A Royal Kiss and Tell

Leo laughed wryly to the ceiling. “An excellent question. I haven’t quite worked it out yet, but you’ll not stay another moment in this house.”

IT WAS SURPRISINGLY easy to leave with the women. The butler seemed unfazed when Artur and Kadro entered the house and escorted the two women and the boy out to the waiting coach. Leo joined them in the coach and sat on the bench opposite the two women and the boy squeezed onto one bench. He thought about pointing out they’d be more comfortable if one of them sat next to him, but he had a feeling that none of them wanted to be very close to him.

He didn’t blame them. Men like him must haunt their dreams now.

“Where to, Highness?” Artur asked through the open door.

Leo needed time to think. He looked at Bobbin. “Have you seen the park? No? You should.” He instructed Artur to drive them around Hyde Park while he frantically thought what to do.

But after two trips around the park, and another half hour where he commanded the carriage be brought to a halt and had all of them step out and take some air, Leo had no better idea what to do with them.

It was likewise clear that Isidora and Jacleen knew he had no idea what to do. They kept exchanging glances, then leaning forward to look out the window, as if trying to find their bearings. They were thinking of escape.

“Don’t fret,” he said softly. He needed help. He knew only one person whom he might trust to help him. He pulled down the trap door that covered a funnel that went up to the driver’s box. “Twenty-two Upper Brook Street,” he commanded.

When the coach pulled up in front of the mansion, Leo told the women to wait. “It might a bit of a wait, I’m afraid, but please, do not leave this coach.”

Isidora nodded, and he hoped that meant they had agreed to give him a chance.

He asked Kadro to see to it that no one left the coach, before walking up to the front door.

Leo was not himself. It was as if part of his brain was trying to wrangle all the facts and place them into a semblance of order, while another part of his brain attempted to look reasonable and present and, most important, not hapless or frantic. It was the frantic that had him feeling at sixes and sevens.

But when he walked into the salon and saw Caroline sitting on the settee in a cloud of cream and white, another part of his brain pushed the rest of it aside. His heart quickened and he felt relief.

Caroline stood and gave him a tight smile as she curtsied. She seemed guarded. Uncertain.

It was then that he noticed Beck, who stood from behind a desk and came striding forward, his hand extended. “Your Royal Highness Prince Leopold,” he said jovially. “Garrett, we’ll have that tea, then. Leo, you are looking well!”

“Thank you—”

“You’ve come just in time. I’ve been returned to London only a day, and this one,” he said, gesturing at his sister, “has just now graced me with her presence.”

Caroline said nothing and resumed her seat.

“She’s not speaking because she knows that, for one, I’ve seen invoices for more bolts of cloth,” Beck said. “Why is it that ladies will not be satisfied with a pair of serviceable dresses?” he complained. “And two, that I’ve heard what occurred at the Debridges’ while I was away.”

Perhaps that was the reason she appeared so chary.

“Leo, whisky?” Beck asked, and Leo realized that he’d been gazing at Caroline and hadn’t noticed that Beck had moved to the sideboard.

“Pardon? No, thank you,” Leo said.

“No? What has happened to you, man?” He poured himself a generous whisky, then turned to face the two of them again, Caroline on the settee, Leo still standing just inside the door. Beck pointed his glass at Caroline and said to Leo, “She’s spurned my friend Ladley.”

Caroline frowned at her brother. “I warned you.”

“But I don’t see why. He’s a good man. You can’t keep turning away all the good men, Caro,” Beck said impatiently, and to Leo, “Can you imagine, Leo, what our poor parents would say if they knew I’d allowed her to remain unmarried for so long?”

“Allowed me?”

Leo didn’t have time for the bickering, and apparently neither did Caroline. She suddenly stood and went to the window to peer out. She seemed unusually restless.

Beck looked at her and shrugged, then turned his attention to Leo. “You, my friend, missed a spectacular horse race,” he said, and launched eagerly into telling Leo of how his Alucian racehorse had performed at Four Corners. The telling took some time, however, as Hawke was determined not to leave out a single detail. Leo made all the appropriate remarks, but he realized that he wasn’t listening at all. The butler wheeled in the tea, and Beck craned his neck to see around him, still talking. Tea was served, and Leo realized he was gripping one hand tighter and tighter until he had a fist worthy of a blow to Beck’s mouth if he didn’t stop talking.

“Caro, the tea,” Beck reminded her, and Caroline came back from the window and accepted a cup from Garrett.