“Poor man!” Carina said and wondered if the agony in Robert’s voice would always haunt her.

“Well, I will go and see if I can find Lord Lynche,” Captain Andrews said in a more cheerful tone.

He bowed politely and hurried out through the front door.

Carina crossed the hall and went into the drawing room, feeling as she entered that it was one of the loveliest rooms she had ever seen.

Someone, she supposed it was one of the gardeners, had filled it with flowers from the hothouses at The Castle. There was a fire burning in the grate and the windows looking out over the gardens seemed to be full of sunshine.

It looked very different from when she had seen it first. Then there had been an unlived-in and sad atmosphere about it, as if it was lonely and without anyone to care for it. Now it had a welcome that Carina not only saw with her eyes but felt in her heart.

She walked to the mantelpiece and stood touching the exquisite Dresden ornaments with her soft fingertips.

She thought that she heard a horse’s hoofs in the distance and held her breath to listen.

She was waiting – waiting tremulously and a little afraid – for the man she loved.

She had never imagined that love could be like this. She had thought that it would be something quiet, peaceful and comforting, instead of which it was a burning fire that consumed her whole being even as the fire last night had consumed The Castle.

She was no longer sure of herself. She only knew that every breath she drew was like a sharp sword searing its way into her heart and every thought of him was an ecstasy beyond expression.

“I love you.”

She whispered the words beneath her breath and wanted to shout them aloud so that the whole room echoed with them. She loved him and she could think of nothing but her love and the feelings he aroused in her.

She wanted to consider everything dispassionately and logically but she could only feel and go on feeling, so that her whole being became an instrument of pulsating emotion that she had no control over.

He was coming! She heard his footsteps cross the hall and she turned her face towards the door. Her eyes were like lighted candles as he came into the room.

‘He is looking tired,’ she thought at her first glimpse of him. But then, as he saw her standing there, his face was transfigured.

In a few quick strides he was at her side.

“Carina,” he said, “you are all right?”

“But of course,” she answered.

And her eyes looking up into his said so much more than the mere conventional words.

“I have thought about you all day,” he said, “but I could not come until now.”

“Of course not,” she answered, “there was so much to do.”

His eyes held hers.