Читать книгу A Kiss In Rome - Barbara Cartland - Страница 2

Alina Langley looked round the room and wondered miserably if there was anything left for her to sell.

Everything that was of any real value had already gone from the house quite some time ago now.

She thought that the patches on the wall where the mirrors had hung and the gap where the pretty inlaid secrétaire had stood made her want to cry.

“What can I do?” she asked the drawing room. “What can I do?”

It just seemed incredible to her that everything had happened so quickly.

From feeling safe and happy in the world around her she now felt as if the ceiling had crashed down on her head.

When her father a year ago had had a fall out hunting and broken his spine, it was for her mother as if the world had come to an end.

They had been extremely happy together. They were not in the slightest bit rich, but they had enough money to enjoy their horses and the few acres of land that they were surrounded by in the middle of glorious English countryside.

Then, when Sir Oswald died one day in considerable pain, it was found that he had run up a mountain of debts.

They were certainly not due to riotous living.

He had not paid his taxes and he owed a great deal to his coachbuilder and to the builders who were engaged for endless repairs to the house.

What was worse, shares in Companies that he had invested both his wife’s and his own money in had turned out to be worthless.

Lady Langley, however, was not at all perturbed by any of this.

She only knew that without her husband she had no wish to go on living.

To Alina it was horrifying to see her mother fading away before her eyes. She was still so young and beautiful and had always seemed like a girl.

So, as she had no wish to live, Lady Langley simply died so that she could be with her husband again.

It was then that Alina knew that she was alone in the world and, what was even more frightening that she had no money.

The house was hers because she was an only child, but how could she possibly keep it up?

Anything that was valuable had been sold off already to pay her father’s mounting debts.

A few pieces of antique furniture that she cherished she had had to sell to pay for special food and medicines for her ailing mother.

It was just a waste of money for Lady Langley never got better and had never intended to do so.

Alina walked over to the window to look out at the garden.

The daffodils made a golden patch of colour beneath the trees and the almond trees were just coming into bloom and the grass was now beginning to grow strongly on the lawns.

The sun was shining brightly and so she opened the window.

She could hear the song of birds and the buzz of the bees hovering over the blossom.

It was all so familiar to her and she felt as if they were telling her that they sympathised with her in her present predicament.

How they wished that they could find some way to help her.

“What can I do?” she asked the wrens who were watching her from a bush that was just beginning to show the first green leaves of spring.

It was then to her surprise that she heard in the distance wheels approaching the front door.

She was wondering who it could possibly be.

The only people who had called to talk to her after her mother’s funeral had been from the village and they had walked to the pretty Norman Church at the end of the garden.

She then thought that it might well be the doctor who had always been a good friend of the family.

Then she remembered that he had gone away to Scotland on a short holiday.

Slowly, because she almost resented being disturbed in her loneliness, she walked from the drawing room out into the hall.

The woman who came to clean in the morning had already left and she opened the door herself.

A very smart and modern carriage was standing outside on the gravel drive.

There was a face at its window that made her cry out in astonishment,

“Denise! Is it really you?”

She ran down the steps and, as the elegantly dressed figure climbed out of the carriage, she flung her arms around her.

“Denise, how wonderful to see you!” she exclaimed. “I thought that you had forgotten all about me.”

“No, of course not,” Denise Sedgewick replied, “but I have come to ask for your help.”

“My help?” Alina repeated in surprise.

She just could not imagine how Denise Sedgewick could possibly want her help.

Her mother had been a distant cousin of the Sedgewick family and had been devoted to Denise’s mother before she had died in childbirth.

As Alina and Denise were almost the same age, with Denise just a few months older, it was arranged that they should take lessons together.

Every Monday Alina would ride over to their house, which was only two miles away across the fields and stay there until the Friday, when she returned home to be with her father and mother.

It had been a very satisfactory arrangement from Lady Langley’s point of view.

Because Denise’s father was wealthy, he could afford the best-educated Governesses and they also had a number of Tutors for various additional subjects that he wanted his daughter to be well educated in.

Alina very much enjoyed her lessons and especially loved being with Denise.

She was very lovely and in fact both girls were outstandingly beautiful.

Perhaps Denise was the more sensational of the two, having perfect features and hair that seemed to be gold-tipped with little flames of red.

Her eyes were the green of a forest stream.

