Princess in Love (5 page)

Rose sat back also. “I see.”

A log shifted in the grate and a flurry of sparks exploded into the chimney.

Her heart was racing. The inside of her belly was on fire. She had not expected to
ever have this conversation with Leopold Hunt. She didn’t know what to say, what to
make of it, how to manage it.

He was engaged!

“She’s English, isn’t she?” Rose asked. “That’s why you are here and why you have
been so vague about the reason for your travels.”

He nodded casually to confirm her suspicions, and she reminded herself that she, too,
was engaged to another.

A wonderful man who adored her.

“There are many things you don’t understand, Rose,” he said. “All my life, I have
been duty-bound to marry this woman, and when I met you, I certainly didn’t intend
to fall in love. It just happened. I shouldn’t have let it, but it was beyond my control.”

Rose tried not to melt completely into his shocking admission of
love
and this long-awaited apology, for it was not as simple as all that.

“Nothing is beyond anyone’s control,” she argued. “I do not believe in such a thing.
No one is a slave to their emotions. You should never have kissed me during the hunt
at your father’s estate, or after dinner that night. You shouldn’t have shown me the
secret passages that led to your rooms. I spent the night with you, Leopold, because
I trusted you and thought you were going to propose.”

“I never took your virtue,” he reminded her.

“No, but you took my heart.” She was compelled all of a sudden to rise to her feet.
“You shouldn’t have asked me to come here.”

He stood up, too, ignoring most of what she’d just said. “You took my heart as well.”

Oh God, did he have no pity? Did he not know this was torture? She was engaged to
another man now, and he to another woman.

Yet despite the anger that was knotting up inside her, she relished those words upon
his lips.
You took my heart
 …

He had loved her. He truly had, but he had not been free.

Just as neither of them was free now.

“I came downstairs to put this behind me,” she explained. “Now I have done so, and
I really must leave.”

Something wild flashed in his eyes. “But have you forgiven me?”

She hesitated. “If I say yes, will you promise never to speak of this again?”

He inclined his head, as if he were trying to work out an answer.

Why wouldn’t he just let it go?

As she looked into his eyes, she couldn’t seem to escape the memory of the mad love
she once felt for him. She supposed it would always be a part of her, but life must
go on. Eventually she would leave Petersbourg for Austria and become a married woman.
When that day came, it was quite possible she would never lay eyes on Leopold Hunt
again.

Which would, of course, be for the best.

“All right then,” she said at last. “All is forgiven. Fate had other plans for us,
that is all. I appreciate that you have explained yourself. Please know that wherever
life takes you, I will wish you well.”

She forced herself to hold out her hand.

He looked down at it for a long moment. There was a visible knot of tension in his
brow, and Rose feared there would be more of this unbearable torture before he said
good-bye.

At long last he took hold of her hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed the back
of it. Her whole body awakened with feverish sensation.

“I, too, will always wish you well.” His eyes lifted to meet hers, and she steeled
herself against a powerful flood of emotion. The passion she once felt for this man
was kicking beneath the surface of everything. She didn’t want to let go of his hand.

But she must, for it was done. He had apologized for his conduct. They were finished
with each other now.

She gave a quick curtsy and turned to go. “Good evening.”

“Rose…”

She stopped at the door, but did not turn around.

“I will examine the dowager’s coach at eight o’clock tomorrow morning,” he said, “to
determine if it is fit for travel. Will I see you then?”

“Yes, and thank you,” she said over her shoulder, while she prayed that the vehicle
would be in good working order, for she wasn’t sure she could manage another day in
this man’s presence, especially now that all was forgiven.

*   *   *

“It appears all is well,” Leopold said to the dowager the following morning as he
knocked on the outside of the coach. “She’s as sturdy as a warship.”

“Oh, thank heavens!” the dowager replied.

Rose stood on the stone walk in the yard and tried to ignore the way the morning sun
sparkled in Leopold’s eyes as he approached. “That is indeed good news,” she said.
“We will not need to burden you any further, Lord Cavanaugh.”

