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Or she could say she was unwell. Except that he’d not believe it, given how well she’d dressed just to refuse to see him.
She supposed whatever she would say, she ought to do it so that she could prepare for another evening with the insufferable Bardalines, making small talk, all the while wishing she could crawl into bed and read a book.
She sighed and began to turn from the window, but when she did, she happened to catch sight of someone at the end of the lane where the shepherd was herding his sheep. She paused and leaned forward, squinting out the thick-paned window. While her eyesight for things near was abysmal, her eyesight for things in the distance was quite good, and that was Douglas. He’d walked out onto the road for God knew what reason, and was strolling along, his gaze on the surroundings. He looked bored. He held his hat in his hand and tapped it against his leg as he ambled along.
Didhe have something to say to her? Some news to impart? Or was he one of the many gentlemen who had tried to insinuate themselves into her presence? Being an unmarried princess made one quite popular in society.
She began to realize that Douglas hadn’t noticed the sheep. He paused at the stone fence and propped one foot on it, then leaned forward to gaze into the landscape.
The sheep had turned the corner. They filled the lane, pressed together, scraping against the stone fence on either side, rushing forward to get away from the dogs. Douglasstillhad not seen them, and Justine mewled with alarm. The flock would run him over if he wasn’t careful.
Then Douglas heard them. He brought his foot down from the fence and stared at the approaching onslaught of wool a moment too long. He looked back at the road he’d come from, and seeing there was no escape, at the last possible moment he leaped over the stone fence, stumbling on the other side and catching himself with a hand to the ground before tumbling onto his bum. He managed to gain his feet as the sheep rushed by, and looked down at his empty hand. He’d lost his hat.
Justine laughed out loud. She laughed so loud that Seviana came into the room. Justine waved her away. “It’s nothing, Sevie. Once a fool, always a fool, that’s all.”
She supposed she’d kept his lordship waiting long enough.
CHAPTER FOUR
WILLIAMWASSTILLbrushing off the dust and dirt of the fence he’d hurdled and the ground he’d encountered after his disastrous ramble when the door at the far end of the salon opened. He hastily ran a hand through his hair and managed to arrange himself just as Princess Justine walked into the salon.
She paused to stare at him. She had changed into a blue-and-white-striped gown, styled in the English fashion with a wide skirt and tight bodice. While he had long admired the body-hugging gowns of the Alucia-Wesloria regions, he would be the first to say this gown was very flattering. Quite different from the fencing attire, obviously, but just as appealing in a different sort of way.
She began to move, gliding forward with the confidence of someone who might have built this house, brick by brick.
William clasped his hands at his back and bowed when she came to a halt a few feet away from him. When he rose, her gaze raked down the front of him and up again. “My lord,” she said prettily, “it is very kind of you to call after all these years. But I won’t keep you—my duties of state require my attention and I should think surely you have something to do as well.”
Did she just imply that he had nothing to do with his time? And why did that bit of speech sound as if she’d rehearsed in front of a mirror? William arched one dubious brow. “I see.”
“Good.” She lifted her chin a smidge higher.
William didn’t move.Hewas the one who was inconvenienced by this meeting, not she. But if he had one fault... All right, he had many, too many to count. But if he was torankhis faults, he would have to put his inability to let a woman best him at the very top.
The irony of his indignation very nearly poked him in the eye. Not fifteen minutes ago he’d concocted a reason to leave at once, but she’d beat him to it. Which made him now intent on staying. Oh aye, he could be childish along with the best of them. He said, “And what duties are those?”
He saw only the tiniest bit of a wobble in her. “I beg your pardon?”
“You said you had duties of state. I wonder what those duties might be.” He shrugged lightly, as if it was a trifling thing to ask, like asking after the weather or her health.
Her eyes rounded to the size of small tea saucers and shone with utter disbelief at his gall. “I beg your pardon, Lord Douglas, but my duties are none of your concern. And certainly nothing you wouldeverhope to understand.”
The inquiry rattled her, as he knew it would, because people didn’t go about questioning princesses. It was terribly ill-mannered to questionanyacquaintance, but nevertheless, he’d done it, and he would bet all of Hamilton Palace that the princess didn’t have a convincing answer for him. “Ever?You might be surprised, aye?” He smiled.
She frowned. “I wouldnotbe surprised, and furthermore, I see this,” she said, fluttering slender fingers at him, “for what it is. Make no mistake.”
“Thisis an invitation to tea. Extended to me by you.”
“It was extended by Bardaline, notme, and this is an ambush. I know you won’t take your leave until you’ve told me whatever it is you think I cannotpossiblybearto not know. Very well, Lord Douglas. You may have your moment.” She gestured with a grand swirl of her hand that he should sit at a small tea table. The moment she did, footmen leaped into action, practically leapfrogging over each other and bustling around Princess Justine with dishes and tiny china cups while one of them trundled in a cart with the tea.
William looked at her delicate, authoritarian hand and bowed again. “Please, madam. After you.”
“At least do me the courtesy of addressing me asYour Royal Highness,” she said as she sat.
Well, then. It looked as if William and the princess would pick up where they’d last left off.
One of the footmen was at Princess Justine’s side before her perfect derriere had touched the silk-covered seat. He removed a linen napkin from the plate before her and whipped it open with such flourish that a curl of her hair flew up. “Oh,” she said, surprised by the drama.
The footman laid the napkin in her lap. When William sat, the footman did the same with his napkin, but with much less flair. Another footman placed a platter on the table, removed the domed covering and with two fingers, indicated the delicacies to them. Cucumber sandwiches. Scots salmon on bread. Teacakes. A third footman poured the tea into cups. Was it really necessary to have three footmen serve two people tea? William thought they might have managed well enough on their own, but such was the life ofYour Royal Highness, he supposed.Hewould find such overattention insufferable.
