Amberley Chronicles Boxset II (Amberley Chronicles Box Sets Book 2)

by May Burnett

  Could it really be true? The duke’s denials had not been convincing. Anna did a pirouette and curtsey, as the gentlemen exchanged places and moved along the line. Too bad that the Princess did not understand English, and would miss all the more interesting information. Who was most likely to divulge it to Anna? Selbington seemed very willing to tell his story to all and sundry. And would he not write about this sensation in the Society Argus, as he had about his mock-duel with the duke? It would likely lead to an increase in subscriptions. Anna danced around her partner and finished by taking his gloved hand. She liked to dance, and was good at it, but this country dance could not end soon enough. Her curiosity was killing her.

  What would be the feelings of the Marquess, to discover that his own father had spirited away a young lady who claimed to be involved with him? Surely he could not approve of such underhanded methods. He had witnessed the girl’s parents almost broken with worry and despair. Anna herself had felt pity for them, the few times she’d seen them before their departure to London.

  From the Princess’s perspective, the fact that Miss Prentice was now married to Selbington was good news – it proved that the Marquess was indeed still free. But having that Duke as a father-in-law – where would he draw the line? If he was willing to kidnap and mistreat a confused young woman – a minor of good family – could he be trusted to look out for Gisela’s welfare? The whole English marriage was a mistake, in every sense.

  She decided to find out as much as she could and write back a lurid confidential report to the Prince’s staff, in the hope that it might dissuade them from the marriage. It was a long shot, but it went against her conscience not to do anything in her power to prevent the disastrous match.

  Walking on Mr. Beecham’s arm towards her second partner, she received yet another shock. That tall balding man in impeccable evening clothes who was just entering the ballroom together with a slightly shorter and younger man whose clothes showed evidence of Parisian couture – she stopped dead.

  “Is anything the matter?” Beecham looked at her with concern.

  “No, everything is all right.” She could not suppress her wide smile of relief and happiness. “Do you see that tall man who just entered? There by the pillar? Take me to him straight away, please.”

  “As you like, Komtesse.” They were there within two minutes, despite the crush.

  She felt herself enveloped in a hug, as though she were still a little girl. “Anna! Mein liebes Kind!”

  “Papa,” she said. “How did you come here just now? Oh, I am in such a muddle, you would not believe it!”

  “Then we’ll just have to try and untangle it,” Count Rosenfels said comfortably. “I have brought reinforcements.”

  Chapter 31

  At her father’s gesture, Anna looked around just in time to observe the elegant stranger who had come in with the Count walk towards Princess Gisela, who had finished the first dance with Lord Pell. When she caught sight of the stranger, she pulled away from her partner’s arm and took a few steps towards the newcomer.

  “Nikolai!”

  “Gisela!” The stranger seemed on the verge of embracing the Princess, but at the last moment he contented himself with grasping her white hand and pressing a fervent kiss on its back.

  “I had to come. “ He spoke perfect French. “You cannot throw yourself away like that, my dear. I don’t know what your father was thinking.” He smiled down at her. “You look lovely tonight, just as I remember you from before.”

  “Oh, Nikolai, I had hoped – but this is like a fairy tale.” Incredibly, Gisela seemed on the verge of crying. “But my father and the Czar?”

  By then Anna and her father had arrived at the couple’s side. “I suggest we find a more private place to sort things out,” Count Rosenfeld said with a deep bow to his sovereign’s daughter. “This is my daughter Anna, your Highness.” He was speaking to the stranger. Anna curtseyed deeply. She had already guessed that it had to be Gisela’s erstwhile fiancé, the Russian Grand Duke to whom she had expected to be married for almost ten years of her life. But wasn’t he supposed to be married already?

  “The Golden Salon should be empty,” she suggested. Gisela nodded, and led the way, followed by the other three. Lord Pell and Mr. Beecham were looking after them with quizzical expressions, but they had other ladies to lead out for the next dance.

  “Your Royal Highness,” Count Rosenfels said to the Princess once they were private, “I chanced to mention to the Grand Duke that you were about to marry an Englishman whose birth was inferior to your own, when we met at Court in St. Petersburg –“

  “I was already planning to come to you when my year of mourning for Celestina ended in November,” the Grand Duke interrupted, speaking directly to Gisela. “This news meant I had no time to lose, if I wanted to save you from a terrible misalliance. Of course I don’t know if your sentiments have changed in the meantime, this young Marquess is said to be very attractive –“

  “Not to me,” Gisela said, “he is not you. My nature is constant, as you know.”

  “I do know and honour you for it,” the Grand Duke said. Anna received the distinct impression that he would have used more passionate wording, if she and her father had not been present. “My imperial Cousin has given his consent this time, as a reward for serving him in Siberia. We can marry as soon as the mourning period is over, on the 21st of November of this year, if your present fiancé will release you. I will make it worth his while, should he hesitate.”

  “I would like that, but my father?” Gisela looked torn. “The papers are all signed.”

