A Castle of Dreams Read Free Page B

Viola, you know how much money these huge Scottish estates eat up. He needs a lot of money very quickly and the fastest way of achieving it is to marry an heiress, or a girl with plenty of money that he can use to his own advantage.  I say, my sapphires really suit you.  Mama says I should wear emeralds, but  – ”
    But Viola was no longer listening.
    Her world lay shattered around her.
    She fingered the pale blue gauze of Charlotte’s skirt and then touched the warm stones that lay against her skin.
    So that was why the Duke had seemed to like her so much!
    She gave every impression of being rich!
    A man of the world, such as he, would have known immediately that the diamond necklet she was wearing was worth a small fortune.
    He would probably even realise that the beautiful dress had cost more than a working man could earn in six months.
    He had come to London to look for a rich wife – and thought he had found a likely candidate.
    Viola felt a wave of bitterness and disappointment sweep over her.
    She had liked him so much.
    The man of her dreams!
    That was exactly what she had begun to think.
    What a fool she was!
    Well, she would show him that she cared nothing for him or his Scottish estate.
    Robert, the Duke of Glentorran, walked back into the ballroom half an hour later, feeling deeply disappointed by his business meeting.
    He had been able to borrow a meagre amount from the City gentlemen he had just been introduced to, but not nearly sufficient to repair the Castle roof and some of the tenants’ crofts.
    The whole visit to London had turned into a failure – except for one thing – meeting Lady Viola Northcombe.
    That wonderful girl was worth every minute he had been forced to stay here in the South.
    He glanced over to where he had left her, knowing that she would have waited for him.
    But the gilt chair was occupied by someone else.
    Scowling he glanced round the room.
    There was his sister, Margaret, dancing with a tall blond young man.  She seemed happy, for which he was thankful, realising he had neglected her for the past hour.
    But he wanted to find his angel girl.
    Surely Viola’s blue dress would be easy to spot –  there!
    Then, as he watched her, his face grew dark and his emotions tumbled into turmoil.
    Lady Viola was sitting in a little alcove, surrounded by attentive young men.
    She was drinking champagne, laughing loudly and openly flirting, the lovely sapphire necklet sparkling as she moved.
    The Duke observed several older ladies giving her scandalous glances at they passed.
    He just could not believe that it was the same quiet beauty who had stolen his heart earlier that evening.
    With a thunderous expression on his face, he strode through the crowd.
    All he wanted to do now was to collect his sister and leave.
    He wished to go home; back to Scotland where rich young women did not play silly games with men they had just met.
    He hesitated as he approached Viola, then stopped, bowed his head curtly, ignoring the flush of embarrassment his offhand actions might cause her and strode on to snatch a bewildered protesting Margaret away from her partner.
    Viola watched him go, her heart sinking in despair.
    â€˜Good riddance,’ she fumed to herself, placing the champagne glass she had pretended to empty onto a table.
    She stood up and signalled to David.
    All she desired too was to go home and leave this house where the man of her dreams had just turned out to be a fortune-hunting rogue.
    But even as she and David walked silently back across the Square, she found herself wishing she had not behaved in such a frivolous way and that she had explained herself to the Duke in a frank and sensible fashion.
    Viola sighed.
    Tomorrow they would set sail for America and she knew she was highly unlikely ever to meet the Duke of Glentorran again.

CHAPTER TWO
    Robert, Duke of Glentorran, was clambering down the steep rocky steps that had been cut into the cliff