by Julia London
The ride to the Pennybacker mansion was quick, as it was only a few blocks away, but the wait on the street to disembark was interminable. When at last they pulled in front of the house, Beck stepped out first, then helped Hollis and Caroline down. Leo brought up the rear. Hollis took Beck’s arm, and Leo escorted Caroline inside. It was the first opportunity he had to speak to her privately. “You are a vision,” he murmured. “A lovelier sight I have not seen.”
She smiled with delight. “And so are you very dashing, Your Highness. A true prince. I shall be the envy of everyone here on your arm and I don’t know how we’ll go about the business of finding a maid—I can’t imagine anyone will look away from us.” She smiled and nodded at a pair of acquaintances, then whispered, “I have an idea of how to find her, the maid.”
“I don’t want you to involve yourself tonight, Caroline. It’s too risky.”
“Really?” she said as they climbed the steps. “And how on earth do you think you will manage without me? This place is too large for you to go wandering about. She’s probably a retiring room attendant, poor thing.”
She had a point. The ball would be so crowded, it would be impossible to ferret out one maid. He hadn’t really thought how, but he suddenly had an image of him wandering around in his princely attire, asking after Rasa.
“I’ve a surprise for you.”
He glanced at her. “Well. My curiosity knows no bounds.”
She giggled. “I’ll tell you all when no one is about. Perhaps when we dance.” She glanced up at him with sparkling eyes. “You meant to invite me to stand up with you, didn’t you?”
He looked at her, at the shimmering green eyes, the full lips. The smooth, porcelain skin. She was the stuff of men’s dreams. “I meant to invite you.”
They stepped into a receiving line, and inched along with the throng waiting to greet the earl and his wife. Hollis and Beck were engaged in a lively and somewhat heated discussion, which, curiously, seemed to do with eggs. Caroline spoke to several people as they moved, greeting friends, pausing occasionally to introduce someone to him. But as they neared the earl and his wife, and Caroline had run out of acquaintances to greet, she leaned into him and whispered, “My surprise for you is that I’ve found another one.”
“Another what?” he asked. He glanced around them, expecting another officer of the foreign secretary to step up and accost him.
“Another Weslorian!”
Leo’s heart slowed. Then rapidly began to beat. “What? Here? Where?”
“The Farringtons’.” She smiled, pleased with herself. “It was quite by accident! I had gone to see my friend Lady Farrington and convince her to invite you to dine, because, of course, if she had you to dine, then Lady Pennybacker would have you to the ball. And there she was.”
“What?” he asked, confused.
“My lord!” Caroline suddenly slipped into a curtsy. Leo realized only then that they had reached the Pennybackers. This was the second time this evening people and space and time moved around him while he’d stood still, captivated by Caroline.
“Lady Caroline, you grace us with your presence,” Pennybacker boomed. “Your Royal Highness, welcome,” he said, and clasped Leo’s hand in both of his and shook.
“Thank you,” Leo said. “I must thank you for the kind invitation. I shall consider it my last opportunity to see friends before I go.”
“So the talk is true, is it? You’re returning to Alucia?”
“It is true.”
“Well. Don’t take any of my maids,” Pennybacker said, and laughed heartily. Leo forced himself to laugh, too.
After he’d greeted a decidedly standoffish Lady Pennybacker, and they’d been announced into the ballroom, Caroline was pulled away by three ladies, all wanting to admire her gown. Leo stood alone in that crowded room, marveling at how studiously everyone avoided him. Before the royal wedding, he’d been swarmed with people wanting introductions at events like this. Tonight, he received several curious looks, but no one approached him. He was a pariah.
Soon the dancing was in full swing and Leo caught up to Caroline and asked her to dance.
“I should be delighted,” she said. “Everyone is looking at us, so don’t look around to see if they are.”