It was no surprise when, just before her eighteenth birthday, Denise went to London to be presented at Court by her grandmother.

She had been an outstanding success in London Society.

In fact she was such a sensation that Alina had lost touch with her.

At first the two girls had corresponded with each other frequently, but soon Alina found that she was writing three letters to one hurried note in reply from Denise.

She therefore thought that perhaps she was imposing on their friendship and wrote only occasionally and sometimes at Christmas.

Lately she had not written to her at all.

Now Denise was saying,

“Dearest, you must forgive me for not having come to see you sooner. I have not been at home or with my grandmother, but staying in all sorts of exciting houses for house parties which I am longing to tell you about.”

“You look lovely, Denise!” Alina exclaimed.

She was looking as she spoke at the very elegant travelling coat that Denise was wearing and her hat trimmed with feathers.

She noted too the elegance of her gloves, her shoes and her handbag, in fact everything about her was the height of fashion.

They went into the drawing room and Denise gave a cry of surprise.

“What has happened?” she exclaimed. “What have you done? Where are all the lovely mirrors and the pictures I remember so well?”

“I have so much to tell you,” Alina replied quietly.

Denise waited and then Alina went on,

“After Papa died, we found that we were very poor.”

“I was so upset to hear about his accident,” Denise murmured sympathetically. “But I had always imagined that you were very comfortably off.”

“We thought we were,” Alina answered her, “but there were a great many debts and Papa’s investments did not pay any dividends.”

Denise clasped her hands together.

“Oh, dearest, how terrible! I wish I had known. Of course I would have wanted to help you.”

Alina drew in her breath.

“I don’t think you know,” she murmured, “that Mama – died three weeks ago.”

Denise gave a little cry of horror and flung her arms round Alina.

“I had no idea, oh, Alina, I am so sorry. I know how much you loved her and I loved her too.”

“Everybody loved Mama,” Alina sighed, “but she found that she could not go on living without Papa at her side.”

Denise sat down on a sofa that was clearly in considerable need of repair.

“You must tell me all about it,” she suggested. “I had no idea that anything like this had happened. When I decided to come to you for help, I expected, of course, to find your mother here with everything in the house as beautiful as I have always thought it to be.”

“We have had to sell everything that was saleable,” Alina admitted in a low voice.

There was a little pause before she added,

“We will talk about that later. I want to hear about you and the success you have been in London and, of course, why you have come to me for help.”

She saw by the expression in her friend’s eyes that something was really wrong.

After a moment Denise exclaimed,

“Oh, Alina, I have been such a fool! You will not believe how stupid I have been.”

Alina sat down beside her.

“Tell me all about it, dearest.”

“That is what I decided to do and why I came here,” Denise replied, “and I was sure that you would help me.”

Alina reached out and took Denise’s hand in hers.

“Start at the beginning,” she urged.

“Well, as you have heard, I was a success in London. I really was a great success, Alina, and it would be silly of me to deny it.”

“How could you be anything else?” Alina asked her fondly. “You are so lovely and you have all those beautiful clothes that you wrote and told me about.”

“My grandmother was very generous,” Denise said, “and naturally Papa was prepared to pay for anything I wanted.”

There was a smile on her lips as she added,

“I really was the belle of every ball I went to!”

“Of course you were,” Alina supported her loyally.

“It is not only your looks that count in London,” Denise added. “There are plenty of sophisticated beauties who fascinate the Prince of Wales and all the smart gentlemen who frequent the Marlborough House parties.”

“I am sure that none of them could be as beautiful as you,” Alina smiled.

“They think they are far more beautiful and the men who go after them are not interested in debutantes.”

Alina waited, still wondering what could be wrong.

“However I have had dozens of proposals,” Denise told her, “and finally, Alina, I lost my heart.”

“How exciting!” Alina exclaimed. “Who is he? And are you very happy?”

Denise gave a deep sigh.

“He is very handsome and he is the Earl of Wescott so Papa was only too delighted at the idea of my marrying him.”

“You are going to be married?”

“That is what has gone wrong,” Denise answered.

“But what has happened?”

“I cannot understand how I can have been such a fool! Henry was in love with me, very much in love with me, and asked me to marry him.”

Alina was listening wide-eyed.

She could not understand the story that she was hearing.

“I don’t know what came over me,” Denise continued, “but I think it was because Henry rather took it for granted that I would accept him. Although there could be no question of my doing anything else, I prevaricated.”

