With a start, Lady Augusta turned to the others. “Do excuse me, my dears. Indeed I do know the general. This is Otto Bergen. We met—oh, so many years ago. He was only a lieutenant then, with an embassy to London, and that was not long after the war with Napoleon had ended.”
Still patting her hand, he said, “And what a beauty you were in those days. Every man in London was half in love with you, and most of them far more than half. And here you are, as beautiful as ever.”
Lady Augusta laughed, her color rising. “And you are still every bit as dangerous a flirt now as you were then.”
“Do you remember the time we waltzed in the garden at Apsley House?”
“Indeed I do! The waltz had barely been accepted in England, and everyone was dreadfully shocked to see me dancing under the trees with your arm around me.”
“I was the envy of every man I knew.”
“Aunt Augusta…” Susannah interrupted. What on earth was going on? Her acerbic Aunt Augusta had suddenly turned into a flirtatious debutante.
“Oh yes. Do forgive me. Otto, let me present Lady Susannah Tremaine and Lady Olivia de Vaux. Lady Olivia’s brother, the Earl of Doncaster, is married to Lady Susannah’s sister.”
The general clicked his heels and bowed punctiliously. “And I believe my aide, Captain Maximillian von Staufer, has introduced himself previously.”
The captain also clicked his heels and bowed, very formally to Lady Augusta and Olivia, but adding a private smile when he turned to Susannah. Really, he was behaving outrageously.
After Lady Augusta insisted that the visitors be seated, the general returned his bemused stare to Olivia. “I would not have believed it possible. I thought Staufer had been misled by some faint resemblance, the color of the hair, or some such. But it is truly remarkable.”
He shook his head and smiled. “Forgive me, Lady Augusta. I am rambling. You see, I brought Staufer here partly to apologize for his behavior and partly to beg you to forget what he said. To never mention it to anyone. But now I think we must explain. The resemblance is so extraordinary.” He shook his head again.
Staufer was still concentrating his gaze on Susannah, but now he reached over and took hold of her hand. “You must indeed have thought me a madman, and I fear that you were frightened.”
“I was not frightened.” Susannah lifted her chin. “Not frightened at all. I was angry.” She tugged on her hand, unsuccessfully.
“Good. That is good.”
“You enjoy making people angry?” She spoke in her frostiest tones.
“Nein, no, not at all. It is only that to be angry is better than to be afraid. Not so…” His voice trailed off.
“Humiliating?” she asked icily.
He smiled at that and began examining her hand, running a finger across her palm. “I do not think you are easily frightened.”
“Are you setting up as a fortune-teller now? I assure you I do not wish to have my palm read.” She could feel her cheeks warming and, putting more determination into the effort, succeeded in freeing her hand from his grasp.
Staufer turned to Olivia, sounding serious again. “I do indeed apologize to you as well, Lady Olivia. I know that I frightened you. In my defense, I can only say that to do so was never my intention. But the resemblance…” He raised his hand in a helpless gesture.
“You really have mislaid a princess then? Rather careless of you, I would have thought,” said Susannah. She raised her brows and tried to imitate her mother’s quelling look. After the way Captain Staufer had been making her blush, she hoped to discomfit him at least, but he just gave a shrug that should have been rueful but was belied by his grin.
The general seemed to take the situation far more seriously, for he nodded sadly. “I must tell you of the situation. Sigmaringen has had difficulties in recent years. Prince Conrad inherited the crown when he was still a child, and for many years the power was in the hands of his uncle, Count Herzlos, who served as regent. He…”
The general stopped abruptly, then took a breath and continued. “You will not be interested in our politics. Enough to say that there has been much unrest in Sigmaringen in recent years. Even though Prince Conrad is now fully of age, he still bows to the wishes of his uncle. But this unrest has made us appear vulnerable to our neighbors, and Prussia, you may know, is eager to take all the German states under its wing. To remain independent is becoming more and more difficult. An alliance seemed necessary, so a marriage was arranged with Princess Mila, the daughter of Prince Gottfried of Hechingen, our neighbor to the north. We, officers of the prince’s Royal Guards, were sent to escort her to our capital, Nymburg.”
