Secret Love Read online

  He could not understand why she was being forced to marry a man the thought of whom made her tremble.

  The reason must have been that he was rich enough to make the arranged marriage particularly acceptable to her parents.

  They arrived at his flat and then as a sleepy porter let them in, they walked upstairs.

  “It has been a delightful evening,” sighed Josofine, “and thank you for being so kind to me, Robbie.”

  She looked up at him.

  And he wanted as he had never wanted anything in his life before to kiss her.

  Then he recognised that it was far too soon.

  It might be something he would be able to do later without frightening her.

  So instead he picked up her hand and bent over it in the French fashion.

  “Goodnight, Josofine. Sleep well and tomorrow we will start our sightseeing tour which I hope you will find fascinating.”

  “Please can we breakfast together?” she asked him.

  “Yes, of course. I will tell the porter and I think we should make it nine o’clock so that you will have plenty of time for your beauty sleep.”

  Josofine gave a little laugh.

  “As I don’t want you to be ashamed of me, I will certainly sleep until half-past eight.”

  Robbie turned towards the door.

  “Goodnight,” he said again, “and promise me you will not fly away in the middle of the night, so that in the morning I will find it has all been a dream.”

  “I promise you I will be here, but I shall be afraid, if you are not here at nine o’clock, that you have changed your mind.”

  “I will not do that,” Robbie promised her.

  He closed the door and heard her very sensibly turn the key in the lock.

  As he walked to his friend’s flat, Robbie thought that never in his life had he met anyone so intriguing or so enchanting as Josofine.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  At Creswell Court Wenda was astonished at how quickly events were moving.

  By Wednesday the whole house was beginning to look quite different.

  It was mainly due to Banks and Mrs. Stevenson and they were thrilled at the whole idea of his Lordship holding a house party.

  Wenda was careful not to say who was coming.

  She knew however that the news of party, which had not taken place at The Court for so long, delighted the village.

  In fact Banks could have had a dozen more footmen than he required, but he was wise enough to choose young men who were better educated and therefore likely to be more efficient than the ordinary villager.

  Mrs. Stevenson in the meantime engaged women she knew personally and they were very pleased at having the opportunity for work if only for a short while.

  It seemed to Wenda after months of being alone with only the Bankses to look after her and the house, that she was now living in a new world.

  It was actually organised turmoil.

  When she came down the stairs in the morning, the maids were already hard at it washing the floors, scrubbing the mantelpieces and shaking the carpets.

  In every room she looked in there seemed to be half a dozen women doing something and she could only hope the money Robbie had given her would be enough to pay everyone as they certainly earned every penny and a great deal more.

  They enjoyed the excitement of being at The Court and many of them had never been inside the house before and they competed with each other to get the work done.

  Wenda concentrated on the pictures, but she soon found there were too many for her, so she therefore had to ask the experts from St. Albans for help.

  In three days she found it hard to recognise her own home. Everything in the house was shining brightly and everything looked somehow different.

  Wenda was determined for Robbie’s sake that his smart friends would not sneer at what they saw – or to have any grounds to be able to find fault and claim that they were uncomfortable.

  The special rooms she chose for the guests were all State bedrooms and they were all on the same floor as her brother had insisted.

  She did not question why they should want to be all together – she merely took it for granted.

  Only sometimes when she was lying in bed did she shiver at the thought that the Prince of Wales was coming. He might find it very different here from the other grand houses he normally stayed in.

  Now that Robbie had explained to her how often he was with His Royal Highness she could understand.

  Of course he wanted to make his home as good as, if not better, than others he had been invited to with the Prince.

  She did not quite understand about the ladies.

  Why did they want to have their names emblazoned on their doors?

  Then she thought it must be a new custom she had not heard of before.

  There was no word from Robbie as to what names she was to write on the cards and she thought it would be tiresome of him if he brought the list with him when he arrived – it would mean she had to do everything in a hurry at the last moment.

  She was therefore delighted to receive a letter from Robbie on Thursday morning.

  He gave her a list of the guests, without of course writing in the name of His Royal Highness.

  *

  Robbie had spent the first two days sightseeing with Josofine, which he had not done since he was small.

  They had gone first to the Zoo and then on to the Tower of London and finally to Madame Tussaud’s and they had been surprised to find that the day was practically over and there was no time to do anymore.

  “It has been wonderful, wonderful!” Josofine cried, clasping her hands together. “I have enjoyed it so much!”

  She paused to look at him questioningly before she asked,

  “I hope it has not bored you, Robbie?”

  “How can I be bored when I am with you – ?”

  Robbie loved the faint colour that then came into her cheeks and the way her eyes looked shyly away.

  He knew that every moment he was becoming more attached to her and he now found her even more alluring than he had at first and he could not explain to himself why she was so different.

