A Dangerous Disguise (14 page)

The Prince was married to one of the most beautiful women in the land, yet he was notoriously unfaithful to Alexandra. Rumours had even reached Ben Torrach, so Ola was not entirely surprised to find that he was looking her over frankly.

"It's such a pity that we shan't have time to get to know each other really well," he said, his charming smile taking the salacious edge off his words.

"Indeed, sir?" Ola was not quite certain how much he knew about her.

"Just heard a rumour, not confirmed yet, but it seems pretty reliable. Hollentot Castle has been relieved. The Russian soldiers have been put to flight."

"In that case – " she said thoughtfully.

"Yes, you'll have to be leaving us when tonight is over. What a shame! Do you know, I think you and I could have been really friendly."

She murmured, "Your Royal Highness is too kind," but she was thinking that nothing on earth could have made her want to be 'friendly' with him in the way he meant.

Her heart belonged to another man, a man she might never see again after tonight.

The Prince of Wales returned her to the Duke, gave her a knowing wink and departed to find a more willing partner.

"I should have warned you about him," the Duke said. "Was he very difficult?"

"Not really, but – " she looked round and dropped her voice, "he told me something."

"Dance with me," he said. "And then nobody else will hear us."

At first they circled the floor in silence. She was thinking that this was the last time, and her heart ached intolerably.

"Tell me," he said.

"This is the end. The Prince told me that the Russian soldiers had been routed outside Hollentot Castle, and the family rescued. He says it's not officially confirmed yet but after tonight – "

"You will have to vanish," he agreed.

"So this is goodbye," she said. "This is our last dance, our last evening."

"Our last kiss?" he asked.

"You can't kiss me here."

To answer her, he dropped his hand and laid his lips on hers. It was over in a moment, too quick to attract attention from the other circling couples.

He searched her face intently.

"Are you really going to say goodbye to me, Ola? Will you go one way, and let me go another?"

Before she could answer he began to move faster, sweeping her away into the music, swirling her too fast to think. She could only hold on to him in bewilderment, and wonder where the dance was taking her.

After all that had happened, could she take the risk of loving him, and asking him to love her?

She was spinning down a winding road, the end of which she could not see.

At last they slowed enough to talk.

"Do you still dislike me too much to talk?" he asked.

"I don't dislike you, My Lord – "

"You mustn't say that," he interrupted quickly. "A Princess would call me Camborne, or even John. From you, I prefer John. I remember how sweet my name once sounded on your lips."

"But that was in another life," she whispered.

"But the life we live now will only be brief. Then we have to return to the old one."

"We can't go back to that," she said. "We know too much."

He gave her a wry smile.

"What's really different is that now we each know what the other knows. So we could start being honest with each other at last. Tell me about Ola McNewton. I want to know a lot more about her."

Ola shook her head.

"She isn't very interesting. When we met you thought I was rare and strange, perhaps even a little exotic and exciting."

"Yes, you were that,"

"But Ola McNewton is just a girl who's been nowhere and done nothing. This is the first time she's even left Scotland."

"Then it will be my pleasure to show her the world. We'll go to Venice and ride in that gondola, and this time neither of us will be alone. And Ola McNewton is a lot more interesting than the Princess, because she's real.

"I know a little about her," he continued. "I know she has so much courage that she isn't daunted by the thought of storming a city and a Palace. That's a woman that I admire.

"I also know that she has a temper that can make a man think twice before he speaks, and make him sorry if he hasn't played by her rules."

He gave her a wry look before adding,

"The trouble is that her rules are a little complicated, and she isn't always fair or reasonable."

"Indeed!"

"Well, I know she prizes honesty, so I thought I'd be completely open and frank." He smiled. "I dare not put Miss McNewton high on a pedestal, because she's so awkward that if I approached her, she'd kick my hat off."

"She doesn't sound very nice," Ola observed.

"I didn't say she wasn't nice. Just awkward, and prickly. And unjust."

"And unreasonable," she reminded him.

"Oh, you know her?" he asked quickly.

"Yes, I know her very well, and I think you should give her a wide berth."

"That would be the sensible thing to do," he agreed. "But she's a very difficult woman to get rid of. I could dismiss her from my life, but how do I dismiss her from my mind and heart?"

"Very easily, since you've never met her," Ola reminded him.

"Yes, and yet I feel I've known her since the beginning of time."

"Forget her," said Ola. "You and she could never live in peace."

"You don't think she could ever bring herself to believe me, when I say that I fell in love with her during those two magic days that we spent together?"

"But who did you spend those days with?" she asked urgently. "You didn't know who she was, only who she wasn't."

"You're wrong. I didn't know her name, but I came to know her, and everything I said, was said to her. It was her that I fell in love with. Don't you think she could understand that? It's really very simple."

There was a hint of teasing in the smile Ola gave him.

"You may think it's simple, but she's just awkward enough to make it complicated."

"That sounds like her," he agreed. "But I remember something she said to me on the first night, about each of us wanting to find somebody who would see the worst of us and love us anyway.

"I recall her exact words – 'someone who will understand things we do that might seem strange.' I thought then that only a woman with a great heart could say such a thing, and that she, of all women, would understand about forgiveness."

She looked up at him, stricken. It was true, she had said that. And then she had refused to understand the things he had been forced to do.

Suddenly she saw that there was only one thing she could say to him.

"I love you," she said. "I shall always love you."

His face lost its look of anxiety and broke into radiant joy.

"Ola – my love – my beloved!"

The music was coming to an end. The dance was over, but the world had changed.

The Duke drew in a sharp breath.

"There's the Russian ambassador heading for you again. You mustn't talk to him, at least until we know the truth from Oltenitza. Come!"

