Rivals for Love (14 page)

“He told me – you had already – come back here, but – he was lying to – get me – alone.”

She was still trembling as she spoke.

The Duke nearly told her that Princess Natasha had tried to prevent him from looking for her, but decided it would be unwise at this particular moment.

He sat Elva very gently down.

“Now please get undressed and into bed,” he urged. “Nothing more will happen this evening and you will just have to try and forget about the appalling behaviour of this uncouth Russian.”

He walked towards the communicating door.

He had almost reached it when Elva murmured,

“Please ask Danton – if he will please come and – take this jewellery from me – and unfasten the – back of my gown.”

“I will send him to you immediately.”

He disappeared into the dressing room and a few seconds later Danton entered the room and Elva handed him her diamond tiara, which she had taken off as she had been hurried upstairs by Prince Ivor, as it was so heavy.

She had told the Prince that she could find her own way, but he had refused to listen to her. However she had to admit that with so many staircases on different levels it would have been difficult.

At any rate she really had no choice in the matter as the Prince had insisted on escorting her to her bedroom.

“Otherwise,” he said, “you will become confused in this wilderness and I would be very upset if I lost you.”

Elva did not answer him.

He had already, she thought, been very irritating in his carriage which brought her back to the Winter Palace.

The Prince had taken her hand although she had tried to release it and he had insisted on kissing every one of her fingers, finally pressing his lips passionately on her palm.

She had attempted to restrain him, but he paid no attention to her protests.

She was so anxious to find the Duke as quickly as possible and did not want to quarrel with Prince Ivor.

She had entered her bedroom and found it empty, nor was there any sign of the Duke in the dressing room.

It was only then she realised that she had been tricked.

She had tried so hard to fight off Prince Ivor, but he was too strong for her.

“You are mine!” he crowed triumphantly. “Mine and you cannot escape me!”

As he tried to pull off her gown, tearing it as he did so, she had screamed.

The Duke had then burst into the room to save her.

Now Danton was undoing her diamond necklace and Elva glanced towards the communicating door as she whispered to Danton,

“I
must
be present at this duel tomorrow. I don't trust the Prince at all.”

“I will take you, Your Grace,” Danton assured her. “But His Grace must not know. Ladies are never allowed to attend duels.”

“I do know, Danton, but if you call me a quarter of an hour before you call him, I will be dressed and we can slip out as soon as he has left.”

“Leave it to me, Your Grace.”

He undid the back of her gown and collected the rest of the jewels the Duke had lent her before returning into the dressing room.

Elva undressed quickly, throwing her gown over one of the chairs and slipped into the nightgown the maid had left ready for her.

She loosened her hair, blew out the candles on the dressing table and climbed into bed.

The communicating door was still ajar and she was hoping the Duke would come and say goodnight to her. It was something he had not done when they were on the yacht.

But tonight was different.

He would know that, although she was trying to be brave, she was still frightened.

She had only been in bed a few minutes when the Duke came into the room. He had undressed and was now wearing a long dark robe which reached to the ground.

He walked to the bedside.

“I have to ask you, Elva, to lend me two of your pillows and, if you have no use for it, the eiderdown as well.”

Elva stared at him in surprise.

“Why do you want them?”

“As my dressing room contains no bed,” the Duke answered, “Danton and I thought I would use the bedroom next door. But unfortunately while we were at the ball it has been occupied and I can hear talking in the room.”

“So you have no bed!” cried Elva. “What can you do?”

“I can easily sleep on the floor. It is something I have been forced to do before and it is not too much of a hardship.”

“But that is impossible. You must gain some rest before you fight tomorrow's duel. You must sleep on my bed if there is nowhere else.”

She paused for a moment.

Then before the Duke could answer she exclaimed,

“I have an idea! I remember Papa telling me that when he visited Sweden they had a strange custom in the winter when it became very cold of allowing an engaged couple to get into bed together, but with a bolster between them.”

The Duke laughed.

“I too remember hearing about that custom when I was in Sweden.”

“I believe it is called ‘bolstering',” Elva told him. “This bed is very large and it is something we can do now so that you can sleep before you have to fight that – horrible beastly man.”

Her voice shook when she spoke of the Prince.

“Don't let the thought of him upset you again and thank you for your very sensible suggestion. I will tell Danton he can go to bed.”

He walked back towards the communicating door and Elva heard him saying,

“Her Ladyship has given me the pillows I need. Goodnight Danton and don't be late in calling me at six-thirty.”

“I'll be on time, Your Grace,” replied Danton.

The Duke closed the communicating door.

Elva had already pulled out the bolster from behind the pillows.

The Duke went to the other side of the bed and set it down the middle.

“Are you quite certain I will not disturb you?” he asked.

“I would be very much more disturbed if I thought you were sleeping on the floor. Now go to sleep quickly, it must be nearly three o'clock in the morning by this time, so you will have less than four hours sleep.”

“Which should be enough for anyone,” replied the Duke wryly. “I can assure you I have often had much less sleep when I have been travelling.”

“You must be feeling – strong and at your – best tomorrow,” muttered Elva in a low voice.

The Duke climbed into bed and she turned towards the lighted candles.

“Goodnight, Cousin Varin, and do catch some sleep at once. I will just say a prayer asking God to protect you and then I too shall fall asleep.”

“You are being very sensible, dear Elva, and I shall obey your orders.”

There was a touch of amusement in his voice.

Elva considered that he should be more concerned about the duel than he appeared to be.

She blew out the candles and then she put her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes.

Lying in the large and comfortable bed, the Duke smiled to himself.

