“I believe I have spoken of it jestingly once or twice,” Lord Dorrington answered with a smile, “but I cannot think I should have many members or if they joined that it would be for long. Most men eventually land up in the marriage stakes.”

“But only if they – wish to do so,” Alyna said.

“Then there is no problem,” Lord Dorrington replied. “We have both agreed that the only possible solution is for you to become my wife. So stop worrying over the inevitable.”

She realised that she was being tiresome in importuning him about a subject on which he had made up his mind.

However, she still asked herself whether she was doing the right thing. It would be easier on her conscience if she went away by herself and hid so that no one could find her.

And yet how could she go without money? Without any idea of where her destination might be? Also she had to admit that Lord Dorrington was right and that she might become involved in even more unpleasantness.

‘I seem to be born for it!’ she told herself with a little sigh.

Then, suddenly frightened because she had not thought of it before, she wondered what Lord Dorrington would expect of her once she was his wife.

Would he desire her as the Prince had done? She was not quite certain what marriage entailed, she only knew that she was afraid of being touched, of being kissed, of even being close to a man.

As if Lord Dorrington knew instinctively what she was thinking, he said quietly,

“I think we should be frank with each other from the very beginning, Alyna. I want to assure you now that, because through forced circumstances our marriage is to take place so quickly, without a conventional engagement during which we could get to know each other, I shall never do anything that you would not wish me to do or intrude on you in any way.”

Alyna felt the colour rise in her cheeks because it was as if he was aware of what she had been thinking to herself.

Then, while she tried to find words to reply to him, a new problem came to her mind.

Was he saying this out of consideration for what he sensed were her feelings in the matter or was he in fact not personally interested in her?

Chapter Seven

Alyna was never quite certain afterwards what she had expected Dorrington Park to look like.

But, when she saw it for the first time, she found it so enchanting and so lovely that it was difficult to express her feelings at all adequately.

Lord Dorrington drew his phaeton to a standstill at the top of a long drive of lime trees.