A Royal Kiss and Tell

On the other hand, Sir Walter was quite happy to have an Alucian prince to dine in his home and crowed to the other guests that he’d also had the German cousin of Prince Albert to dine once, and now could add an Alucian prince to that very short but illustrious list of guests. The man seemed oblivious to the looks many of his guests gave him and neither did he seem to notice his wife’s anger, nor how many people moved to the far end of the drawing room when Leo entered. Instead, Sir Walter very happily and loudly commanded his butler to add another place setting for their unexpected, but certainly very welcome, guest.

Power was everything, Leo knew, and connections were the lifeblood of power.

Lady Debridge retreated straightaway with Lady Hogarth and Caroline. Leo looked around for a friendly face but found none. Even Robert Ladley, whom he’d known for quite a few years now, seemed annoyed by his presence. When Leo attempted to speak to him, Ladley smiled thinly and excused himself.

So in a strange twist of fate, Leo found himself standing apart from everyone else, nursing a glass of port. He pondered how odd it was that his life had taken this turn. Up until the last few weeks, he’d been the one to avoid the attentions of others. Men wanted to befriend him, ladies wanted to sleep with him, others just wanted him to acknowledge them. When he was a child, he could recall standing on the balcony at Constantine Palace, frightened of the massive crowds below. His father would put a hand on his back and push him forward. “Give them what they want,” he would say. Leo had been giving them what they wanted all his life and hiding in the bottom of a bottle to find a quiet place only he could enter.

Vir ingenuus juniperum cadit. The gentleman falls.

He sipped the port and tried not to wrinkle his nose. Port didn’t taste as good as it once had. It no longer held any promise of dulling the tedium and emptiness he often felt. He pretended to sip it and surreptitiously watched Caroline move around the room, entertaining whomever she spoke to.

He could be such an idiot. How could he not have thought her charming from the beginning? How could he not recognize at once how unique she was?

Well, well, Prince Leopold. How remarkable that a few words and a few kisses can alter your judgment so.

He noticed that Caroline made a point to speak to each suitor—or at least those he assumed were her suitors. The viscount was in the company of another attractive young woman, but nevertheless, Caroline spoke to him at length. With so much feminine attention, the viscount, predictably, couldn’t seem to keep the smile from his face.

Caroline conversed with Ladley, too, whose eyes followed her every move like a puppy. And another gentleman, who laughed too loud and too long when she spoke to him.

But eventually, having made the circuit of the room, Caroline ventured back to him, her smile blazingly brilliant. She looked him up and down, then glanced back at the others. “Why do you stand in the corner all alone, Your Highness?”

“I feel a bit out of place. Or rather, I feel this is my place.” He sipped the port. “Dare I ask if you’ve settled on the lucky gentleman you will allow to offer for your hand?”

She turned around and stood beside him and surveyed the room. “No. I think not.”

“No? From my vantage point they seem like good men. And they seem terribly admiring of you.”

“Please,” she drawled with a roll of her eyes. “Do you really believe so? Lord Ladley has known me for ages and never expressed the least bit of interest until recently.”

“Perhaps that’s because he’s come to see you as a grown woman and not Beck’s younger sister,” Leo suggested. He could imagine that every man in attendance tonight would see the woman.

Caroline laughed. “Perhaps.” She turned her glittering gaze to him. “But might it also be that his father has amassed a large debt the family cannot pay, and he would benefit from a large dowry?”

Leo lifted his glass in a mock toast. “Entirely plausible, madam. What of the viscount? Your uncle seems to think his having been to America recommends him well enough.”

She giggled. “Uncle Hogarth is obsessed with all things American. He was there as a boy and hasn’t forgotten a moment of it.” She gazed off in the direction of the viscount. “Ainsley is rather charming.”

“Charming, is he?”

“And handsome, too, wouldn’t you agree?”

He didn’t want to agree, but even he could see the man’s appeal. “Perhaps,” he said grudgingly.

She smiled pertly, then bumped her shoulder into his, like they were old chums. “He put all his money into tobacco,” she whispered.

“I beg your pardon?”