Read Online Love in the Highlands by Barbara Cartland - Free Book Online Page B

us?"
    "What?" she cried. "Oh no, please no – where?"
    "Nowhere, you goose. I was joking."
    Her hands flew to her mouth and she choked back a sob.
    "That was unkind," she said. "You don't know how I dread – "
    "Then forgive me. I did not mean to distress you. But aren't you forgetting that I have promised to protect you at all costs?"
    "Yes, and I am sure you mean it, but – "
    "But you still fear the Queen? Do not. You can back me to defeat her any day."
    Then, as though seeming to feel that he had been kindly for long enough, he resumed his brusque manner and announced that he intended to join her father and the Captain on the bridge, and he would see her at dinner.
    It was already late in the day so dinner would be the only meal before it was time to retire.
    Over dinner the Marquis produced a surprise.
    "The Times!" Lavina exclaimed. "However did you come by it, for I know we left too early to receive it at your home."
    "I sent my valet out hunting for it as soon as we reached Tilbury," Lord Elswick said. "The announcement is in there, together with a short piece by Mr. Ferris. The telegraph wires must have been humming last night."
    Lavina looked and saw, in bold type. The engagement is announced –
    "By now I dare say the Queen will have seen it," the Marquis observed. "I cannot help feeling that we were wise to flee."
    "By the time I have to see her again, she will be used to the idea," the Earl said, feeling brave now that he was at sea.
    For the rest of dinner Lavina took very little part in the conversation, and was content to have it so. It pleased her to see that her father and the Marquis were talking pleasantly together.
    By the time the meal was finished he was looking almost like an agreeable man.
    He was also, she thought, much more handsome than when he was scowling and being aloof.
    She bade the men goodnight, meaning to go to bed early. She knew her father would come to her cabin to kiss her goodnight.
    He was, in fact, later than she expected. When he did come she said,
    "Oh, Papa, I thought perhaps you had forgotten me."
    "I was talking to our guest," her father replied. "You'll be surprised to learn that he is an expert on foreign countries. He was telling me of the strange places he has visited in the East."
    "Yes, I am surprised at that."
    "I think his mind is more wide-ranging than we gave him credit for. I certainly think he has wasted his life buttoned up in his castle, and treating women as if they were poison."
    Lavina laughed.
    "I only hope he does not push me overboard when I am least expecting it," she said.
    "For shame to speak of him like that, when you owe him so much!" her father said with a smile. "Perhaps he'll become more human and enjoy life, as he should do, by the time this trip is over."
    "I think, Papa, anyone who is with you, would be enjoying what they were doing. You have to admit that the yacht had never looked or moved so well as it is doing at the moment."
    Her father smiled.
    "You are right," he agreed, "and he admires The Mermaid very much."
    "No wonder you suddenly find him more agreeable," Lavina laughed.
    "Well, if his mood softens he may take a brighter view of life in general. Perhaps he'll find Scottish women attractive."
    Lavina laughed.
    "It's no use being optimistic, although, of course, I've always been told that the girls in the highlands are very attractive."
    "No one is more attractive than you, my darling. If the Marquis is too stupid to realise that, we can only hope that he enjoys haggis instead.
    "Mind you," he added, "I think he does realise it – "
    "You are mistaken, Papa. That kiss was for show."
    The Earl sighed.
    "I only wanted to say how much I admired your endurance, my dear. And how much I pitied you."
    "Pitied me, Papa?" Lavina was startled.
    "You told me on the way here how averse you were to the idea that he might kiss you."
    "Oh – oh yes, I did say that, didn't I?" she said, trying to remember it, and wondering what she had been thinking