“A noble pursuit,” Leo muttered.

He followed Farrington into a large drawing room that seemed to have been recently decorated, judging by the smell of plaster and the pristine condition of the rugs and drapes. He was greeted by Lord Ainsley, and Lady Katherine Maugham and her mother, Lady Maugham. Lady Katherine would not meet his eye.

Hollis and her father, Justice Tricklebank, had come, and he was introduced to Mr. Edward Hancock and his wife, Felicity Hancock. And of course, Caroline and Beck. Oh, but he was a poor actor—he couldn’t keep the smile from his face when he saw her. She wore yet another beautiful gown of shimmering green. “A lovely dress, Lady Caroline,” he said politely as he bent over her hand.

“Do you like it? I made it myself.” She smiled coyly. “We’ve not seen you in two days, Your Highness. Have you grown weary of us?”

“Quite the contrary. Unfortunately, I’ve been too well occupied.”

“All right,” Beck said. “If you please, Caro, go and keep the judge company, will you? I should like a word with the prince.”

“Really? What word?” she asked.

“Does it not stand to reason that if I wanted you to know, I would invite you to stay? Go,” Beck said, fluttering his fingers at her.

She cast a brilliant smile at Leo and walked across the room to join Hollis and her father.

Beck indicated with his chin a corner of the room.

“Is something wrong?” Leo asked when they had separated themselves from the other guests.

“You’re being watched,” Beck murmured, his eye on the others. “Gentlemen from the foreign secretary have come round. They seem to think Caro might know something about a plot to steal your father’s throne.” He shifted his gaze to Leo. “They think you may have confided in her. What the devil is going on, Leo? Why do they think my sister might know of your plans? What are your plans?”

“Beck,” Leo said. “I don’t have plans. I’m not plotting against my father, for God’s sake. I love him. I don’t even know my uncle.”

Beck looked dubious.

“It is something else entirely.”

“What?”

Leo considered what he ought to say. “It has to do with betrayal in my father’s ranks, but I really can’t say more. I’m asking you to trust me, Beck.”

“And Caroline?”

Leo swallowed. He would not lie to his friend. “She has helped me meet some people who were useful to know.” It wasn’t a real answer, Leo knew, and judging by Beck’s dark frown, he didn’t think so, either. But Leo wouldn’t say more. He would not risk implicating Caroline to anyone.

Beck pressed his lips together and looked across the room to where Caroline was standing. “Look, I don’t know what this is all about, but these men were serious. My advice is to depart Britain as soon as you can.”

“I plan to leave this week,” Leo said.

Beck put his hand on his arm. “Listen to me, Leo. It doesn’t matter what is true—it matters what they perceive. And people perceive you to be rotten at the core.”

“I understand.” He did. The people behind this would look for any scapegoat to keep their profits. How the devil had he gotten himself in this mess?

“For the sake of my sister, I hope that you do,” Beck said. He walked away.

Leo reluctantly turned back to the others. He wanted a word with Caroline, but it seemed as if all eyes were upon her, watching everything she did. And she, of course, was holding court as only she could do.

At supper, he was seated across from Caroline. She laughed and talked as she normally did, almost too beautiful to behold. She looked for all the world like nothing had happened between them. He would have been perfectly content to watch her all night, but Lady Katherine Maugham and her friend, Mrs. Hancock, wanted otherwise. They peppered him with questions he found confusing and silly, and he was certain he appeared as bored as he felt.

The only saving grace was that every so often he would catch Caroline looking at him with a sparkle in her eye. He would carry that delightful sparkle and brilliant smile with him always, imprinted on his heart. He would look back on this night and remember her and imagine what might have been.

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.

In her panic, Caroline dove in through the partially opened door of the study and startled both Leopold and the girl. Eowyn was sobbing. Leopold spoke to her in Alucian, his voice calm and soothing. Then he looked at Caroline.

“They are...you’ve been missed.”

He understood immediately. He turned to the girl, put his hand on her arm and spoke to her in Alucian. But Caroline could hear voices coming down the hall toward the room. She closed the door. “They are coming now!” she warned them.