Linette and Adam sharing this adventure with her made it all the more thrilling, especially since her beloved sister looked so much healthier and happier than she’d appeared at Easter. Just as Corie had hoped, the change of surroundings and fresh sea air had done wonders for her. Linette looked as pretty as a picture next to Adam, who seemed far more interested in gazing at his wife than out the carriage windows.
Ah, but not Estelle. Just as she had been transfixed by the bustling streets of the town that spread outward to the east of the castle, she stared in awe at the gate guards standing at stiff attention in navy blue uniforms trimmed with silver braid.
A wide cobblestone drive wound its way toward a magnificent entranceway where more guards stood with polished rifles at their shoulders. A formation of what appeared to be servants had lined up outside the metal-studded doors to greet them, the carriage drawn by four dappled grays finally slowing to a stop.
Estelle’s heart seemed to stop, too. Her breath snagged at the tall young man awaiting them just outside those immense doors while footmen rushed forward to attend to them.
A young man with thick blond hair and striking good looks, flashes of memory from when she’d last seen him bursting in her mind.
Valentin.
It seemed the world stood still. She sat as if made of stone upon the seat, so dumbfounded for a moment that she didn’t hear Linette or Adam speaking to her. She didn’t see a liveried footman reaching out a gloved hand to assist her down from the carriage. She simply stared at Valentin and him at her, his steel blue eyes locked upon her in so intense a gaze that hers misted with emotion.
Her fugitive prince home at last among his people, his royal coronation only four days away!
How wondrous a thing that must be to him, and he’d personally invited her to witness the glorious occasion. At that moment her relief that he was alive and well and looking so very handsome in his expertly tailored attire overwhelmed anything she’d felt before.
She quickly blotted her eyes and smoothed her forest green traveling gown, and then at last accepted the footman’s assistance. Her hand trembled as she stepped from the carriage, Adam and Linette disembarking behind her.
The royal representative, a portly gentleman named Louis, had made the journey in a second carriage along with the personal servants accompanying them. He rushed forward now to make the introductions, but Valentin didn’t wait for the man to speak.
“Miss Easton. Lord and Lady Linley,” he said, stepping up to greet them. “I’m honored that you’ve made the journey to Bratavia. Truly honored.”
Recognizing the sound of his voice at once, Estelle found it was all she could do to curtsey to him, her knees gone weak.
Linette curtsied, too, while Adam bowed, but it seemed Valentin had no patience for such formality. He extended his hand to shake Adam’s warmly.
“I understand you’re a physician, Linley. I would welcome discussion with you on that score. It’s an objective of mine that my people enjoy better health under my rule. The past two years have been harsh for most, but I’m happy to say improvements are occurring daily.”
“Of course, Your Highness—”
“Call me Valentin, please. All of you. Our lives have been entwined too deeply for it to be otherwise.”
As he met her eyes, Estelle found herself blushing furiously, his request wholly unexpected.
She’d grown so flustered, in fact, that she began to curtsey again, which made a faint smile curve his lips though he sobered as he offered her his arm. She took it, wondering if he would notice she trembled, which only made her more flustered.
“You look well, Miss Easton, I’m delighted to see. And I’m very grateful to see you, Lady Linley. I’ve not known such distress as when His Grace, the Duke of Arundale, wrote to me to tell me what had occurred not long after I left Porthleven—”
“Donovan wrote to you about those three men?” Estelle blurted.
Valentin nodded. “My only comfort was that they met their deserved end…thanks in part to you, Linley—”
“Adam.”
Valentin inclined his head again. “Adam. We will talk of all of this later, but for now, allow me to escort you inside. I’m sure you’re in need of refreshment and rest after today’s journey.”
Glancing over her shoulder at Linette as Valentin led her toward the massive doors, Estelle wasn’t surprised that her sister looked as amazed at what had just transpired, though Adam appeared to have taken it all in stride. He threw her a reassuring smile, the two of them following close behind as Estelle kept pace with the young man she’d once feared she might never see again.
