AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A knocking sound turned Edwina’s head. It sounded as though someone had hit something, and when they searched about for the source, they found a ball of violet brocade running around the other part of the sitting area.
Edwina knew exactly who was underneath the small pile of fabrics. The little imp was blindly trying to find his way out. Puppy hit what could only be his head against the leg of a side table, and the fabric slipped a little from him, exposing some of his fur.
"Ah!" Madame Célestine shrieked, jumping onto a nearby ottoman.
"Mama hates cats," Monique said with a giggle, chasing the violet pile on paws.
"Oh, that is only Puppy. He is not a cat!" Kitty did not bother to hide her boisterous laugh. Edwina exchanged a surreptitious glance with Camilla who was pink with barely suppressed mirth. Madame Célestine was still on the ottoman, shaking.
Monique squealed in delight when she finally caught the squirming dog and took the fabric off him. "MonDieu, is this not the most adorable creature!"
"Get that thing away from me!" Madame Célestine cried from atop her ottoman. She made quite the spectacle up there running away from a small puppy. Edwina allowed herself an inward chuckle at this before gesturing to one of the footmen in waiting to take the dog out of the room.
They had barely returned to their task when Chessman arrived with the announcement of a caller. “His Royal Highness, Prince Konstantin Drachevsky, is here for you, Your Grace.”
"I shall see him in the blue salon if it is empty, Chessman," Edwina said after realizing it was Elaine’s husband. She walked into the room to find him standing very straight. He was dressed in some sort of uniform, but his smile was kind, and his fair hair rivaled the gold of his epaulets.
The air about him was both gentle and commanding at the same time, and he had the palest gaze Edwina had ever seen; so much so that she felt as if he could see down to her very soul with a single glance. She understood why six-and-ten-year-old Elaine had chosen to elope with this man rather than wait.
"Your Grace.” He bowed. "I am Prince Konstantin Nikolai Igor Drachevsky of Russia. It is a pleasure."
She returned his smile, muttering her own acknowledgment before saying, "I shall ring for some tea."
"I appreciate the gesture, Your Grace, but if it is not my wife you are going to give to me, I do not desire anything at the moment." Edwina thought that he had the subtlest of accents, too. After the butler's announcement, Edwina had inquired about Elaine, and he had told her that she had gone riding.
"I am sure she shan't be long," Edwina reassured her guest, sitting down.
He expressed his felicitations on their marriage before saying, “My apologies for the unannounced visit, and any inconvenience we might have caused you. It is just that Elaine has not been the same since the tragedy, and I did not—"
“Pardon my interruption, but you just mentioned a tragedy?”
“You did not know?” he asked. “We lost a child.”
“Oh, my condolences!” Her hand went up to her chest. Now, she understood why Elaine had been melancholic. This explained the sadness in her eyes.
"Thank you. I thought she told you.”
"I am afraid we have had little time to know each other.”
"I forgot how new your marriage is. I was informed on my way to Kent from London.”
Edwina nodded. “Now I know why she is disturbed.”
"Russia became suffocating without her," he said quietly. "She is punishing herself for it, but I do not want a child if it would harm her. I care too much for her.”
He was a very expressive man, and the love he had for his wife was evident in his manner. Edwina admired it, and she also yearned for something like it. Blinking, she chased the thought from her mind. She had something wonderful with Albert, and she should not wish for more.
How she desperately wanted to believe the words he had spoken to her two nights before; that he would make everything all right. The look in his eyes had been most sincere, most heart-warming. She had never seen it before.
“We are hosting a house party at the moment, and we would be delighted to have you and Elaine," Edwina said, trying to lighten the serious atmosphere. "There is to be a ball in a few days, too,” she added.
Konstantin gladly accepted both invitations, and Edwina made sure he was given comfortable chambers in the guest wing before she returned to the modiste.
* * *
Later that afternoon, she was perusing the guest list before dinner when Elaine practically stormed into her sitting room on the second floor, furious.
"How dare you?" she accused.
