A Kiss Of Love

CHAPTER ONE 1878-1

CHAPTER ONE

1878Lady Malvina Silisley ran downstairs as she heard the horses come to a standstill outside the front door.

Her father, the Earl of Silstone, stepped out from his carriage just as she reached him.

She flung her arms round his neck.

“You are back, Papa! I have missed you so much. How could you stay away for so long?”

“It was only a week, my dearest,” he replied, “but I am flattered that you found it lonely without me.”

“Very, very lonely, Papa, but I have lots to tell you, so come in and have your tea. It’s waiting for you in the drawing room.”

They walked into the impressive mansion that had been the home of the Earls of Silstone for three centuries.

It had, however, fallen into considerable disrepair before her father, the fifth Earl, had inherited the estate.

He had been lucky enough to inherit a huge fortune from a Godfather who had gone exploring the world and finally, before he died, touched gold.

The Silisleys had always regretted that the head of their family could not live in the big house, so there was general rejoicing when the Earl started to restore it.

He was ably assisted by his wife who fortunately had exquisite taste.

The result when they had completed the restoration was to turn Silstone Court into one of the most beautiful ancestral homes in the entire country.

The Earl was welcomed in the neighbourhood – not just for his wealth but for himself.

He was an extremely genial gentleman, charming and good-tempered and ready to help anyone he met.

As soon as he came into such a large fortune he had assisted quite a number of his contemporaries.

In fact, he was ready to listen to any story of hard luck that was told to him.

He was blissfully happy with his Countess until she died and he adored his very attractive daughter.

The only sadness was that he had no son to inherit the title and estates.

All would go, on the Earl’s death, to a rather boring cousin whom no one particularly liked.

However, the Earl was still comparatively young.

People often whispered that he was likely to marry again and produce the much wanted heir.

In the meantime he was very busy.

His daughter, Malvina, had just left school after an extensive and a very expensive education.

She had ended up in the most renowned Finishing School for girls in St. Cloud just outside Paris.

The school was kept by nuns and was attached to a Convent.

The pupils all came from the aristocracies of every European country and the most experienced teachers and masters in France were employed by the school.

Malvina had returned home with flying colours.

Her report was exceptionally good and she had four distinctions and prizes to prove it.

She was thrilled to be home.

During her father’s recent absence she had spent the time riding his fine horses and exploring what had been added to the house since she had been away.

She was particularly attracted to the library and it was a delight to her that her father had bought all the recent books that had just been published in London.

Now as she went with her father into the house, she was talking about the mares that had just foaled and the orchids that had just come into bloom.

These were a new possession and had been brought to them from the East.

“You must come with me and see these wonderful orchids, Papa, as soon as we have finished tea,” enthused Malvina when they reached the drawing room.

It was a particularly attractive room, having been furnished by the late Countess with furniture of the Louis XIV period.

The pictures were by famous French artists, many of which had been purchased by the Earl in France when they came to visit Malvina at her Finishing School.

As the Countess had always demanded, there was a profusion of flowers everywhere.

The bright sunshine streaming through the windows glittered on the beautiful silver standing on the tea-table.

“Now I have told you all my news,” Malvina said, as she passed her father the hot scones, “tell me what you have been doing in London.”

There was a slight pause before the Earl responded,

“I have been finding you a husband, my dearest – ”

Malvina’s large and beautiful eyes opened wide.

She stared at her father as if she thought she must have misheard him.

“Husband!” she repeated after a pause.

“I have been worried, my very precious daughter, because when we travel to London for the Season and open the house in Park Lane, you will be certainly be pursued by every fortune-hunter in London.”

Malvina laughed.

“You need not worry, Papa, I am too intelligent to be deceived by a man who desires my money rather than me.”

“Because you are so beautiful, Malvina, you will undoubtedly be desired for yourself, but there is always the cream sitting on the top of the cake, which is that you are also exceedingly rich.”

“I never, for a moment, think about my money,” murmured Malvina.

“I know that, dearest, but those who meet you will certainly talk about it. I know those fortune-hunters only too well and how clever they can be in deceiving a pretty woman into believing it is only love that counts.”

“I cannot think why you are worrying about it now, Papa. I am not going to get married and leave you. I have been away far too long and it is Heaven to be home again.”

Her father looked at her with loving eyes.

“That is what I want you to feel. At the same time I think I have found the perfect husband for you and there will be no need for you to look any further.”

There was silence until Malvina spoke up,

“Are you really serious about this, Papa?”

“Very serious, my dearest.”

“Do you really think that I could marry a man I have never met and whom I don’t know?” Malvina asked him.

