He felt compelled by some primitive desire to tell her—some need which ran bone-deep. He had discovered the powerful lure of love and romance and its novelty made him want to plunder it to its very depths. ‘Yes. We must,’ he said simply. ‘For it is rare for two people to feel this way—of that I am certain.’

      His parents tried to stop the marriage—they summoned him home—but he resolutely ignored their demands. Even Victoria’s own mother was against the union. Her proud trip to Cornwall to show him off had ended with a tearful tussle between mother and daughter after Alexei had been dispatched to buy a bottle of champagne.