”

  “Of course not,” the Earl agreed, “and if you love our children more than you love me, Mariota, I shall not only be very jealous, but also very unhappy.”

  “I could never love – anybody more than you,” Mariota answered. “But – it would be marvellous to have your children.”

  She spoke impulsively, thinking that the Earl had sometimes seemed like a schoolboy when he was ill, and it would be sublime to hold his son in her arms, and know that he needed her and her love.

  As if he understood what she was thinking, the Earl said,

  “How could I have ever imagined that I would be happy and my life complete without a family to fill my big house and of course to ride my horses?”

  Mariota laughed and he went on,

  “Do you realise, my darling one, I have never seen you on a horse? That is something else we will enjoy together, besides a million other things which will take me a lifetime to explain to you.”

  He put his fingers under her chin and tipped her face up to his before he said,

  “And now, without all the arguments I have had to endure so far, I shall be able to give you everything I want you to have, furs, jewels, in fact everything that makes a perfect background for your beauty.”

  “It all sounds very – exciting,” Mariota murmured, “but the only thing I really want is – your love.”

  *

  The Countess of Buckenham kissed her father goodbye then kissed her new stepmother with a warmth and affection that came from her heart.

  Even now it was incredible that everything in her life had changed so dramatically and yet so perfectly that it really seemed as if the genie she had wanted to conjure up had waved his magic wand and granted all her wishes.

  When she learned that Lady Coddington had promised to marry her father, Mariota had not only realised the Earl’s intuition was far more acute then hers, but it was also the best thing that could ever have happened.

  “I thought it would be Jeremy who would do up Queen’s Ford,” she said to the Earl, “and make it as it was in the past. But that might have been embarrassing for Papa. Now I know that Noreen will enjoy every moment of supervising its restoration, just as Papa will.”

  “Of course,” the Earl said, “and I have already decided, although I have not yet had time to tell you about it, that I shall offer Jeremy and Elizabeth my house at Newmarket where they can live until they find a home of their own. I am sure that even before he buys anything as necessary as a bed, Jeremy will buy horses!”

  “What a marvellous idea!” Mariota cried with delight. “How kind and understanding of you!”

  “I think when they return from their honeymoon,” the Earl went on, “it would be a great mistake for them to have to stay with the Duke, so when you send your message to The Morning Post to let them know they can return, it would be a good idea to add that they should get in touch with you first. We can then explain to them exactly what has happened.”

  Mariota slipped her hand into his.

  “You think of everything!” she said. “I cannot tell you what a relief it is not to know that I must do all the planning.”

  “I have a feeling,” the Earl replied, “that you will always be planning things for me and, when you have done so, pretending that they were my ideas in the first place.”

  Mariota laughed and put her cheek against his shoulder.

  “How did you guess that this is the way I inveigle Papa into doing the things I want?”

  “All women are born deceivers and schemers!”

  Mariota looked at him quickly to see if he was condemning her, then, as she saw the smile on his lips and in his eyes, she merely said,

  “I love you – and if I do get my own way it will only be through – love.”

  “That is what I am frightened of!” he answered, but she knew he was teasing her.

  It was, of course, the Earl who planned their wedding so perfectly that everybody agreed to his suggestions immediately.

  Because Lady Coddington had no desire to return to her own house in London, which she would have been obliged to do as soon as the Duke realised what had happened to his daughter, the Earl sent for his Chaplain in Oxfordshire to come to Queen’s Ford.

  Very early in the little Church in the Park he had married first Lord Fordcombe and Lady Coddington, then two hours later the Earl and Mariota.

  It was Lord Fordcombe who said firmly that he had no wish to have even his daughters at his wedding.

  “I am starting a new life,” he proclaimed, “and a new chapter of my own history, and during the ceremony I want to think only of Noreen.”

  Lynne had wanted to protest, but Mariota had understood.

  Her father had loved her mother and he had thought when she died that life would never be the same again.

  He had therefore buried himself in his book and tried not even to think about what happened outside it.

  Now in his new happiness he wanted, as he said himself, to start again and forget the suffering and misery of what had happened before.

  He and Lady Coddington had therefore driven together from Queen’s Ford to the Church in a closed carriage belonging to the Earl.

  After they were married, they came back to the house and were alone together without anybody disturbing them until two hours later when the new Lady Fordcombe drove back to the Church with Lynne, while Mariota followed in another carriage with her father.

  Once again the Church was quiet and empty and there was no one to stare at them and no friends to be surprised at the secrecy of the ceremony. But Mariota felt as if the Forde ancestors who meant so much to her father were all present, giving her their blessing.

