Read The Marquis Is Trapped for Free Online

would not remain lonely.
    He was not particularly interested in the new beauty that the Prince of Wales introduced to him, but there were a number of amusing and interesting people present.
    The Marquis found himself forgetting the tension of last night and the even worse drama of this morning.
*
    When he left Marlborough House, he drove straight to where he knew his yacht would be waiting for him.
    Mr. Foster and Bolton had done a very good job.
    Everything he could possibly require on the voyage was already in its place on board The Neptune .
    His valet, Gilbert, was waiting for him.
    The Marquis was ceremonially piped aboard.
    After Captain Gordon had greeted him, he was introduced to his wife.
    She was getting on towards middle age, but she still had some of her youthful attractiveness and she had a soft well-educated voice.
    She thanked the Marquis profusely for allowing her to accompany her husband on The Neptune .
    “It has been one of my dreams, my Lord, to travel on a yacht captained by my husband and I can only thank you for the most perfect wedding present ever.”
    “I am so delighted to have you here, Mrs. Gordon.  I expect your husband has arranged for the crew to drink your health this evening and then to enjoy the cake that I understand my secretary has managed to procure for you at short notice.”
    “It is the biggest wedding cake I have ever seen,” Mrs. Gordon replied enthusiastically.  “It’s so gracious of your Lordship to think of it.”
    The Captain said the same and as the engines began to turn, The Neptune moved slowly out into the midstream of the river and down towards the sea.
    Only then did the Marquis give a sigh of relief.
    He had finally escaped and it had certainly been the most dangerous moment that he had ever had to face – yet he had settled it without a row or tears.
    A little later he went out on deck.
    All the tall towers and spires of the City of London were fast disappearing into the distance and small waves were beginning to splash against the bow of The Neptune .
    The Marquis felt the exhilaration of being free and untroubled in a way he could not express in words.
    ‘I am starting off on a new adventure,’ he reflected.  ‘I will therefore not think of the past or what is happening in my absence.  I will concentrate on what lies ahead and that, I feel, as it is all so new, will be an inexpressible joy.’
    It was, he thought, when much later he retired to his cabin, a joy in itself to be alone.
    Not only just because of the women like Isobel who invariably made relentless demands on him – also because he could not go for long without seeing his horses that were in training at Newmarket.
    He always enjoyed being present on a Racecourse when any of them were likely to win.
    He was a good polo player and polo had become a fashionable sport, and there were always admirers watching as he distinguished himself in the game.
    Apart from his sport there were his many visits to Windsor Castle.
    His father had occupied a most influential position at Court and it was only a question of time before Queen Victoria offered him a similar post.
    The Marquis knew that she was only waiting until he was older and he had a slight suspicion that she was also waiting until he had married and ‘settled down’.
    He disliked that expression intensely.
    He could see it would mean spending a great deal of time on his estate.
    He would have to listen endlessly to his wife rather than to other women and he was sure that every tomorrow would be a boring repetition of yesterday.
    Nothing new, unusual or exciting would be likely to happen to him.
    If he went out to a dinner party or met a new face out hunting, that would be his only excitement.
    He had very often thought to himself that the most stimulating thing about love affairs was the beginning.
    There was something about the moment when he realised that a woman looked a little different from the other females around her.
    He felt