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.He kissed her until she felt as if instead of moonlight there were little flames of fire flickering within her breasts and he was drawing them up into her lips until they burned against the fire on his.*Sometime later Hermia found herself sitting on the sofa, the Marquis’s arms around her and her head on his shoulder.“Now what we have to decide, my precious one,” he said, “is how soon we can be married with the least possible fuss.”Hermia gave a little sigh of relief before she replied,“Do you – really mean that?”“I suppose you want a grand wedding with all the paraphernalia of bridesmaids and an indefinite number of so-called ‘friends’.”“I should hate it!” Hermia exclaimed.“I should like to be married very quietly with nobody else there except for Papa, Mama and Peter and, because we really love each other, I want no one to snigger or be envious.”The Marquis put his cheek against hers.“How can you be so perfect? I know of nobody else who would say that to me.”“It’s true,” Hermia said.“I could not bear to have anybody there hating me or being furious because you had married anybody so insignificant.”She was thinking of Marilyn.“Then I tell you what we will do,” the Marquis said.“We will be married secretly and nobody, except your family, shall know what we have done until we are far away on our honeymoon.”“Do you really mean that?”“Of course,” he replied.“That would be the most – wonderful thing that could ever happen!” Hermia said.“And – please – can it be very soon?”The Marquis laughed before he said,“Tonight, tomorrow or at the very latest two days from now.”Then, when Hermia wanted to tell him that she was sure it was impossible, she had no chance to do so.He was kissing her again and his kisses swept her up into a Heaven of happiness where there was only love and him.*The Church had been decorated by her mother with every white flower that the garden possessed.As Hermia came in through the door on Peter’s arm, she knew, although the pews were empty, that the whole building was filled with those who had once prayed there and were now wishing her happiness.She had not seen the Marquis since she had left London two days earlier with the excuse that, because they were all in mourning, it was only right for her to return home.“I am so disappointed, dear child,” Lady Langdon said, “but I am sure that I can persuade my brother to invite you back again as soon as the summer is over and people return to London for the winter.”She sighed before she continued,“It will not be as gay as it is now, but there will be balls and assemblies and I should love to chaperone you again.”“You have been very very kind,” Hermia murmured, feeling a little ashamed that Lady Langdon should not know the truth.But she knew that the Marquis was right in saying that, if he invited one of his relatives to his wedding, the rest would take umbrage for the rest of their lives and it was therefore best to have all or none.“The same applies to me,” Hermia said.“I am quite sure that Uncle John and Aunt Edith will be absolutely furious and not only because they were not asked to the wedding.”“Forget what they are feeling,” the Marquis said.“I am quite certain your cousin will find an eligible husband sooner or later because she is a very determined young woman.”Hermia did not answer this, as she did not want to seem unkind.She thought it would be impossible for Marilyn to find anybody as wonderful as the Marquis and, if she had lost him, she knew how miserable she would be feeling.But it was difficult to think of anything except the happiness of knowing that she would be his wife and they would be together for ever and ever.“You are quite certain that once you marry me you will not be – bored and – cynical again?” she asked.“If as a witch you cannot prevent me from being bored,” he answered, “I shall not think much of your magic.”“Now you are frightening me.”“I love you,” he answered.“I love you so much that I feel that what we know about each other at the moment is only the tip of the iceberg and there is so much more for us both to explore and discover which will take at least a century.”Hermia laughed, but she knew it was the truth.“What is more,” the Marquis went on, “I have so much to teach you, my darling one, and love is a very big subject.”The way he spoke made Hermia feel shy, but it was not the shyness she had felt before.It was something warm and exciting that seemed to pulsate through her so that she wanted him to kiss her and go on kissing her and for them to be closer and closer to each other.“I love you – I love – she whispered and then could say no more.*When she returned home and told her father and mother that she was to marry the Marquis, they were at first astounded
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