“I assure you, Your Highness, it was no burden,” he said with a bow. “In fact, I am
exceedingly pleased we had the opportunity to dine together last evening.”

He gave her that look, as if he were communicating far more than his words conveyed …
as if they had a secret to share, which they most certainly did.

“It was a very pleasant evening,” she agreed, though she had not slept well the rest
of the night, despite the prescribed dose of laudanum.

“Might I inquire about your injured wrist?” he asked, looking down at her gloved hand.

She raised it to show him. “It’s much better, thank you.”

They stood facing each other on the stone walk while a blackbird chirped in the eaves.
Rose breathed in the fresh, cool scent of the earth, damp with wetness from the heavy
rains the night before, while her former lover regarded her with a rather intense
look of desire.

She found herself reveling in the pleasure of his nearness and wondered if it would
ever pass. Perhaps not. He was her first love, after all. She couldn’t simply erase
him.

“Well!” the dowager called out. “Shall we be on our way?”

Lord Cavanaugh turned. “Indeed, madam. Allow me to assist you.” He moved to help her
step into the coach, while Rose managed with some difficulty to put one foot in front
of the other, knowing she would be next to take his hand. When she reached the vehicle,
he turned to face her.

“You will be sailing back to Petersbourg soon?” she asked.

“Yes, in the next day or so, otherwise I would pay a call to your brothers at St.
James’s. Do give them my regards.”

“I will, and I wish you a safe voyage.”

“And you as well, upon your return.” He never took his eyes off hers as he held out
his hand.

Rose tried not to make too much of the shivery sensations she experienced when her
gloved fingers slid across his palm. A few heart-pounding seconds later, she was settling
into the seat and watching him in the doorway, wondering what was left to say. So
much, it seemed, yet the only appropriate word was good-bye.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Your Grace,” he said to the dowager. “Perhaps one
day you will visit Petersbourg. If so, I would be honored to entertain you at Cavanaugh
Manor.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed with a leaping thrill in her voice. “You are too kind, sir! Be
warned, however, I may take you up on your offer, and then you will
never
be rid of me!”

He smiled at her with those dazzling blue eyes that had the power to seduce any woman
alive, and Rose had no choice but to look away, for it was that very smile that had
stirred her blood the first time they met. It was blinding, almost too painful to
behold.

“Safe trip,” he said.

“And the same to you, Lord Cavanaugh,” the dowager replied.

It was time for him to close the door. “Good day, Your Highness,” he said with a gentlemanly
bow. Then he shut the door and shouted, “Onward, Samson!”

The coach jolted into motion and Rose couldn’t help herself. She whirled around and
stretched her body to look out the tiny back window, just for one last view of him.

Suddenly her whole being flooded with panic.

Perhaps it was a mistake to marry Joseph. Perhaps this was the only man she would
ever desire and she would never truly be over him.

Leopold remained standing on the road outside the inn, watching the coach grow distant.

He must have seen her in the window, for he raised a hand to wave good-bye.

All at once, she was overcome by an uncontrollable urge to weep. Good Lord. What was
wrong with her?

“What a remarkable man.” The dowager sighed. “So capable and handsome. He is a dream,
is he not? How is it possible that he is not yet married? Is he looking for a wife,
do you know?”

The coach traveled down a hill, and Leopold disappeared from view.

Rose turned on the seat to face front. She felt slightly nauseous and was quite certain
she had gone completely pale. “I beg your pardon?”

“Is he married?” the dowager asked. “Because I have a few granddaughters who would
most definitely find him very appealing. I am quite sure my son would send us all
to Petersbourg in a heartbeat if there was the smallest chance we could capture the
marquess for one of them.”

Rose carefully pulled off the glove that concealed her swollen wrist and massaged
the tender flesh. “I am afraid he is already pledged to someone, Your Grace, though
I do not believe they have met yet.”