“I won’t,” he said with a fond smile for her. He wanted to ask her what she meant about finding another Weslorian, but he wanted to dance with her more, to experience the feel of her in his arms with music sweeping them and their mutual esteem along. He bowed to her before taking her hand and stepping into a waltz. As they moved, he looked into her eyes. He didn’t care who looked at them.
“You are a fine dancer, Prince Leopold,” she said. “I suspected you would be.”
“So are you, madam.”
“You really shouldn’t look at me like that.”
“I shouldn’t look at you with adoration?”
Her eyes sparkled more. “Is that what it is? No, you really mustn’t. Tongues will wag and ladies will smolder with resentment. We can’t have them smoldering.”
“Let them, I don’t care.”
She laughed. “They will all wonder if you’ve seduced me. If I have been taken in by your princely charms and spurned all others for you. They will wonder if you are seducing me even now, with your eyes.”
“I’m trying,” he said. “How do I fare?”
“Very well, indeed.” Her smile suddenly dulled. “Oh, Leopold. You may think me mad for saying it, but I will miss you so when you...when it’s over.”
He twirled her around, pulling her a little closer into his body. “I will miss you, too, Caroline. Words fail me to convey just how much.”
“I’ve never known anyone like you, really. Well, your brother, of course. And Eliza is a bit like you, sort of careless and carefree. But really, no one like you, and I’m certain I never will again. That makes me unpardonably sad.”
He sighed and squeezed her hand. “And I have never known anyone like you. You’re rather incomparable, madam.”
Her smile returned. “That is exactly the sort of flattery I adore.”
“That is exactly what I love about you.” Her eyes were locked on his, and she tried to keep her smile, but as they twirled around that dance floor, it was as if all the unspoken words and promises between them were swirling, too. It felt like they were on a tiny planet of two, spinning around and around on their own special axis.
But as the dance drew to a close, Caroline’s eyes glistened in a darker way. “We’re star-crossed, aren’t we? Why couldn’t it have been us?”
He didn’t ask what she meant; he understood. Why could it not have been the two of them to meet and perhaps marry?
“More than anything, I wish it could have been us,” he admitted.
The song ended. She stepped back and curtsied, then walked away from him. She hadn’t taken more than a few steps when Lord Ainsley intercepted her, and after a brief exchange, she returned to the dance floor and disappeared into the crowd of dancers.
Leo needed air. But as he was walking out of the ballroom, Hollis caught him.
“There you are!” she said brightly. She linked her arm through his, and when he looked down at her hand on his arm, she said, “We are practically brother and sister. I’ve said so to nearly everyone, so they won’t think the least about us strolling along. Now, then, Highness, everyone is watching you and Caroline—she’s terribly good at drawing attention, isn’t she? She’s drawing attention right now, as it happens, dancing with Viscount Ainsley, and drawing the ire of the Peacock, who thinks his offer for her is imminent. It will keep everyone’s attention for a time. In the meantime, I have found your friend.”
“My friend?” he asked, momentarily confused, thinking she meant Beck.
“Your friend,” she said again, looking up at him. “She’s running about with towels for the retiring room and
I know precisely where to find her, so if you will come with me?”
“Hollis... I don’t want you to get involved,” he said as she led him down the hallway before turning into another hallway.
“I am involved. Do you think I haven’t talked to my guests? Smile, Your Highness! You look far too serious. People will suspect you’re up to something or have received terrible news.”
Leo forced a smile for her.
There were servants in the hallway, and a pair of retiring rooms for the ladies, judging by how many of them were coming and going from the two rooms. There was also a linen closet. Hollis turned him about so that his back was to the main hall and said, “Pretend we are speaking of our sister and brother as we would, and I’ll keep an eye—Oh! Here she is.” She suddenly stepped away from him and blocked the path of a maid with red hair and a cap that was slightly askew.
“Pardon,” the maid said.
“Excuse me, miss, I should like to introduce you to Prince Leopold of Alucia. He has something he would like to say,” Hollis said smoothly.
