AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And that’s exactly what I intend to do. I beg your pardon that I didn’t explain precisely how I would go about it. I’m learning about you, too, you understand.”
“No, I don’t understand, madam. This is madness! What am I to think? What of the next one? Is he to be some sort of test, too?”
“Of course not.”
“Of course not,” the princess scoffed. “Whoisthe next one?”
Lila had someone traveling to London as they spoke. A good candidate, someone she thought might be suitable for the princess in the event her instincts were wrong about Douglas. But she wasn’t certain if he would be the next one. She had some work to do, and the longer she stood here apologizing for Aggiani, the less time she had to think. “I am reluctant to say as I should like to review a few things to make certain he is someone who could make you happy.”
“I sincerely hope for both our sakes that your next introduction is more compatible than this one.”
“Rest assured he will be,” Lila said with all the bravado that came from years of assuring skittish clients when she hardly knew herself. “Shall I have the flowers removed?”
“I think that would be appropriate,” the princess snapped, and strode from the room.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Lila sank onto the nearest chair, laid her head back and closed her eyes. What a terrible disaster this day had been. She didn’t know which was the worst of it—that Aggiani was a true reprobate with no more sense than a rock? That Princess Amelia had come close to losing her reputation and may have already lost her royal bearing? Or that Princess Justine hated her?
All of it.
Lila opened her eyes and sat up. There was at least one thing she’d gotten quite right—the spark between the crown princess and Lord Douglas was undeniable. She needed a little more information about him. And she knew just the person to give it to her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BECKETTHAWKE, LORDIDDESLEIGH,otherwise known as Beck to most in London, greeted Lila at the door. “Lila!” he bellowed. He was holding a small girl child who had been napping on his shoulder, but who was startled awake and began to cry. Beck seemed not to hear the girl’s cries, grabbed Lila into a one-armed hug she was not expecting and pulled her into the entry of his house on Upper Brook Street in Mayfair. “It’s so good to see you after all these years. Kept out of trouble, have you?” He laughed.
Lila smiled. “That was ages ago, Beck.”
“Scandal never ages, darling. Come in, come in! You’ve not met my wife.”
Lila had grown up around the corner from Beckett Hawke and his sister, Caroline. When they were children, they’d often been in each other’s company. When Beck was sent off to university, he would bring them both trinkets when he visited home. Once, Caroline tried to match Lila to Beck, but when Beck discovered it, he’d scolded his sister and said that Lila was like a cousin to him, and besides, he had no intention of ever marrying, anyway.
Lila followed him into a large salon with pale green silk walls and yellow upholstered furnishings. At a table in the center of the room, she noticed straightaway anincrediblyhandsome man was reading a broadsheet. One rarely saw such male beauty in one man. Two young girls were beneath the table where he was seated, playing with dolls. Their hair looked as if they’d been running, falling out of ribbons. Another small girl was pulling a red toy carriage by a string around and around the table.
“May I introduce the governess, Mr. Donovan,” Beck said. “Donovan, my dear friend, allow me to present Lady Aleksander.”
Mr. Donovan put down his paper and stood. “I prefer governor.” He stepped over the girls without even looking and sauntered forward with a charming smile. “Lady Aleksander. The pleasure is most assuredly mine.” He bowed over her hand, his eyes meeting hers as he kissed her knuckles. But then he promptly dropped her hand and turned away. “Children, come and meet your papa’s guest.”
The two older girls looked up as if they’d just noticed Lila. They leaped to their feet and raced forward, more blond and brown curls bouncing out of their ribbons. The smaller of the two threw her arms around Lila’s legs, almost knocking her off balance. “Oh!”
Mr. Donovan reached for the girl’s collar and dragged her back. “A little less enthusiasm, Maren.”
“Beg your pardon,” Beck said, and put the one he was holding on the floor. She crawled away. “That one is a bit of a hellion,” he said, pointing at Maren.
“I’m not, Papa!” She giggled.
“What am I, Papa?” The bigger girl asked.
“Mathilda, my love, you are a rapscallion.”
“Me, Papa!” The girl with the red carriage flew across the room, knocking into her older sister.
“Maisie, you are a potato.”
The smallest girl looked to her sisters for assurance that was good.
“She’s not a potato!” Maren said, laughing.
“And what is Meg?” Mathilda asked.