The general stopped again.
After a glance at the old man, Staufer continued the story. “Although Prince Conrad is most attentive to duty and honor, the princess, unfortunately, is not. Also unfortunately, we were not told how unhappy the princess was about this marriage—she did not wish to marry a man she’d never met—so we had not expected her to run away. Even more unfortunately, her father, Prince Gottfried, is not a man to be… I do not know how to say it tactfully.”
“It is impossible to say it tactfully. He is a man who sees insult everywhere and makes decisions in anger. Without stopping to think. Something like this—he would not only break off the alliance but might declare war. That would make both our countries more vulnerable to Prussia,” said the general.
“Dear me, he sounds like a most foolish and unpleasant fellow,” said Lady Augusta, frowning. “I assure you we will not say anything that might create difficulties for you.”
“It all sounds very unfortunate,” said Susannah. “However, I can understand why your princess might have been reluctant to accept a marriage arranged by a man like her father. She seems to be nothing but a pawn in all this.”
“She is no more a pawn than Prince Conrad is.” Bergen lifted his hands in a pacific gesture. “A ruler—any member of the royal family—has a duty to do what is best for his country. A princess just as much as a prince. And this princess is in many ways very foolish indeed. Unlike her father, Conrad is a man of much honor and kindness, and he is most concerned to do what is right.”
“Then I cannot approve of the princess’s behavior,” said Olivia. “If she truly did not wish to marry your prince, she should have told her father so. She should not go around creating difficulties for other people. That is simply selfish.” She stopped suddenly and blushed, as if embarrassed to have spoken so forcefully.
Susannah smiled at her. It was so like Olivia, this outburst. Having suffered so much from the thoughtless selfishness of her own parents, Olivia was not tolerant of selfishness in herself or in others. Susannah was not a particularly selfish person herself—at least she didn’t think she was—but she didn’t have Olivia’s willingness to sacrifice herself for others.
She noticed that Captain Staufer was smiling at Olivia too, a gentle, kindly sort of smile. Far more respectful and admiring than the impudent looks he had been directing at her. With a sniff and a toss of her head, she looked away from him.
Lady Augusta apparently decided that this was a social occasion and rang for coffee and cakes. She began to make smiling chitchat with the general, giving Olivia a chance to recover her composure. The general responded, but almost without thought.
Five
Staufer did not know what had gotten into the general, but he seemed to have withdrawn into his own thoughts and was listening with only half his attention. Lady Augusta chatted away at him, and Bergen responded with smiles and nods, but his glances kept sliding over to Lady Olivia. She, in turn, grew more flustered every time the general looked at her.
Max did not mind, since this left him free to concentrate on Lady Susannah. She was every bit as attractive as he had first thought—even with her hair pinned back severely, her posture stiffly perfect, and her dress buttoned up to her chin. Did she think th
at buttoned-up dress disguised her curves? It just made them more tantalizing, especially since that peach hue was deliciously close to the color of her skin.
She was being a most proper lady. Oh, so very proper. She had poured coffee for everyone and seen to it that they all had pastries. At the moment, she was using her fork to take tiny little bites of her slice of raspberry pastry and then sipping delicately from her cup of coffee. Not a crumb fell on her pretty dress, and whenever a speck of whipped cream escaped to land on her upper lip, she promptly blotted it off with her napkin. He kept hoping she would lick it off instead. He would be glad to do so himself.
She was so very prim and proper that he could barely keep from laughing out loud. Did she think she was fooling him? He had seen her fly into action when her little friend seemed to be threatened. She was not so prim and proper then. Her wariness was that of a warrior, prepared to go into battle when necessary, not that of a shy little miss.
