Secret Harbor by Barbara Cartland

present you, Pierre, to the beautiful lady whose hospitality we are enjoying because Secret Harbour belongs to her.”
    Pierre sprang to his feet and when Grania put out her hand he raised her fingers to his lips.
    “ Enchante, Mademoiselle .”
    She thought they might have been meeting in some Salon in Paris or London instead of on the deck of a pirate ship.
    She walked along the gang-plank and when the Comte joined her on the other side he said:
    “Tomorrow, if I am still here, I would like you to meet the rest of my crew. It is best for them to remain anonymous, which is why I address them by their Christian names, but they are all men who have given up very different positions in life to save themselves from coming under the harsh jurisdiction of the English.”
    “Are we so harsh when we are in that position?” Grania asked.
    “All conquerors seem intolerable to those who are conquered.”
    The Comte spoke roughly and for a moment Grania thought that he was hating her because she was an enemy.
    Without meaning to she looked at him pleadingly, and he said:
    “Forgive me, I am trying not to be bitter, and most of all, not to think of myself, but of you.”
    “You know I want you to do that,” Grania said in a low voice.
    But perceptively she knew that what he resented at the moment was that because their two countries were at war he could not offer her the safety of his estate in Martinique and they could not meet as ordinary people of different nationalities might do.
    They moved through the thickness of the shrubs and pine trees until the house was in sight, then Grania stopped.
    Everything was very quiet, and she was certain that her father had not returned home.
    Abe would have warned her if he had been sighted before he arrived.
    At the same time because the Comte was with her she had to be careful and make sure that she was not taking him into danger.
    She thought for a moment that he would leave her and return to his ship, but instead, when she moved forward again he kept beside her and they walked up the steps onto the verandah and in through the open door.
    It was then she heard Abe’s voice talking to somebody in the kitchen and Grania called his name.
    “Abe!”
    He came to her instantly, and she saw that he was smiling and that all was well.
    “Good news, Lady.”
    “Of the Master?”
    “No. No news from Maigrin House, but Momma Mabel come back.”
    Grania gave a little exclamation of delight. Then she asked:
    “To stay? To work?”
    “Yes, Lady. Very glad to be back.”
    “That is splendid!”
    She turned to the Comte and asked:
    “Would you, Monsieur do me the honour of dining here with me tonight? I cannot promise you a meal cooked by a French Chef, but my mother always thought that Momma Mabel was the best cook on the island.”
    The Comte bowed.
    “ Merci, Mademoiselle, I have much pleasure in accepting your most gracious invitation.”
    Grania gave a little laugh of delight.
    “Shall we dine at seven-thirty?”
    “I will not be late.”
    The Comte bowed again, then turned and walked back the way they had come.
    She watched him go until he was out of sight, then she said to Abe:
    “Let us have a dinner-party the way we used to do it when Mama was here with the candelabra on the table and all the silver. Have we any wine?”
    “One bottle, Lady,” Abe answered. “I hide from Master.”
    Grania smiled.
    Her mother when they had some really good wine, always kept a few bottles hidden for special occasions. Otherwise her father would drink it indiscriminately and share it with anybody who came to the house, whatever their status in life.
    Now she was glad she had what she was sure was a good claret to offer the Comte.
    “Make a fruit drink for before dinner,” she said, “and of course coffee afterwards. I will go and speak to Momma Mabel.”
    She went to the kitchen and as she expected Momma Mabel’s huge figure and wide smile seemed to fill the whole place.
    She was an enormously