Lucky Logan Finds Love by Barbara Cartland Page A

Lady,” she answered. “It has been a very happy and exciting day for me.”
    Marcus Logan wished her goodnight too.
    Belinda smiled at him as she went into her bedroom, knowing that they would walk on down the corridor, reaching first Lady Logan’s room.
    At the far end was the Master suite which would be occupied by her son.
    Belinda had been planning as they came up the stairs.
    When everybody was asleep, she decided she would go down to the library and see what was on Marcus Logan’s desk, although she could not believe that he would leave any evidence of his new discovery lying about.
    Yet, unless her stepfather was to go to prison, she was compelled to find out and it was no less important for her, unless she was to lose everything she possessed.
    She had to discover in which part of Russia Marcus Logan’s latest discovery lay.
    When she thought of the immensity of the country, she recognised that her information had to be accurate.
    She decided not to undress.
    However, she had been in her bedroom for only a few minutes when the maid who was looking after her came in.
    There was nothing Belinda could do, therefore, but allow her to hang up the gown she had been wearing.
    Then she put on a nightgown and climbed into bed.
    “What time’d you like breakfast, miss?” the maid enquired. “There’ll be no ’urry ’cos ’er Ladyship seldom wakes afore ten o’clock.”
    Belinda thought it would seem pushy if she went downstairs to have breakfast with Lord Logan.
    “Perhaps I could have my breakfast up here,” she replied to the maid, “at nine o’clock, if that is not too late.”
    “No, course it’s not, miss, I ’opes you sleep well.”
    The maid left the room and Belinda lay back against the pillows.
    She knew she had to wait until the house was silent before she went downstairs, but she was afraid of going to sleep.
    After a little while she got out of bed and pulled back the curtains.
    It was a clear night. The sky was ablaze with stars and the moon was rising above the trees.
    It all looked very beautiful.
    She only wished there was not a hard stone in her breast because she was afraid of what she had to do and because she hated deceiving the two people who had been so kind to her all evening.
    ‘I know it is – wrong, Mama,’ she said to her mother while looking up at the stars, ‘but how – can I let Step-Papa go to – prison?’
    She thought, as she had thought before, that it was something he would never do.
    Somehow she had to save him.
    Finally she went back to bed, lit a candle, and read one of her father’s books that she had brought with her.
    It was one he had translated from a manuscript that he had obtained from an ancient Monastery in Tibet. It was on Buddhist philosophy.
    Belinda tried to concentrate on the wise words that had inspired the followers of Buddha.
    But it was very difficult.
    Finally, when the clock told her it was nearly midnight, she was certain that everyone in the house would be asleep.
    The servants’ accommodations were in the other wing and there was no likelihood of their seeing her go down the stairs.
    She put on her dressing gown that was made of satin and trimmed with little frills of lace.
    She was, however, not thinking of her appearance as she pushed back her hair from her forehead and then very very cautiously she opened her door.
    There were, as she expected, lights in the sconces on the walls in the corridor and also in the hall. Walking silently in her heelless slippers, Belinda tiptoed along the corridor that led to the library.
    She opened the door.
    To her relief, she found that the servants had not extinguished the candles that stood on the mantelpiece. They were burning brightly, but the rest of the room was in darkness.
    She could see clearly a large pile of papers on the Regency desk and she went to the mantelpiece to pick up one of the candles.
    Just as her hand was about to touch it, she heard an unexpected noise that made her start.
    She