  Except that she was certainly more beautiful than any woman he had ever met before.

  She behaved in a very different way from anyone else and primarily it was because she made no effort to flirt with him as the elite of Mayfair had done ever since he arrived in London.

  He was used to the invitation in their eyes and on their lips and the way their hands would touch his as if accidentally – and there was nothing accidental about it.

  He enjoyed himself in the same way as the Prince of Wales always did. He made love to the women whose husbands were away shooting, fishing or racing.

  He was not interested in the debutantes and young girls, who were only concerned with getting married and although he could not afford a wife, he had a title and there were always ambitious Mamas who wanted their daughter called ‘my Lady’ after she had walked down the aisle on her husband’s arm.

  Because Josofine was so unlike the other women he had known, Robbie too behaved in a different way towards her and not as he would have behaved with a married woman aware of every twist and turn of the game.

  Josofine was like a child.

  She was thrilled with the Zoo, and when the tigers roared at her she slipped her hand into his – not because she was being flirtatious, but because she felt she needed his protection.

  His fingers closed over hers and yet he sensed that she was more fascinated by the tigers and she was not thinking of him in any way except that he was there to take care of her.

  Josofine was now busy making a list of the places she wanted to visit the following day.

  While she did so, he wrote to the hostesses whose invitations he had accepted that week and asked them to forgive him for not being able to be their guest as he had promised at a dinner or a ball – unfortunately he had to go to the country and it was an explanation they wou
ld accept.

  So it was essential at this stage that he should not be seen in London by them or one of their friends.

  Fortunately as Josofine was so keen on sightseeing, the members of the Beau Monde were not likely to be visiting the Tower of London which had so delighted her nor indeed spending hours in the National Portrait Gallery examining with delight its endless pictures.

  It was on Wednesday that he remembered he had not called at Marlborough House to be given the names of those who had been invited to His Royal Highness’s secret weekend at Creswell Court.

  Robbie thought it wise if he went there at luncheon time, when he was almost sure His Royal Highness would be out either with a lady he was particularly attracted to or attending some large luncheon given in his honour.

  Robbie had no wish to meet the Prince at present in case he questioned him as to who he was bringing to his own party.

  Francis Knollys was in his usual office and looked up smiling when he appeared.

  “I wondered what had happened to you, my Lord,” he said. “In fact last night His Royal Highness was asking me if I had seen you. He was disappointed you were not at the party he had just attended.”

  “You must tell His Royal Highness that I was in the country getting my house shipshape for his visit!”

  “I felt that was the reason. Of course His Royal Highness has no idea what consternation he causes when he suddenly wishes to visit someone without giving them prior notice.”

  Robbie thought that this was very true in his case.

  “I came to ask you for the list of guests, so that my secretary can write out the names to go on the doors.”

  “I have it here ready for you, my Lord,” Francis Knollys replied. “But I have not yet had your choice.”

  “To tell the truth I have not yet made up my mind. Just tell His Royal Highness that I have a surprise for him and that will keep him happy until I have finally decided who will accompany me.”

  Francis Knollys laughed and handed Robbie a piece of paper.

  “There is no one new,” he added. “They are all old friends with whom you have spent many amusing times in the past. I feel sure your party will be a great success.”

  “Why do you say that?” Robbie asked curiously.

  “Because His Royal Highness has never been to your home before. Although he has heard about it and your amazing pictures, it will give him something new and interesting to talk about.”

  Robbie laughed as he knew only too well that the Prince of Wales was quickly bored with anything which became too familiar. He was always looking for change, excitement and something different – that is what he found when he went from woman to woman.

  Thanking Francis Knollys for what he had done for him, Robbie left.

  As soon as he was back in his flat, he quickly put the names in an envelope and addressed it to Wenda.

  *

  When she received his letter on Thursday morning and read the list, Wenda realised just how important they all were.

  She only hoped and prayed that they would not be too critical about The Court.

  She had done her best.

  But never in her father’s and mother’s time had so many important titled people stayed in her home all at the same time.

  It was completely different from having them just for a dinner party and maybe a dance afterwards, but as she already knew they would all arrive on Friday at teatime and not leave until late on Sunday.

  She had gone through the menus not once but over and over again with Mrs. Banks and she felt certain that the Prince would enjoy the French dishes they had included.

  She realised just how different cooking was for one man to cooking for twelve, all of whom had eaten these special dishes in Paris.

  Wenda was only afraid for Robbie’s sake that the dishes might not be as delicious as she thought they were and the Prince, if he was not amused this weekend, might not invite him so often to Marlborough House.

  Then she told herself that she and Banks had done their very best and if it was not good enough, they could do no more.

  Very carefully she wrote the ladies’ names on the back of her mother’s visiting cards and with some drawing pins she found in the Estate Office she fastened them onto the doors of the bedrooms.