Yet here she was…walking with Valentin into his home, a massive castle with ramparts and turrets and the most impressive entrance hall she’d ever seen! Truly, she might need a nap just to have time to absorb everything that was happening, Valentin making the smallest of gestures that caused the place to erupt into a veritable explosion of activity.
Two attendants appeared as if out of nowhere with silver trays bearing crystal glasses filled with white wine and a bowl of ripe red strawberries.
Servants hastened into the hall behind them, carrying luggage to wherever Estelle, Adam, and Linette would be lodging, while their personal servants—a valet and two lady’s maids—entered and appeared as awestruck by the sheer grandeur of the place.
“Wine?” Valentin took a glass from a tray and offered it to Estelle.
For a moment she feared she might still be too overwhelmed to attempt to drink, but somehow she accepted the glass and managed a sip. Adam saw to Linette, not hesitating at all as he offered his wife one of the plumpest strawberries and then sampled the fruit himself.
“Do you like it?”
Realizing Valentin stared intently at her, Estelle managed to murmur, “Yes…yes, it’s lovely,” as she took another sip.
“The grapes are from the castle vineyards, spared at least during the coup,” he said with blunt matter-of-factness, though his expression had darkened.
And why wouldn’t he look grim when thinking about regaining Bratavia from his despicable uncle? Estelle reasoned, her heart going out to him.
It was then she noticed that the planes of his face were thinner than she recalled, a hint of gauntness to his features, and his physique much leaner, too.
Yet in the next instant she didn’t know whether to trust her observation or not since she’d been so disoriented after he’d rescued her from drowning, and perhaps didn’t clearly remember how he’d looked that day. She considered blurting out her long overdue thanks to him for saving her life, but another gesture by Valentin brought an older woman in a crisp black gown hastening toward them as the attendants retrieved the wine glasses.
“Allow my head housekeeper, Madame Faucher, to show you to your rooms. If you need anything at all, you must let her know. A formal dinner will be held in your honor at seven. I’ll look forward to seeing you then, Miss Easton.”
“Estelle, please, just as you said…Valentin.”
He didn’t readily reply, staring at her again as if he couldn’t quite believe she was standing in front of him as well, and then inclined his head.
“I’m honored, Estelle. I’ll see you this evening.”
“Will you share with me then all the places you traveled?” she burst out, her curiosity overwhelming her. “After you left Porthleven, I mean. We received the one letter from you that you were safe, but Donovan never shared with me where you went. I know it was safer for you that way but surely now it doesn’t matter—”
“Estelle, Madame Faucher is waiting for us,” Linette broke in, Estelle glancing from her sister back to Valentin, who looked momentarily confused until he quickly recovered himself.
“If you’ll excuse me, ladies. Adam,” he murmured, bowing stiffly and then leaving them to stride across the hall.
“His Highness has many things to attend to,” Madame Faucher said in clipped English as she gestured toward the opposite direction. “
Please…if you will follow me.”
Linette looped her arm through Estelle’s to propel her along, Adam walking behind them, even though Estelle couldn’t resist a glance over her shoulder to the high-vaulted room where Valentin had disappeared.
What could she have possibly said to make him act so strangely? One moment so welcoming and then the next so distant? Now she had even more questions swirling around inside her than when she started!
***
“She doesn’t know.” Shaking his head, Valentin leaned his hands against the polished mahogany desk at one end of the library and struggled again to regain his composure.
Estelle had no clue at all that he had returned to Bratavia to surrender to his uncle. Her brother-in-law Donovan, the Duke of Arundale, had never told her…yet why wouldn’t he have wanted to spare her from the harsh truth?
She had been only sixteen and had already suffered cruelly at the hands of those bastards who’d come hunting for him. For all Donovan knew, Valentin might have been immediately put to death. That would have been the case if not for his uncle’s perverse nature, Archduke Henri preferring him and his father to languish in irons rather than order a quick execution.
