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Liar.She looked pale and had circles from a lack of sleep shadowing her eyes. “Thank you.”
Lady Aleksander stepped away from the buffet, smiling, waiting for Justine to take a plate and go ahead of her. Protocol could be so beastly inconvenient at times. “Please carry on,” Justine said and looked around for the house butler. “Carlton? Might I have coffee?”
“Oh, what a wonderful idea! I should like some too, please,” Lady Aleksander said to Carlton.
Justine nodded at the butler, who in turn nodded to one of the footmen. She walked to the table, and yet another footman pounced at her chair to pull it out for her. Sometimes she almost expected four men and a litter to appear just to ferry her across a room.
Carlton deftly removed the plate from her setting and leaned over her shoulder, asking softly if she cared to sample the buffet or if there was something in particular she desired. “Just some toast, please,” Justine said. She was too interested in what Lady Aleksander was doing to think about her own choices.
At present, Lady Aleksander was questioning the footman about the ingredients of one of the dishes. Apparently, she didn’t care for too much spice.
Eventually, Lady Aleksander made her way to the table, setting down a plate heaped high with breakfast food before taking her seat. Justine was amazed by it, really.
Lady Aleksander picked up her fork. “Did you sleep well, ma’am?”
“I slept horribly, thank you,” Justine said. “And you?”
“Verywell! Terribly relaxing here, I must say.”
A footman entered the room with a letter on a tray. He came to Justine’s side and bowed. She took the message as Lady Aleksander took a large bite of black pudding.
Justine fumbled in her pocket for her eyeglasses. She didn’t recognize the handwriting and when she opened it, she found the note written sloppily. One large ink splatter adorned the edge of the paper. It was signed by Lord Sutherland. She wondered how drunk he’d been when he’d written it. She adjusted her eyeglasses and read.
YRH, last evening, HRH Princess Amelia, Lady Constance and my wife and I concluded that it was best if HRH remained for the night, as the roads were too dangerous to traverse at such a late hour. We will be delighted to see her safely to you today.
“He must be joking,” Justine muttered. She removed her eyeglasses and squeezed the bridge of her nose between two fingers a moment.
“Is everything all right?” Lady Aleksander asked.
“Amelia is having a lark,” she said and put aside the note and her eyeglasses. “It would seem that at the last possible moment she decided to stay the night at Stafford House.”
“Oh, how lovely,” Lady Aleksander said without the slightest hesitation. She took another bite of black pudding, then pointed her fork at it. “This isdelicious.” She turned around to the footman. “You must tell the cook that the breakfast is very good, and the black pudding spectacular.”
The footman looked startled, as if he didn’t know if he was to hurry off and do it now. Poor man. No one ever spoketothe footmen here. More like...at them. If at all. This one finally bowed his head in acknowledgment but remained standing exactly where he was. He wouldn’t move until Justine required him to.
“Aren’t you alarmed by my sister’s behavior?” Justine asked, wanting company in her pique.
Lady Aleksander’s head swiveled back to her like an owl. “Not at all, Your Royal Highness.”
Of course not. “There are others in this hall who are. Not me, of course. As I have said on many occasions, Amelia is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”
“I’ve no doubt of it! Ma’am, youmusttry these eggs. Expertly done. My husband would be in ecstasy.”
As if on cue, Carlton set a plate of toast before Justine.
“By the bye, I had opportunity to review my list of suitors last night.” Lady Aleksander announced this as if it was perfectly appropriate to broach the subject of Justine’s arranged marriage at breakfast when they had only just met.
Justine didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t want tothinkabout it. She wanted to avoid the whole wretched business. “Hmm,” she said. She began to eat quickly, shoveling in her toast, thinking if she could just get something down her, she could get out of this room, maybe take a long walk and avoid the topic altogether. She wasn’t fool enough to think she could avoid it forever, but she could at least avoid it today.
“And I’ve had word from Prince Aggiani. He will call today.” She looked up from her plate. “I asked Lord Bardaline to help with your schedule.”
Justine gulped down her coffee. “Well. A prince. How...fitting. Carlton? You may take this.”
“What?” Lady Aleksander looked with surprise at her plate. “But you’ve hardly touched your plate.”
“I ate a piece of toast. You are right. The food is very good. You, sir,” she said, gesturing to the footman, “may add my compliments to Lady Aleksander’s when you speak to the cook.”
Lady Aleksander quickly dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “Why the rush?”
