Free 104. A Heart Finds Love by Barbara Cartland

to give them your instructions as to what is to be sold in the house and what is not.”
    The Duke smiled at her.
    “Personally,” he went on, “I think it would be best if nothing was sold until we return.”
    “I doubt if the creditors will agree to that,” Alnina answered in a small voice.
    “Very well, they will just have to be paid off,” the Duke asserted.
    He then looked up at the empty space over the mantelpiece and continued,
    “I only wish that this had happened sooner and you would have been able to keep a great number of pictures that you have already sold.”
    “I hated doing it,” Alnina admitted, “and it would have broken Papa’s heart.”
    “Well, what is done cannot be undone,” the Duke said. “But we can make amends for you in the future and, as our teacher, you will be entitled to a large salary.”
    Alnina stared at him incredulously.
    “Are you really serious?” she asked.
    “Of course I am. It matters to me enormously. I am not so concerned with money, but only with possessing the mountain I have always wanted and, if you like, loved as if it was the wife everyone is begging me to marry!”
    William laughed.
    “You would find it cold, hard and cumbersome when you were making love to it!”
    “Now you are just being unpleasant, William. The mountain is what I dream about and I have wanted it ever since we first saw it. Now I have a chance of making it mine I am not going to miss it. That is my final word, so it is no use arguing with me about it.”
    “I would not dare,” William said. “I just know how pig-headed you can be when you make up your mind and Alnina will have to get used to that, just as I have.”
    Alnina was looking from one to the other as if she could not believe that what they were saying was true.
    Then the Duke announced,
    “With any luck we will leave next week. Now tell me if there is anything else you want done while we are away.”
    “I hate to say it, but Brooks and his wife have been wonderful to me and have looked after me ever since I was a baby. They have hardly been able to afford enough food when we have not sold anything and they have not been paid any wages for months.”
    “You can leave that to me,” the Duke said.
    “I hate to bother you with it,” Alnina replied, “but they are the only people who have helped me since I have been alone.”
    “As I have already said,” the Duke insisted, “I will see that the Brookses are cared for and have help in the house while you are away with me.”
    “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” Alnina cried. “I just could not bear them being half-starved, as they have been at times and I am sure that they would feel very lonely in the house if there was no one with them.”
    “I will see that Mrs. Brooks has someone to help in the kitchen and that Brooks has a footman.”
    Alnina threw up her hands.
    “I don’t believe it. I am dreaming all this and will wake up and find that I am alone in bed.”
    “You will wake up and find that you are in Tiflis and have a thousand things to do for me,” the Duke said. “Before we leave I am certain that, as my wife, you will want some fashionable and expensive clothes as part of my bargain.”
    He paused before he added,
    “You had better come to London and stay two or three nights and buy what you want, which, of course, must be suitable for a Duchess.”
    Alnina drew in her breath.
    “Now I am quite certain that I will wake up at any moment!” she exclaimed.
    “In that case William and I are going to leave while you convince yourself you have not been dreaming and are merely being practical! And, of course, earning your salary as our teacher and, as far as Tiflis is concerned, as my wife!”
    Alnina then stared at him again as if she could not believe what she was hearing, but William laughed.
    “This is John all over! Once he gets going there is no stopping him. So come along, John, it is time we went back to London and you can send a carriage for Alnina