  She thought too when she and the Earl said their vows and were joined together there was music flowing from the arched roof as if there was a choir of angels singing the melodies of her dreams.

  Because the Earl, ever since they had first known they could be together, had heaped her with presents, she was wearing not only the most beautiful wedding gown she could ever imagine, but also a wreath of diamonds on her head fashioned in the shape of flowers.

  She had also a necklace and bracelet of the same stones that he told her was only the beginning of the gifts he wished to give her.

  She knew when she looked in the mirror before she left the Church that she was not only beautiful and exactly as if she had stepped out of her own dreams, but also the Earl’s.

  When he took her hand in front of the altar, she felt so close to him in her mind, heart and soul that she thought not even the Blessing of God could make them closer than they were already.

  ‘We have belonged together all through Eternity,’ Mariota thought
and thanked God that they had found each other and she was no longer alone and frightened as she had been in the past.

  “The only person who has been left out,” Lynne complained when she heard of all the plans that were being made by the Earl, “is me! First Jeremy is married, then Mariota is to be married and so is Papa. It’s not fair!”

  “I have not forgotten you,” the Earl replied. “In fact Mariota and I have talked a great deal about you. Do you want to hear what we have decided?”

  “I am glad you have even thought of me!” Lynne answered sarcastically.

  “I have been to see Mrs. Fellows,” Mariota said, “and she is delighted to have you to stay at The Grange with Elaine until the end of the summer. You will have your own horse to ride there, which you will keep in the Squire’s stables, and there will be more horses in the winter so that you can hunt both from The Grange, if you wish to, or from here.”

  “Hunt?” Lynne cried excitedly.

  “But actually,” Mariota went on, “you are going to do something very exciting first.”

  “What is that?”

  “Alvic thought it would be very educational both for you and for Elaine,” Mariota replied, “if you saw a little Europe in the autumn and improved both your French and Italian.”

  Lynne’s eyes were like stars.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Alvic has arranged,” Mariota went on, “that you and Elaine with a Governess and a courier and a number of other people to look after you, will go first to Paris where you will see the museums and will also be entertained by some friends of the Earl’s who have girls of your age and from there you will visit Florence and Rome.”

  Lynne gave a cry that was a shriek of excitement.

  “I cannot – believe it! Can we – really do that?”

  “It is all arranged,” Mariota replied. “Then next year you will come out and Papa will give a ball for you here and there will also be one in London, one at Buckenham House and another in Oxfordshire.”

  Lynne was speechless with joy.

  Then she flung her arms around the Earl and kissed him.

  “Only you could think of anything so wonderful!” she said. “It’s the most exciting plan I have ever heard!”

  “I hoped you would think so,” the Earl replied, “and I promise you that you will be the toast of St. James’s! But I would also like you to be knowledgeable as well as beautiful.”

  “I will be the cleverest debutante who ever made her curtsey to the King!” Lynne promised and the Earl laughed.

  “How can you be so kind to my family and arrange anything so fantastic?” Mariota asked him when they were alone.

  “I must confess it is an entirely selfish action on my part,” he replied, “simply because I have no wish to see that worried look in your eyes or know that you are fussing over them when you should be fussing over me!”

  She knew he was making light of what had involved a great deal of thought and organising and she said,

  “It#s impossible to say thank you any more, so I shall just say I love you!”

  “That is all I want to hear,” the Earl sighed and kissed her.

  Now, as Lynne showered them with rose petals, they ran down the steps to climb into the phaeton which, drawn by six horses, was waiting for them, Mariota remembered her three wishes.

  Already Queen’s Ford seemed to glow with glory, which once again would be there when her father and his new wife had finished restoring it.

  “Good luck! Have a lovely time!” Lynne was shouting and Mariota waved until the little party on the steps was out of sight.

  Then, as she moved a little closer to her husband, he looked down at her with an expression of happiness that made him appear younger and more handsome than he had ever looked before.

  “Happy, my darling?” he asked.

  “I am floating on clouds in a dream,” Mariota answered. “Is it really true that we are married and I am your wife?”

  “I will answer that question a little later,” the Earl said, “but I feel too as if I am driving across the sky rather than on the earth.”

  They passed the little Church where they had been married and Mariota smiled,

  “I knew when you put your ring on my finger that the angels were singing and I can still hear their music and feel that even your horses are moving to the rhythm of it.”

  “You can play it to me when we get home,” the Earl said. “It is something we have never had time to do until now.”

  “I hope you will not be disappointed.”