  “Your Royal Highness, I believe he will not mind,” Count Rosenfels said. “From the latest dispatches I received, before departing on this leave, I gained the impression that the Prince of Obernberg is thoroughly disenchanted with the British. He has realised that over the long term, the Russians are more reliable allies. The last straw was a somewhat rude demand by the Duke of Ottway for a fifty percent increase of your dowry. I know just how he must have felt.”

  “They dared?” This detail seemed to be news to the Grand Duke, who looked incensed. “What a mercenary cur this bridegroom of yours must be!”

  “Not he so much, but his father,” the Princess said. “I am sure Molyneux will see reason.” Anna agreed, indeed she did not have the slightest doubt on the matter. Rook would probably go down on his knees to thank Heaven for this deliverance. She could not wait for him to learn of the news.

  “Personally I was never keen to ally myself to this Breton family,” the Princess went on, “and I did not quite catch what was going on earlier in the ballroom, but there seems to be some additional scandal involving them.”

  “I can explain,” Anna said, “do you remember the young girl who claimed she was married to your fiancé? From what I heard, she now claims she was kidnapped by the Duke, and kept in some kind of institution for the mad, while her parents and the press were looking for her everywhere.”

  “That sounds like Ottway,” the Princess said with a grimace of distaste. “I would not be surprised to learn that his wife had also been involved. That woman has very little true breeding.”

  “It is out of the question for Your Royal Highness to marry into a family implicated in such shady dealings,” Count Rosenfels said. “Your father will understand, if we put it to him carefully. The savings on the dowry will do the rest; trust me.”

  “I want you to think of your happiness first,” the Russian said to Gisela. “I still have to serve for three years far from the capital, in the Asian part of Russia. It gets very cold in winter, which may have accelerated poor Celestina’s consumption. Be quite sure what you want, love.”

  “If you can stand it, Nikolai, I am sure I can too,” Gisela declared. “I am healthy enough.”

  “I will surround you with an army of attendants, who will keep you warm and safe every moment of your life,” Nikolai promised. “The governor’s palace where I currently live has three thousand serfs d
irectly attached to it, and a cunning heating system.”

  “Once we have informed the Marquess of the change in plans, I suggest that we depart this estate for London, and then St. Petersburg,” the Count said. “You can be married there in November, under the Czar’s auspices.”

  “It cannot be soon enough for me,” Grand Duke Nikolai said with a warm smile at Gisela, who returned it freely. Anna had never seen her behave so naturally. Maybe she would be different if she was happy. If she had still been pining for her first love all these years, she must have been unhappy for a long time. No wonder she had been immune even to Rook’s charms.

  “Komtesse, will you find the Marquess and tell him to meet with me? I suppose you’ll have to be there too, to translate.”

  “Not really – he has known French all along, Your Royal Highness. I’ll be there merely as chaperon.”

  “I see.” Gisela frowned for a moment, than shrugged, “It no longer matters. Once we’ve sorted things out with Lord Molyneux, you’d better tell our maids to begin packing. I want to be gone from here by lunchtime tomorrow.”

  Anna’s heart gave a lurch. So soon? She had expected to have three more days of Rook’s forbidden company. To be torn away when he was finally free … but maybe it was for the best. Every day spent near him would only make it harder for her to forget.

  She hurried off, her thoughts in a whirl.

  ***

  In the study, James and Selbington had taken turns recounting the story of their search for Miss Prentice, and how she had been discovered eventually. Her parents confirmed every detail. They had been overjoyed at recovering their child, but fearful about her future after being the subject of such a notorious case. Selbington’s offer of immediate marriage to Louisa had been gratefully received, and from what Rook could observe, the barrister’s vigorous efforts to save the girl had successfully dislodged Rook from her affections. Just as well.

  “Of the eight patients in Cullingham’s institution at the time of the raid,” James said, “only three had been truly disturbed at the time of admission, although one poor woman went mad from the confinement, and the constant suggestion that she was someone else.”

  “No wonder, it was horrible!” Louisa said, with a dramatic shudder. “I don’t know but that it would have happened to me too, if I had not been rescued.” She held on to her husband’s big hand with such force that her knuckles turned white.

  “My poor child,” Mrs. Prentice groaned. Her husband only shook his head gloomily.

  “Don’t think about it, you are safe now,” Selbington assured his young wife. “I will make very sure nothing like that will ever happen to you again.”

  James went on, “The worst part – which we only discovered by happenchance, through Alphonse’s skill at acting – is that Cullingham killed off some of his patients for extra pay. No less than nine people died under his care during the last two years, long before old age. There will be a spate of lawsuits and criminal charges before the case is done. The London papers are full of ‘Dr Death,’ as they call him.”

  “And the Society Argus broke the story,” Selbington added with satisfaction.

  “I am devastated that a member of my family should have caused you such agony, Ma’am,” Rook said to the young woman. “I don’t quite understand how and why -,“

  “I was foolish,” she admitted, lowering her gaze to her pretty kid boots. “I had sent a message to the Duke when I arrived in London, telling him that I was your wife, and where I was staying.”

  “Ah. I suppose he wanted to avoid a scandal when my engagement to Princess Gisela had just been announced, and the revival of my brother’s future Earldom was still in abeyance. I wonder how he had heard of this Dr Cullingham.”

