The Mountain of Love Read online

  As the Earl finished speaking, he stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  Christopher put his hands up to his forehead.

  Then he rose slowly to his feet and walked over to the window.

  For the moment even the garden outside seemed dark as if there was an eclipse of the sun. He could not for the moment see any light in the darkness.

  *

  At Forde Hall Kayla was now wondering why her grandfather had been more pleasant to her.

  For the last two days he had almost treated her as a human being.

  She had grown used to him snapping at her if she spoke and his endless unpleasant remarks about her father, although he never mentioned her mother.

  She had also felt a little relieved because, although he now knew she went riding, he had not prevented her from doing so.

  She still rose very early and changed before breakfast and yet he had said to her surprisingly when she joined him in the breakfast room,

  “Did you enjoy your ride on Crusader? I think he is one of the best stallions in the stables.”

  Kayla had drawn in her breath.

  “He is a v-very b-beautiful h-horse,” she stammered.

  “That is just what I think,” the Earl added. “But be careful when you set him at a jump. He always bears a little to the left.”

  Until now Kayla had been certain that her grandfather did not know that she had been riding every morning.

  This attitude was a revelation and she was so glad he had not stopped her from doing the one thing she enjoyed so much.

  She sent up a little prayer of gratitude, but she had still found the days very long and empty.

  Now, a little nervously, she went riding for the second time in the afternoon and again to her astonishment she was not stopped.

  She found it hard to understand, but at the same time it certainly made her life a little easier. It was impossible to feel happy in such an atmosphere and yet she was not so acutely miserable as she had been.

  She still thought longingly of the girls at the Convent and what fun it had been talking to them and playing with them.

  She missed her lessons with the Greek Master and all the other extra tuition her wonderful mother had paid for.

  She had hoped that there would be an opportunity to meet her father’s younger brother, Lord David, but she learnt from her grandmother that he lived more than seventy miles away and seldom came to Forde Hall.

  “David has a lovely wife and two small children,” the Duchess told her, “and I think he is very happy.”

  “Is either of the children a boy?” Kayla asked her.

  She knew how important it was to her grandfather that there should be boys in the family.

  Her grandmother shook her head.

  “Unfortunately David has two daughters. They are both much younger than you are. But we are hoping that the next one will be a boy.”

  Kayla thought that she was speaking for the Earl rather than for herself, but she could not help feeling that the Duchess’s grandchildren, either male or female, were not of particular interest to her.

  Knowing just how proud her grandfather was of the family, she looked him up in Debrett’s Peerage, just as she had looked up the Earl of Rothwoode.

  There was certainly a great deal about him, but, as it was an older edition of the book, his heir, the Earl of Barne, was not mentioned nor was Lord Alastair’s wife. ‘It looks to me,’ Kayla murmured to herself with a little smile, ‘I shall never be allowed on the Family Tree, but will remain an outsider for the rest of my life.’

  She did not think it would worry her particularly, but equally, when she was wandering about the house, she felt she must be invisible.

  It seemed extraordinary how few people came to call.

  “Do you never want to go out, Grandmama?” Kayla asked the Duchess. “I thought that, when people lived in the country, they called on their neighbours and left cards.”

  “We have called on everyone who lives round and about here,” the Duchess answered her in a faraway voice. “I think they find us rather dull. Of course, now that we have no sons living here, there is no reason for the younger people to be interested in us oldies.”

  Kayla wanted to say they might be interested in her, but then she remembered that her grandfather was ashamed of her. He did not want anyone to know that she was his granddaughter and so he had no intention of introducing her to anyone.

  When she walked in the garden, she looked up at the fountain and asked breathlessly,

  ‘How can I live like this for ever? Talking to no one and learning nothing.’

  The fountain could not answer her.

  She wondered what would happen if she went into the village to talk to the estate workers and tenants in the cottages and she felt sure that they would be pleased to see her.

  Her father had told her how much the people on the estate liked seeing ‘the gentry’ as they called them.

  “They used to watch the cricket match we had when we were boys,” her father had told her, “and cheered loudly when anyone took a wicket or scored a boundary.”

  He had then gone on to add,

  “When there was a Meet of the Hunt at the house, the people all used to come and stare at us on our horses and watch us move off with the hounds. They felt that, although they could not ride, they were taking part in the sport.”

  ‘There is nothing like that now,’ Kayla thought, ‘just the dull silent meals with Grandpapa and Grandmama.’

  Then, as she had nothing else to do, she went round the house on her own again.

  She had explored every room thoroughly until there was nothing else to see.

  It seemed absurd that the State bedrooms with their magnificent beds were all empty as no one ever came to stay. She had found the children’s nursery, which still had its battered rocking-horse, its toy fort and its piano and she tried to visualise her dear father and his brothers playing there together, both screaming with laughter and fun.

