Page 44 of The Secret of Flirting
“I wasshotat, Uncle! What am I supposed to think?”
That unsettled him. “I am still not convinced that anyone was trying to hurt you specifically—”
“Yes, I know. Meanwhile, if you’re wrong, I could be risking death over this scheme.”
Looking concerned, Lady Ursula stepped forward. “My dear, surely you’ve heard that cholera has been raging through the Continent.”
“In Russia, Germany, and Hungary. Not France,” Monique said. She had indeed seen the reports in the papers of the death toll mounting.
“Calais is where nearly everyone in Europe goes to cross the English Channel, niece,” her great-uncle snapped. “In our hotel alone, there were foreigners of every stamp. She could easily have caught the contagion from one of them.”
He had a point.
“And as for someone shooting at you,” he said, “your champion Lord Fulkham seems more than eager to prevent that from happening again.”
“But you tried to keep him from doing so,” she accused.
Conceding her point with a shrug, he said, “I was not happy to hear that you would be kept away from the other delegates. But once he included the duke, I thought better of his suggestion. Besides, Fulkhamisthe man most influential in making the selection. So it would probably do you good to have him more to yourself for a few days.”
He drew himself up, making clear that he was done with the discussion. “Speaking of this upcoming house party, you must excuse me. If we are to travel tomorrow, I must see to the arrangements.”
Narrowing his gaze on her, he added, “But if you ever again put me in the position you did today, forcing me to agree to your terms in front of someone like Fulkham, Iwillput an end to this scheme, as you call it. And you will be back in Dieppe in a flash, looking after your grandmother alone again. Is that understood?”
She swallowed the hot protests that rose in her throat. “Yes, Uncle.”
“Good,” he said, and stalked out the door.
Lady Ursula came up to lay a reassuring hand on her arm. “Pay him no mind. The count’s bark is worse than his bite. He’s fond of you, though he won’t admit it.”
“Or show it,” Monique said bitterly.
The lady-in-waiting laughed. “You didn’t hear him after your presentation to Parliament yesterday. ‘She was spectacular, Ursula, a true stateswoman! I daresay Aurore could not have done better if she tried. I told you she would be perfect.’ He’s proud of you, though he’s afraid to show it for fear that you will take advantage of his soft spot for you.”
Monique snorted. She hadn’t noticed any soft spot. But Lady Ursula was clearly a peacemaker in the household.
Which reminded her... “Did Prince Leopold truly offer for Aurore?”
Lady Ursula’s face clouded over. “He did. And was refused.”
“Why?”
The lady-in-waiting moved away to go stand by the fireplace and warm her hands, though it was hardly cold in the drawing room. “Aurore does not wish to marry anyone. And of course she must. So she and the count and her mother argue about it incessantly.”
“Why doesn’t she wish to marry?”
“Who knows?” Her voice sharpened. “She’s young and impetuous and has some notion that a husband will curb her freedom.”
“Which he will,” Monique pointed out.
With a laugh, Lady Ursula faced her. “Indeed. That’s whyIhave never married. That, and the fact that the one I love cannot marry me.”
Monique’s heart constricted. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She wanted to ask who he was, but she didn’t want to make her ally uncomfortable.
“Don’t be,” Ursula said brightly. “One cannot always have whom one wants. It is simply the way of the world.”
“True.”
The thought depressed her. Because she was beginning to think that the only manshemight want was Gregory. And there was no way on earth he would ever marry an actress and impostor, even if shewasalso related to a princess. His life was here, and her life was in Chanay with Grand-maman. Best to remember that before she fell for his sensual charms.
