Free 104. A Heart Finds Love by Barbara Cartland Page B

since I’d had a footman, I thinks I’ve forgotten how to teach him.”
    “I am sure that you will remember once you have chosen one,” Alnina said consolingly.
    “Now all you has to do,” Brooks went on, “is to enjoy yourself while you’re away. I thinks His Grace be a real gentleman and no one can say more.”
    “Of course not,” Alnina agreed.
    She kissed Mrs. Brooks goodbye and shook hands with Brooks.
    Then she climbed into the carriage and waved from the window as it drove off down the drive.
    ‘Can this really happening to me and it’s not just a dream?’ she thought as she passed the dilapidated gates.
    All the way to London she found herself thinking how exciting it all was and she was checking in her mind that she had not forgotten anything.
    When she finally arrived at the very grand house in Berkeley Square, it was to find that the Duke and William were waiting for her.
    “The photographs are wonderful,” William began. “The printer did them for me today and they are here for you to see.”
    He had them spread out on a table and Alnina had to admit they looked as a bride and bridegroom should, but, of course, very much more elegant than any wedding couple she had ever seen before.
    Then, as she was looking at them, a sudden thought made her glance up at the Duke and ask,
    “Are you showing me these to tell me that after all you will not need me on your trip to Tiflis?”
    The Duke smiled.
    “Only if you can promise me that the photographs, which I agree are excellent, can speak Russian!”
    Alnina gave a little sigh of relief.
    “I am afraid that’s not possible, so you will have to put up with me, John.”
    “That is exactly what we intend to do,” the Duke said. “I have been talking it all over with William and we have decided it would be far more comfortable to travel by sea than overland.”
    Alnina was listening excitedly, but did not interrupt and he therefore went on,
    “I am hiring a large yacht, as, although I have been intending to buy one myself, I have not yet done so. My predecessor and his sons were drowned in a boat, which he always used. It was very old and he should have replaced it at least five or six years before it destroyed him.”
    “Then what have you hired?” Alnina asked.
    “I have fortunately discovered that it is very easy to hire a yacht from an owner who does not use it very often. I have found the Marquis of Templeton, who won a prize at Cowes last year, is only too pleased to rent me his yacht as long as it is back in England in time for Cowes Week.”
    “And will we be back by then?” William asked.
    “I have no intention of staying away from home longer than I can possibly help. When I am exploring, I never linger long, as some men do, in one place.”
    “Then you have this yacht available now?” Alnina asked, as she felt that they should keep to the point.
    “It will be waiting in the Thames for us the day after tomorrow and by that time you should have managed to buy your trousseau.”
    Alnina laughed.
    “Most women would scream at being given so little time. But, as I am not really entitled to a trousseau, I shall be very grateful for anything I have time to buy and I will not keep you waiting.”
    “I will be very disagreeable if you do,” the Duke said. “I have made a success of my life so far by always being on time and never prevaricating, as so many people do at the last moment, changing their minds when it is least expected.”
    Alnina looked at him.
    “I wonder why,” she asked, “you are so precise about everything. Was it because you were brought up that way or is it a rebellion against people who were sloppy and annoyed you as soon as you were old enough to understand what was happening?”
    “That is a very intelligent question and the answer is both. I remember my father being exceedingly precise and people so often had to sympathise with him when my mother constantly changed her mind at the last moment.”
    The Duke