  They would have had a warm and loving nanny to look after them and she reflected that they could not have had very much love from their father and mother.

  Nanny would have been different, as nannies were always so different from the parents.

  She remembered her father talking about his beloved nanny.

  “Is my father’s old nanny dead?” she had asked her grandmother that evening.

  “I think she must be,” came the reply. “We gave her a cottage in the village and, when I last asked about her, she was over eighty. So I expect she is probably dead by now.”

  Nanny was another person Kayla thought that she might have talked to.

  It would have been lovely to hear stories of her father when he was a little boy and now it was too late and the nursery seemed to her cold, forlorn and empty.

  The other rooms in the house where no one slept seemed so sad.

  ‘If only something could happen,’ she thought. She had no idea at all of what was about to happen to her.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Duke was away all day and had only returned to Forde Hall just before dinner.

  Kayla felt it was a relief to be without him.

  She had a long and exciting ride on another new horse during the afternoon.

  When she came down to dinner, she thought that the Duke was in a good mood and he actually spoke to her while they were eating their meal.

  When they all three rose from the table, the Duchess said,

  “I am going upstairs, John. There is nothing else you want, is there?”

  “I wish to speak to Kayla,” the Duke replied, as he walked ahead.

  A little apprehensively, Kayla followed behind him, wondering what he had to say to her.

  The Duke went into his study and signalled to her to close the door.

  He was standing in front of the fireplace and, in his usual rather aggressive tone, he ordered her,

  “Sit down. I have something to tell you.”
/>   Kayla sat on the edge of the sofa curious as to what this was all about.

  “I have decided,” the Duke began, “because you are my granddaughter, even though my son insulted the family name by marrying an actress, that I will arrange a suitable marriage for you.”

  Kayla stiffened and her eyes were wide open.

  “A – marriage – Grandpapa?”

  “That is what I said,” the Duke replied, “and you are indeed an extremely fortunate young woman.”

  Kayla drew in her breath, wondering what she could say as the Duke carried on relentlessly,

  “I have arranged for you to marry the Viscount Roth, who is the heir to the Earl of Rothwoode – and your marriage will take place at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon!”

  Kayla gasped.

  “I cannot understand what you are saying, Grandpapa. How can I possibly marry a man – I do not know and have never – met?”

  “As I have already said, it is extremely fortunate that anyone of any standing in Society would deign to marry you. I have told the Earl that we are in deep mourning and that is why we cannot inform our many relatives that the marriage is taking place.”

  “Why should I have to – marry a-anyone in s-such a strange w-way and in such a h-hurry?” Kayla stammered.

  “That is not your business,” the Duke said harshly, “and you should go down on your knees and thank God that a Nobleman of such consequence will take you as his wife.”

  There was silence and then Kayla asserted,

  “I will not do it! I cannot possibly marry a man – I don’t know and who c-cannot wish to marry me.”

  “Are you refusing what I have arranged?” the Duke enquired in a sinister tone.

  “You must understand, Grandpapa, that, when I – do marry, I want to be in love with the man and I cannot possibly become the wife of any man – I have never even seen.”

  She realised as she spoke that the Duke’s temper was rising.

  “You will do as you are told and I will tolerate no nonsense about it. If you refuse, I will either beat you into submission or lock you into a room where you will stay for the rest of your life!”

  He paused for a moment before he added, as if he was thinking it out,

  “I shall tell everyone that you are mentally deranged and therefore, although you will be fed, no one will come into contact with you – ever.”

  His lips twisted sarcastically as he snarled, “And there will be no more riding my horses – ”

  Kayla put her hands up to her forehead.

  She could not believe that anyone was speaking to her in such an horrific manner.

  Nor that her grandfather could really mean it, but at the same time she was terrified.

  With a tremendous effort she managed to stutter,

  “Please, Grandpapa, be reasonable about this. Let me meet – the Viscount and perhaps if we like each other – a marriage will be possible when we become friends – ”

  The Duke gave a laugh and it was a very ugly sound.

  “I imagine,” he said in a rather sarcastic tone, “that the Viscount is saying much the same thing to his father. The Earl is quite determined that his son will settle down and take a wife and he has asked me for one of my granddaughters.”

  He looked at Kayla in a somewhat unpleasant way before he ended,

  “I have chosen you and then you will come with me tomorrow and make no more fuss about it. Otherwise you know what will happen.”

  The way he spoke was so menacing that Kayla was stunned into silence and she could only sit there staring at her grandfather in disbelief.

  Her face was very pale and her fingers were clenched together.

  Suddenly the Duke shouted in a voice that echoed round the room.

  “You now have your instructions. Go now and get packing. You will find your wedding dress waiting for you in your bedroom as well as your trousseau.”

