by Julia London
“Oh?” Caroline said, surprised. “Who is it?”
“His Royal Highness Prince Leopold.”
Her heart fluttered instantly, and she was thankful she was standing behind her aunt, because she could feel the heat creeping into her face. “Oh.” She wanted to sound light and carefree, but was certain her voice sounded pinched. Her throat felt strained, actually, much like her chest. “Have you informed him Beck has gone to Sussex?”
“Yes, madam. He wishes to give you his regards.”
Caroline peeked around her aunt. “Then...”
“Then you must show him in,” her aunt said.
Garrett looked at Caroline.
“Yes. That’s what you should do,” Caroline agreed, and forced a smile. As Garrett went to fetch him, she said, “Do please forgive the intrusion.”
“Think nothing of it, Lady Caroline,” Ladley said at once. Lord Ainsley looked as if he thought something of it.
But her uncle said jovially, “It will be my pleasure to make his acquaintance. In spite of all I’ve heard.” He chortled.
When Leopold entered, he seemed surprised at the number of people assembled but was clearly practiced in collecting himself. He bowed. “I beg your pardon for the interruption.”
“Your Highness, how good of you to call after all this time,” Caroline said, and sank into a curtsy.
“Thank you. I, ah—”
“You know Lord Ladley,” she said, twirling away from him. She introduced her aunt and uncle, and Lord Ainsley, as well. When she’d finished the introductions, she turned back to him. “I regret that we were on our way out,” she said.
“Yes, perhaps we ought to be on our way,” Ladley said, offering his arm. “Supper is at nine.”
“I wish we’d known to expect you,” she said. “I could have spared you the trip here.”
“Hmm,” he said, his gaze steady on hers.
“Shall I give Beck a message when he returns?”
He smiled slowly. Her heart felt as if it was beating out of her chest.
“That won’t be necessary, thank you. But if I may intrude for one more minute before you go...might I have a word, Lady Caroline?”
“Well...” She glanced at her guests.
“I won’t take but a moment.”
“Yes, of course,” she said, and gestured for him to speak.
His brows dipped. “I had hoped for a word in private.”
“Ah. Well, as you can see...”
“Caro, darling, you should hear him,” her aunt suggested.
“Of course you must, Caro,” her uncle added. “We’ll be here when you’re done. Take all the time you need.”
Caroline shot Leopold a look. “Very well. But I won’t need long at all.”
The prince stepped to one side to allow her access to the door. She walked out of the room. She supposed Leopold followed. She was so angry and confused and annoyed that she marched down the hall to the small receiving salon near the front of the house. She walked into the room, whirled about and folded her arms.
Leopold entered behind her, quietly closed the door, and smiled. “Well. From the reception I’ve received from you and your guests, it would appear my reputation is even worse than I feared.”
“Oh, it’s quite awful,” she agreed.
“You’re cross with me about Jacleen,” he said, pushing away from the door.
Caroline gaped at him. Then she laughed. “How astute of you! I can’t believe you would utter her name out loud.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked as he slowly advanced on her, his gaze moving over her. “Her name is Jacleen Bouvan. She is a Weslorian from the mountains that border Alucia.”
Caroline frowned with confusion. Why was he telling her this? What possible reason? Had she been his lover before? Or... Why was he smiling at her? “Did you think I would find it amusing that you took a maid from her gainful employment and...” She stopped talking before she said aloud what she feared he’d done.
“No. Did you think so ill of me that you’d believe I’d find such pleasure with you, then only hours later take advantage of that poor woman?”
Did she think so poorly of him? At the moment, she didn’t want to think of him at all. But if she did think of him, she desperately wanted to think poorly of him. It helped her prepare for his inevitable departure. For his perfidy. “I don’t know, Leopold—are you really so different from any other man?”
He blinked. “I left with Miss Bouvan because she was being used by the duke for a purpose that offended me. I wanted to help her.”
Caroline was prepared to be indignant and make him understand that she knew the nature of men. But she hadn’t expected for him to say what she knew was true—Jacleen was being used. She rubbed her nape. “And, what, then the prince swooped in and saved her?”
He looked surprised by that and glanced away a moment, as if pondering it. “Je, I suppose I did. Caroline, you must believe me—I enjoyed your company far too much to ever sully it with a meaningless tryst.”
Her cheeks began to bloom. She released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“Did you enjoy it?”
Her blush deepened. Surely it was impolite to ask her. But then he lifted his hand and lay his palm against her neck. “What a question,” she said softly. “You know I did. Very much.”
Leopold’s smile was slow. “And yet, it’s nice to hear you admit it.”
Caroline’s blood was heating with his casual caress, but she was determined to give him no sign of it. “But why? Why you? Why must you be the one to take her from Arundel?”
He shifted closer, his gaze dipping to her lips. “Why not me?”
He bent his head as if to kiss her, but Caroline put her hand on his mouth. “I have two callers waiting in the salon.”
“I won’t linger,” he murmured, and touched his lips to hers.
