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Justine wanted to crawl under the settee, but Lady Grafton was quickly on her way to take her seat at the piano. She began to play a lively tune.
Mr. Ashley held out his hand to Justine. She hesitated. “Come on, then,” he said gaily.
Justine took his hand and stood up. He immediately twirled her around and began to dance.
She knew the steps to the polka, knew how to follow, but he kept missing steps, then laughing loudly, his breath heaving the fumes of a distillery on her. A near collision with Lord Grafton and Lady Bardaline didn’t seem to disturb him in the slightest—he just spun her sharply another way. And again. And again, faster and faster. He spun her so fast that she felt her tiara tumble off her head, and she cried out. That tiara was a gift from the Russian Empress Katherine to her great-great-aunt, Queen Elena. That he had spun it right off her head seemed almost prophetic.
Suddenly, the twirling stopped. Somehow, William stood between her and Mr. Ashley. “That’s enough, Ashley,” he said softly. He turned to Justine and handed her the tiara.
“Thank you.” Her hair had come partially out of its pins.
“What are you doing?” Mr. Ashley demanded of William between gasps for breath. “The princess was enjoying herself. Did you not see her smile? It brightens even the darkest of rooms.” He bowed, swirling his wrist in a flourish.
Lord, he was embarrassingly drunk.
When no one answered him, he rose up and looked around the room, then pinned his gaze on William. “What is it, Douglas? Do you not agree? Do you think Her Royal Highness’s smile is...dim?”
“Please, Mr. Ashley,” Justine said.
“I beg your pardon, ma’am, but I cannot imagine a more charming combination of traits to sit upon a throne—a queen with a winsome smile and an intellect far superior to any I’ve known.”
She turned away, embarrassed now. Lady Bardaline looked mortified.
“Tell her I’m right, Douglas.”
“I can think of no other princess more perfectly suited, no.”
“You’rebothvery charming, sirs,” Lady Grafton said, clearly trying to fix whatever had happened here.
Mr. Ashley did not seem to understand that everyone in this room was trying to save him from embarrassing himself more. And he seemed oddly fixated on William. “Still traveling on the continent, Douglas? Or have recent events kept you closer to home?”
Justine didn’t know what he meant, but she noted William’s dark frown. She also noted that Lady Grafton’s face had drained of blood. “What recent events?” she asked.
Mr. Ashley laughed. “Boys are boys and do childish things. It’s an adage here, Your Royal Highness. Do you know what that means? It’s like...a proverb.”
Yes, she knew what it meant, as she was fluent in English, and she had a brain in her head, and there was a similar saying in Wesloria. A boy is a boy even when he’s a man, or something like it. She didn’t care for his need to explain the word to her, or the insinuation that William had done something childish. Or the way he seemed so determined to find fault with William. She looked at Lady Bardaline, hoping for once her lady-in-waiting could read her expression and they could escape.
“Perhaps you’d like a turn with the princess, Douglas?” Mr. Ashley said as he walked to the sideboard and picked up a clean glass. “You know the ballroom dances, do you? Or is it only country dances in Scotland?”
“It’s both,” William said. “In Scotland, we appreciate more than one type of entertainment.”
“Youcertainly seem to,” Mr. Ashley muttered.
In the awkward silence that followed, Justine tried again to relay her desire to Lady Bardaline, but that one clearly didn’t understand.
“I have indeed, sir,” William said. “I’m a fortunate man to have enjoyed life as I have.”
Mr. Ashley laughed again, but it was not a light laugh. It sounded dark, and Justine didn’t like it. She didn’t like anything about him now. She stared at her lady-in-waiting.
It was Lord Bardaline who understood her. “Your Royal Highness,” he said, “the hour grows late.”
She could have kissed the old sod. “Indeed it does! Thank you, Lord Grafton, Lady Grafton, for your hospitality. Lord Douglas, thank you for the invitation. I thought the opera divine.”
He bowed.
She glanced at Mr. Ashley. “Good evening, Mr. Ashley.”
“So soon? But we’ve not yet had a waltz.”
