Free 101. A Call of Love by Barbara Cartland

sort of sniggering remarks that people in the Social world make about someone if they think they are having a love affair is extremely unpleasant.”
    He spoke in a way that told Aisha he had suffered from that sort of gossip himself.
    It was indeed the truth.
    Because he was so handsome and so rich and also a friend of the Prince of Wales, he had only to dance twice with the same woman for the gossip writers to say that he was having an affair with her.
    When he did have one, he often felt as if it was proclaimed from the rooftops.
    He was not thinking of himself at the moment, but of Aisha because she was so young and so unspoilt.
    She had no knowledge of the world he lived in and that consisted of a large number of people, all very like the Earl and Countess of Dartwood.
    “What we have to do,” he said, “is to put our heads together and see how we can prevent these friends of mine from chattering. Unfortunately they are bound to do so, not only immediately they arrive in India, but also when they return to London.”
    “I don’t really think it will matter much to me,” Aisha said, “if that is what you are saying.”
    “But it will. You have not been in London, so you have no idea how the smallest thing is exaggerated, talked about and then exaggerated again until everyone believes what they last heard is the truth.”
    Aisha laughed.
    “I have read about this sort of thing in books, my Lord, but did not believe it really happens.”
    “Well, it does. I would be insulting both you and your father if I did not do something to stop it.”
    “So what can we do?” They sat in silence, both of them thinking fervently what they could say.
    Lord Kenington was recalling that he had, when he first met the Countess nearly five years ago, thought her very attractive.
    And she had flirted with him because he was so handsome. She had invited him at least a hundred times to their house in Berkeley Square and he had danced with her and kissed her in a conservatory.
    But it was he, rather than she, who had decided that it should not go any further.
    Lord Kenington had become very friendly with the Earl, who had invited him to shoot and also to fish on his river in Scotland.
    He did not doubt, now that he was older and wiser, that if he had pursued his friendship with the Countess, it could easily have developed into an affaire-de-coeur .
    But in those days he had been younger and shyer than he was now.
    He had thought of her as a married woman and had no wish to deceive the Earl behind his back and so he had continued to be their friend over the years.
    He had been aware at the same time that a number of people complained that they both talked too much.
    Many of his friends in White’s had moved away if the Earl sat down beside them.
    ‘Why on earth did they of all people,’ he asked himself, ‘have to come aboard now?’
    He was enjoying himself talking to Aisha and he had no wish to break up their friendship.
    But he knew that there had already been a question mark in Mavis Dartwood’s eyes when he introduced Aisha.
    Aisha was now very quiet and was staring ahead.
    “We have to think of something,” he said. “You are clever. Now think of a way I can be looking after you and protecting you and, as far as they are concerned, have known you for many years.”
    “Perhaps I had better get off the ship,” Aisha said. “There is just time for me to pack my clothes.”
    “Do you really think I would let you do that?” Lord Kenington asked. “Let them talk and be damned. I would not dream of leaving you all alone in Italy, perhaps at the mercy of men like Watkins.”
    He saw Aisha give a little shudder and he knew that she was frightened at the idea and he was quite certain that it would be wicked to leave anyone so pretty alone in a strange country.
    “You will do nothing of the sort,” he added. “We will just have to think of something sensible. There must be an answer if we can only find it.”
    Even as he