What amused him most was the way she tried to avoid meeting his eye. Did she think he would eat her up? It was a temptation. And then she kept glancing over at Lady Augusta and Lady Olivia, as if to make sure all was well. Or to make sure they were behaving? No need to worry about them, pretty Suse. What can happen to them here?
So he let the silence between them stretch out. When it seemed to be growing uncomfortable for her, she asked, “What made you think the princess might be in Baden, Captain Staufer? Is this not rather far from Sigmaringen?”
“So very formal, Suse. Surely you can call me Max. After all, you did attack me with your parasol. That makes us friends, doesn’t it?” He spoke in German, partly to see if she understood, and partly because he did not speak English well and disliked sounding foolish.
A delightful shade of rosy red crept up her cheek. She definitely understood, and replied in excellent German. “That would be most improper, Captain.”
“Proper, improper—we must be beyond that, no? After all, you did kick me. And I picked you up and held you on my hip. Does that mean nothing?” He put his hand over his heart and looked soulful.
“Really!” Her mouth pursed up. She was either annoyed or trying not to laugh. “If you were a gentleman, you would forget that ever happened.”
“But was it not more interesting than the usual stroll through the gardens?”
She did laugh then. “You are dreadful, Captain. Even if it was, I should not admit it.”
“How does it happen that you speak such excellent German?” He was curious.
The question seemed to startle her, as if she had not even realized that they were no longer speaking English. For that matter, she noticed, the others had all drifted into German as well. “Our governess—Olivia and I had a German governess. She was from Vienna, and while she was with us, she would speak only German. If we wished to converse, we had to learn.”
“An obviously effective method.”
Susannah smiled.
“And did she call you Suse?”
“Most certainly not, Captain Staufer.” She made an effort to look affronted, but he did not find it successful. “She called me Lady Susannah, just as she should.”
“You should call me Max,” he persisted. “My name is Max.”
She ignored that. “You did not answer my earlier question about the princess.”
He gave a plaintive sigh. “I do not want to talk about the princess. She is a very stupid and tiresome creature. I would much rather talk about you. Why do you keep looking over at your friends? Are you their guardian?”
The question seemed to startle her, and she gave a little laugh. “Why…I suppose I am, in a way.”
It was as he had thought. She was a companion to the old woman, though obviously not a servant. Probably a poor relation if it was her task to watch over the others. “There is no need to worry about them. I promise you no harm will come to them at my hands—or at the general’s hands either.” He offered a reassuring smile and held out his cup. “Might I trouble you for some more coffee?”
She blushed again and took the cup to refill for him, adding cream and sugar just as he had requested the first time. It delighted him that she remembered. When she handed it back to him, their fingers brushed and he sucked in a sharp breath. There had been something, a spark between them—he would have sworn it was powerful enough to set the table aflame. Whatever it was, it wiped the smile from his face and left him so shaken that his coffee splashed into the saucer.
* * *
Susannah pulled back abruptly. What was that? Surely the mere touch of a man’s hand could not have such an effect. This was ridiculous. It was like touching that voltaic pile her brothers had made one summer. Except that it hadn’t been that kind of shock. She did not know what to think.
Mercifully, the general sat up, looked around, and waved the remaining waiter from the room. He stood and walked over to the door, pulling it open quickly and checking to see if anyone was nearby before he returned to his seat.
“Otto…” Lady Augusta began reprovingly, but she stopped when he shook his head.
“You all showed some sympathy with my country’s plight,” he said.
Olivia and Lady Augusta nodded. Susannah simply looked at him blankly. His country’s plight? Oh yes. The missing princess. The diplomatic worries. The possibility of war. She had forgotten all about that. She focused her eyes on the general, trying to concentrate on his problems and forget the presence—the very disturbing presence—of his aide.
“I assure you we will say nothing of this.” Lady Augusta smiled and patted the general’s hand. “If there is any other way we could be of assistance, you need only ask.”
