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She pulled away from him. “I think you misunderstand me. I’m making no criticism or judgment. It’s none of my business if you Lanconians want to spend your lives with people you don’t love. I’ll bet Daire’s illustrious family has somebody picked out for him.”
She could tell by his face that she was right. “All of you have my best wishes for what I’m sure will be a very happy future.”
If she’d been wearing a long dress with yards of skirt she couldn’t have swept past him more haughtily. By the time she got to the house she was so angry she could hardly see where she was going. It felt good to think of a romantic, even tragic, prince who was being forced to marry a woman he didn’t love. It was noble of him to sacrifice himself for his country. But to hear that Graydon thought that because of some man’s birth he couldn’t marry a beautiful, intelligent woman like Lorcan was sickening.
She went upstairs, firmly closed her bedroom door, showered, and changed. When she was ready, she went downstairs, barely glanced at Daire and Lorcan at the dining table, grabbed her handbag, and went out the front door. Twice she heard Graydon call her name but she didn’t respond.
She quickly walked into town and realized how long it had been since she’d been out of the house. Since she’d met Graydon Montgomery it was as though he’d taken over her life.
Maybe I should rename our house THE SEIZE OF MONTGOMERY, she thought, and the play on words of “seas” and “seize” made her smile.
In the last two weeks she had neglected her real life—the one she would return to when HRH went home to marry the “highborn”—but beautiful—woman he didn’t love.
Toby walked down to the end of Straight Wharf and looked out at the water. Right now she wished with all her might that she had someone to talk to about all this. She called Lexie in France. “I miss you,” she said as soon as Lexie picked up.
“What’s wrong?” Lexie asked.
“Nothing,” Toby lied. “What’s going on with you?”
When Lexie started talking, she didn’t seem to take a breath. Her boss, Roger Plymouth, had arrived a few days before. He’d been injured in a car crash and his left arm was broken. “He can’t drive,” Lexie said, making it sound like the biggest tragedy on earth. “He brought a nurse with him, but—”
“A nurse? Was he that badly injured?” Toby asked.
“No, but Roger can’t do anything by himself. It seems the nurse knows his sister and the two of them haven’t stopped laughing together—in French, no less. I didn’t even know the kid could laugh. With me she just does a lot of heavy sighing. She’s not at all the girl I met last year. I’ve ended up spending all my time with Roger.”
“Oh?” Toby said and noted that Lexie was calling him Roger and not Plymouth. “You must have hated that. Did he have anything to actually say?”
“He does. I didn’t know it, but he works on some philanthropical committees. He’s opening a camp for inner-city kids and using his money and athletic abilities to—” Lexie cut off. “I don’t want to bore you.”
Right now Toby was so angry at Graydon that she wanted to hear what Lexie had to say. “You’re beginning to like him, aren’t you?”
“Maybe. He wants to go on a driving tour around the country. There are some places he wants to visit to get ideas for his camp. It was planned that he was going with a college buddy of his, but the guy backed out at the last minute. Roger can’t drive his stick-shift car with only one hand, so he’s asked me to go with him.”
“You can’t drive a manual,” was all Toby could think to say.
“He’s going to teach me. It’s either go or stay here with his sister. If I don’t go with Roger, I’m afraid I might be relegated to maid status by his sister. Besides, I might be able to help with ideas. Roger is no good at organization.”
“Do it,” Toby said. “Take any chance you’re offered and be glad of it.”
Lexie was quiet for
a moment. “You sound bad. What happened?”
“I guess I took off my rose-colored glasses, that’s all.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
Toby thought of trying to explain the ideology of another country but had no idea where to begin. “Not yet,” she said.
“You haven’t committed the ultimate sin and fallen in love with him, have you?” Lexie asked.
“Far, far from it. In fact, I’m thinking that after the dinner party on Saturday I may kick the lot of them out of the house.”
“What dinner party?” Lexie asked.
Toby was glad of a subject she could talk about freely and she launched into a description of her plans for a historical wedding. But she didn’t tell Lexie about her dream encounters with Victoria/Valentina. That was too much to explain over the phone. Instead, Toby said the idea had come from Victoria’s historical novels.
“I always knew you were brilliant,” Lexie said, “and I think Victoria will love the idea. Is Dr. Huntley getting the costumes for you to wear?”
