One Night for Love Read Free Page A

if someone could just be persuaded to take young Lauren off my hands …”
    “If you were no twist my arm hard enough,” Neville said, while his mother smiled in enjoyment of the conspiracy, “I might be persuaded to take on the task myself.”
    And so one minute later he was on his way downstairs, his betrothed on his arm. It was true that they were stopped at least half a dozen times by guests desiring to compliment them on the ball and wish them well during the coming day and the years ahead, but finally they were outside and descending the wide marble steps to feast their eyes on the rainbows created by lantern light on the spraying water of the fountain. They strolled onward toward the rock garden.
    “You are a quite shameless maneuverer, Neville,” Lauren told him.
    “Are you glad of it?” He moved his head closer to hers.
    She thought for a moment, her head tipped to one side, the telltale dimple denting her left cheek. “Yes,” she said quite decisively. “Very.”
    “We are going to remember this night,” he said, “as one of the happiest of our lives.” He breathed in the freshness of the air with its faint tang of saltiness from the sea. He squinted his eyes so that the lights of individual lanterns in the rock garden ahead all blurred into one kaleidoscope of color.
    “Oh, Neville,” she said, her hand tightening on his arm. “Does anyone have a right to so much happiness?”
    “Yes,” he told her, his voice low against her ear. “You do.”
    “Just look at the garden,” she said. “The lanterns make it seem like a fairyland.”
    He set himself to enjoying the unexpected half hour with her.

   2   
    L ily found the driveway beyond the massive gates to the park—a wide and winding road so darkened by huge trees that grew on either side and whose branches met overhead that only the occasional gleam of moonlight kept her from wandering off the path and becoming hopelessly lost. It was a driveway that seemed more like four miles long than two. Crickets chirped off to either side and a bird that might have been an owl hooted close by. Once there was the crackling of movement off in the forest to her right—some wild animal that she had disturbed, perhaps. But the sounds only succeeded in intensifying the pervading silence and darkness. Night had fallen with almost indecent haste.
    And then finally she turned a bend and was startled by light in the near distance. She found herself staring at a brightly lighted mansion with another large building to one side of it also lighted up. There was light outside too—colored lanterns that must be hanging from tree branches.
    Lily paused and gazed in amazement and awe. She had not expected anything of near this magnitude. The house appeared to be built of gray granite, but there was nothing heavy about its design. It was all pillars and pointed pediments and tall windows and perfect symmetry. She did not have the knowledge of architecture with which to recognize the Palladian design that had been superimposed upon the original medieval abbey with remarkably pleasing effect, but she felt the grandeur of the building and was overwhelmed by it. If she had imagined anything at all, itwas a large cottage with a well-sized garden. But the name itself might have alerted her if she had ever really considered it.
This
was Newbury Abbey? Frankly it terrified her. And what was going on inside? Surely it did not look like this every night.
    She would have turned back, but where would she go? She could only go forward. At least the lights—and the sounds of music that reached her ears as she drew closer—assured her that he must be at home.
    Somehow she didn’t find that a particularly comforting thought.
    The great double doors at the front of Newbury Abbey stood open. There was light spilling out onto marble steps leading up to them, and the sounds of voices and laughter and music echoed behind them. There was the sound of voices outside too, though Lily