‘That is a silly idea!’ she told herself sternly.

But she planned to write to them and send them presents so that they would not forget her.

‘How wonderful,’ she found herself thinking, ‘it would be to have a son like Rupert!’

She could still feel his arms round her neck as he kissed her goodnight and hear the excitement in his voice as he pleaded,

“Please tell me another story, Aunt Alyna!”

He looked very like his uncle, she thought, and wondered if Lord Dorrington would ever have a son to carry on his illustrious title.

Then, almost as if her mind had wandered away onto forbidden paths without her awareness, she remembered that there was no question of either of them ever having children!

Somehow she could not forget the warm weight of Ivan on her knee, the sweet clean smell of him, the feeling of his head resting against her breast.

‘I am overtired and overwrought!’ she told herself.

After she had taken a warm flower-scented bath, which the housemaids arranged in front of a fire in her bedroom, and was dressed in the white gown that Lord Dorrington had thought suitable for her Wedding, she felt very different.

The gown was enchanting. It was not just plain white, which would have detracted from the purity of Alyna’s skin. Instead it was of white gauze over a foundation of silver that shimmered as she moved. There were silver ribbons under her breasts and silver slippers to complete the picture.

One of the maids arranged her hair skilfully in the same fashion in which she had done it herself, but with more experienced hands.

Then, just as Alyna was ready, there was a knock at the door and a maid brought her some flowers.

“With his Lordship’s compliments, miss.”

Alyna saw that there was a spray of tiny white orchids so star-like and fragile that they might have fallen from the sky and a bouquet of the same exotic blossoms tied with a bow of silver.

“They are beautiful, miss!” the maid exclaimed. “I have heard that his Lordship prizes this kind more than any other flower in the greenhouses.”

Alyna did not reply and she went on,

“His Lordship brought them back himself, miss, from abroad with a number of other strange plants. I am told there is none like them in the whole of England.”

‘So his Lordship is interested in plants and flowers,’ Alyna thought to herself. This was something else that she had not expected!

The maid fixed the spray of orchids at the back of her head and they formed a halo for the red-gold of her hair.

Then, carrying her bouquet, Alyna went downstairs.

Lord Dorrington was waiting for her in the hall.

As she came down the ancient carved oak staircase with its heraldic newels, he was watching her and she thought that there was a strange expression on his face.