“What a shame,” the dowager said. “I do hope this young woman will appreciate how
very fortunate she is.”

Rose glanced up. “I am sure she will. The very moment she lays eyes on him.”

“Indeed,” the dowager replied with a chuckle. “I daresay she will lay more than just
her eyes on him when she discovers his many charms. I wonder who she is? What does
she look like?”

Rose gazed out the window at the passing landscape and imagined what her life might
be like now if that woman had never been born. “I really wish I knew.”

Chapter Five

It was past dark when Leo’s coach rolled up in front of the house in Lambeth where
his father was plotting the long-awaited overthrow of the Sebastian monarchy. Leo
knew, however, that in reality his father’s presence in England had more to do with
the high-priced charms of his current mistress, Georgia Stanhope—one of the less celebrated
actresses on the London stage.

Her carriage was parked out front when Leo arrived (the woman had no shame) and it
galled him to think that he had come all this way and sacrificed so much to do his
duty in the name of the Royalist cause, when his father was constantly distracted
by shinier, less permanent toys.

Leo stepped out of the coach, pulled off his leather gloves and tapped them against
his thigh as he climbed the steps and met the butler at the door.

“Does he know I am here?” Leo asked as he shrugged out of his coat and removed his
hat.

“Yes, my lord. I have just informed His Grace of your arrival. He has asked that you
wait for him in the library.”

“Fine.” Leo strode purposefully across the hall to pour himself a brandy.

He waited for a quarter of an hour before his father finally appeared.

“Leopold, you’re late,” the duke scolded. “I was expecting you yesterday.”

“The roads were treacherous,” Leo explained.

There was no need to inform him about the chance meeting with Princess Rose. His father
still knew nothing of their brief affair two years ago. If he had learned of it, he
might have strung Leo up from the rafters.

But those days were done. He would have no more of it.

“Well, you are here at last,” the duke said. “Pour me a brandy, will you?”

Leo poured his father a glass from the crystal decanter and carried it across the
room. He set it down on the large mahogany desk.

His father sat down in the chair behind the desk and crossed his legs. “I am afraid
there has been a change in plans,” he said.

Leo sat down also and regarded his father with a dark, simmering fury he felt quite
unable to control. Nothing was the same between them, and he was quite certain it
was the war. He was not the same man he once was. Ever since his return from the battlefield,
he was always looking for a fight, craving a forward charge. “What is it this time?”

“Don’t take that tone with me, boy. You know it hasn’t been easy. We must tread carefully
toward our goals or we might all end up in Briggin’s Prison for high treason.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe that’s where we all belong.”

His father frowned. “What is wrong with you? You’ve been irritable of late. Have you
lost your courage?”

“It was never courage that drove this cause, Father,” he replied. “It has always been
something else. You know it as well as I do.”

The duke leaned forward and slapped a hand on the desktop. “What are you implying?”

“I imply that your desire to crush the Sebastian monarchy has nothing to do with duty
or honor. On the contrary, you hunger for power, and you have been using me to attain
it.”

“I beg your pardon? Watch your tongue, boy!”

“Or what?” Leo replied, rising to his feet to tower over his father. “You will lock
me in my room or beat me insensible? I wouldn’t recommend it, Father, because I am
no longer that defenseless young boy. I have been to war. I have seen far worse than
the back of your hand, sir, so if you ever raise it to me again, I swear to God I
will beat you back twice as hard.”

Bloody hell!
He had never spoken to his father in such a manner, but it had been a tumultuous
year.

“Something has happened,” his father said. “Why are you suddenly doubting your purpose?”

The floor shifted beneath Leo’s feet. He couldn’t say it. He couldn’t possibly admit
that since he had faced death on the battlefield, he wanted only to live and quench
his
own
hungers, not his father’s. And what were those hungers exactly?

He could only think of one …

Besides, Prince Randolph was a good man. Leo had begun to consider him a friend in
recent years, and despite what the Royalists said about the New Regime, the people
adored him.