“Pardon?”
Hollis took the maid by the arm and dragged her to stand in front of Leo. “Hurry,” she urged him.
“Good evening, Rasa,” he said in Weslorian.
She dropped her towels. Hollis quickly scooped them up and pressed them back into her arms. “Step into the linen closet!” Hollis insisted.
The girl looked frantic. “But I—”
“Step inside, darling,” Hollis said more firmly.
The girl stepped inside the narrow closet. Leo didn’t attempt to crowd in with her, but he blocked the entrance. “Forgive this intrusion, but I’ve come to collect you,” he said in Weslorian.
“Collect me for what?”
“I’m taking you and the other women who came to London with you to Alucia.”
Her mouth gaped. She clutched the towels to her. “But why?”
She was not understanding him. “Rasa...you’ve been poorly treated. You’ve been sold into slavery and I mean to free you. If you will gather your things and meet—”
“I don’t want to go!” she exclaimed. “I like my post here! Lord Pennybacker, he gave me his daughter’s clothes she’d outgrown.”
Leo was confused. “But doesn’t he... I beg your pardon, but I must speak plainly. Doesn’t he want something...and by that I mean, you...in return?”
She didn’t seem to understand at first, but when she did, she gasped. “No!”
“Come now, Your Highness,” Hollis whispered. “We have company.”
Leo stepped closer. “Do you understand, lass? You were bought and sold by powerful men.”
“I wasn’t! I begged my father to accept the offer, Your Highness. He’s ill, and my mother has to feed my brothers and sisters. How are they to survive? I like London. I’ve my own room, my own shoes, my own bed.”
Leo stumbled over the idea that she had not had her own shoes.
“Please leave me be,” she begged him. “I don’t want to go back to Wesloria. I want to stay here.”
He hadn’t anticipated this and didn’t know what to say.
“Ah, Your Highness!” Hollis said suddenly. “Are you lost again? Come, I’ll show you the way to the ballroom.”
Leo ignored Hollis and leaned forward. “Rasa, please reconsider.”
She shook her head and stepped deeper into the closet.
“You must be looking for the gaming room,” Hollis said, her voice at a high pitch.
Leo reluctantly stepped back and turned to Hollis. He was surprised and annoyed to see Lady Katherine Maugham in the hall, watching them curiously. He said to Rasa, “Thank you. Mrs. Honeycutt has rescued me and will return me to the ballroom.” He smiled at Lady Katherine. “I seem to have lost my way.”
Lady Katherine was no fool. She stared at him shrewdly.
Hollis looped her arm through his and said, “You’ve had a bit too much ale, haven’t you, Highness?”
He hadn’t had a drop. “Je, too much,” he said jovially.
Lady Katherine curtsied. “Good evening, Your Highness.”
“Mrs. Honeycutt, if you will kindly direct me to the gaming room and the nearest tankard of ale, I should be delighted.” He pretended to stumble and Hollis called out a cheery, “Good evening, Katherine.” The two of them headed for the main hall.
“Well?” Hollis whispered as they strode down the corridor.
“She refuses to leave. She likes it here. She claims Pennybacker treats her well.”
“Oh,” Hollis said, surprised. “Well...perhaps if she is happy?”
Leo didn’t understand how a woman could be happy under those circumstances. She had no freedom. She was a commodity. Because she was comfortable now didn’t mean she always would be. But he didn’t want to debate Hollis. She’d done enough for him, and he didn’t want to involve her further. When they reached the gaming room, he bowed to her. “Thank you, truly, for your help. If you would be so kind as to pass the news along?”
“Of course.” Hollis smiled sympathetically. “You tried, and that’s what matters.”
Leo wasn’t sure of that. Trying didn’t seem quite enough to him.
He watched Hollis disappear into the crowd, then walked into the gaming room and found Beck. His friend had had entirely too much to drink and was feeling very verbose.