  “Could anything you do or say disappoint me?” the Earl asked. “I love you so much, my darling, that I feel it would be impossible to love you any more and yet I know that tonight, when I hold you in my arms in my own house, I will be aware of what I have always missed in the past and our love will be even greater and more overwhelming than it is at the moment.”

  “That is what I feel too,” Mariota said, “and when I am really your wife – all my dreams will have come true.”

  She knew because she was so closely attuned to him that what she had said excited him.

  Although he was too experienced a driver to hurry his horses unnecessarily, she was aware that he was driving as fast as possible, so that they would reach his house in Oxfordshire without being over-tired.

  Actually, because the Earl was so experienced with the reins, they turned in through the magnificent iron gates of Buckenham Park just before four o’clock and the sun, warm and golden, enveloped the great house with an aura of gold.

  It was very different from Queen’s Ford and yet in its own way as beautiful and so large and magnificent that it was like its owner.

  “Welcome home, my darling!” the Earl proposed gently.

  Mariota looked at the house wide-eyed and felt, because it was so very big and impressive, a little afraid.

  She put her hand on her husband’s knee and said in a small voice,

  “You will be – there?”

  “Always,” he answered, “and, because we are together, nothing else is of any importance.”

  “Of course not,” Mariota agreed and she was smiling.

  There were a large number of servants waiting to greet them and, when they had drunk a glass of champagne with the Earl’s secretary, Mariota was taken upstairs to a bedroom where all the Countesses of Buckenham had slept since the house was built.

  Like the State rooms at Queen’s Ford it was very impressive, but so large that she felt for the moment as if she might be lost beneath the painted ceiling supported by its marble and gold pillars and the great draped bed surmounted by a coronet supported by cupids.

  Then the Earl was beside her and, when she had taken off her bonnet and her cloak, he drew her into a boudoir that adjoined her bedroom and communicated with his and closed the door behind them.

  The whole room was decorated with white lilies, camellias and orchids, but when she would have looked at them the Earl swept her into his arms and his lips were on hers.

  He kissed her until she felt once again that he was lifting her even higher into the sky than she was already, the stars glittered around them, the sun burned in their breasts and the music that had been playing all day seemed to burst into a crescendo of glory.

  “I love you!” the Earl cried. “I love you, darling, and now you are home and we are together, I need never again be afraid of losing you.”

  She knew as he spoke that he was still thinking of the suffering they had both endured when he had thought he must go to Madresfield and marry Elizabeth.

  Mariota pressed herself closer to him and put her arm around his neck so that his face was near to hers.

  “I love you – I adore you!” she said. “And, although your house is magnificent, I would feel just the same if we had to live in a cottage or even a cave in the mountains.”

  Her voice was anxious as she went on,

  “You have given me such marvellous presents – but the most wonderful of them all are your kis
ses – and I keep wondering how I can – express my gratitude not only to you but also – to God.”

  “You can only thank me by loving me,” the Earl said. “I want your love, and because it is mine, I am also grateful, very very grateful.”

  He spoke almost as insistently as she had and then he gave a little laugh.

  “And all this has happened,” he said, “because Jeremy wanted some new clothes!”

  Because it sounded so absurd, Mariota laughed too.

  Then the Earl drew her across the sitting room through a door at the end of it that led into his own bedroom.

  It was even more magnificent than the one that was hers, and there was something too that was very masculine about it, which made it seem a very appropriate background for the Earl.

  “You have had a long journey, my darling,” he said, “but I also know that there are at least three hours to wait before dinner and I think you should rest.”

  “Yes – of course,” Mariota said obediently. “Shall I go to my own – room?”

  There was a little twist to the Earl’s lips as he looked down at her that told her how happy he was.

  “I want you to rest with me,” he said, “and that is a polite word for it.”

  As she suddenly realised what he meant, her eyes dropped shyly and the colour rose in her cheeks.

  “Oh, my darling, I will not make you do anything you do not wish to do, but I have wanted for a very long time for you to be my wife.”

  Mariota looked at him questioningly and he explained,

  “It may be only a few days by the calendar, but every minute I have not had you in my arms has seemed like a century and every second at least a year, but whichever way you add it up, it has been far too long.”

  Mariota gave a little laugh.

  Then, as the Earl pulled her closer and still closer to him, she was conscious of the great curtain-draped bed behind them and the cupids that climbed up the carved posts and rioted over the golden canopy.

  Everywhere she looked, Mariota thought, there was an emblem of love.

  Then she could think of nothing except her husband, of his arms, his lips and the fire of love rising like burning flames within them both.