She then raised her head to look at him.
He could see the tears on her cheeks, while her eyes were wide and frightened.
“You are quite, quite safe,” he was now saying.
Then he kissed her.
Ivana felt as if the skies had opened and the stars had all fallen down and were twinkling in her heart and shining in her eyes.
She knew as the Earl kissed her and went on kissing her that she had reached Heaven.
‘I love – you! I – love – you!’ she wanted to say, but it was just impossible to speak only to feel.
It must have been a long time later when she realised that the horses were slowing down.
They were passing down an oak tree bordered drive.
The Earl raised his head.
“We are home, my precious,” he declared, “and now you can go to bed and get some sleep.”
“I-I want to be – with you,” Iv
