69 Love Leaves at Midnight Read online

  “‘What has happened?’ I asked. ‘Why do you speak like that?’

  “‘I cannot imagine why you thought I should want to go on a honeymoon,’ you replied. ‘I told you when we became engaged that, while I would do what you wished in public, my private life was my own!’

  “‘Have you gone mad?’ I enquired, ‘and why are you talking like this after all we said to each other last night?’

  “You shrugged your shoulders and walked to the window.

  “‘Let me make it clear,’ you replied in a hard voice, ‘I wish to stay in Molnár for the next few weeks and nothing will make me go anywhere else!’

  “I felt as if I must be in a nightmare,” the King confessed.

  There was a note in his voice, which told Xenia that he had not only been surprised but also deeply hurt.

  Because she could not bear to think that he had suffered even for a moment, she put her arm round his neck and pressed her cheek against his.

  “For a moment I could not think,” he continued. “I just knew that something quite extraordinary had happened, but my brain would not take it in. It was not you and yet you looked as beautiful as ever. Your red hair glittered in the sunshine and your eyes were entrancingly green.

  “‘What has happened?’ I asked again.

  “‘Nothing has happened,’ you snapped. ‘It’s just that you are changing the arrangements we made in Prussen. Send the carriages away and give orders that we shall be staying here in the Palace.’

  “‘And if I refuse?’ I enquired.

  “You turned round to the window and said,

  “‘Then you can go on your honeymoon by yourself, why not take Elga with you?’

  “I knew then that it was not you speaking. It was someone who looked like you and spoke like you, but – ”

  The King paused before he added,

  “It flashed through my mind that you had a split personality or perhaps the stories of witchcraft when a woman’s body can be possessed by a demon were true.”

  Xenia kissed his cheek consolingly as he continued,

  “There was a knock at the door and, with what I thought was a note of relief in your voice, you called, ‘come in!’

  “It was Count Gáspar.

  “‘Excuse me, Your Majesty,’ he said, ‘but the Dowager Grand Duchess is very anxious to have a word with you before she leaves.’

  “Because I was so bewildered, so utterly stunned by what had happened,” the King went on, “I followed the Count down the stairs to the hall.

  “‘Forgive me for disturbing you, István,’ the Grand Duchess said, ‘but there is something I forgot to tell you yesterday which I feel is important.’

  “‘What is it?’ I asked, not really interested.

  “‘I want you as soon as possible to take Johanna to see her grandfather.’

  “‘But why?’ I asked.

  “‘Because King Constantine is not in good health and I suspect has not very long to live,’ the Grand Duchess replied.

  “I did not speak, finding it hard to think of anything but what had just occurred upstairs and the Grand Duchess, misunderstanding my silence, said,

  “‘I know you have found him difficult in the past, István, but he has changed since he has been ill. In fact you will hardly believe it, but the other day he actually spoke of Lilla!’

  “Again I did not reply and she chattered on,

  “‘Perhaps you have forgotten who Lilla is, because no one ever dares to mentions her name. But she is in fact the twin sister of Johanna’s mother.’

  “‘Twin sister?’ I exclaimed.

  “‘But you must have been told,’ the Grand Duchess said, ‘that Dorottyn had a twin sister called Lilla who ran away most reprehensibly with an Englishman and a commoner. We were all forbidden ever to mention her, but I think the King now he is dying is softening in his attitude towards her.’

  “‘Twin sister!’ I repeated.

  “‘They were identical,’ my aunt said. ‘Absolutely identical!’ She said that no one could tell them apart, but she had always thought that Lilla was the softer, sweeter of the two.”

  Xenia gave a little sigh.

  “My aunt said, ‘I never knew what happened to her. I have often wondered if she had any children. I feel that, if she had a daughter, she would look exactly like dear Johanna’.”

  The King’s arms tightened about Xenia.

  “I knew then who you were and who I had married.”

  “Were you sure – really sure?”

  “I went back to Johanna and forced the truth from her,” the King said. “She found it hard to be defiant and lie when I confronted her with what I was quite certain had happened.”

  “It was – clever of you,” Xenia murmured.

  “I was fighting for everything that mattered to me in life,” the King said simply.