  Robbie had also included a rough plan with the list, showing the rooms on the first floor which were to be used by each member of the house party.

  The only rooms which did not have a name card were the Master suite and of course Wenda’s and she knew that was because no one yet was to be aware that the Prince of Wales was to be Robbie’s special guest.

  It was a great temptation for her to tell Banks and Mrs. Banks, who would be exceedingly impressed.

  But Robbie had told her it was very important that the house party was kept secret just in case the local press were to hear of it.

  Wenda had not argued and yet she reckoned that the moment the Prince of Wales appeared there was no doubt that all the servants would recognise him.

  They would naturally be wildly excited that he was in their midst and the village would undoubtedly think it the most enthralling thing that had ever happened.

  And it was only a question of time before it reached the ears of the gossips of St. Albans where a local paper appeared weekly.

  As Robbie had been in such a great hurry to return to London, there was no one to answer her questions or to tell her what more she could do to keep the secret of their most important visitor from being bandied about.

  However there was little point in worrying at the moment and she still had a great deal to do.

  The Master suite was shining brightly as if it had been rubbed all over with golden sunshine.

  Wenda had galvanised Donson into working very hard that he had made the garden look, she thought, almost as beautiful as in the days when they had eight gardeners.

  He had also managed to repair the ancient fountain that stood in the centre of the lawn and Wenda clapped her hands with delight when, after lying broken and neglected ever since she could remember, it now strong threw jets of water up into the sky.

  She surmised that it was a blessing in disguise that Donson had fallen out with Mr. Hatton and she had paid him herself to work in the garden.

  Wenda told him that she would need every flower he could possibly grow, beg, borrow or steal on Friday morning.

  “I’ll be sure to get all them flowers for you, Miss Wenda,” he promised, “don’t you a-worry.”

  “I am not worrying, Donson, because I can rely on you to keep your word. You told me you would make the garden look like new and that is just what you have done!”

  Donson was obviously delighted at her praise and she thought that if in the future she had to sell more than one brooch, she would definitely keep him on however extravagant it might seem.

  Because she was apprehensive of what Robbie had done in taking away the two entailed pictures, she tried not to think about it.

  Fortunately the two empty spaces in the galleries were not obvious and she was convinced that no one who was coming at the weekend would notice them.

  Equally she shivered when she thought how angry the Trustees would be if they discovered the truth.

  *

  Back in London Robbie was also thinking about the pictures as Mr. Hudson had prophesised he would receive even more money than he expected.

  He had gone to bed with this thought in his mind on Wednesday night having dined once again with Josofine at the same restaurant in Shepherd’s Market.

  They had drunk champagne to celebrate the happy day they had spent and Robbie looked a little questioningly at the bill.

  He thought how much more expensive it was than when he usually ate there, but how could he give Josofine anything but the best?

  It was then he told himself he had fallen in love.

  He had known it from the first night they had dined together and now he was aware that every moment of the day he found himself becomi
ng more and more enraptured with Josofine.

  When she gave him a shy little smile, he felt his heart turn over in his breast and it was something that had not happened to him for a very long time.

  Of course Robbie had thought himself attracted and almost in love with the beautiful women he had visited in their husbands’ absence or whoever he was paired off with on the secret weekends with the Prince of Wales.

  But what he felt then was not what he felt now.

  He found himself totally entranced by the natural and unassumed excitement in Josefine’s voice and by the way she listened attentively to everything he said.

  And by her laughter which was so unaffected that it was sounds he had never heard before.

  ‘I am head over heels in love,’ he told himself on Wednesday night.

  At the same time if he asked her to marry him, he would require much more than the sums he would obtain from the sale of two pictures.

  On Thursday when he went to bed, he knew that if he had every picture at The Court copied in France so that he could spend the money on Josafine, he would do it.

  ‘I cannot lose her, I just cannot!’ he told himself fervently and that whatever he needed to do, even if it was criminal, he would do it rather than lose her.

  He thought of her as he lay tossing and sleepless in his friend’s bed.

  He wanted to go next door and take her in his arms and tell her how much he loved her.

  But he knew instinctively as he had known all day that she would not understand and he would still have to be so careful not to frighten her off.

  She had run away from France and although he had tried without making it too obvious to satisfy the curiosity he felt about her parents, she had not yet told him what he wanted to know.

  ‘I love her, I do love her,’ he told himself over and over again.

  But that did not answer the questions he found pressing against his lips and he only prevented himself by a tremendous effort from expressing them.

  On Thursday they spent a long day exploring parts of London that Robbie had not seen before.

  Josofine had also insisted early in the morning on going to Bond Street to buy a dress – it was after Robbie had told her that he was taking her to the country at the weekend to see his home.