The Incredible Honeymoon (Bantam Series No. 46) by Barbara Cartland

always expecting an Englishwoman to look dowdy, ungainly and to have protruding teeth, as most of them do!”
    They had both laughed but Antonia knew it was not only patriotism which made the great man take so much trouble. She also, as she had told the Duke, presented a challenge he could not resist.
    “Why did I never realise,” she asked herself as she looked in the mirror, “that I had such a good figure?”
    She knew the answer was that her mother would have been outraged by the thought of her being conceited about anything so immodest.
    Her long neck, her ears which were perfectly shell-shaped, her huge eyes, now they were fully revealed by the up-swept darkness of her hair, were all new and exciting discoveries.
    When she went into the Salon where the Duke was waiting to take her out to dinner, wearing a gown of golden orange tulle, glittering with diamante and ornamented with mi m osa, she felt for the first time in her life glamorous and romantic.
    She saw the glint of admiration in the Duke’s eyes as he looked at her, and as she walked towards him she felt she was on a stage waiting for the plaudits of the audience.
    “Do you approve?” she asked as he did not speak.
    Now there was a touch of anxiety in her eyes.
    “I am very proud to be your escort!” he answered and saw the colour come into her cheeks because she was so delighted by his reply.
    If she had any doubts left they were soon dispelled by the compliments that were paid to her by the dinner-party guests and the flirtatious attitude of both of her partners at dinner.
    “You are enchanting—fascinating!”
    “I would never have believed that a star could fall from the sky so early in the evening!”
    Antonia told herself that she might have found such exaggeration incredible but despite her inexperience of men she could not help realising that their admiration was sincere.
    In fact as soon as the Ball opened she was besieged with partners in a way which made her realise that this was an experience very different from anything that had ever happened to her before.
    She returned to the Duke’s side after waltzing with a handsome and ardent young Diplomat.
    “You are enjoying yourself?” he asked.
    “It is wonderful! More wonderful than I could ever have imagined!” Antonia replied. “But I would like ... ”
    She was about to say that she would like to dance with him, when their conversation was interrupted by a cry of joy.
    “Athol! Mon Brave! Why did no-one tell me you were in Paris?”
    An entrancingly pretty woman was holding out both hands to the Duke and looking up into his face in a manner which proclaimed all too obviously her interest in him.
    “Ludevica!” the Duke exclaimed. “I heard that you had returned to Vienna.”
    “We went—we came back!” the lady answered. “I missed you— Hélas ! How I missed you!”
    She spoke in a fascinating manner which seemed to make every word have a hidden meaning, both intimate and provocative.
    She was holding both the Duke’s hands in hers and as if he suddenly remembered Antonia’s existence, he said:
    “I am here on my honeymoon and we have only just arrived. May I present my wife—Madame La Comtesse de Rezonville.”
    The nod that Antonia received was so brief as to be almost insulting. Then the Comtesse was holding onto the Duke’s arm and looking up into his eyes.
    She made it obvious that whatever they had meant to each other in the past, her feelings at any rate were unchanged.
    Because she felt embarrassed and at a loss how to behave in such circumstances Antonia glanced round the ballroom and almost immediately her next partner was at her side.
    She allowed herself to be escorted onto the dance-floor only to look back and see the Duke with the Comtesse hanging onto his arm disappearing through one of the open windows which led into the garden.
    There were Chinese lanterns hanging from the branches of the trees, but otherwise the shadows were dark.
    As Antonia had already