Caroline’s eyes fluttered shut. His confession wasn’t fitting with the story she’d created for herself, the one where she never forgave him and promptly forgot him. And yet here was her hand sliding up his chest, her head angling to better kiss him. Here she pressed her body against his, her hand snaking up his arm, to his shoulder. She wanted him to seduce her, wanted to feel his hands and his mouth on her skin again.
Unfortunately, somewhere in her heart a bell was clanging, warning her. She had proudly protected her virtue for six and twenty years. She was not going to be swayed by how handsome he was, or that his lips felt like butter against hers. Or that he smelled like cinnamon and clove.
She put her hands on his chest and pushed back. “This isn’t...there is something not...”
“Something not right, I agree,” he finished for her. “About the way you are feeling about me. About the way I am feeling about you. But devil take all if I know what to do about it.”
Caroline’s breath caught. Had he really just said those words to her? Was he really feeling something for her? Did he feel the same light and fluttery feeling that made her want to sit down and snatch her breath back? “When you determine what to do about it, I’ll be delighted to hear it. In the meantime, I should return to my guests. My aunt will come looking for me if I don’t. We are to dine at Sir Walter Debridge’s tonight.”
She moved to pass Leopold, but he caught her hand before she reached the door and twirled her around. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her into him, then cupped her face with his hand. “Caroline.” His eyes darted around her face, and he looked as if he wanted to say more. But he didn’t speak—he kissed her so hard that everything in her began to tingle and all thought flew out of her head other than how much she wanted this man. And then just as abruptly he let her go, leaving her a little dazed by that kiss. “Best wishes for a lovely evening.”
Her skin was sizzling. She forced herself to look down and smooth
the lap of her skirt until she could find her breath or a thought that wasn’t lustful. She touched her curls to make sure they were in place and no one would detect what she’d been doing, then finally looked at Leopold. “What are you doing to me?” she whispered.
“I honestly don’t know.”
She sighed. She went out of the salon, but her step was much lighter than it had been going in.
She swept into the salon, beaming at her guests. “There we are—thank you for waiting! Oh dear, look at the time. I’m afraid I’ve made us late. Shall we?”
Ladley looked past her, to Leopold.
Caroline glanced at him. “Oh! I quite forgot,” she blurted. “I invited His Highness to join us this evening. Sir Walter won’t mind, will he?” she asked cheerfully, and very carefully avoided the looks of the others in the room. Including Leopold’s.
Caroline had no idea what she was doing, either. She’d need a hot bath and a glass of wine and perhaps even Hollis nearby to figure it out. She’d gone from despising him, to despair, to suddenly feeling better than she had in days.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
It is a conundrum of the first order when an uninvited guest arrives at the supper hour, as was witnessed recently at the home of a knight of the realm. Some would advise to refuse the uninvited entry with the claim of not having prepared enough food. But sometimes the uninvited is of such superior social standing that it would cause undue talk. In this situation, one is advised to open the doors of hospitality and endure it.
Might we soon hear the wails of a newborn? It has been observed that a woman of High Moral Character married to a Man of the Cloth has had some skirts altered recently in anticipation of that happy event.
Ladies, science suggests that if you do not satisfy your cravings for unusual foods and in great quantities during pregnancy, the deprivation may appear as a birthmark on your child. When with child, eat well and a variety of foods, and don’t give in to those who claim you’ll never regain your figure after birth.
—Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and
Domesticity for Ladies
ONE-HALF OF the Debridges minded very much when Leo appeared quite unexpectedly with Caroline’s party. Not surprisingly, given his reputation of late, it was the female half. In fact, Lady Debridge looked positively stricken when he sheepishly entered the foyer, as if he were an ogre come to eat her children.
On the other hand, Sir Walter was quite happy to have an Alucian prince to dine in his home and crowed to the other guests that he’d also had the German cousin of Prince Albert to dine once, and now could add an Alucian prince to that very short but illustrious list of guests. The man seemed oblivious to the looks many of his guests gave him and neither did he seem to notice his wife’s anger, nor how many people moved to the far end of the drawing room when Leo entered. Instead, Sir Walter very happily and loudly commanded his butler to add another place setting for their unexpected, but certainly very welcome, guest.
Power was everything, Leo knew, and connections were the lifeblood of power.
Lady Debridge retreated straightaway with Lady Hogarth and Caroline. Leo looked around for a friendly face but found none. Even Robert Ladley, whom he’d known for quite a few years now, seemed annoyed by his presence. When Leo attempted to speak to him, Ladley smiled thinly and excused himself.
So in a strange twist of fate, Leo found himself standing apart from everyone else, nursing a glass of port. He pondered how odd it was that his life had taken this turn. Up until the last few weeks, he’d been the one to avoid the attentions of others. Men wanted to befriend him, ladies wanted to sleep with him, others just wanted him to acknowledge them. When he was a child, he could recall standing on the balcony at Constantine Palace, frightened of the massive crowds below. His father would put a hand on his back and push him forward. “Give them what they want,” he would say. Leo had been giving them what they wanted all his life and hiding in the bottom of a bottle to find a quiet place only he could enter.
Vir ingenuus juniperum cadit. The gentleman falls.
