Running Away to Love. Barbara Cartland

way she spoke was very revealing.

      The Earl looked at her speculatively before he asked,

      “Why should you be in such a hurry?”

      “Because I have no money and nowhere to go,” Ivana replied.

      “Can that really be true?” the Earl enquired.

      “I am an orphan,” Ivana explained, “My mother died recently and my father was killed fighting Napoleon in the Peninsula.”

      “So your father was in the Army?”

      “Yes.”

      “In what Regiment?”

      Again it flashed through Ivana’s mind that it might be dangerous to tell him the truth.

      Then she told herself that the Army was a very large one.

      It was highly unlikely that the Earl, even if he was in the War Office, would know the name of every acting Officer in every Regiment.

      After a little hesitation, she answered him,

      “The Fourteenth Dragoons.”

      “That is my own Regiment,” the Earl informed her with a smile, “so perhaps I knew your father.”

      Too late Ivana realised that she had made a serious mistake.

      “What was his name?” the Earl asked Ivana as she did not speak.

      There was silence until she said,

      “Please – we are not concerned with my – father – but with me.”

      “If you are to work for me,” the Earl replied, “then I am concerned with every aspect of your life and past.”

      Ivana clasped her fingers together.

      “I-I would rather remain – anonymous.”

      “I am afraid that is impossible,” the Earl told her. “The position that concerns you is in fact a very important one. I would not be allowed, even if I wanted to, to employ anyone who I knew nothing about.”

      There was another long silence until Ivana, knowing that he was waiting for her to say something, replied,

      “If I tell you – the truth – will it remain strictly secret?”

      “It will remain a secret from everybody except myself and the Secretary of State for War who, as you will know, is Viscount Palmerston.”

      “You promise,” Ivana insisted, “promise by everything you hold sacred?”

      She saw an expression of surprise in the Earl’s eyes.

      Then his eyes twinkled before he responded,

      “I give you my word as an Officer and, I hope, as a gentleman. I cannot believe that you will refuse it.”

      “No, of course not, my Lord, but it is very very important to me that no one should ever know where I am and what I am doing.”

      “So you have run away!” the Earl exclaimed.

      “Yes, I have run away – from something horrible, disgusting, degrading and very very wicked!” Ivana retorted.

      She spoke so violently that the Earl realised how much it meant to her.

      Quietly he persisted,

      “I have given you my word and, when you tell me your father’s name, I promise that, with the exception of the Secretary at War, no one will know of it.”

      “My – my father was a Major, the Honourable Hugo – Sherard,” Ivana said almost in a whisper.

      “Then, of course, I knew him! Only not well, but I remember him being killed. We lost two other very fine Officers in the same engagement at Salamanca.”

      “My father was not afraid to die,” Ivana said, “but it nearly destroyed my mother.”

      “And you say your mother is now dead?”

      “She died two years ago,” Ivana answered, “but not before she had married again.”

      The way she spoke made the Earl look at her penetratingly.

      Then, as she did not say anything more, he quizzed her,

      “I believe I am not mistaken in thinking that it is your stepfather who you are running away from?”

      “I-I have to – I have to run away – so please – please let me work for you – but no one – no one must ever know where I am.”

      “I have already given you my promise,” the Earl said, “but I suppose you would not like to tell me why you are running away from your stepfather?”

      Ivana shook her head.

      “I don’t want to – speak of it to anyone – but I have to hide and – if you will not employ me – I must go back to Mrs. Hill – but she told me she had – nothing at all suitable for me on her books.”

      There was silence.

      Then, because she was desperate, Ivana carried on,

      “Please – please help me – if you knew Papa, you would know that he would tell me I was doing the ‒ right thing in asking you for your help, my Lord.”

      The Earl smiled.

      “You are making it difficult, Miss Sherard, for me to refuse you.”

      Ivana looked up at him with hope in her eyes.

      “Do you mean you – really will employ me? Oh, thank you – thank you! I know that Papa would thank you too if he was still alive.”

      “I am not certain he would do that,” the Earl said slowly, “because what I am going to ask you to do is both difficult and dangerous.”

      “Nothing could be more dangerous than the position I am in at the moment,” Ivana said. “Nothing – not even if it was going into battle against the French cannon.”

      She spoke so vehemently and looked so lovely as she did so that the Earl guessed that there was a man concerned.

      Aloud he said,

      “Now let me explain to you, Miss Sherard, exactly what I want you to do. You must be absolutely frank with me and tell me if you think it is impossible or too frightening. I will understand and will promise to do my best to find you some other form of employment that would be suitable for you.”

      “I-I am listening,” Ivana tried to smile.

      The Earl rose from the chair that he was sitting in.

      “As I wish to speak very confidentially,” he began, “I suggest we sit on the sofa where we can be comfortable, although it is well-nigh impossible in the War Office where no one can overhear what we are saying.”

      He moved round the desk as he spoke and Ivana saw that he walked with a limp.

      “You have been wounded!” she exclaimed.

      “I should not be here otherwise,” he said sharply. “I was wounded four months ago and I can assure you that as soon as I have recovered I shall return to my Regiment.”

      Now she could understand why anyone so young was working at the War Office.

      She guessed that he had been given an important job because he was such an outstanding Officer and was obviously extremely intelligent.

      The Earl, having reached the sofa, waited for Ivana to seat herself before he sat down as well.

      She saw that one leg, which was in plaster, was stretched out in front of him.

      He walked without a stick, but she was aware that he had touched two chairs as if for support on his way to the sofa.

      Now she looked up at