“Ivy—”
“This is so awful I hardly know what to do.”
“How can I help?” I asked. “Are you going to Halton House?” Robert’s estate was in southern Yorkshire, a moderate drive from Beaumont Towers.
“No, London. Robert wants to talk to Lord Salisbury.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Thank you, Emily, but it’s not necessary. I’m afraid your presence would make Robert feel even more awkward than he already does. He needs privacy more than anything right now.”
“Then I’ll leave you alone.” I hugged her, and my heart broke when I felt the tension in her slim body. “Send for me if you need anything.”
“I must go to him.” She rushed after her husband. I leaned against the wall, looking up at stone vaulting that would have fit in perfectly at an Oxbridge college. Unsure of what to do, I was relieved when Colin came to me moments later.
“Brandon will manage,” he said. “Politics is a dirty business, but he knew that going in.”
“What’s going to happen?” I asked.
“He’ll lay low for a while and then either reinvent himself or decide he’s content with the life of a gentleman.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“He made a poor choice of mentor,” Colin said. “We all know the sort of man Fortescue is. He took a risk allying himself with him.”
“Did he have a choice?”
“We always have a choice, Emily. But come, let’s not dwell on unpleasantries. Am I to get no kiss before I’m forced to spend another day shooting?” He caught my hand and pulled me into a small room, full of dusty furniture. “Safe to assume we won’t be disturbed here, I think. I’m sorry I didn’t see you last night.”
“As am I.” I bit my lip. “But you were working.”
“Yes.”
“With the countess?”
“She’s one of my primary contacts in Austria.”
“Are all your contacts so beautiful?”
“Unfortunately not.” He held my hands. “You’ve no need to worry.”
“I trust you,” I said. “But I can’t say the same for her. I’m not naïve enough to think she’s content with being merely your colleague.”
“For a long time she was more. I can’t apologize for that, Emily. But you don’t know Kristiana. She’s not pining for me—she’s not the sort to give her heart to anyone. She likes to flirt, likes the game of it. Everything’s a waltz to her. And she knows that many men would not view marriage as an impediment to continuing a relationship with her.”
I didn’t believe she hadn’t pined for him. But that did not bother me so much as the fact that he didn’t say he had never pined for her. I stifled a sigh. “The world is so different from what young ladies are led to believe,” I said.
“I’m certain the subterfuge does no good.” He frowned. “People do better when they have the truth before them. I’ve never understood why a man would want a wife who’d been set up for nothing but disappointment.”
“You’re more cynical than I thought.”
“No, I’ve just no use for hypocrisy.”
“I share your opinion on the subject, but many would not. There are those who prefer a happy ignorance,” I said.
“If you marry for purely practical reasons—to preserve a title, an estate, gain a fortune—there’s no reason to be sentimental about the arrangement. Get an heir and a spare, your duty’s done, and at last you can pursue someone who sparks a passion in you. So long as all parties are discreet and neither husband nor wife is hurt in the process, what’s the harm?”
“I imagine there is none in such a case. But it seems a most unsatisfactory way to live. I’d rather be alone.”
“Being alone has its drawbacks too. How did we stumble on such a morose topic?”
“Your good friend, Kristiana. And so long as we’re on the subject of all things morose, I received a letter from my mother yesterday. She wrote to inform me that the queen would like us to be married at Windsor. Next summer.”
“Next summer? Why would we want to wait so long?”
“I don’t believe our desires factored into the equation. My mother and Her Majesty are rather taken with the month of June. It’s to be quite an event.”
“An event?”
“Yes. Fireworks were mentioned.”
“I see.” There was laughter behind his eyes.
“After our aborted attempt at an English wedding, I was rather hoping we could be married in Greece,” I said.
“Just the two of us, the necessary witnesses, and one of Mrs. Katevatis’s feasts afterwards?” The cook at my villa had unparalleled culinary talents, and the thought of the sun on Santorini and a platter of spanakopita was more than a little tempting, particularly when I was trapped on a dank English estate.
“Precisely,” I said.
“Lots of ouzo toasts and a rather late night.”
“One that extends all the way to morning.” Our eyes met.
“I don’t see how we can go against the queen’s wishes,” he said.
“I was afraid you’d say that. I admire your loyalty and sense of duty to your country, Colin, but you go too far. I can’t bear the thought of waiting so long.”
“You were perfectly willing to put me off yourself for more months than I care to count.” His smile warmed every inch of me.
“I was dreadful.”
“You weren’t. I understand perfectly why you waited to accept me. If you did not value your independence so well, I wouldn’t have wanted to marry you in the first place.”
“We’re disgustingly well suited to each other.” I raised my lips to his, but he did not kiss me.
“Regardless, we shall have to wait. It wouldn’t do to displease Her Majesty.”
“I don’t suppose there’s even a hint of sarcasm in that statement?”
“Perhaps just a touch.”
“I do adore you,” I said. He pressed my hand to his lips. “But there will be no changing her mind. She’s offering Windsor to thank my mother for her assistance in machinating the engagement between Prince Eddy and May of Teck. Everyone’s convinced the girl will make an excellent queen.”
“If only Eddy would make an excellent king,” Colin said. The Prince of Wales’s eldest son had a reputation for being rather slowwitted and had been embroiled in any number of scandals, each worse than the last.
“Speaking against the royal family, Colin? If you’re already this disaffected, there’s hope that I may be able to persuade you to go against the queen’s wishes. I shall do all in my power to tempt you.”
He put his hand on my cheek. “My dear girl, resisting you will take all of my will.”
“I wonder if you have quite so much will as you think?” I stood on my toes and kissed him, slowly, once on each cheek. “What a pity you have to go shoot today. I can think of much more pleasant ways to pass a morning.”
As it was, there was very little about the morning that could be called pleasant. We had all expected an influx of guests the previous day—the prime minister and others would have brought their wives—giving us ladies someone new with whom to converse. Ivy was still upstairs overseeing her packing, the countess and Lady Fortescue were nowhere to be found, so Flora and I were left with the count, finding almost nothing in the way of amusement.
“I don’t understand why we can’t shoot,” Flora said.
