A Royal Kiss and Tell

“Not your daughter, but perhaps you?” Katherine asked with a devious laugh.

“After the brothels and maids? Certainly not!” Caroline said primly.

“The maids! What maids?” Priscilla exclaimed as she took the lid off the box and pulled out the pattern Caroline had made.

She hadn’t meant to say that. She hadn’t meant to tell all the man’s secrets, particularly as it related to her house. She stood up and walked across the room to join Priscilla. “I’ve heard rumors that he has, from time to time, taken up with a housemaid here and there, that’s all.”

“What house?” Priscilla asked, looking properly offended.

“Oh, I don’t know, really.” Caroline unfurled the muslin pattern. “My point is that he’s a prince in name only. He’s a rake by any other name.”

“But this is so damning,” Katherine said as she rose from her seat so that she might have a look at the pattern, too.

Caroline did not miss the look that Katherine exchanged with Felicity. She didn’t like that look. It was rather judgmental. Of her? Or the prince? It hardly mattered—Prince Leopold was corrupting her maid, and Caroline was both irate and envious, and suddenly very tired, and she wanted nothing to do with him. Not much, anyway.

“I should tell Lady Montgomery about this,” Priscilla announced. “She would not like that sort of scandal at her ball. You know how she is.”

Caroline had said too much. “I do,” she agreed. “Perhaps we ought not to upset her with gossip.”

“Caroline! Are you making this gown?” Felicity asked.

“I am.”

“Astonishing! Will you make me one?” Felicity asked.

“Oh, darling, you must!” Priscilla agreed, and passed the dog she was holding to Caroline so that she could hold out the sleeves of the muslin.

When Caroline left Priscilla’s salon, she had orders for two more gowns. Both for Felicity, however. Katherine Maugham had eyed the gown with envy but could not bring herself to ask Caroline to make her one.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The guest list for the highly anticipated Montgomery ball has allegedly been culled by one. This should be a reminder to us all that even a prince of a man may be hiding some sordid secrets that no respectable young lady would want to introduce to her family.

It is said that a well-heeled gentleman, higher in social stature than most, has been spotted in some unsavory locations. It is rumored that this particular gentleman might have removed a skirt quite light in its appearance and placed it in the kitchen of a fine house. Several theories abound as to why, but the most sordid one is certainly the most plausible.

Ladies, it is suggested, if you are inclined toward canine companions, that you endeavor to open your windows and employ a broom so as not to offend your guests with uncomfortable smells and unwanted hair on the hem of skirts.

—Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and

Domesticity for Ladies

IT TOOK A few days before Leo could persuade Mr. Frame to take him to the brothel he’d bragged about. But Mr. Frame, who had heretofore not shown any inclination toward morality, had suddenly developed one when it came to Leo. He thought it unseemly for a prince to make such a call. Leo didn’t know if he should be offended or pleased that a man he hardly knew thought to step in as his moral compass.

In the end, however, Mr. Frame was persuaded by a promise of a rare bottle of Alucian wine to be delivered to his home...just as soon as Leo had it delivered to London.