The Wild Princess

by Perry, Mary Hart

  He looked startled but recovered quickly, straightened his lapels, and dipped his head at the idea. “Why not? Maybe I’ll even double it.”

  This might turn into a better night than she’d expected. She celebrated the moment, mentally prioritizing the additional improvements she’d now be able to afford.

  Twenty-nine

  The pupils of his partner’s eyes had dilated, giving him a wild, frenzied look in the gaslight outside the Royal Opera House.

  Rupert Clark laid his hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “What’s wrong, Will? Not like you to get nervy.”

  “Don’t like knives,” Will grumbled. “You only gets one chance. Takes nothin’ for a man to turn the tables on you.”

  “It’ll be fine. Two of us to the one of him.”

  “I s’pose. Still wish we could do him with a pinch of black beauty.”

  “And how’s that gonna work in a crowd like this?” Already the opera house doors were opening, a bejeweled audience spilling out into Bow Street. “Lieutentant wants ’em to know it’s Disraeli who’s the target. We lob a bomb in the middle of that crowd, newspapers’ll get it all wrong.”

  “How do we know he won’t take one of them carriages lined up yonder?” A sea of top hats and plumed heads, even now, flowed toward the long line of waiting curricles, phaetons, and cabriolets.

  “Connections. In the palace. Told you afore. Now,” Rupert warned, “pay attention. We don’t want to miss him.” He found it hard to track individual faces in the crowd beneath the vaporous gaslights. The flames turned everything a sickly yellow-green in the night. The ladies’ features were further obscured by veils and dipping hat brims, the men’s eyes shadowed by top hats, their expressions masked by beards. But Disraeli, in the photograph, was clean-shaven, lean, and tall. He’d stand above most of the crowd.

  “There,” came a hoarse bark from Will after they’d watched for a few minutes.

  “Where?” Rupert squinted into the haze. The boy’s eyes were sharper than his.

  “See those two? One on the right has no beard.”

  “You get a look at his face?”

  Will grinned. “He’s a dead ringer for the swell in that picture.”

  Rupert hesitated, needing to make sure. He watched the pair cross the street into the park then take the same path the Lieutenant had described in his note. They’d walked it earlier in the day, checked out every one of the surrounding horse trails and wooded lanes. He’d picked out three spots, any one of which would be good for waylaying and dispatching their man.

  Rupert looked back toward the opera house. The crowd was thinning. Only a few couples heading into the park by different paths, cuddling, clutching each other amorously. None of the other men resembled Disraeli. The remaining operagoers were splitting up into the last of the remaining carriages. If he and Will didn’t follow the two men soon, they’d lose them entirely.

  Rupert wiped the sweat from his brow and concentrated on the two frock coats already disappearing into the darkness. “Let’s go.”

  He and Will split up as planned. Rupert’s route wound to the north and came out on a rise thirty feet above Disraeli. Through the trees Rupert could hear the two men below him, talking about the opera and a woman one of them was interested in.

  As soon as the pair below turned the next bend, Rupert silently slipped down through the trees behind them. Will would come at them from the other direction.

  Up ahead, Rupert caught a sudden blur of motion in the dark, and his heart nearly stopped. Will had lunged at his victim without waiting for his signal. Now there was nothing he could do but make his move.

  One of the men shouted, “Watch out!”

  Rupert ran up behind Disraeli, who seemed so stunned by the attack on his companion he was unable to move. Rupert whipped his arm up and around the taller man’s throat, knife in his other hand. He slashed once. The diplomat sagged to the ground, gurgling blood.

  “Help. Murderers! Assassins!” Screams echoed in the dark from a ways off. Will’s man was escaping.

  “Fuck!” Rupert swore and took off at a run to silence the man before his cries brought the coppers down on them. How had Will let him get away?