  He would have kissed her again, but Xenia said quickly,

  “Tell me the rest. I must – know.”

  “I realised that I had to stop you from reaching the border. Fortunately Johanna was dressed and the Royal Train which you and I were to take on our honeymoon was waiting in the station.”

  He smiled before he added,

  “We drove there at break-neck speed, stopping only at The Crown Hotel to pick up Lord Gratton.”

  “You took them both with you?” Xenia asked.

  “I dragged them, if you like, into the train and after telegraphing down the line to say I had to pass the slow train we set off with really the minimum amount of delay.”

  “And Johanna agreed?”

  “She had no alternative,” the King replied and for a moment his voice was hard. “But, in case it should worry you, I have made her and Gratton as happy or nearly as happy as we intend to be.”

  “How have you done that?”

  “I realised that while Johanna loved Gratton what upset her was the idea of going into obscurity, being of no importance as your mother had been.”

  “So what have you arranged?” Xenia asked.

  “I intend to make her the most talked about and the most famous Royal personage in Europe,” the King replied.

  Xenia raised her head to look at him wide-eyed and he went on with a smile on his lips,

  “All the world loves a lover and a Princess who is prepared to give up a throne for the man she loves will be the focus of attention wherever she goes.”

  He paused before he added,

  “In fact I think she will find herself of far more interest than being a mere Queen of Luthenia!”

  “But how can you do that? How?” Xenia asked.

  “Simply by informing the press. They can take the story from there.”

  “But you – cannot! Think what they will say about – you and – me!”

  “With Gratton’s help we have trimmed the story to our own ends,” the King said. “Johanna decided to marry Lord Gratton, but because she felt so worried over the situation in Luthenia you volunteered to take her place and convey to me the knowledge of what she intended to do.”

  His voice was slightly cynical as he said,

  “Of course she wished me to be the first person to know where her real interests lay.”

  “Then what happened?” Xenia asked.

  “We tell the truth,” the King answered. “You and I fell in love at first sight and in case there should be any family opposition because of your father’s status as a commoner we decided to get married before we told the world who you were.”

  Xenia gave a deep sigh.

  “Oh, István – it’s a – wonderful story!”

  “It’s a romantic tale that will be told and re-told for many years to come. Both you and Johanna will appear like heroines for the sacrifices you have made for love.”

  “I have sacrificed nothing,” Xenia said quickly.

  “But you were prepared to sacrifice me,” the King answered, “and actually I am very angry that you should treat our love so lightly.”

  “Please – f
orgive – me,” Xenia begged.

  “Why did you not tell me after we were married?”

  “I meant to – but I thought – you might be angry – and I so desperately wanted you – to kiss me – and to – love me.”

  He looked at her and his expression was very tender.

  “I shall punish you, my precious, by making love to you until you cry for mercy and never again will you ever dare deceive me.”

  “I did not – wish to – do so – you know – that.”

  She hid her face against him before she whispered,

  “If it had been the other way – round I would willingly have – gone with you into – obscurity. I would have followed you – if you had wanted me, to the very ends of the world.”

  The King held her very tightly against him.

  “Do you suppose I do not know that?” he asked. “Our love for each other, my darling, is so great, so overwhelming, that we can neither of us be complete unless we are together.”

  He kissed her on the forehead, set her on her feet and rose from his chair.

  “I have so much to say to you and so many more explanations to hear,” he said, “but we have our honeymoon ahead of us and the carriages are waiting.”

  Xenia looked up at him with her eyes suddenly alight.

  “Where are we going?” she asked and knew the answer.

  “To my castle in the mountains,” the King replied. “We are going to be alone there, my darling, really alone so that I can show you how much our love means and how it will be impossible for us ever to lose each other again.”

  He looked into her eyes, she saw the fire in his, and knew what he was wanting and felt again the little flickering flames he had awoken in her last night.

  “I shall never lose you,” the King insisted. “That is one thing you may be absolutely sure of. I know now, if I did not know it before, that it is impossible to live without you.”

  The happiness in Xenia’s eyes seemed to light the whole room and he thought that no woman could look more beautiful or more radiant.

  Then with an effort, as if he was afraid to touch her, he said,

  “We are leaving, my lovely one, but there is one thing I must do first.”

