Page 73 of The Secret of Flirting
“What? I’m not! How can you even think so?”
“Because you keep asking about Prince Leopold.” Monique wrapped her arms about her waist. “You’re the one who insisted on including the prince in this house party. No matter what you say, I can only assume it’s becausehe’sthe one you love and can never have.”
“No, no, no...” Lady Ursula was chanting, burying her head in her hands.
“If not him, then whom did you mean?” Monique pressed her.
The lady-in-waiting slumped in her seat. “You won’t understand.”
“You must tell us,” Gregory demanded. “Otherwise, I shall assume that you and Leopold—”
“Aurore!” Her voice fell to a ragged whisper. “The one I can’t have is Aurore.”
“What the devil?” Gregory said.
“She’s the one I can’t marry, the one I love with every breath of my soul.” Lady Ursula looked at them with bleak pain in her face. “I was always only talking about Aurore.”
And to Monique’s shock, the young woman burst into tears.
Seventeen
Gregory could only stare at the poor woman disbelievingly. “But if you weren’t bent on gaining Prince Leopold for yourself, then why were you so obsessed with his interest in Aurore?” Even as the words left his mouth, the truth dawned on him. “Ah—you saw him as your rival for the princess’s affections.”
Lady Ursula nodded through her sobs, her face wracked in a private agony he could well imagine, given his own obsession with Monique.
Meanwhile, Monique just gaped at him. “I don’t understand. I know that she loves Aurore, but—”
“It’s not a sisterly kind of love,ma chérie,” Gregory explained. It still amazed him how naïve and unworldly Monique could be sometimes. “She’sinlove with Aurore.”
In his line of work, it wasn’t unheard of. Granted, it was slightly more common for men to be enamored of other men, but he’d certainly encountered women who loved women in a romantic way.
Though many of his peers found such a love distasteful, he wasn’t one of them. Too many years skirting the edges of society as he performed the tasks of his dark, secretive business had taught him that there were all kinds of love in the world. And given his own past crimes, he could hardly throw stones at someone for the “crime” of loving a person of the same sex.
Lady Ursula fought to compose herself. “I—I love Aurore as... as another woman might love a m-man.” She met Gregory’s gaze. “I’ve loved her for years.”
The look on Monique’s face told him she comprehended now. “That’s why you begged not to be forced to leave her. Why you resisted coming here.”
The lady-in-waiting bobbed her head. “She was ill. I wanted to stay with her and take care of her.” Her voice hardened. “But of course the count wouldn’t allow it. He and Aurore’s mother have never approved of our... friendship.”
“You mean, theyknow?” Gregory put in.
“Not everything,” Lady Ursula admitted. “They think we’re merely too close, that I’m the one who influenced her to refuse Leopold.” She brushed tears from her cheeks. “And I suppose that’s true. But I didn’t convince her of anything she didn’t already feel. She didn’t want him.” A softness entered her voice. “She wantsme.”
“So she shares your feelings?” Gregory asked.
Lady Ursula nodded. “We... we have been in love for years.” She sighed. “Not that anything can come of it. We could never rule Chanay together the way she would like. Still, she remains adamant that she will have nomanfor a husband. That she loves only me.” She cast Monique a helpless glance. “I’m sorry—I should have told you, but I thought... I was afraid—”
“That I wouldn’t understand.” Monique flashed her a wan smile. “I confess that I really don’t. But that doesn’t mean you’re wrong. What I still don’t comprehend is why were you pushing to have the prince come here if not to gain him for yourself?”
Lady Ursula shrugged. “I needed to find out why he was considering renewing his suit to Aurore. She’d refused him because unlike some men she might marry, Leopold would never countenance a wife who—”
“Was in love with someone else,” Gregory finished.
“Exactly. I know him well enough to be sure of that.” She scowled. “So I honestly thought he and Aurore had parted ways for good. Then Mr. Danworth told me that Leopold was interested in approaching Aurore again.”
“Wait a minute,” Gregory broke in. “I thought Danworth was asking you toconfirmLeopold’s interest.”
She blinked. “Why would he askme? I mean, Leopold and I are related and were friends long ago, but I have only seen him a few times since he took up residence in England. I assumed that Danworth knew something I didn’t, since Danworth knows him better, is friendly with him.”
