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William looked uncomfortable, as if he didn’t know what to say. It was so unlike the man who had previously relished the opportunity to tell her what to do that it emboldened Justine. “Please, my lord, do stay. It will be livelier with you there. And I’ve no doubt you’ll have useful advice for me.”
William’s gaze bored right through her eyes and somehow bent toward her heart. “As I’ve no doubt you’ll benefit from it.” He smiled.
So did Justine.
“Aye, very well. If Her Royal Highness desires my presence, I would be delighted to join you.”
“But is it not better to...” Lady Bardaline looked as if she might cry. She glanced at Justine’s basket. “What’s that?”
Justine glanced down. It was very obviously a book. But now Lila had noticed it, too.
What wasthatlook? What did she suspect? It was a book, for heaven’s sake. Why was Lila smiling at her in that way? Had she given something away? She felt suddenly anxious, just as she’d felt the moment she realized her mother had discovered the truth about Aldabert Gustav. She did not like to anticipate a repeat ofthatscene, so she straightened her shoulders and said, “Lady Bardaline, will you be so kind as to see that Lord Douglas is engaged for a time?” And with that, she walked on, as she was allowed to do as the ruling member of this little clique, no apology or explanation necessary, a truth that she still had to remind herself of frequently.
She was not going to answer any questions or entertain any sly looks. She was going to bathe and read her book and pet her dog and think about the extraordinary thing that had happened in the garden.
SEVIANACONVINCEDHERto wear the pink-and-white-striped gown that reminded Justine of the china doll she’d had as a girl. She wore a pearl choker around her throat and a gold-and-pearl comb in her hair, both of them a gift from the Sultan of Oman during a state visit. On the outside she looked like someone who took things very seriously. A woman ready to rule. A descendant of Queen Elena.
But on the inside she felt like a girl, all warm and fluttery. On the inside she didn’t care about decorum or morals. She was a woman who would allow a man to do what William had done to her behind a giant butterfly shrub as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
She really wished she had the courage tobethat woman, inside and out. Someone who enjoyed life, who didn’t care what people would say of her.
She picked Dodi up and ruffled her fur. “You would never think ill of me, would you, Dodi?” she whispered to her dog.
Dodi responded with some enthusiastic tail wagging.
She put the dog down and made her way to the salon, Dodi prancing alongside her, afraid to be left out.
When Justine entered the salon, everyone in the room bowed or curtsied. Dodi raced ahead, desperate to be acknowledged, and following her little black button nose to the most interesting scents. Justine plastered a smile on her face and moved through, holding her hands at her waist, wishing one person after the next a good evening, all the while biting back any hint of nerves.
Lila was the first to reach her, barely beating Lord Bardaline, who clearly wanted to be the one to make introductions. “Your Royal Highness, please allow me to introduce His Royal Highness, Prince Michel of Miraval,” Lila said, then cast out her arm as if on a stage.
Prince Michel came forward and bowed low. “Your Royal Highness, I cannot begin to express what true pleasure it is to make your vaulted acquaintance.”
He spoke English without an accent. “Thank you.”
He smiled warmly and had very kind eyes. He was trim, hardly an inch or two taller than she was. His skin was dark, his eyes brown with thick lashes and his smile so inviting that it instantly soothed her.
“Have you been in London long, Your Highness?” she asked.
“Only a week. My grandmother resides in Belgravia.”
“She’s English?”
“She is indeed,” he said, clasping his hands at his back. “I was educated here under her watch.”
He wasn’t the most handsome man Justine had ever seen, but neither was he plain, and frankly, Justine preferred kind eyes and an inviting smile to a handsome face. She glanced at William, who stood behind everyone else. But a chirping sound caught her attention, and she turned to the window.
“You have heard my gift, I think,” Prince Michel said sheepishly.
“Pardon?”
“If I may?” He moved as if he meant to get whatever he’d brought, but Lila was furiously conducting the footmen to bring forward the gift, a rather large thing covered in blue silk. Dodi began to bark at all the activity, and Bardaline quickly removed her while the footmen rolled the gift across the room.
Prince Michel pulled the cloth free to reveal a gold birdcage and two beautiful birds sitting side by side on a swing. They had green bodies and orange faces and were the most colorful birds Justine had ever seen. She gasped with delight. “They are beautiful!”
“I feared they wouldn’t survive the voyage when we hit rough seas. I fretted over them as if I’d hatched them myself.”
“Did the voyage make them ill?”
