‘Yes, my dear,’ the Grand Duke said firmly. ‘In three months. It seems a long time now, but remember, you have another fifty years ahead of you to spend in Robert’s company. You can spare me three months, and June in England is very pleasant, I remember. I would like to introduce you to London, for I have many friends there, and when you have made your curtsy to the Queen at Windsor, we will perhaps journey to Cheveron and stay with the son of my old friend – Sir Robert Stanford.’

‘Oh, Father!’

Mistral clasped her hands together, her eyes very bright.

‘If you were to get engaged when you meet at Cheveron,’ the Grand Duke went on, ‘it would be quite a natural and charming thing to happen. Do you understand?’

He looked directly into Robert’s eyes.

‘I understand, Sir,’ Robert said, ‘and thank you for being so much wiser than I am.’

‘I do not say I am wiser,’ the Grand Duke replied, ‘but perhaps I am more experienced in the ways of the world.’

He held out his hand.

‘Good bye, my boy. We shall meet at Cheveron in June.’

The two men clasped hands and the Grand Duke took his watch from his pocket.

‘I will wait for you in the carriage, Mistral,’ he said. ‘The horses will get restless if you are not down in five minutes.’

‘Thank you, Father,’ she said in a low voice.

The Grand Duke went from the room and the door closed behind him.

For a moment Mistral and Robert stood looking at each other, then he held out his arms and she flew into them with a little cry of happiness.

‘Your father is right, my darling,’ he said. ‘We must wait. But you won’t forget me? Promise that you will think of me every moment of the day and of the night until we meet again?’

‘I promise,’ Mistral answered.

‘I shall go to get my home ready for you. I shall dream of you there, as I have dreamt before of seeing the two most perfect things in my life joined together – you and Cheveron.’

He held her closer to him, his lips against her hair.

He knew then that this was what he had searched for all his life, that his search was at an end, his goal in sight. With a sense of urgency at the passing of time he sought her lips.

‘I love you,’ he whispered against her mouth and knew there was no need for words as she surrendered herself to the passion behind his kiss.

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.