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‘Yes. Standing. You don’t sit in the presence of royalty.’
‘But…that’s stupid!’
‘Yes, it is. But until and unless someone successfully explains this to the reigning monarch, we stay upright.’ With my free hand, I reached up and, gently, with the back of my knuckles, caressed her hair. Hair that was, for some reason, so much more interesting than my own hair, or Karim’s beard, or the fur of a stray cat. ‘Understood, Miss Linton?’
She gazed up into my eyes, and once again, I felt that warm tug deep inside. Warm like her eyes.
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘Adequate.’
The Royal Herald pounded the floor with his staff, tearing me from my paralysis. Royals. Wedding. Business. Remember! ‘His Highness, Prince Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony!’
Miss Linton leaned towards me, so close I could almost feel the warmth of her through my tailcoat. ‘Is that two people he just announced, or three?’
Don’t look at her! Don’t look into her eyes! ‘One! Be quiet, Mr Linton!’
‘Miss Linton to you, Sir.’
As if I could ever forget. ‘Be quiet!’
The prince entered the room. Beside me, Miss Linton gave him a thorough once-over, then leaned over towards me again.
‘Why would anyone want to marry that?’
Be. Quiet. Two words. Not a command that should be difficult to follow, correct? In this case, apparently, it was. And why, by all that was valuable in this world, didn’t that annoy me?
‘Miss Linton?’
‘Yes, Sir?’
‘Shut up!’
‘Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir.’
She fell silent. Just in time, too. The prince was moving towards us, and however affable he was, I doubted he would be open to business offers after being referred to as ‘that’.
‘Follow my lead,’ I hissed into Miss Linton’s ear. ‘Do exactly what I am going to do!’
‘What? Stare at him icily?’
That woman…!
‘Just do what I do!’
‘Yes, Sir.’
Taking a deep breath in preparation for the approaching ordeal, I pulled her towards the Prince - and smiled at him.
Or at least I showed him my teeth. I hadn’t smiled - really smiled - for longer than I could remember.
But sometimes you want to. When you look at her.
Business. Prince. Concentrate!
‘Your Highness!’ I inclined my head in a bow. ‘I am so delighted that you were so kind as to invite me to your special day.’
The silly smile on the Prince’s face broadened. ‘You are welcome, Herr…’