  Just over the next rise, Rupert spotted his partner. Down on top of a figure. Stabbing repeatedly into the waistcoat with his knife. Make it look vicious, the Lieutenant had said—the better to horrify the queen and her subjects. Will was doing his job with enthusiasm. No doubt the man was already done for—he wasn’t moving at all. And as for Disraeli, he’d have bled out by now.

  “Enough.” Rupert grasped Will by the back of his collar and pulled him off the body.

  Thirty

  On the arm of her handsome blue-eyed husband, Louise stepped into the splendor of the grand ballroom of Stafford House. Near St. James’s Palace, this was the exquisite home of the Duchess of Sutherland during the Season. Even after the duke’s death, his widow entertained on a lavish scale. A patron of the opera, she had opened her home to the elite of London after that night’s performance.

  Victoria declined to attend, instead sending Louise and Lorne to represent her. She’d claimed fatigue and the need to conserve her energy for her Accession Day celebrations in just two weeks.

  Bertie had convinced the queen that she must make a public appearance for that occasion, if for none other during the year. The queen’s subjects were growing impatient with her self-imposed isolation and obsession with mourning. And so there would be a formal procession by carriage, accompanied by the horse guard from Buckingham to Westminster Abbey, where the service would be held celebrating Victoria’s taking up the crown worn by her uncle, King William IV.

  Once she began planning the day, though, the queen grew more enthusiastic. Louise felt greatly relieved that her mother had agreed to follow her ministers’ and Bertie’s advice. Louise, far more than anyone else in her family, understood the common people and their need to believe their country still had strong leadership.

  As soon as Louise and Lorne were announced, the orchestra launched into Strauss’s “Artist’s Life” waltz, in honor of the princess and her love of art. Dancers whirled across the floor, ball gowns shimmering, medals glinting from lapels. Smiles were the expression of the evening. Fear of Fenians, wars in Europe, or uprisings on the Dark Continent—all that was serious seemed distant and inconsequential. But Louise could not cast off a premonition that something evil lurked close by, ready to steal away what little happiness she might grasp for herself.

  After the Viennese, she danced a cotillion with Lorne then a polka with the new Duke of Wellington who had so recently lost his beloved father, the hero of Waterloo. The duke was gracious even in his mourning, and a fine dancer. She looked around for Stephen Byrne, but he was nowhere to be seen. Either he wasn’t here or he was making himself invisible, as he so irritatingly managed to do whenever he chose. She had counted on him being here tonight, with good news about Darvey.

  Another waltz began. Lorne reappeared at her side, his blond curls and flashing sapphire eyes the focus of every female in the immense room. And not a little admired—she noticed—by several of the men. “Shall we?” Lorne said, holding out his hand to her. “The orchestra seems particularly fine tonight.”

  She managed a smile for him, or rather for the hundreds of watching eyes. Lorne escorted her onto the dance floor. She rested her fingertips lightly on his sleeve, lifted the hem of her gown with her free hand, and off they flew. Louise caught an approving gaze from her brother Leo as they swept past him and his little clutch of friends.

  “You ought to have been an actress,” Lorne murmured in her ear. “Everyone is commenting on our love match.”

  “Oh, please,” she said.

  “But I must admit to a small amount of distress on one count.”

  They negotiated the end of the room with a graceful heel turn and floated on down the length of polished parquet floor.

  “About what?” she asked.

  “I have heard th
at you are making inquiries of a . . . sensitive nature. Is that true?”

  Louise tensed even as the music swelled to a glorious crescendo. Had Byrne told her husband about her interest in finding Donovan? “I am, although it is nothing to concern you.”

  His voice sounded less casual now. “It is most definitely my concern if those investigations put at risk my credibility as your husband.”

  Did she hear threat in his tone? “We have a bargain. I will keep it.”

  “All I ask is that you keep me out of Newgate, my dear. Your freedom for mine. Oui?”

  “Yes.” She had to admit he was keeping up his end of the deal. He hadn’t once questioned her right to travel alone, to run the Women’s shop, to spend hours with her painting or in Amanda’s company. “I keep my promises.”