“It is nothing like that,” the Earl answered. “The husband I have chosen for you is someone you have heard of, even if you have not actually met him since you were a child. He is a charming and delightful young man and I just know instinctively that you will be exceedingly happy together.”

“I think, Papa, that it is for me to decide. But tell me about this man who has made such a good impression on you.”

The Earl sat back in his chair.

“You will be surprised, Malvina, when I tell you that he is actually our next door neighbour. In fact a great advantage of your marriage to him will be that sooner or later we will be able to join up our estates and make it one of the most outstanding and admirably managed in the whole of England.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Papa, in fact I am trying to remember who our next door neighbour is.”

“I suppose because you have been abroad for so long being educated, you will have forgotten that it is the Marquis of Arramford, who lives only a few miles away and whose estate meets ours by the River Need.”

“Oh, I think I remember now.”

“I met the Marquis at White’s Club only three days ago,” the Earl continued, “and he told me how worried he is that his son, who is the Earl of Arram, shows no sign of getting married. He is approaching twenty-seven and the Marquis feels that by this time he should have settled down and started a family.

“As your mother and I were, the Marquis is very anxious for his son to have an heir. Otherwise, if anything happens to Charles, the Marquisate might become extinct as apparently they have very few relations left.”

“It all sounds most complicated,” sighed Malvina. “But if Charles Arram does not wish to get married, I do not see what anyone, least of all I, can do about it.”

The Earl chuckled.

“He will marry you and his father thinks it’s a most excellent idea. He is overjoyed. Not only because you are my daughter and he has always been a great friend of mine, but also, like a great many Noblemen at the moment, he is feeling the pinch.

“He needs money for his house and for his estate. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than to have you as his daughter-in-law.”

“What you are really telling me, Papa, is that he is fortune-hunting!”

“Of course he is. Every father with a handsome son to inherit his title wants him to marry someone he loves and who is very beautiful, but who also has a large dowry to keep the old place going.”

Malvina did not speak.

“The same does apply, as you would know only too well, when ambitious mothers look for someone with a title to marry their daughters.”

He gave a laugh before he added,

“Of course, I am ambitious for you, my dearest, but short of marrying Royalty, I would be very delighted to see you the wife of a young man who will eventually be the Marquis of Arramford.”

“If you ask me,” Malvina said after a moment, “it all sounds slightly unpleasant. I used to talk to the girls at school about love and we all wanted to meet a charming handsome man who would fall in love with us and whom we, in return, would love with all our heart.”

“That is exactly what will happen. I am only saving you from being courted by all the rag-tag and bob-tail of London simply because you are rich. Charles Arram has as much to offer you as you have to offer him.”

He waited for Malvina to say something, but when she remained silent, he carried on,

“Their family is far older than ours and the Marquis has a very distinguished position at Court. In fact Queen Victoria is very fond of him and would like to have him with her for more time than he can spare from his estate.”

“So just what have you arranged?” Malvina asked in a hard voice.

She was feeling both horrified and shocked at what her father was saying to her.

She knew him too well to protest immediately ,yet she told herself that she had no intention of marrying a man whose father desired her money or a suitor whom her own father chose for her without any consultation.

However, she was too intelligent to say much until she had discovered the whole story.

In a voice which she deliberately kept under control, she remarked,

“I feel rather bewildered, Papa. Tell me the story from the very beginning. You met the Marquis at White’s and so he confided in you, because people always tell you their troubles, that he was worried about his son.”

“That is more or less true,” he admitted. “I asked him how Charles was doing and he said he was enjoying himself as most young men do. But he thought it was time he settled down.”

“Why should he think that?”

Her father smiled.

“Well you know or you must have heard what most young men are like. The flowers are there for the picking, and they would be stupid if they refused to enjoy them.”

“What you are saying, Papa is that Charles Arram has had a lot of love affairs?” Malvina asked sharply.

“Of course, as any man has when he is turned loose in the Social world and is welcomed with open arms.”

“Then why has he not married?”

“Because, my dearest, his affaires-de-coeur, as the French put it, have always been with women who are already tied to another man or perhaps widowed.”

He paused.

“There has been no talk nor gossip about Charles getting married. I gather, being young and handsome, he has played the field, so to speak.”

“Do you think it has begun to bore him?” Malvina enquired. “Or has his father just made up his mind that he should take life more seriously?”

The Earl gave his daughter a quick glance.

He thought that her questions were intelligent and she was behaving very calmly.

He had expected she might be somewhat hysterical and refuse even to discuss an arranged marriage.

Instead she was questioning him in a manner that he had to admire.

Aloud he resumed,

“The Marquis told me that Charles is at present in Paris. I have arranged that, when he returns, his father will bring him over to luncheon or dinner. We are both quite certain that when you meet each other, you will both find everything will fall into place.”