He walked firmly from the Ballroom, her hand clasped in his. This was strictly against royal protocol, which decreed that nobody departed before the Queen. But the Duke crossed his fingers and hoped his godmother would understand.

They did not stop running until they reached the ground floor and ran out into the gardens. Here everything was prepared for the great firework display that would finish the evening. This was an occasion for the public as a whole, and they were already beginning to appear.

Marquees dotted the huge gardens. The largest one of all was for the Queen's guests, just behind the canopied dais where Her Majesty would sit to watch the fireworks.

"We have a little time yet," said John, drawing her under the trees and taking her into his arms.

It was as though they kissed for the first time. Now they could begin to understand each other, and find the true love that they had always known must be theirs some day.

He kissed her again and again.

"We might so easily have lost each other," he murmured. "And I could not have borne that. I knew at once that you were the one woman in all the world for me, and I was praying that you would turn out not to be a real Princess, because then how could we have married?"

"Is that what you really want?" she asked.

"I shall not be content until you are my wife. You belong to me now, and I will never let you go as long as I live."

"That's all I want too," she said happily.

"Ola, I swear I never dreamed that fool Danson would behave so stupidly. I thought he'd see it as an innocent prank, as I did."

"He didn't want to believe me innocent," Ola said with a shudder.

"I think you're right. If he could have caught a real live spy it would have been a triumph for him. He thought his chance had come with you, and he wasn't going to let you go easily.

"But it's over now. After tonight Princess Ola will vanish into thin air, taking her secrets with her and her place will be taken by the Duchess of Camborne."

They embraced again, but for the moment they could have no more time alone. The gardens of Buckingham Palace were rapidly filling up. Lords and ladies, royalty and ambassadors were coming out to take their seats to watch the fireworks.

When they were all in place there was a trumpet fanfare and everyone rose to their feet as the Queen came towards the dais where she was to sit.

She was such a tiny figure in her widow's weeds, the white bonnet on her head, with the white streamers flowing behind. Yet priceless diamonds glittered at her throat, and she looked every inch a Queen and an Empress.

The people watching her cheered from the depths of their hearts. Their voices rang out among the trees. Most of them could not remember a time when she had not been on the throne.

Behind her came some of her family, the Prince of Wales, now appearing as a model husband with his wife and their two eldest sons, Eddy and George, both good looking young men in their twenties.

The Queen acknowledged the cheers then she sat down and listened as the band struck up 'God Save the Queen.' Everyone sang heartily.

Then the audience sat down and waited for the fireworks to begin.

It was such a display, so colourful and brilliant. How high the rockets soared! How gloriously the wheels spun! The crowd oohed and aahed with delight.

Ola had never seen a sight so glorious and spectacular. Eyes shining, she gazed up into the heavens. When she looked down again, she saw John watching her.

"Are you warm enough?" he asked.

"Yes," she said happily. "Being with you keeps me warm."

He did not reply and she saw that he was gazing into the crowd.

"I've just noticed my 'spies'," he said. "They're still on duty, although there hardly seems any point when they lost you so completely this morning."

"Where are they?" Ola was scanning the crowd for the two men she'd seen that day.

"There. Over by that tree."

He raised his hand in greeting, and to her astonishment Ola saw the two women that had been outside her hotel that morning. She and Greta had collided with them, and they had all picked each other up, laughing and apologising.

But surely, she had been followed by two men?

"They are the ones you meant?" she asked, bewildered.

"Yes. Their names are Joan and Mildred, and they're sisters. You'll hardly believe it, but they work for a private detective agency. The man who runs it is an old friend of mine, and he says women are far better than men at ferreting out information, and at following people. Joan and Mildred are actually his aunts and he says they're worth their weight in gold."

"But John – "

"One moment, my dear."

An equerry had approached them, and now said,

"Her Majesty wishes to speak to you, Your Grace."

The Duke bent towards Ola and whispered:

"I won't be long."

He did not wait for Ola to reply but slipped out of his seat and hurried away with the equerry into the darkness.

Left alone, Ola tried to puzzle it out. It had been Mildred and Joan who were watching her, but they had lost her this morning because she and Greta had started to run, and vanished into the crowd.

So who were the two men she had seen?

Then she shrugged.

What did it matter, anyway?

Plainly she was mistaken, and the men she had thought were following her were nothing but a pair of innocent bystanders. When the Duke returned she would tell him, and they would laugh about it together.

If only he would return soon. Now they had confessed their love for each other, she hated being apart from him, even for a moment.

She looked over to where Joan and Mildred were watching her, quizzical smiles on their faces. It would be pleasant to talk to them, she thought, and began to make her way across.

But suddenly a man appeared from the shadows, bowed and said,

"Your Royal Highness."

"Yes?"

"Her Majesty requires you. Please come at once!"

He spoke in what seemed to be a hoarse whisper. For a moment she did not understand what he was saying. Then, as he repeated, "Come at once!" she moved to follow him.

It was dark amongst the trees. The man took her hand and held her arm apparently to guide her or prevent her from falling. As he did so another man she had not noticed appeared on the other side of her.

She supposed this was an extra courtesy because they believed her to be royal. But suddenly she noticed, with a flash of alarm, that they seemed to be moving amongst the trees and not in the direction of the Queen.

Then as she started to say, "I think we are going in the wrong direction," something dark and heavy was thrown over her head.

The next moment she was picked up and carried a short distance. She tried to cry out, but whatever was over her head muffled the sound. Then she felt herself pushed into a carriage. Even as she was thrust down on the seat, they started to move.

She heard the wheels rumbling over what sounded like a road. She could see nothing, and when she tried to struggle she was roughly handled back into her seat. It was then she realised, although it seemed incredible, that she had been kidnapped.