“You mean,” Alina asked, “that you did not accept him.”

“I did in a way, but told him that he would have to wait a little for us to be quite certain that we really loved each other.”

“And he disagreed?”

“No. But, Alina, I was so stupid! Just to make him more in love with me and a little jealous, I flirted with a lot of other men, until finally I went too far.”

“What happened then?” Alina asked.

“Henry wrote me a letter saying that it was quite obvious that I did not really care for him and then he left England!”

There was a note of despair in Denise’s voice that Alina did not miss.

“He left England?” she questioned. “But where has he gone?”

“He has gone to Rome to stay with his grandmother,” Denise replied, “and I am terrified, yes terrified, that I shall never see him again.”

“But, surely, if you write to him – ” Alina began.

“I am not going to do that. I have decided to go to Rome and see him. I know when he sees me again everything will be all right. I can tell him that I love him more than anything on earth and we will be married.”

Alina thought for a moment before she said,

“I am sure that is a sensible solution.”

“But it will be difficult and that is why I have come to see you, my dearest friend.”

“What can I do to help?” Alina enquired.

“Well, Papa has agreed that I can go to Rome, and, as it so happens, my cousin, Lord Teverton, whom you have never met, is going there on a special mission on behalf of the Prime Minister. I can travel with him, but, of course, I need to have a chaperone with me.”

Alina nodded.

She could understand that it would be impossible for a young girl to go abroad without one to look after her and make sure that she does not get into trouble.

“That is why I came to see you,” Denise said, “because I have been trying to remember the name of that Governess we had for a short while when Miss Smithson was ill. She was a married woman and a very pleasant lady.”

“A Governess?” Alina repeated, “but surely – ?”

“I know what you are thinking, exactly the same as Papa did, that I should take one of my relatives with me. An aunt or an older cousin.”

She threw out her hands in a very expressive gesture and added,

“Can you imagine what they would be like? They would be coy and then say, ‘now you young people want to be alone together,’ which would make me feel hot with embarrassment. Or else they will play the strict chaperone and never allow me to be alone with Henry for an instant.”

Alina laughed.

She had met some of Denise’s relatives and knew that was exactly the way they would behave.

“I went over a whole list of them,” Denise was saying, “and each one seemed worse than the last. I know that I have to be very clever with Henry as I have really upset him.”

She made a sound that was almost a sob as she carried on,

“His letter was such a shock to me. I know he has taken severe umbrage at the way I had behaved and I have somehow to make him forgive me.”

She sighed again and then with a little flash in her eyes, she continued,

“But I am not going to crawl at his feet, which would be very bad for his ego. He is quite authoritative enough as it is.”

Alina laughed again.

“I can see your problem, but Mrs. Wilson, which is the name of the lady who you were asking about, is working for the French Ambassador teaching his children to speak English. At the moment she is with them in France.”

“Oh, bother!” Denise exclaimed. “She was the only person I could think of who could be tactful and at the same time satisfy Papa that she was the right sort of chaperone for me.”

“I am sure you can think of someone else,” Alina suggested hopefully.

“I simply cannot think wh – ” Denise began.

Then she gave a sudden scream.

It was so loud that it made Alina start and she looked at her friend in some surprise.

“But, of course, I have solved the problem!” Denise trumpeted. “It is quite easy. You will come with me!”

“Me?” Alina asked. “But, my dearest, I am not a married woman and two girls together could not chaperone each other.”

“Of course I understand that,” Denise replied sharply. “What I am thinking of, and it is really clever of me, is that you should come as your mother.”

“M-my – mother?”

“You know how lovely your mother was and how young she looked,” Denise said as if she was thinking it all out in her mind. “After all, we do know the story of how she married when she was seventeen so she cannot have been quite thirty-seven when she died.”

“That is true,” Alina agreed, “but – ”

“There are no ‘buts’,” Denise interrupted. “I shall tell Papa, who is leaving this afternoon for a week’s racing at Doncaster, that Lady Langley is chaperoning me to Rome. In fact when I left the house he said, ‘remember me to Lady Langley. She was always a very charming woman and I am sorry that we have not seen more of her’.”

“He has obviously not heard of her death.”

Alina was staring at her friend as if she could not believe what she was hearing.