  He seemed almost to spit the last words at her.

  Then, as if for some reason he could not bear to look at her, he walked away from the fireplace towards his desk.

  Kayla was too terrified to do anything but obey him and she slipped out of the room.

  Then she ran as quickly as her feet would carry her down the passage, across the hall and up the stairs.

  She went straight to her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

  For a moment she shut her eyes and put her forehead against the door.

  Then she was aware that the candles were all lit and, as she turned from the door, she saw that her trunks had been laid out at one end of the room.

  There was one trunk in which she had packed her own clothes – those she had worn at the Convent.

  There was another trunk containing her mother’s that she could not bear to leave behind in Paris.

  Nor could she leave her father’s clothes either and his pictures were in a separate case by themselves.

  Then, as she looked, she saw there was another trunk that was not hers and a large hat-box.

  It seemed to her extraordinary that her grandfather should have provided her with a trousseau.

  But how could he have bought it all so quickly?

  As she moved towards the bed, she could see a white dress lying on top of it and then she stared at it in growing astonishment.

  If it was a bridal gown, it was the most extraordinary one she had ever seen.

  It was certainly white, but was trimmed with lace and sewn onto each piece was a profusion of glittering imitation diamonds.

  She could not imagine any bride wearing anything so amazingly flamboyant and vulgar for her wedding nor could she understand what her grandfather meant by giving her anything so odd.

  Then she also saw lying on the bed a headdress that could in no way be suitable for a bride.

  It was a cap of white roses, but sticking out all over it were small ostrich feathers!

  It was then, because she was intelligent, that Kayla understood at last what was happening.

  Her grandfather still hated her as much as he had hated her mother.

  He was sending her to a wedding with a strange man and she would look as if she had just come off the stage!

  “I will not do it! I will not wear it!” Kayla exclaimed out aloud.

  Then she remembered fearfully how her grandfather had threatened her.

  Would he really shut her up in a room for ever?

  Not allow her to have any communication with the outside world or even have her certified insane?

  She could hardly believe it that any man would do anything so appalling, yet her grandfather was undoubtedly a law unto himself.

  It had been dull and lonely enough at Forde Hall with no one to talk to, the only relief being the horses to ride. And the Duke had not forgotten to say that they would no longer be available to her.

  She closed her eyes.

  No one had ever been faced with a more horrifying decision!

  She could not run away, because she had no money and nowhere to go.

  If she did creep out of the house tonight, she would have to leave behind everything she possessed including her beloved father’s pictures.

  She turned from the gown on the bed and opened the trunk she had not seen before.

  She was already anticipating what she would find in its depths.

  As she pulled it open, there was a flash of brilliant colours like a kaleidoscope. There was a crimson red and a blue that had never been seen in the sky.

  The yellow she thought was so crude as to be ugly.

  While the green, she knew instinctively, was unlucky.

  She just moved one or two of the dresses and saw at once, as she might have expected, that they were excessively decorated with sequins and flashing stones.

  The red gown was festooned with red feathers that fluttered as she moved them.

  She slammed the trunk shut.

  She would most definitely not lower herself to wear anything quite so bawdy.

  She could never
imagine that any man, whoever he might be, would want her to appear in such gowns.

  Then she turned the wedding dress.

  She went over to the dressing table and found her nail scissors and then she began to cut away at the glittering lace at the top of the gown.

  It was all attached to a white silk slip and, when she had taken away quite a lot of it, she knew that she would have to remove a great deal more.

  It took her two hours to clear the lace from the bodice of the gown and half of the skirt.

  The rows of lace at the bottom of the gown did not look so bad, but she still had to cut off the glittering stones on them as well as little bows of silver ribbon that were echoed on the waistband.

  When Kayla had finished working on the dress, she started on the headdress.

  She removed all the ostrich feathers and put them into the waste-paper basket.

  The cap of white roses was far more simple and there were still all the sequins and baubles that purported to be diamonds. These were sewn on, but these she was able to remove too.

  By this time it was long after midnight.

  She realised that she had to be dressed and ready to leave with her grandfather before ten o’clock.

  And when he saw what she had done, there would most certainly be a row.

  She forced herself, although she was still agitated, to try and think clearly.

  She took down from the wardrobe the cape in which she had travelled to England from Paris. Its colour was the deep blue of the Mediterranean and Kayla had worn it at the Convent when it was cold. She put it on a chair and then she thought through how she must look to her grandfather.

  She put what remained of the headdress, which was now a simple wreath of white roses, into a bag and she then hurriedly packed all her own clothes that were hanging in the wardrobe.

  She reckoned that her grandfather would expect her to leave them behind and wear the hideously vulgar gowns he had bought.

  She did not need to open the hat-box, as she guessed what she would find inside.