Leo sat, his head spinning, his thoughts whirling around, grappling over what he should do next...until Pennybacker came into the gaming room and demanded in a loud whisper what Leo wanted with his Weslorian maid and asked him to take his leave.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A certain peacock, whose feathers are easily ruffled, is nonetheless fanning them fully to attract the attention of a bachelor viscount. We have high hopes that someone will offer for the little bird before she molts.
Two ladies were spotted in gowns designed by Lady Caroline Hawke. There is some talk that Lady Caroline will invest in a shop so that she might share her talents with all the ladies of London.
Ladies, it should not have to be stated that gray is not a suitable color for a summer ball, and perhaps should be reserved only for a period of mourning.
—Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and
Domesticity for Ladies
IT REQUIRED BOTH Leopold and Garrett to engineer Beck into the house and to his bed, with Caroline hurrying ahead to remove any obstacles to their progress. When he was at last on his bed, one leg sprawled off the side, Beck lamented the amount of money he’d lost at the gaming table.
As Garrett was in his nightshirt, Caroline said, “See to Beck, Garrett. I’ll see the prince out.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Beck said from the bed and struggled up onto an elbow. “Leo...promise me if anything were to happen to me, you’ll take care of Caro.”
“Beck!” Caroline exclaimed. “Nothing will happen to you. You’re drunk and talking nonsense.”
“Promise me, man,” Beck insisted. “I know you keep an eye on her—don’t think I’ve not noticed,” he said, wagging a finger at empty space.
“Je, friend, I promise,” Leo said with a grin.
“Come and fetch her if you must. She’d be better off in Alucia than she would be with these jackals.” His eyes slid closed.
“My goodness,” Caroline said. “Your Highness, shall I see you out?”
They walked out as Garrett attempted to remove Beck’s shoes.
In the hall, as Caroline closed the door to Beck’s room, Leo leaned against the wall, smiling ruefully. He’d undone his neckcloth and looped his sash over one arm. He was so appealing standing there that her heart began to skip. She grabbed his hand and tugged him along, hurrying down the stairs and into the drawing room.
The hearth was cold, the drapes drawn. She groped on a table for a candle and found one, struck a match and provided a s
mall bit of light. She held it up and turned around.
He took the candle from her hand and placed it on the table, then took her into his arms.
She didn’t know what she was doing, other than she couldn’t bear to lose a moment with him. “Everything has turned on its head, hasn’t it? Hollis told me what happened, but not before Katherine Maugham came to tell me that out of concern for my feelings, she thought I ought to know that she saw you trying to seduce a maid, and I should not believe that your attentions to me were anything but for show.”
“She said what?” he asked, incredulous.
Caroline waved a hand at him. “She delighted in telling me, you may trust.”
“She delighted in telling Lord Pennybacker, as well,” he said wryly. “It doesn’t matter. Rasa refused to go. She likes her post. I told Pennybacker that the poor lass had rebuffed my advances and fled.”
“Leopold!”
“What was I to say? I couldn’t risk the blame falling to her.” He stroked Caroline’s face. “I have tried my best, but I think I must accept that I can’t save them all. Rasa has refused me, and the girl at the Farringtons’ may, as well. And that leaves one missing yet.”
“Maybe the girl at Priscilla’s will know where the other one is?” Caroline offered hopefully. “I’ll help you in any way that I can.”
But Leopold was already shaking his head. “No matter what happens at the Farrington supper, I will depart a day or two later, depending on the tide.” He stroked his thumb across her cheek.
That was it, then—the end date. Caroline lifted her hand and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “Leopold...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words that were in her heart and on her mind. She suddenly threw her arms around his neck to kiss him. He caught her by the waist, making a sound like a laugh into her mouth. But this was no laughing matter to Caroline. She had found the one she wanted. The man who made her want to leave everyone else behind. The man who had made her think beyond herself, who had seen something in her beyond her looks.
