Radleigh looked relieved. “Correct on both counts. I hope you’ll forgive us.”
Annabelle gave a guilty start at Alex’s remark and looked at her brother uncertainly until she saw the amused sparkle in his eyes. Christa stepped out of the protective circle of Alex’s arm to give her former mistress a quick hug. “Thank you, ma soeur.” Her voice was pitched so low that only Annabelle could hear it.
She and Annabelle looked at their brothers, then exchanged a glance of complete agreement: it would have been very difficult to find two more attractive men anywhere. Later there would be time to talk about the strange circumstances of their association, but for the moment no more words were needed.
The silence was broken by a new entrant to the room. Marie-Claire eyed the group with a calm smile and asked, “Is this the young man you have been breaking your heart over, ma fille?”
Alex and Annabelle stared. “Apparently this is the dragon countess, Belle,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. Annabelle blushed; no one could be less alarming than the serene dark-haired woman before them.
“Nonsense, being a countess thrice over does not make one any more a dragon than a single title,” Marie-Claire said. “You would be Lord Kingsley.” Her tone was a statement.
Alex bowed while Christa said with resignation, “Maman, is there ever anything you don’t know?”
Her mother considered thoughtfully. “An impossible question. If I don’t know, how can I know that I don’t know?”
Alex started laughing. “It is easy to see where Christa inherited her bent for philosophy.”
He looked at Marie-Claire seriously. “Your daughter seems willing to marry me, and her brother appears to have no objections. I would hope that we might have your blessing, too.”
She gave him a smile that had enchanted men since she was a babe in arms, the smile Christa had inherited and adapted to her own personality. “I have no doubt that my daughter has chosen well.” She turned to Alex’s tongue-tied sister. “And this is Annabelle, Charles’s young lady.”
Standing on her tiptoes, Marie-Claire kissed Annabelle lightly while Alex and Christa had the satisfaction of seeing the other couple blushing. Looking at the young people with amusement, the countess said, “It is time we rang for tea. After all, that was the ostensible reason for this call.”
She pulled the bell rope, then added, “But of course, as I am French, there will be coffee as well. Shall we adjourn to the morning room? A more pleasant place than this mausoleum.”
Christa looked up into Alex’s face. It still seemed too wonderful to be true, but he smiled reassuringly, the promise in his amber eyes so intimate that she caught her breath in happiness. She smiled back with perfect trust before they followed the countess from the room, Alex’s hand lightly touching Christa’s back as if to ensure that she would not escape again.
Charles and Annabelle lingered a moment before following. She looked up shyly. “My lord, your strategy has succeeded to perfection. I must thank you for your efforts.” Wistfully she added, “I shall miss the conspiracy.”
Charles looked down into the lovely flowerlike face. With a slow smile he said, “I expect we shall be seeing a great deal more of each other now that our families will be connected. Will you object?”
Annabelle’s blush of confusion was so adorable that the earl kissed her. Based on the starry smile she gave and the way her slender figure pressed against him, she seemed to enjoy it as much as he did. So he kissed her again.
Sybil Debenham’s jilting of Viscount Kingsley to marry Sir Edward Loaming produced a ripple of surprise in the ton, but actually enhanced the Gilded Lily’s reputation. It was generally held to be surprising that she had that much natural feeling, but people liked her the better for it.
Kingsley found rapid consolation, and those who met his bride had no trouble understanding why he had fallen in love instantly and married her before any other gentleman had a chance. The entrancing Lady Kingsley had impeccable breeding and, it was assumed, a substantial fortune, but some odd rumors circulated about her. It was said that she had actually been in trade, or possibly worse, though no one was quite sure what “worse” might be. The one person who unwisely attempted to query her brother was rapidly warned off by a most alarming glint in the earl’s eyes. And Radleigh had always seemed such an amiable young man.
Suzanne de Savary was pleased to let it be known that the widowed Comtesse d’Estelle and the new Lady Kingsley were among her most cherished clients. It was very good for business.
Mrs. Haywood learned the end of the story when Lady Kingsley visited the Select Domestic Establishment to promise the proprietress her custom whenever the Kingsleys needed servants in the future. Mrs. Haywood was delighted both for the business and for having her curiosity satisfied.
Possibly the greatest shock was felt belowstairs in the Kingsley household. When it was discovered who the new viscountess would be, and what her birth was, pandemonium reigned as everyone rearranged his mental conception of the lively French maid who had lived in their midst. Traditionalists could not approve of a countess demeaning herself with manual labor. However, since everyone had liked her and they were all passionately grateful to be spared Sybil Debenham, the servants’ hall magnanimously decided to overlook Christa’s lapse from a proper standard.
The child Miranda beamed, seeing nothing odd in her heroine’s transformation to a kind of fairy princess. Fiske pointed out to Mrs. Morrison, not without a trace of malice, that her ladyship’s free-and-easy manners should have told them she was an aristocrat; after all, wasn’t his lordship much the same?
The stunning news was conveyed to Monsieur Sabine when the chef was boning a salmon. He snorted and flourished the knife, sending a small slice of fillet directly to the startled but pleased kitchen cat. “Of course she is a countess. I could have told you that!” Then he returned to the serious business of dinner.
Lady of Fortune
© 1988 Mary Jo Putney
ISBN: 9780786290307
THORNDIKE PRESS
Ed♥n
Lady of Fortune Page 35