So instead, Estelle had clearly thought him a fugitive all along…while Valentin had held fast to the only solace he’d known during the unspeakable ordeal.
That Estelle must surely be thinking of him.
Praying for him once she’d learned he had returned home to protect her and her family from harm at the hands of any others sent to track him down.
Just the thought of her, so innocent and beautiful, saving his sanity every morning he’d woken up to face another day in the dungeon.
Sighing heavily, Valentin straightened from the desk as Robert entered the library after a short knock upon the door.
“My lord, are you all right?”
He nodded, wondering if Donovan had kept the truth from his entire family in order to spare Linette, too, after her grievous injury—ah, but what of it? Such well-intentioned deception had been the best for all concerned and was now in the past.
Estelle Easton was here within these walls, the woman he hoped to marry. He knew that as certain as he lived and breathed. Even now his heart beat faster as he recalled his first glimpse of her at the carriage window, and then felt her trembling fingers upon his arm.
Perhaps she’d been thinking about him more than he’d ever imagined possible, whether she knew the truth of what happened to him or not. He could hope…
“My lord, you seem miles away today,” Robert’s concerned voice broke into his thoughts, the valet drawing closer. “If the pain is troubling you, I could send for the doctor—”
“I’m fine, Robert. Did you come to check on me or perhaps you had some other mission in mind?”
“Actually, Princess Hortense has sent word that several special guests are arriving later this afternoon. Princess Ophelia of Luxembourg, Lady Ingrid of Bavaria, and Countess Alicia of Castile—”
“Damn the woman!” From Robert’s tight-lipped expression, Valentin could see his friend shared the sentiment. “I had hoped for at least one evening to dine with Miss Easton before others encroach upon me.”
“Indeed, my lord. What is to be done?”
Valentin looked at Robert, the duties he’d thought to occupy himself with during the afternoon fast fading beneath another plan. “If she hasn’t yet retired for a nap, perhaps she might wish to see the castle gardens—with a chaperone accompanying us, of course.”
“Of course. Shall I have the kitchen prepare a light picnic for you? I’ve heard it upon good authority that young ladies enjoy picnics on a fine day. As you said, others will soon be encroaching upon you—”
“Yes, see to it, Robert, will you?”
Valentin didn’t wait for a reply but strode to the door, knowing he was throwing all etiquette and decorum out the window—
Decorum! Thanks to Hortense, he hated that word, and the last thing he wanted to think about was his sister meddling in his affairs.
Instead he thought of seeing Estelle again, and wondered if she might be shocked by him seeking her out so unexpectedly.
No, not shocked, surely. From the way she’d gazed up at him, might he, instead, hope for pleased?
Chapter 4
“Goodness, my lady, who could be pounding upon the door?”
Estelle glanced at Mattie, her lady’s maid, as she whirled from the window, startled as well by the racket.
She’d only just changed out of her traveling dress into a sprigged day gown, her upswept hair loosed to tumble down her back, and had thought to lie down for a nap as Linette had suggested. Yet Estelle wasn’t tired at all. How could she be after seeing Valentin again? She felt so abuzz with excitement that she could scarcely gather her thoughts.
She waved for Mattie, a young woman no older than herself with dark brown hair and a burst of freckles across her nose and cheeks, to answer the door. Estelle drew closer, too, though she remained to one side and couldn’t see who stood there.
“I’d like to see Miss Easton. Will you please wake her?”
Valentin! All thought of walking in a ladylike fashion to the door fled her mind as she darted forward, her heart racing.
“I’m here! Not sleeping at all!” She stared at him and Valentin at her, while Mattie glanced wide-eyed from one to the other as if she didn’t know quite what to make of this unexpected exchange.
