Free Love Drives In by Barbara Cartland

face in his hands. "Please tell me you didn't really say that."
    "Don't worry, old boy. The police won't make you appear in court. They don't like to do that because it embarrasses a fellow – if he happens to have a wife or something like that. And the officer saw her assault you, so they won't need your testimony. So you can afford to forget about her."
    The Earl groaned again.
    "Where is she?" he demanded. "Where did they take her?"
    "Don't go following her. Let her go. It's best if you never see her again."
    "Where will she be?" he shouted.
    "They take them to the Haymarket Police Station, just round the corner," the man said. "But if you'll take my advice, you'll leave her to her fate."
    Shocked to the soul by this catastrophe, the Earl forced himself to rise and make his way out of the Alhambra. His head was still swimming from where it had struck the pillar and his jaw was sore.
    He felt it gingerly.
    'Who would have thought she could do that?' he mused. 'But it was all my own fault. Whatever can I say to her after this?'
    All too soon the Police Station came in sight. As soon as he appeared in the doorway, the sergeant at the desk stood up straight and alert, awed by the Earl's elegant evening wear. He was dealing with 'quality'.
    Overcoming his embarrassment as best he could, the Earl told a pathetic and not entirely untruthful story about taking a lady friend to the Alhambra, losing track of her, and then falling victim to her wrath.
    "She is not – the kind of woman you think," he said. "The fault was mine for taking a well bred lady to such a place."
    "I don't know about a well bred lady," the desk sergeant protested. "From what I heard she has a splendid right hook."
    The Earl ground his teeth.
    "I slipped," he said tensely. "And banged my head. Besides, you can hardly blame the poor girl for being angry with me."
    The sergeant became fatherly.
    "Now look here, sir, I understand that you feel a sense of responsibility for this young person – "
    "This young lady ," the Earl corrected him with an edge to his voice.
    "If you say so, sir."
    "I do say so, and since I am the Earl of Kennington, the correct way for you to address me is 'my Lord'."
    Normally he was the last person to emphasise his title, but he could see that he was going to need all the status he could summon. Luckily this produced the desired result, at least in part. The sergeant became more respectful, but no less avuncular.
    "Yes my Lord," he said. "I'm sure it's very good of you to be so concerned about her, but there's no need to go worrying too much. These girls know how to take care of themselves – "
    In despair, the Earl played his highest card.
    "The young lady happens to be my fiancée," he said in a freezing voice.
    "Really, sir? Then you'll be able to tell me her name."
    "Hasn't she already told you?"
    "No, my Lord, she's been extremely unhelpful and refused to utter a word."
    "Then I'm certainly not going to tell you. But what I will say is this. If you are so misguided as to take this lady to court I shall appear before the magistrate, making it plain that I have no charges to press against her. I shall get the best solicitor I can find to defend her, and then I shall bring an action against the police for false arrest, imprisonment and malicious prosecution."
    The sergeant knew when he was beaten.
    "In that case, my Lord, I'll have the young lady brought up from the cells to be released. Then the two of you can sort it out any way you can."
    The Earl sat gloomily watching the door. The waiting was terrible, but he knew that the moment when Dorina appeared would be far worse.
    He wondered if she would be tearful or reproachful. If he was very lucky indeed she might even be apologetic for the injury she had inflicted on him.
    But he did not count on his luck to extend that far.
    As soon as he saw her he knew that he had been right. Nothing prepared him for the avenging fury that appeared and fixed baleful eyes on him. Dorina's hair