“How do we handle this?” Marcus asked.
“She is safe as long as she is in this room. Anyone who wishes her any harm isn’t going to attack her with so many potential witnesses about.”
“Unless they’re planning to follow Guy Fawkes’s plans and blow the place to smithereens.”
“If that was their plan, they would have done it before now at Windsor, Buckingham, or Balmoral. No, if there is any danger at all, it is to her alone. When she retires, you will need to get her out of her bedchamber as quickly as possible.”
“I’d rather stay with you,” he said, not for the first time.
“That’s not the plan.”
“Then you take her,” he whispered near her ear in a manner that no doubt had others believing he was taunting her with sensual promises.
“We’ve discussed this before. It’s my job.”
“Are you going to speak with her?”
“Only a polite greeting from the receiving line because one does not chastise Her Majesty.” People were already beginning to queue up.
The Duke and Duchess of Glasford, as well as their son and his wife, were greeting the Queen and her escorts.
“I suspect Victoria will snag at least one dance with John Brown before retiring.” Although the Queen continued to dress in mourning attire, she wasn’t dead and John Brown was a fine, strapping man.
“Do you truly believe the Queen is having an affair with her servant?” Marcus asked in a low voice.
The orchestra had gone completely silent, and Victoria was being led to a massive chair that Esme suspected had been designed generations ago for visits by the monarchs. “I won’t be surprised if, decades from now, writings unearthed in the royal archives will reveal quite a bit of naughtiness going on between those two.”
“Is that one of those secrets to which you’re privy?”
She gave him a saucy smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I’d wager, with the proper use of my tongue, I could have you revealing all.”
Dear Lord, but she was going to miss him when they were finished here. “I dare you to try.”
He arched a brow and gave her a sensual smile. “With pleasure. Although it would no doubt behoove us to stay in this chamber for the present.”
“Indeed. We should separate now and eavesdrop on conversations to see if we can discover anything of import. We’ll join the queue once it’s not so long.”
The Queen’s ladies-in-waiting who now surrounded her were not the same ones who’d been at the palace when Esme was there. Victoria often changed them out for variety. But even if they had been the same, it was unlikely they’d have remembered Esme because no one paid any attention to servants and it had been well over a decade since she’d resided at the palace.
As she made her way around the room, listening to conversations, she used her ability to blend in to ensure she continued to go unnoticed.
“I daresay the Queen’s imposter does a spot-on imitation of Victoria,” Griff said, standing with Marcus near a virtual jungle of fronds.
Marcus had walked slowly around the perimeter of the dance floor, catching snatches of conversations, but they were all related to speculation about the Queen’s arrival and why she had chosen to honor this family with her presence. It seemed that many had not expected her to show, but most were striving to determine what it might mean for the Duke of Glasford’s future as well as that of his son. Marcus had heard a couple of wagers being made as to whether Victoria and Brown would dance; if they did dance, would it be a waltz or a polka? How many times would they dance? But he’d heard no mutterings that threatened the sovereign’s life, not one word hinting at dissatisfaction with the monarch. If there were people here who wanted her done away with, they were certainly hiding themselves well. “Unfortunately, itisthe Queen.”
“I thought the plan—”
“Apparently she changed it,” he said in exasperation.
“Then you’d better bloody well hope she doesn’t get killed while she’s here. They’ll say you arranged it and chop off your head.”
“Hanging is more like.”
“Christ, Marcus—”
“I know.” He didn’t need to hear his own qualms voiced aloud by his brother. What would it mean for Esme to be partnered with him, to have trusted him, to have arranged all this with him without consulting with O or the Home Office? If something went wrong, might she be blamed? Might she find a noose around her neck?“There’s going to be another change in plans, and I need your help with it.”
