Read Online A Castle of Dreams by Barbara Cartland - Free Book Online Page B

would have been very slow without her nursing skills.  Although I seem to have eaten more porridge in the last couple of days than ever before in my whole life!”
    Lady Margaret gazed through the open window.
    The room looked out towards the distant mountains, majestic and covered with heather and, unconsciously, she sighed at the sight of them.
    David frowned.
    â€œYou don’t seem your usual cheerful self, Meg.  Is there a problem?  Is it causing difficulties, my sister and I being here in the Castle?”
    She turned to him, her great dark eyes anxious.
    â€œNo, no!  Please, never think that!  I am delighted you are both here.  You have no idea how wonderful it is, David, to talk to someone of my own age who has visited foreign countries, travelled across the sea and seen things I will never see.”
    â€œI have only travelled to America and once there I stayed in New York.  I never got to see Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon or any of the other wonderful sights.  And all I saw of the voyage home was the inside of my cabin!  Admittedly, I long to journey around the world, but – ”
    â€œLike me, you don’t have enough money for such a trip!” Lady Margaret interrupted.  “Oh, I know exactly how you feel.  Sometimes when I look out at the mountains and instead of seeing their beauty, I see them all as a line of gaolers, keeping me here in this Castle prison!”
    David scowled to himself.
    How easy it would be to say that he had plenty of money now. That he could afford to go round the world twice and not notice the difference to his bank balance.
    But he made a promise to Viola that he would keep quiet about the fortune they had inherited from their father.
    Now he was wishing with all his heart that he had not made such a commitment to his sister.
    â€œDo you feel so very isolated here in Glentorran?” he asked quietly.
    She played with a piece of thread that was hanging from the worn edge of her sleeve.
    â€œOh, please don’t get the wrong impression, David!  I love my brother and Glentorran.  But – I long to travel!
    â€œI have been to Glasgow, Edinburgh and London.  Three big cities.  But I don’t like busy places.  I want to see deserts and oceans and the vast open plains of Africa!  And I know that I never will.
    â€œThere is a whole exciting and different world out there and I am passionate to experience it all.”
    David reached over and caught her hands in his.
    He snapped off the loose thread and twined it round his finger.
    â€œI sympathise, Meg.  I really do.  Viola has always wanted to live in England, to have a house in the country and create a wonderful garden.  She loves dogs and horses and all sorts of country pursuits.
    â€œBut, although we are twins, I am not that keen on the energetic outdoor life she likes so much.  Just give me a sketchbook, a small box of watercolours and a marvellous view and I will be a happy man.
    â€œBut most of all, I, too, would like to travel.  I think I am very like my father in that desire.  He could never stay in one place for long.
    â€œI, just like you, ache to see the Arabian deserts, the Sahara, the jungles of Borneo and the unusual animals and beautiful flowers of the South Sea Islands.”
    â€œRobert told me a little about your family history,” sighed Lady Margaret.  “All four of us are victims of our fathers’ careless behaviour, so it seems.”
    David did not reply.
    He twined the thread even tighter, hardly noticing the pain as it viciously cut into his skin.
    How could he agree with this wonderful girl?
    What she had said would have been true a year ago when they first met at Charlotte Brent’s birthday ball in London.
    Then he had just been David, the Viscount Powell, without a care in the world or a penny to his name.
    But now he was the Earl of Northcombe, the very rich Earl of