Then, as Denise stopped speaking, she commented,

“It’s a wonderful idea, dearest, and you know I would adore to come with you to Rome, but no one in their senses would ever believe that I was Mama – even if I dressed up in her clothes.”

“Why not?” Denise argued obstinately. “People used to claim that you and your mother looked more like sisters. If you did your hair in a more sophisticated style and wore a little powder and rouge as the beauties do in London, I am sure that you would look a lot older.”

Alina did not speak and after a moment Denise continued,

“I remember all the flattering praise you used to get at the Christmas parties when we put on those charades and a play for Papa’s guests. I used to be jealous because they always said that you were a so much a better actress than I was.”

She put her fingers up to her forehead as if she was thinking.

Then she added,

“You remember the Restoration play we put on the Christmas before I went to London? You played two parts in it and one was a sophisticated and witty woman who was supposed to be at least nearly forty.”

“Acting on a stage is one thing,” Alina then pointed out, “but, if I was doing it at close quarters, I am quite certain that no one would be deceived.”

Denise threw out her hands.

“Who is there to be deceived?” she asked. “Papa will have left for the Races. My cousin, Lord Teverton, has never met you and nor has my lady’s maid as well as the Courier who will be escorting us.”

Alina did not speak and she went on,

“When we get to Rome all I want you to do is to let me see Henry alone and I am sure that you can amuse yourself by looking at the Colosseum and all those other places which we used to read about with Miss Smithson.”

There was a sudden light in Alina’s eyes.

She was thinking of how much she had longed to see all the places in Rome that they had read about and had indeed dreamed about and which she would never have a chance to visit in her life.

She often thought about them when she was alone at night. And she pretended that she was actually seeing them with her eyes instead of just remembering all that she had read.

Then she told herself that she had to be firm with Denise about this.

“Dearest Denise,” she said at length, “you know that I would do anything to help you, anything in the world except something that is wrong and might cause trouble for you one way or another.”

“What you can do for me is quite simple,” Denise answered. “You will come with me to Rome as my chaperone and you will make quite certain that Henry Wescott forgives me and we become officially engaged.”

Alina then thought that it all sounded too easy to be true.

Then she enquired in a frightened voice,

“Y-you are quite certain I would not – make a mess of it?”

“Why should you?” Denise responded at once. “We will not meet anyone who has ever seen your mother and you have to admit that she did look amazingly young.”

“Yes – everyone said so,” Alina agreed.

“Then all you have to do is to make yourself look a little older than you are now. Good gracious! If you cannot act the part of a lady who is a suitable chaperone for me, what can you do?”

Alina laughed.

“You are being ridiculous. At the same time, you know, dearest, because I do want to help you and also because, if I am honest, I would love to go to Rome, I am longing to say ‘yes’.”

“That is wonderful,” Denise cried. “We leave in three days’ time.”

“Three – days?” Alina repeated.

“But that will be plenty of time for you to decide which of your mother’s clothes you are going to wear and I will provide you with everything else.”

She put her hand over Alina’s as she said,

“I am now so ashamed of myself for not realising before now how poor you are. I have mountains of clothes, really mountains of them, which I could have sent to you, but I was so selfish I did not think of it.”

“You are not to blame yourself,” Alina said, “and just what would I do with mountains of clothes in Little Benbury?”

“You can wear them,” Denise answered, “but the gown you have on now is a disaster!”

“I have had it for years,” Alina admitted, “and it is rather threadbare.”

“Throw it away, throw everything you have away and I am sure there are furs and jewels belonging to my mother of the kind you would be expected to wear.”

Alina looked at her questioningly and Denise said,

“Now, let’s work this scenario out carefully. You are not coming as the country-bred and impoverished Lady Langley, who is chaperoning me because Papa is paying her to do so.”

Alina made a little sound and she went on,

“I will, of course, pay you myself. I have an absolute mint of money! But you will have to look rich and a Lady of Fashion or people will not be impressed by you.”

“Why do you want them to be impressed?” Alina asked her.

“I want Henry to be impressed for one. I have no wish for him to think I am just running after him. I have to arrive in Rome with a different reason for going there and it could be that I am accompanying Lady Langley, who is a friend of my family, because she has recently been widowed and is feeling lonely.”

“You are making a whole drama out of it,” Alina protested.

“That is what I intend to do. And I will write your part for you just as you used to write one for me in the past. Now I will do it for you.”