  “What is that?”

  “Arrange to tell the world what has happened and then we can forget everything except ourselves.”

  “How do you intend to do that?” Xenia asked curiously.

  The King did not answer.

  Instead he walked across the room and pulled open the door.

  “Horvath!” he called and the Count appeared.

  “Is that reporter still hanging about who tried to speak to me when we arrived?”

  “Yes, Sire,” the Count replied. “He is making a sketch of Your Majesty for his newspaper, and frankly, I think he is rather talented.”

  “Show him in,” the King commanded. “I intend to make him the most successful young reporter in Europe and he will certainly end up a rich man.”

  The Count looked astonished, but the King merely said,

  “Fetch him!” and turned back to Xenia.

  She was looking at him with such an expression of love in her eyes that he merely held out his arms.

  She ran to him.

  “Is it – true really true, István – that I can stay with you and – love you for ever?”

  “It is true, my beautiful darling,” he said pulling her closely against him.

  “I – thought like Cinderella that – midnight had struck and I was – back where I started – alone.”

  “Midnight has struck,” the King replied, “but it is merely to herald another day. Our day, my darling, which will never be long enough for me.”

  He bent his head and kissed her as he spoke and she felt that once again he carried her up to the special Heaven where they had been last night.

  “I love you! Oh – darling – wonderful István – I love – you!” she murmured against his lips.

  She felt the fierce passion of them exciting her as she excited him and drew closer still.

  Neither of them heard the door open, but an obscure young reporter from a local newspaper was able, after what he had seen, to draw a Royal embrace that was to be reproduced in every newspaper in the world!

  OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

  The Barbara Cartland Eternal Collection is the unique opportunity to collect as ebooks all five hundred of the timeless beautiful romantic novels written by the world’s most celebrated and enduring romantic author.

  Named the Eternal Collection because Barbara’s inspiring stories of pure love, just the same as love itself, the books will be published on the internet at the rate of four titles per month until all five hundred are available.

  The Eternal Collection, classic pure romance available worldwide for all time .

  Elizabethan Lover

  The Little Pretender

  A Ghost in Monte Carlo

  A Duel of Hearts

  The Saint and the Sinner

  The Penniless Peer

  The Proud Princess

  The Dare-Devil Duke

  Diona and a Dalmatian

  A Shaft of Sunlight

  Lies for Love

  Love and Lucia

  Love and the Loathsome Leopard

  Beauty or Brains

  The Temptation of Torilla

  The Goddess and the Gaiety Girl

  Fragrant Flower

  Look Listen and Love

  The Duke and the Preacher’s Daughter

  A Kiss for the King

  The Mysterious Maid-servant

  Lucky Logan Finds Love

  The Wings of Ecstacy

  Mission to Monte Carlo

  Revenge of the Heart

  The Unbreakable Spell

  Never Laugh at Love

  Bride to a Brigand

  Lucifer and the Angel

  Journey to a Star

  Solita and the Spies

  The Chieftain Without a Heart

  No Escape from Love

  Dollars for the duke

  Pure and Untouched

  Secrets

  Fire in the Blood

  Love, Lies and Marriage

  The Ghost who Fell in Love

  Hungry for Love

  The Wild Cry of Love

  The Blue-eyed Witch

  The Punishment of a Vixen

  The Secret of the Glen

  Bride to the King

  For All Eternity

  King in Love

  A Marriage made in Heaven

  Who can deny Love?

  Riding to the Moon

  Wish for Love

  Dancing on a Rainbow

  Gypsy Magic

  Love in the Clouds

  Count the Stars

  White Lilac

  Too Precious to Lose

  The Devil Defeated

  An Angel Runs Away

  The Duchess Disappeared

  The Pretty Horse-breakers

  The Prisoner of Love

  Ola and the Sea Wolf

  The Castle made for Love

  A Heart is Stolen

  The Love Pirate

  As Eagles Fly

  The Magic of Love

  Love Leaves at Midnight

  A Witch’s Spell

  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 ha
ving 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.

  Love Leaves at Midnight

  Barbara Cartland

  Barbara Cartland Ebooks Ltd

  This edition © 2013

  Copyright Cartland Promotions 1978

  eBook conversion by M-Y Books