He sipped the port and tried not to wrinkle his nose. Port didn’t taste as good as it once had. It no longer held any promise of dulling the tedium and emptiness he often felt. He pretended to sip it and surreptitiously watched Caroline move around the room, entertaining whomever she spoke to.
He could be such an idiot. How could he not have thought her charming from the beginning? How could he not recognize at once how unique she was?
Well, well, Prince Leopold. How remarkable that a few words and a few kisses can alter your judgment so.
He noticed that Caroline made a point to speak to each suitor—or at least those he assumed were her suitors. The viscount was in the company of another attractive young woman, but nevertheless, Caroline spoke to him at length. With so much feminine attention, the viscount, predictably, couldn’t seem to keep the smile from his face.
Caroline conversed with Ladley, too, whose eyes followed her every move like a puppy. And another gentleman, who laughed too loud and too long when she spoke to him.
But eventually, having made the circuit of the room, Caroline ventured back to him, her smile blazingly brilliant. She looked him up and down, then glanced back at the others. “Why do you stand in the corner all alone, Your Highness?”
“I feel a bit out of place. Or rather, I feel this is my place.” He sipped the port. “Dare I ask if you’ve settled on the lucky gentleman you will allow to offer for your hand?”
She turned around and stood beside him and surveyed the room. “No. I think not.”
“No? From my vantage point they seem like good men. And they seem terribly admiring of you.”
“Please,” she drawled with a roll of her eyes. “Do you really believe so? Lord Ladley has known me for ages and never expressed the least bit of interest until recently.”
“Perhaps that’s because he’s come to see you as a grown woman and not Beck’s younger sister,” Leo suggested. He could imagine that every man in attendance tonight would see the woman.
Caroline laughed. “Perhaps.” She turned her glittering gaze to him. “But might it also be that his father has amassed a large debt the family cannot pay, and he would benefit from a large dowry?”
Leo lifted his glass in a mock toast. “Entirely plausible, madam. What of the viscount? Your uncle seems to think his having been to America recommends him well enough.”
She giggled. “Uncle Hogarth is obsessed with all things American. He was there as a boy and hasn’t forgotten a moment of it.” She gazed off in the direction of the viscount. “Ainsley is rather charming.”
“Charming, is he?”
“And handsome, too, wouldn’t you agree?”
He didn’t want to agree, but even he could see the man’s appeal. “Perhaps,” he said grudgingly.
She smiled pertly, then bumped her shoulder into his, like they were old chums. “He put all his money into tobacco,” she whispered.
“I beg your pardon?”
She nodded, her curls bouncing gaily around her face. “Hollis told me all about him. He went to America to make his fortune, taking all the money from his estate that wasn’t otherwise entailed. All of it. Can you imagine? Apparently, he meant to make a fortune in trading tobacco. But his first ship ran aground. The crew was rescued, but the ship was scuttled and the cargo lost. All that investment sitting at the bottom of the ocean.” She shook her head.
“That’s unfortunate,” Leo said sincerely.
“A terrible tragedy that my dowry could possibly repair. Unfortunately for him, as he’s just come back from America, Lady Katherine Maugham, otherwise known as the Peacock—”
“Pardon?” Leo asked, smiling.
“The Peacock. Do try to keep pace, Leopold. Hollis and Eliza and I gave Lady Katherine that name because she is a peacock, always showing her feathers.”
/> He choked on a laugh. “Isn’t that a bit of the pot calling the kettle black?”
“Well, yes, but I’m genial about it,” she said, her eyes dancing with merriment. “She’s just there, with my aunt, do you see?” she said, nodding to a point across the room.
An attractive woman a head shorter than Caroline was in conversation with her aunt.
“Katherine has set her sights on the viscount, and she will not lose him to me.”
“Is she in a position to decide?”
“You may trust me it would be war if he were to seriously pursue me. Oh! There’s another potential suitor,” she said, leaning slightly forward to look to Leo’s right. “Mr. Bishop. Don’t look.”
Leo turned to look.
“Don’t look!” Caroline said, giggling.
“How am I to know who we are speaking about if I don’t look?”
Caroline stole another look. “All right. But do it quickly. He’s tall and thin with fine blond hair that is thinning on the crown.”
“That describes half the men in London.”
“But only three of the gentlemen here tonight. Now.”
Leo looked. He spotted the man in question and turned back to Caroline. “I’ve spotted him, I’ve seen his thinning hair and his height. What does Mr. Bishop lack as a suitor?”
“Oh, nothing. He’s very kind and has no debts to speak of. Unfortunately, he aspires to the clergy.”
“Oh dear,” Leo said with a smile.
“Exactly,” she whispered. “I can think of no one less suited to being the wife of a vicar than me. Can you?”
“Not a single name comes to mind,” he agreed.
Caroline laughed. “Prince Leopold, I think you know me better than I allow. Look, here comes Lady Debridge. Supper will be served soon. She will have sat you as far from her as possible and say only a lowly footman may serve you.” She winked. “Enjoy your supper, Your Highness,” she chirped, and walked away, pausing to speak to a couple who were bent over an open book.