In all his long experience this was the first time he had been in bed with a lovely woman he had not kissed.

Moreover she had not only put a barrier between them, but she was prepared to go to sleep without even talking to him.

He thought it was typical of Elva to be so different.

Ever since they had set out together on this strange journey to Russia she had managed to surprise him both by what she said as well as the way in which she accepted everything that happened.

He had never met a woman who had not made a tremendous fuss when the sea was rough or a woman who had not made endless demands for his attention and his affection.

Elva had never complained about anything.

She had quite obviously been extremely frightened by the Prince and yet once he had rescued her, she had behaved in a quiet and dignified manner.

Unlike any other woman he had ever encountered she was ready to fall asleep without going over and over everything that had occurred.

She obviously had no desire to describe to him in detail what her feelings had been.

When he had come into the bedroom and seen the huge canopied bed she had seemed small and frail, but at the same time exquisitely lovely.

Her long fair hair was tumbling over her shoulders and the light from the candles revealed strange touches of fire glistening in her tresses.

She had looked even more like a Goddess painted by Botticelli than she usually did and it was not surprising that a man like Prince Ivor had been determined to make love to her.

The Duke thought he was one of many who would attempt to capture her once she had made an appearance in the Social world.

He was soon very conscious, albeit surprised, that she had already fallen fast asleep and he could hear her breathing steadily and deeply beside him.

He seriously believed, knowing how beautiful she was looking, that no other man would have been able to resist the temptation to lean over and kiss her.

It was with a great effort that he forced himself to turn his back on Elva.

She had turned her back on him, so he too must try to go to sleep as he was only too well aware that tomorrow was going to be a difficult fight.

Prince Ivor was determined to be the victor and the Duke was sure that he would be a first class shot.

‘But so am I,' the Duke consoled himself, ‘and it is of the utmost importance that I should win this battle.'

Because he was thinking of the duel rather than of the beautiful Elva lying beside him, he actually did fall asleep eventually.

*

Elva was wakened when Danton called the Duke in the early morning.

He entered the room carrying a lighted candle and touched him gently on the shoulder.

The Duke woke instantly and without speaking he slipped out of bed and into the dressing room.

Elva had actually been awake for quite some time, realising it would be impossible for her to dress, as she had planned, before the Duke had left for the duel.

She only hoped that he would not discover that she was intending to follow him to the Bowling Alley.

She could hear him moving about in the dressing room and he was talking in a low voice to Danton. She dressed herself as quickly as she could, pulling on the first thing she could feel in the wardrobe.

She did not dare light the candle as the Duke might come in and ask her why she was dressing so early.

She was now dressed, except for her shoes, and her hair was still on her shoulders when she heard footsteps outside the door in the corridor.

She guessed it must be Mr. Barnier.

Quickly she slipped back into bed and pulled the sheets up over her and closed her eyes.

The Duke was waiting in the dressing room and as Danton helped him into his greatcoat, Mr. Barnier and Mr. Sharp appeared in the doorway.

“I am ready,” the Duke announced. “I will just see if Her Grace is awake.”

Next he pulled open the communicating door and peeped inside to find the room was in darkness with no sound from the bed.

He waited for a second and assuming that Elva was still fast asleep, he closed the communicating door.

“Be waiting with the carriages and the luggage as I have told you, Danton,” he ordered. “I will come straight from the Bowling Alley to the main door.”

“Very good, Your Grace.”

The Duke walked off with his escort.

A few seconds later and Danton was opening the communicating door to find Elva was already out of bed and pinning up her hair. He pulled back the curtains so that she could see.

She groped in the drawer of the dressing table for the little pistol she had borrowed from her Aunt Violet and slipped it into the pocket of her gown and with it the little box of bullets.

“I am ready to go,” she said to Danton.

“If we hurry now, Your Grace, we could reach the Bowling Alley before His Grace and the others arrive.”

“Then let us run, Danton.”

Danton, who must have explored the Palace while she and the Duke were asleep, now hurried her down a dark back staircase, which she realised was only used by the servants.

It was very different from the many grand heavily carpeted staircases, one of which the Duke would now be descending.

Elva and Danton crept round the back of the Palace and he led her through twisting paths and unkempt bushes.

They emerged together alongside the Bowling Alley and she quickly realised that it had been constructed at the time when the Palace was first built.

The bushes of rhododendrons and other shrubs had grown very thick and by peeping through the leaves they could see the smooth perfectly kept grass of the Bowling Alley in front of them.

The bowls had all been tidied away in boxes at one end and now there was nothing moving. The only sound was the birds singing in the trees overheard and butterflies fluttering round the blossoms in the hedges.

Danton led Elva just halfway along the ground before stopping at a point completely hidden by the flowering rhododendrons.

Less than a minute later the Duke arrived with his two seconds.

With them was a distinguished gentleman Elva felt sure she had seen last night at Prince Potemkin's ball. He was middle-aged and had a commanding presence that showed he was someone of importance.

She guessed that he must be the Referee.

Then as she overheard Mr. Barnier addressing him as ‘Your Royal Highness,' she realised that he was Prince Alexander himself. She had heard him greet the Duke when they were going into supper.

‘If they have invited an important Royal Referee,' she mused, ‘at least the duel will be fought fairly without any chance of Prince Ivor cheating.'

She did not really think that he would stoop so low as to be involved in any degree of skulduggery. But she was frightened of him and as she disliked him so much, she felt he would do anything to get his own way.

He had certainly behaved dishonestly last night by pretending that the Duke had returned to the Winter Palace without her.

Then he had deliberately taken her there himself so that he could seduce her.