A Royal Kiss and Tell

She laughingly accused Mr. Hancock of wanting to steal their driver, apparently after a mix-up of carriages on Park Avenue one day. She congratulated Mrs. Hancock on her dress. She regaled the entire table with a tale of three young girls who had gone out when they shouldn’t have and gotten lost in a thicket.

“Where did this happen?” Lady Farrington asked.

“Oh, our home in Bibury. We used to summer there, all of us.”

“What I remember was taking a switch to the three of you,” the judge said.

“You never took a switch to them that I recall,” Beck said with a laugh. “Admit it, my lord. You indulged them terribly.”

“No worse than you, Hawke,” the judge agreed.

Talk turned to the new county courts that were to be established. Justice Tricklebank confessed he’d like to retire to one.

“You can’t desert us for the country,” Caroline protested. “What of me and Hollis?”

“The two of you will be married by then. That is my fervent prayer,” he amended to much laughter.

“Your prayers clearly haven’t been fervent enough, Papa,” Hollis said with a laugh.

When the plates had been cleared, Caroline asked to be excused. All the gentlemen stood and she left the dining room.

At the door, she glanced back at Leo so briefly that he might have imagined it. And then she was gone. He looked down at his plate. His stomach was roiling with nerves. He didn’t want his time here to end this way. And then again, he’d come this far. If he could save one more of them, wasn’t it worth the risk?

“Perhaps all the ladies should retire and leave the gentlemen to their cigars?” Lady Farrington suggested when Caroline had gone out. The ladies agreed and made their way from the room.

The smoking portion of the evening stretched interminably. Leo didn’t smoke but stood at the window, listening to the gentlemen discuss those things they enjoyed: hunting, racing. Women. His nerves kept ratcheting up. He felt a little ill. He wished for whisky.

He finally turned from the window and excused himself.

“We’ve got a piss bucket in the corner for you, Highness,” Farrington called out. The man had drunk too much, and so had most of his guests—they erupted into laughter.

Leo laughed, too, but carried on, stepping into the hall and pulling the door shut behind him. He glanced around and saw Caroline standing just at the door in the drawing room. She was waiting for him, he realized. She glanced back into the drawing room, then quickly stepped out and hurried over to him. “Last door on the right,” she whispered, pointing.

Leo looked in the direction indicated.

“She’s waiting for you.” Caroline moved as if she meant to return to the drawing room.

But Leo caught her hand. “Caroline, wait—I must speak to you.”

“Yes, of course. But you must go speak to her first. She’s frightened, but she wants to flee.” She disentangled her fingers from his and skipped across the hall and disappeared into the drawing room.

Leo looked down the hall to last door on the right. One more. One more to rescue, and he could stop playing the hero.

CAROLINE WAS CERTAIN no one had noticed her step out of the drawing room, and when she returned, no one glanced up—they were all chattering away. She was glad for it—she was at sixes and sevens, her nerves frayed. She went to the window and tried to see out, but it was dark, and all she could see was her shadowy reflection. She couldn’t seem to keep a breath in her chest and kept taking little gulps of air.

“There you are, Caroline. Where did you get off to?”

Caroline started. She turned to look at Lady Katherine. “Oh. The retiring room.”

“Ah. I should like to avail myself before the gentlemen join us. Is it just down the hall?”

Caroline panicked. There was nothing down the hall but a study, and right now, Leo was there with Eowyn. “Oh, I wouldn’t just now. I think they mean to clean it.”

“Clean it? Now?”

“Well,” Caroline winced, then put her hand to her belly, “I’m afraid supper didn’t agree with me. I think it was the fish. You never know how long it’s been sitting in those market stalls.”

Her distasteful little white lie worked like a charm. Katherine looked stricken. “Oh dear.” She glanced to the door. “Surely they’ve had time to clean it.”

Lord, this woman! She was a pest, forever watching Caroline. She wanted to put her hand over Katherine’s mouth and beg her not to speak. But here was Katherine, sticking her nose in once more. Obviously suspicious. Wanting to catch Caroline at something she could gossip about.

“You may be right. I’ll go and check for you, shall I?”

Katherine tilted her head to one side. “That’s not necessary.”

“I’ll be back tout de suite.” Caroline smiled. It was a flimsy excuse, but Caroline didn’t know what else to do. She moved around Katherine and out the door, hurrying down the hall, glancing back once to make sure Katherine didn’t follow her. Just as she reached the study, she heard the gentlemen. They were preparing to rejoin the ladies, and it wouldn’t be long before someone noticed she and Leopold were both missing.