106. Love's Dream in Peril Read Online Free PDF Page A

the water lilies were opening in the warm sweet-scented air like a constellation of bright stars over the dark water of the lily pond.
    “Oh, it’s so beautiful!” she whispered.
    “Isn’t it?” he said. “I knew you would like it.”
    And then he showed her something very different. A huge plant with dark-green spiked leaves like swords and a large fruit with more leaves sticking up on top of it.
    “There, Miss May. Your first pineapple!”
    Adella stared at the oddly-shaped fruit. She knew that pineapples were rare and highly-prized, yet this one did not look at all inviting.
    “It’s like pine cones,” she said. “I cannot imagine that it would taste very good!”
    Digby grinned at her.
    “And that is why it’s called a pineapple and I can assure you that the fruit is quite delicious.”
    “What does it taste of? Is it like an apple?”
    “I could not quite describe the flavour, although it is wonderful. The Earl of Manningham, Lord Ranulph’s father grows pineapples in his hothouses and I have eaten them many times.”
    “Oh!” Adella gave a little start, as she heard Lord Ranulph’s name, remembering that she had left Jane with him in the teashop.
    “What is it?”
    The air seemed oppressively warm now and Adella felt a pang of something like fear run through her.
    What had she done, walking away from her dearest friend and the familiar world of the Oxford streets to come away with this handsome bold stranger?
    “I think I should like to go outside,” she asked.
    “Of course.”
    Digby released her arm and they left the glass dome of the Lily House.
    Outside in the fresh air, Adella forgot her moment of fear. The sun was so bright and Digby’s smile so kind.
    He led her to a grassy bank under the trunk of an old fir tree and spread out his handkerchief for her to sit on.
    “Shall we rest a while?” he suggested.
    Adella was about to sit down, when she heard, from over the garden wall, one of the College clocks chiming half-past the hour.
    “What time is it?” she asked.
    Digby consulted his pocket watch.
    “Only half-past four,” he said.
    Adella felt a chill run through her. Had she not promised to be back at school at five o’clock?
    “I must go,” she said, although her feet felt heavy and she longed to sit down on the warm grass and let the dream-like atmosphere of the gardens wash over her.
    “It’s early yet.”
    Digby took her hand in his and she felt his fingers press on her gloved ones. His touch was gentle and warm.
    “I cannot stay.”
    But Adella had never felt anything quite like the glow that was now spreading through her whole body and pulling her towards the young man who stood beside her.
    In another moment she would be in his arms and everything would be forgotten.
    Digby let go of her hand.
    “I am sorry,” he said.
    Adella knew that she must hurry, that there was still a little way to walk to the teashop and then the long road back out of town to Mottram’s, but she could not.
    The golden spell of the Botanical Gardens did not want to let her go and her steps were slow and heavy as she walked beside Digby to the entrance.
    As they stood beside the great stone archway, he drew her to him.
    “We must leave this other world we have stepped into,” he sighed, “but before we do – ”
    Adella felt all her breath leave her body as his lips touched hers.
    It was the sweetest sensation, as if all the sunshine, the heavenly scents of the gardens, every blissful moment of the magical time she had spent with him, was caught up in his kiss.
    Then he released her.
    “There,” he said, his eyes a deep blue as he gazed at her. “Remember this, when you are far away in London.”
    And then he led her under the archway and out into the street and suddenly everything was just as it had always been.
    Adella’s heart started beating again and her feet came back to life and were rushing along the pavement back to the teashop.

CHAPTER THREE
    Jane had never been alone with a