  His gaze softened. “There are discreet ways in which you might satisfy your needs.”

  She looked up into his dazzling eyes, now piqued with sensual intrigue. “It is more complicated for me,” she said.

  “Is it? I might easily find you a willing lover.”

  She should have been shocked. It was a scandalous suggestion. But all she could do was laugh at the absurdity of her situation.

  She shook her head at him. “Oh, Lorne. You really wouldn’t be in the least jealous?”

  “How could I be?” He studied her face, his eyes tracing her lips, throat, bare shoulders. “And yet, you’re right, my dear. There’s still my pride to consider. I cannot bed you, but part of me is reluctant to see you in the arms of another man. Foolish, is it not?”

  “Foolish indeed,” she agreed. But there was a sweetness about the marquess that she knew would never let her stay angry with him for long. She tenderly stroked his cheek with a gloved hand. The music slowed. She swayed in his arms, and she imagined to anyone watching they must have made a pretty picture. “Lorne, what are we to do? Is this how I am supposed to live out my life? Forever without affection? Without children?” It was a repeat of their wedding night conversation. But something she still couldn’t let go of.

  “I will be as affectionate and caring as many husbands, my dear. I promise you every consideration, but the one.”

  The lump in her throat swelled, threatening to choke her. She drew a shaky breath as tears teased her eyes. “I wish . . . I wish . . .”

  “Yes?” he asked.

  She blinked away the droplets. “Never mind.” It was hopeless.

  The music had ended. They stood in the middle of the vast, glittering ballroom beneath a triple-tiered chandelier of hundreds of Murano glass prisms as couples slowly drifted back to their seats or exchanged partners. Louise felt unable to move. He was a kind man. She really should be happy.

  “Come,” Lorne said, reaching for her again, “this is a gentler waltz. I will show you off to London tonight, and soon to all of Europe. They will see what a beautiful woman I’ve married and say, ‘Ah, what a perfect couple they make.’ We will trick the world, my dear. Be brave.”

  She blinked away the last of her tears, rested her right hand in his, her left reaching up to lightly touch his elegant shoulder. Louise let him guide her through the intricate, swirling one-two-three steps of the opening strains of Carl Maria von Weber’s gorgeous “Invitation to the Dance.” Her pearl gray gown swept the floor, rustling at her ankles, her heart lifting with the soaring strains of the violins.

  It might never be possible for her to be truly happy, but the joy of the dance lifted her spirits.

  They had completed only one circuit of the ballroom when, during the subtle break before the faster Allegro vivace movement, a voice from behind Lorne said, “May I take the princess for a turn?”

  When Lorne stepped aside with an expression of irritation to address the intruder, she saw that it was Stephen Byrne.

  Her breath hissed inward with delight as she took in his costume, so unlike anything she’d seen him wear before. It was an officer’s military dress uniform, one she recognized from photographs of the American Civil War. Dark blue jacket, with polished brass buttons, fringed epaulettes, and a fitted waist that showed off his wide shoulders. She was stunned at his change in appearance. Without the great flapping leather duster and Stetson he looked every bit the gallant young nobleman.

  Although Byrne was nearly a head shorter than the lofty Lorne, she sensed her husband felt intimidated. After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped back and waved a hand in her direction.

  “So long as the lady does not object, she is yours,” Lorne said with a chill smile. “For the moment.”

  “Thank you, Marquess.” Byrne held out his hand to Louise as the music swelled exuberantly, sweeping other dancers past them in a frenzied vortex of silk, satin, and jewels. “Your Highness?”

  Unsure why he had stolen her away from her husband, middance no less, she observed him with caution. Did the American officer even know how to dance?

  He did, she discovered. Magnificently.

  They joined the throng, circling counterclockwise around the ballroom. But as soon as they reached the side farthest from the royal dais where the Prince of Wales and her brother Leo sat, Byrne whirled her out of the maelstrom of dancers. He lifted the latch on the balcony doors, dropped an arm around her waist, and scooped her outside into the night.

