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Charlotte wondered. Her attempts to search for the Huckle Buckle took her to one side of the room, which enabled her to glance back at the full scene and to take in the sight of Oskar searching, and Petrus looking around and trying to assist Lady Jenny as well. Oskar glanced back to Petrus and Lady Jenny. It couldn’t possibly be that Oskar—
“Huckle Buckle Beanstalk!” Ellen shouted so loudly in her American accent that everyone in the room jumped. When they stared at her, Ellen shrugged and said, “That’s the way it’s meant to be done, right?”
“Huckle Buckle Beanstalk!” Mr. Samuel Rathborne-Paxton called out a moment later, but from an entirely different part of the room.
“Oh! Huckle Buckle Beanstalk!” the queen herself shouted a moment later.
Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh. The pure delight that each of them expressed when they found the little ivory Chinese man was the perfect sort of festive accent to their gathering. It was enough to make her concentrate on the game so that she wouldn’t be the last person to find the Huckle Buckle. Considering the royal family’s penchant for making each other do embarrassing things as forfeits, there was no telling what would happen to the last person to locate the Huckle Buckle.
Fortunately, that person wasn’t her. She spotted the Huckle Buckle peeking around the corner of a small clock on the mantelpiece shortly after Petrus called out Huckle Buckle Beanstalk on behalf of both himself and Lady Jenny. Priya ended up being the last one to find it, and her only forfeit was that she had to be the one to hide the Huckle Buckle next. Which wasn’t much of a forfeit, to Charlotte’s way of thinking.
The game continued for a few more rounds, and Charlotte found herself thinking that if not for the distraction of Lady Jenny, she would have had a merry time indeed. Lady Jenny ended up being the first person to beg off and depart to go to bed, which relieved some of the tension. The entire party broke up soon after that, and everyone scattered and went their separate ways to bed.
“Miss Sloane, do you have a moment?” Petrus asked Charlotte as they reached the top of the stairs to the second floor, where the guest room Charlotte had been given was located.
“Certainly, your highness,” Charlotte replied, playing along with the formality Petrus had shown her.
She crossed the landing at the top of the stairs to him. Petrus kept his back straight and glanced around as if he hadn’t a care in the world, but Charlotte knew he was waiting until the hallway had emptied out.
Once they were mostly alone, but for a few servants moving around at the base of the stairs, Petrus grinned at her.
“You still have a forfeit to perform for me,” he told her.
“I beg your pardon?” Charlotte said with mock shock, placing a hand on her chest.
Petrus laughed. “I caught you putting that wretched boot on the tree the other day fair and square, and I never demanded a forfeit from you.”
“Whatever do you have in mind, sir?” Charlotte asked, feigning innocence.
“You’ll have to come with me to find out,” he said, a flash of mischief and desire in his eyes.
Charlotte had not fallen off the turnip cart yesterday. But she didn’t protest Petrus’s clear intentions. Neither did she run from them, when arguably she should have.
Instead, she grasped Petrus’s hand with a breathless giggle and let him lead her on down the hallway and around a few corners to a different part of the palace.
“These are my private quarters,” Petrus whispered after pulling her through a door into a lovely, quaint apartment.
The rooms appeared to be beautifully furnished and comfortable, and there was a stunning view of the harbor through the tall windows at one end of the room.
“My, my, Prince Petrus,” Charlotte said, allowing herself to be drawn into his arms as soon as they were completely alone in the safety of the private apartment. “I fear my virtue is at risk at this moment.”
Petrus laughed, then kissed her. It was so simple and so powerful. He didn’t make speeches or attempt to coerce or seduce Charlotte. He simply kissed her with all the passion he felt—and she knew he felt it, because she felt it as well. They were in perfect accord as they twined their arms around each other and let their lips meet and explore each other’s.
It was a beautiful, heated moment, and Charlotte knew it was a prelude to more, but she forced herself to pause, to rest her palms against Petrus’s chest, and to stare up at him with a frank look.
“I very much approve of this forfeit,” she said, facing the matter seriously, “but we must talk about Lady Jenny first.”
Petrus sighed and slumped a bit. “There is only one woman I wish to think about tonight, and it is not Lady Jenny Lindstrom,” he said.
“I know, darling,” Charlotte said, playing with the buttons on his jacket. One of them popped open with her playing, so she decided to open the rest of them. “But we cannot think only of our own happiness without considering hers as well.”
Petrus stilled Charlotte’s hands and arched one eyebrow at her. “You aren’t suggesting that I entertain the idea of marrying Lady Jenny, are you?”
“Not at all,” Charlotte said. “But I like the woman and I do wish there was something we could do for her. She wants to stay in Aegiria.”
“Then we shall find a way for her to stay,” Petrus said, his body moving against hers in a way that left Charlotte breathless. “We shall find a way for you to stay as well, my darling.”
He kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her and holding her possessively. His mouth was commanding as it slanted over hers in another kiss. Whether it was the boldness of being alone in a place where they absolutely would not be disturbed or the excitement of the evening giving Petrus courage, Charlotte didn’t care. She was more than ready to be thoroughly debauched, no matter what it might mean for her reputation. It banished all thoughts about Lady Jenny, and her questions about Prince Oskar, from her mind.
