He released her chin, put his arms round her and drew her close, looking down at her with a tenderness in his face that no one had ever seen before.

“I want you to be my wife, Gretna,” he said. “I love you and now is the time for our love to come out of hiding.”

“But – I thought – she murmured, “you – loved Eloise.”

“Who is she?” he asked. “Are there any other women in the world besides you? If there are, I have not noticed them since we first met.”

She gave a little sigh of utter contentment, the breath coming quickly between her parted lips and her eyes like stars of shining glory.

“I am almost afraid to kiss you,” he said, “in case you are not real and in case you will disappear again as you have disappeared so often. I am going to chain you to me from the moment we are married until the moment we die. I am so vastly afraid of losing you.”

“And I thought I had lost – you,” Gretna whispered.

“How could you have been so foolish?” he asked. “And why were you crying when I found you just now?”

She glanced for a moment towards the grave where her father and mother lay united and then she looked up at him again.

And he was almost blinded by the radiance on her face.

“I was lonely,” she said simply. “And now I shall never be – lonely again.”

“Never, my darling,” he assured her. “Never while we both live. I love you, Gretna. Tell me you love me.”

“I – love – you with my – whole heart,” Gretna tried to say, but the words were lost, crushed against her mouth by his lips, forgotten as the wonder and glory of his kiss made her thrill, as she had never thrilled before, with an ecstasy that seemed to carry them both towards the stars.

She was no longer alone.

She was close in his arms.

She was his.

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.

Named the Eternal Collection because Barbara’s inspiring stories of pure love, just the same as love itself, the books will be published on the internet at the rate of four titles per month until all five hundred are available.

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