  Thirty-one

  It happened so fast, Louise didn’t have a chance to protest. She was still preoccupied with catching her breath when she realized he was wrapping a leather strap he’d pulled from his pocket around the two exterior door handles, effectively locking the doors with the two of them outside.

  She touched wary fingertips to the pearls at her throat. “What is that for?”

  “So we won’t be disturbed. You wanted a report?”

  “Yes. Darvey.” She breathed a little easier. “Have you dealt with that cruel man? Are Amanda and her family safe now?”

  Byrne walked over to the ornate stone balustrade that edged the balcony, his boots striking the paving stones forcefully, his expression unreadable. “The pimp has gone missing.”

  Louise frowned. “Maybe we should consider that good news? He’s been frightened off, knowing the police will arrest him for arson.”

  “I doubt it. The police, at least some among them, are likely to have been paid to protect Darvey’s business. And that might extend to his other shenanigans.”

  She huffed. “I hardly call burning down a building with people inside it ‘shenanigans.’ As if he were a schoolboy prankster.”

  “Despite our differences in word choice,” he said, fixing her with a dark stare, “the man’s lying low. I’ll catch up with him eventually. In the meantime, I’ve visited the Lococks and let them know to stay close to home. Henry promised to meet with as many of his patients as possible in his examination room, rather than making calls. That way, he’ll be better able to keep an eye on his wife and child.”

  Louise was trying to pay attention to what he was saying. But even as he spoke, Byrne was observing her with an intensity she found worrisome, almost predatory.

  “Then I suppose,” she said, “there’s nothing more you can do for the time being.”

  “There is the other matter. Donovan. Your young lover.”

  “Yes, what have you—” She cut herself off, realizing he’d tricked her. “Don’t be crude,” she snapped. “I never said we were anything but friends.”

  “No, you didn’t,” he said and stepped closer to her. “But you were more than friends. You were lovers.”

  Louise was certain she’d stopped breathing entirely now. She opened her mouth to speak but found she could not. Not a word. Not a whisper.

  “Louise, it’s insane what you’re doing. You’re hiding things from me. You expect me to help you, but you refuse to give me what I need to do my job.”

  “But I—”

  “You can’t go on protecting secrets that need to be brought out into the open, at least between us.”

  Emotion surged through her, cramping her chest, sending a lightning
bolt of pain from one side of her forehead to the other. She balled her fists in rage. “How dare you presume to require personal information from me. You have been commissioned to do two jobs for the royal family. One for the queen, officially, and one for me, unofficially. That is all you need to know.” Was there ever a more infuriating man? “I stand under no obligation to feed your curiosity by . . . by spilling out the events of my personal life for your entertainment.”

  He seemed not to have even heard her reprimand. “It’s not Amanda’s safety that’s so very important to you, is it?” His voice had become as still as a pond. His eyes so dark she lost herself in them. They were no less fascinating than the distant black spaces between the stars overhead. He stepped toward her. “Is it?” he repeated.

  “Of course Amanda’s welfare is important.” How had they come to be standing so close? She could hardly draw a breath without the bodice of her gown brushing his lapels. “She’s my dearest friend.”

  “But there is, or was, someone even more precious to you than Amanda Locock.”

  She felt confused, then terrified. No. No, he can’t have found out! She fell back into the safety net of her practiced story. “Donovan was a fellow artist and friend whose—”

  “Donovan be damned!” Byrne roared, making her jump. He took a breath, calmed himself again with obvious effort, but his expression remained pained when he at last spoke again. “There was a child. That’s the secret you’re trying to protect. What happened to it?”

  Before she could answer, a loud pounding set the terrace doors shivering. “Your Highness, are you there? Are you all right?”

  In desperation, she glanced back the way she’d come, toward the ballroom. “It’s our guardsmen,” she whispered. “Someone must have seen us come this way.”