Alina laughed.

“Oh, Denise, you are incorrigible! But I am sure that you are making a terrible mistake. There must be plenty of people more suitable than I am to go with you to Rome. Suppose I make silly errors and give the show away?”

“I have never known you to fail at anything,” Denise said. “You are much cleverer than I am. Every one of my Governesses, Tutors or anyone else who taught us always used to say, ‘now come along, Miss Denise, try and be as clever as your cousin who after all is younger than you’.”

Denise was mimicking a Tutor’s voice and Alina threw her arms round her neck and kissed her.

“Oh, Denise, it is such Heaven being with you again,” she sighed. “I have missed you so much and all the funny things we used to laugh about together.”

“That is what we are going to do all the way to Rome. Otherwise I shall just sit here and mope,” Denise answered. “You have to keep me laughing and sparkling so that, when Henry sees me, he realises what a mistake he has made in leaving me.”

“I cannot think why he should have done so, seeing how beautiful you are,” Alina said.

“It was my own fault,” Denise said in a low voice, “and if I lose him, Alina, it would break my heart. I could never love anyone else in the same way.”

She was speaking in a very different tone of voice. Then she reached out and took her cousin’s hand.

“Help me – please – help me,” she begged. “I know my whole happiness is at stake. If I lose Henry, nothing else will ever be the same again for me.”

There was a cry in her voice that tore at Alina’s heart.

She knew that she would do anything, however difficult it might be, if it would help Denise.

“I will come to Rome with you,” she said, “but you will have to tell me exactly how I should behave. Remember that I have never been to London before or seen any of the smart sophisticated women I am to impersonate.”

“They are all very much alike,” Denise answered her. “They behave as if the world was made for them to walk on and believe that every man on whom they smile is very lucky and should feel as if he has just won a million pounds on the Racecourse!”

Alina giggled.

“Can you see me behaving like that?”

“Of course I can and that is exactly what you have to do. You are very grand, very self-important and very rich!”

“I would certainly need to be a good actress to make them believe that,” Alina remarked.

“Why did you not tell me?” Denise asked her again. “I just cannot bear to think of you selling all the lovely things in this room.”

“I was just wondering before you arrived what else I could possibly sell or how I could work to earn even a little money.”

“You have it,” Denise replied. “You are going to work for me and I am prepared to pay you anything you ask.”

She put her arms round Alina as she spoke and kissed her.

“I love you, Alina, and we shall have a marvellous time together. When I am married to Henry, I will find you a husband who is just as rich as he is!”

“I shall be quite content for the moment just to see the Colosseum and St. Peter’s,” Alina asserted.

“From what I have been told,” Denise then answered, “Rome is packed with marvellous treasures of every sort. So if you are prepared to go sightseeing you will be able to do so from morning to night.”

“That is all I want and I shall most certainly not interfere with you and the Earl.”

There was a pause before Denise said with almost a sob,

“Oh, Alina, do you think that he has forgotten me already? Supposing he has found an – Italian girl who is more – beautiful than I am?”

“I don’t believe it possible,” Alina answered, “and if he has, it means that he is not really in love with you. You know that we always used to say when we were younger that what we wanted to find was the real love which means we have found the other half of ourselves.”

“That is true. Do you remember Miss Smithson saying that the Ancient Greeks believed that after God had made Man and thought that he wanted a companion, He cut him in half and then called the soft gentle sweet part of him, woman?”

“I remember her saying that,” Alina smiled, “and what we are searching for is the other half of ourselves.”

“Of course,” Denise agreed, “and that is what Henry is to me – I know he is!”

“How could you have been so unkind to him?” Alina asked. “He must have been very unhappy to have rushed away from you in such an abrupt manner.”

“Don’t talk about it,” Denise insisted. “I was a fool – I know I was a fool. I just wanted to make him a little jealous so that he would be more in love with me than he was already. But I went too – far!”

Alina put her arm around her friend’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry, dearest, I am sure that you will be able to get him back and I will pray very hard that he is as miserable without you as you are without him.”

“I remember your prayers,” Denise said. “You always told me that they were answered.”

“That is what I am thinking of at this moment. When I do pray for a solution to my own problems, I even ask the birds outside in the garden for help.”

“And here I am, ready to help you,” Denise replied. “Now, let’s make plans.”