  “The doctor got his clients by word of mouth among the rich and powerful,” James explained. “That was why he did not doubt Alphonse’s story. A French Marquis was just like the rest of his customers. This corruption reaches into the highest circles.”

  “Yes, it will be good yet for a great many editorials,” Selbington said. “And your brother-in-law Beecham may want to raise some question in the House of Commons. I would like to meet him while I’m here.”

  “I’ll introduce you later,” James promised, “you’ll likely find you have much in common.”

  “Are you quite sure that my father was behind your abduction?” Rook asked again.

  Louisa nodded. “I never saw him personally, but when I was walking towards the office of the Argus, a carriage drew up, and a thin middle-aged man said he had come to take me to the Duke, in response to my note.” She would make a good witness in the stand.

  “He forced me to drink something from a pocket flask that tasted vile and made me fall asleep. When I awoke, with a bad headache, I was in that awful place in Greenwich, and everyone used a different name – when I said who I was, and that I wanted my parents, they told me I was delusional.”

  Her voice trembled, and her husband folded her into a comforting hug. “It’s over now, sweetheart.”

  George looked directly at Rook. “Now that you know the story, what are you going to do?”

  Yes, what? He had been about to sacrifice his happiness and future for the family honour, and this was how his own father wantonly destroyed it? Whatever he might do, he would not be able to save the good name of the Bretons in the light of this scandal.

  Rook felt heartsick, when he heard a diffident knocking on the door.

  Chapter 32

  It was Anna, who looked apologetically at everyone in the room.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but the Princess would like to see you urgently, Marquess.”

  It only wanted that. “Is she angry that I missed my dance with her?”

  Anna shook her head with a mysterious smile. “It’s something much more important than that. They are in the Golden Salon.”

  They?

  “You’d better go,” Amberley said, and James added, “I am eager to re-join my wife.”

  “We’ll be staying in the Lion and Lamb,” Selbington said to him.

  “Nonsense, you are welcome to pass the night here,” George said, ever the courteous host, even to people who had interrupted his ball without an invitation. “We have much more to talk about.”

  With a look at the elderly Prentice couple, near swaying on their feet from fatigue, Selbington said, “Very well – and I expect you need to get back to your guests.”

  Rook heard no more. He followed Anna from the study. How proud and graceful her bare neck was from behind …. He really must keep his mind focused on his problems, which seemed to multiply by the hour.

  In the Golden Salon he found not only the Princess, but two strange men. Where had they come from?

  “My father, Count von Rosenfels,” Anna said, “Lord Molyneux. His Highness the Grand Duke Nikolai Romanov.”

  Rook stared at the middle-aged foreigner. Was he the Russian Gisela had been supposed to marry before the Congress of Vienna, all those years ago?

  “You are the fiancé of Princess Gisela?” Nikolai asked in French. Dropping all pretence of not understanding the language, Rook agreed that he was.

  “I want you to renounce your pretensions to the hands of this royal lady,” the Russian went on. “Name your price.”

  Rook blinked. Was be being offered money to give Gisela up? Had he just been mortally insulted? More to the point, was this the miracle he had been praying for?

  He raised his brows haughtily, staring down at the man who was half a head smaller. “I don’t understand, Monsieur le Grand Duc.”

  “If I may -,” the Count murmured soothingly. Ah, of course, he was a professional diplomat. “The Grand Duke has no intention of insulting you, Sir, on the contrary he is begging you for a boon – he wants to marry Princess Gisela, as was intended in the past. Do you renounce your claim to her hand and dowry?”

  “I want to know what the Princess herself desires,” Rook replied, though it cost him, “if she prefers the Grand
Duke, for which I would not blame her in the least, then I will certainly not stand in her way.”

  “Thank you, Marquis.” The Princess smiled at him, more charmingly than she had ever done over the past weeks. “I do indeed prefer Russia to England, I find. Not through anything you yourself have done, my preferences were fixed long before coming to your country.”

  “Say no more,” Rook begged. “I will strive to contain my deep disappointment.” Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Anna putting her hand to her face, - was she hiding an inopportune giggle?

  “You are generous – I thank you.” The Grand Duke smiled at Rook. What a wonderful fellow this Russian was, come all this distance at the last moment to save him as well as Gisela from many unhappy years. Rook bowed politely. It would not do to show his elation openly – that would be an insult to the Princess, and this Russian looked as though he would duel for her honour at the drop of a hat.

  “We are leaving for London in the morning,” the Princess said, “of course I will personally thank my hosts for their hospitality, but will you give the news, and my regards, to those acquaintances I may not see before we depart? Your parents, for instance.”

  “It will be my pleasure,” Rook assured her, anticipating his father’s reaction with hidden glee. Then the full import of the news struck him. Anna would leave with the Princess, presumably – now that he was free, he could not let her get away from him. But how would it look to make up to her in front of the Princess and her swain right now?

  He turned to the Count. “Before you depart, Sir, I have something of grave import to discuss with you, if you would be so kind, Sir.” He spoke in English.