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“Your first potential match will come to call on the morrow.”
“What?”
“It so happens he was in London before me. The Italian Principe Gaetano di Aggiani. He has a vast fortune.”
Princess Justine stared at her for a long moment, then turned and walked out the door a footman opened for her and disappeared into the hall.
Lila remained standing after the princess had gone, staring at the open door while the footman patiently waited.
Princess Justine would be a challenge. She was smart enough to hate this process, but unfortunate enough to be in a situation bad enough that she couldn’t refuse it.
Gaetano was no match for this princess. He was a decoy, someone who would show Lila what she had to work with in the princess. She thought of her book upstairs, filled with the names and particulars about eligible gentlemen across Europe. She would delight in going through them this evening and refining her list.
And she would need to know more about William Douglas.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ALIGHTKNOCKat her door brought Justine up with a start—but it was only Seviana, who did her best to tiptoe across the floor to open the drapes. With a moan, Justine rolled onto her back and blinked up at the dark red canopy above her. “What time is it?”
“Good morning, ma’am,” Seviana said as she pulled the drapes. “Half past eight.” She went out. She’d be back again soon enough, with tea and toast, like every morning.
Justine debated rising at all. What was there to do but worry about Amelia? She yawned, stretching her arms overhead.
She’d dreamt she was trying to catch Amelia in the gardens at Stafford House, but Amelia kept getting farther and farther away from her, and Justine’s feet had seemed mired in mud. She’d become aware of someone close by and when she turned to see who, William Douglas was standing against the hedgerow, his arms crossed. “What are you doing?” he’d asked, looking at her feet. “You’ll never catch her like that.”
Seviana had interrupted the retort Justine surely would have made.
She sat up and pushed her hair from her eyes. The man was haunting her dreams now, telling her what to do, his gray eyes shining with that irritating mix of amusement and smugness or whatever it was that was always twinkling back at her. And now she couldn’t stop thinking about his wager. Who in blazes did that man think he was? And as for her, well...she needed to cut a wide berth around champagne, apparently, because she was the bigger fool for having agreed to it.
Seviana came back in with toast and tea. “Lady Bardaline asked me to tell you that Lady Aleksander will have breakfast at half past ten if you care to join her.”
Lord, she’d all but forgotten about that one. “I care to sleep, Seviana.”
Seviana handed Justine her tea, and Justine carefully settled back against the pillows to sip it. “May I at least dine in a dressing gown, or does Lady Bardaline think it important that I dress for the occasion?”
“If it pleases Your Royal Highness, I’ll ask—”
“Lord, no, Sevie, don’t you dare. She would delight in writing that to my mother.” She sipped more of her tea. “It was a jest. But if I had my way, I wouldn’t go to breakfast at all. I didn’t invite the woman to Prescott Hall, did I? But since I must go,obviously,lest I start an international incident, I’ll wear the pale yellow with the green trim.”
Seviana curtsied and practically sprinted to the dressing room, probably delirious with joy to have something to do other than listen to her mistress complain. Justine was terrible like that, always a bit crotchety in the mornings, especially when her dreams of William Douglas had been interrupted.
Seviana returned with Justine’s clothes and the things she would need to dress her hair. With a groan Justine made herself crawl out of bed. As she was dressing, Seviana opened the drapes even wider. “Oh my,” she said. “You ought to see the flowers, ma’am.”
“I’ve seen them,” Justine said.
“There must be five wagons full.”
Five wagons? Justine walked to the window and peered out.
Seviana was not talking about the gardens. There were five wagons on the drive, each nearly bursting with flowers, a riot of red and gold and pink and yellow, looking very cheerful on this sun-washed day. Justine had never seen so many flowers in her life. “What are they for?” she asked as she returned to her dressing.
“I couldn’t say, ma’am.”
The tea, the sunshine and the flowers had helped to improve Justine’s mood somewhat by the time she made her way downstairs to breakfast.
There were more flowers on the ground floor, the foyer filled with them in crates and vases. The scent was overpowering. Footmen were carrying still more to the back terrace. Justine paused to have a look at all the flowers being carried outside, and with a shrug, entered the breakfast room.
Lady Aleksander was there as promised, bent over the buffet to examine the offerings. She stopped only to curtsy when Justine entered. “Good morning, Your Royal Highness! You are looking well indeed.”