“Forgive me, Miss Easton—Estelle. Would you care to accompany me to view the gardens? With your maid, of course. More guests arrive today and we may not have another opportunity before the coronation for the two of us—”
“I’d love to accompany you!” Estelle didn’t wait another second, but took his proffered arm as they proceeded down the hall. Meanwhile the maid grabbed a shawl from the half-unpacked trunk and uttered a small shriek in her haste to catch up with them.
***
“Did you hear that, Adam?” Sitting up in the huge four-poster bed, Linette tried to listen for a moment but her husband merely drew her back down beside him to gently nuzzle her neck.
“It’s a castle, my love. Full of commotion no matter the walls are thick. Perhaps Estelle and her maid shared a laugh together. They’re right next door, and you saw how excited she was to be here.”
“It wasn’t a laugh,” Linette insisted, though Adam was going out of his way to distract her with a kiss just behind her ear. “More like a startled shriek, though I can’t imagine why—oh, Adam.”
She closed her eyes, her husband drawing her closer to press a tender trail down the side of her neck to the sensitive hollow at her throat. As a physician, his mastery of anatomy—her anatomy—never ceased to thrill her. She laughed softly, which made him lift his head to stare at her.
“Have I told you today how beautiful you are?” he murmured, which made her nod and thread her fingers through his dark brown hair.
“Moments ago, husband.”
“Ah, then, so I did. Have I told you today that your happiness means more to me than anything in this world?”
Linette saw that he’d grown serious, though he gazed at her with such love as to take her breath away. “Yes, this morning when we awoke…as you’ve done every morning since we wed. Adam, you’re so wonderful to me! If only I could give you a child—”
“Shh, love.”
Adam silenced her with a kiss so sweet that she knew without him saying so that he’d be content if they forever remained just the two of them. Yet in her heart she longed so for a healthy baby. She hadn’t told anyone in her family, but they had already lost two pregnancies. Even with all of his skill, Adam had been unable to do anything to prevent it. She knew as well that deep down, he blamed himself somehow…
“Let’s rest now, Linette.” Adam had raised his head and shifted his weight to once more lie beside her, drawing her into the shelter of his arm. “You remember it wasn’t my wish that we make this journey so soon after our loss at Easter.”
“I know, but how could we deny Estelle seeing Valentin again? Did you see how she looked at him? How he looked at her? Do you think it’s possible they could have fallen in love simply by thinking about each other for so long?”
“You captured my heart after only one kiss. Anything is possible…except, it seems, you closing your eyes for a nap. Perhaps we might think of another way to occupy ourselves…”
Linette smiled against his lips that had found hers again, and wound her arms around his neck to kiss him eagerly, hungrily. Nap? She didn’t recall saying anything about sleeping away the afternoon!
***
“Oh, my, it’s so beautiful here! Look at all the roses!”
Breathless from hastening with Valentin through hallways and sumptuous rooms to reach the gardens, Estelle thought to let go of his hand but he held her fast.
Her heart had skipped a beat when he’d first entwined his fingers with hers, she imagined because they were rushing so, but perhaps that hadn’t been the reason at all.
He gazed now at her flushed face, her cheeks bright pink, she was certain of it.
Mattie, one of Corie’s lady’s maids since Estelle had no use for such help at the parsonage with her father, appeared flushed, too, from hurrying after them. Almost lamely, she held out to Estelle the pink paisley shawl she’d carried even though the afternoon had grown warmer, the expansive gardens awash in bright sunlight.
“No thank you, Mattie, I’m fine,” she murmured, realizing the young woman’s gaze had dropped to Valentin’s hand still holding hers.
Estelle looked down, too, wondering if anyone else might be watching them from a castle window, though in truth, she didn’t care. She felt in a glorious dream with Valentin standing so close—dear Lord, right next to her! The sunlight turning his hair to gold, the masculine planes of his face so handsome, his chest rising and falling as he caught his breath, too.
My Fugitive Prince Page 3