Because she was so determined to take Alina with her to Rome, Denise had worked it all out very intelligently.

First of all, as her father was going away immediately, she thought it would be possible for Alina to come to Sedgewick House, her own home.

Then they thought that the servants would know her and that could be dangerous for the cause.

“I will pick you up here on Wednesday morning,” Denise decided, “and we will drive to the train together. When we reach London, Lord Teverton will be waiting for us at his house in Belgrave Square.”

“I have no idea what he is like,” Alina said. “Supposing he is suspicious?”

“You need not worry about him. He is extremely angry that I am to travel with him to Rome, so I doubt if he will so much as speak to us.”

Alina looked surprised.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because he is stuck up and interested only in himself! He is a huge success in London and a close friend of the Prince of Wales.”

She lowered her voice, almost as if she was afraid that she would be overheard.

“He also has affairs with the great beauties of London and I am told that when he leaves them they cry their eyes out!”

Alina did not understand.

“Leaves them?”

“You know what I mean,” Denise said.

She saw that her cousin was looking perplexed and explained,

“He has what are called affaires de coeur and, because he is so smart and also so rich, the women run after him as if he was a golden apple at the top of a pear tree!”

Alina laughed.

“I don’t believe it!”

“It is true!” Denise said. “He gives himself frightful airs and behaves as if everybody is beneath his condescension.”

“He sounds horrible!” Alina commented.

“I have disliked him for years,” Denise replied. “He always speaks to me as if I was a mentally deficient child.”

“I cannot believe this.”

“It is true and it is only because he enjoys riding my father’s horses that he comes to stay with us at all. And, of course, they meet on the Racecourse and talk about horses endlessly.”

She gave a little laugh before she added,

“I saw his face when Papa asked him to take me with him to Rome.”

“He was not pleased at the idea?”

“He was horrified!” Denise answered. “I could see him thinking up a dozen different excuses for refusing. Then finally, very grudgingly, he accepted the responsibility of having me with him providing I had a chaperone.”

Alina thought indignantly that it was incredible that anyone could be unkind and nasty to someone as pretty and sweet as Denise.

She remembered her father once saying that most of the young men in London thought that debutantes were a bore.

Therefore the sooner they were married off to a suitable husband the better.

“Why has your cousin never married?” she asked now. “How old is he?”

“All of thirty,” Denise replied, “and he can hardly marry any of the women he makes love to because they are always already married.”

Alina’s eyes widened.

“Surely their husbands object?”

“They don’t know about it. You would be amazed at how extraordinarily women behave in London. The Prince of Wales always associates with married women who are beautiful, witty and very sophisticated. My cousin, Marcus Teverton, behaves in the same way.”

“Well, I think it is horrid!” Alina stressed firmly. “I cannot imagine that my Papa would have behaved like that and, if he had, it would have broken Mama’s heart.”

“Your father and mother were so very different from anybody else,” Denise observed. “I never thought of her dying. She always seemed so young and happy.”

“She was until she lost Papa,” Alina said softly, “but then the light went out and she could not bear to be in the darkness alone.”

There was a break in her voice as she spoke.

It was still hard to talk about her beloved mother without the tears coming into her eyes.

“Poor Alina!” Denise said. “I know how much you must miss her. It would be the best thing in the world for you to come to Rome and I am sure it is what she would want you to do now.”

Alina hesitated.

“Perhaps Mama would be shocked at the idea of my telling lies and playing a part that is deceitful.”

“If you ask me,” Denise replied, “I think she would consider it as a great joke. You know how she used to laugh at the ‘fuddy duddy’ people living in the County who disapproved in principle of everything we did.”

She saw that Alina was looking a little happier and went on,

“Do you remember when they said that the hedges we jumped were too high for us and we acted like young hooligans? It was your mother who said that she thought it was a very good thing for women to be able to ride well and not be afraid of a high jump.”

Alina nodded.

“That is what we are going to do now,” Denise continued, “We are going to take a high jump and you will forget all your problems. You will see Rome and all the beautiful things it contains.”

Alina gave a little cry.

“Do you really think, Denise, that I can do it? I want to and it will be a great adventure.”

“Of course it will be,” Denise agreed at once, “and I will supply the happy ending when I marry Henry and make sure that he never leaves me again.”

“Oh, dearest,” Alina sighed, “I do want you to be happy.”