“There is.” But having said that, the general fell silent again. The silence drew out uncomfortably.
“If you don’t tell us what it is, we cannot know if it is something we could do,” Susannah said, trying to be helpful. To her annoyance, that remark prompted a choked laugh from Staufer. She thought she had sounded quite reasonable and didn’t see what was funny about it.
The general smiled slightly. “It will sound mad. It is mad. But I think it can be done. It is just possible that it can be done.” He looked at Olivia. “You, my dear lady, are the image of Princess Mila. No one in Sigmaringen could tell the two of you apart. No one anywhere could. I would swear that her own father would be unable to tell you apart.”
“Yes, we understand that,” said Lady Augusta. “That accounts for Captain Staufer’s confusion.”
“Yes, but don’t you see? If she comes with us to Nymburg as the princess, no one will know that she is not. That will give us time to find the real princess and avoid any problems with Hechingen.”
There was a brief silence while they all looked at him dumbfounded.
“That’s preposterous,” said Susannah, putting down her cup with a clatter. “Absolutely insane.”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly,” said Olivia at the same time.
General Bergen ignored Susannah, but took Olivia’s hand in his. “Ah, but you could. It would not be difficult. You are a lady, and you have been to court in your own country, have you not?” At her hesitant nod, he beamed and continued. “It is not just the way you look, but the way you behave, the way you speak. You have the manner. No one would question it.”
“This is ridiculous,” said Susannah, putting an arm around Olivia to pull her away from the general. “How can you possibly make such a lunatic proposal? One simply doesn’t do things like that. It does not matter that Olivia resembles your missing princess. She can’t possibly lend herself to such an idiotic scheme.”
The general concentrated on Olivia, still holding her hand. “It will not be for long. A few days only. Just to give us a chance to find the princess and bring her back to her duty. No one will ever know.”
“But I wouldn’t know what to do, what to say.”
Olivia sounded hesitant,
but not nearly hesitant enough. A chill made its way down Susannah’s spine. Olivia couldn’t possibly be considering this, could she? Not really. This was insane.
“I don’t know, Otto,” Aunt Augusta said slowly.
Good heavens, not Aunt Augusta too. Susannah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes, you do know, Aunt Augusta. You know perfectly well that this is utterly impossible. Think of your position. Think of Olivia’s position. We’re not a troupe of strolling players, for goodness’ sake!”
“Of course not,” said the general. “If you were actors, we could never manage it. But Lady Olivia here, she knows how to behave, how to hold herself, how to speak. Listen to her. Her German is perfect. She is as much a princess as the real one, isn’t she, Max?”
And Max—Captain Staufer—that traitor, was beginning to smile as if he actually thought this was a reasonable proposal. He looked at Susannah. “She is, you know. In fact, she seems more like a princess than the real one does. Much more gracious. Much better behaved.”
“What does a princess have to do, actually?” asked Olivia. Her eyes were starting to sparkle dangerously.
“Stop it!” Susannah wanted to shake her.
“Don’t be such a cabbage, Susannah,” said Aunt Augusta. “Think how exciting it would be. What an adventure!”
“Exciting? Think what a disaster it would be. It’s probably high treason or something. They would chop off our heads as soon as we were exposed.”
The blasted captain was grinning now. Did he take nothing seriously? He said, “Do you know, now that I think about it, it might work. The princess would not be expected to know much. Everyone knows she is not an intelligent woman. Quite ignorant, in fact. And it could win us the time we need.”
“It would not be for long.” The general turned to Lady Augusta, obviously having realized that she would be the easiest to convince. “A few days at most. It will not take us more time than that to locate her and bring her back. It is not as if she is someone who will know how to hide. As soon as we discover the road she has taken, we will be able to find her. And in the meantime, you could prevent a disaster for my poor country.”
A Scandalous Adventure Page 3
