Page 41 of The Truth About Myths
"Keep your voice down. I'm not officially in Spain."
"That, my friend, is a paradox. But making sense or not, you are a welcome vision. This place is a madhouse."
"Where is the princess?"
Henrique gritted his teeth. "She is with Alfonso de Bourbon."
"Shouldn't you be shadowing her?"
"Believe me, I've tried."
"I have critical information for you."
Henrique laughed. "You sound like a spy."
Pedro lifted an eyebrow. "Luis has been coerced into sending his sister here."
Coerced? The king had told him Isabel wanted a vacation. Of course, Luis had lied. Isabel was as interested in this loose seaside resort as he was in becoming a eunuch. Luis must have manipulated her into coming, just as he did with Henrique. Cunning royal bastard. "How can a Spanish duke force the Portuguese king to do anything?"
Pedro's look said Canastra could do that and much more. "At first, I suspected Canastra to be threatening Luis' finances. For a decade, the king overspent the annuity allowed by the Congress, contracting credit from the Rothschilds and the Burnay Bank in Lisbon—"
"And Isabel? Had he spent her—"
"The princess has a separate settlement. She keeps a tight financial rein over her household and wisely invests her mother's inheritance."
"That's my girl," Henrique said, his lips tugging up.
Pedro narrowed his eyes, no doubt processing Henrique's use of the possessive.
Why had he blurted the words? Isabel wasn't his anything. He shouldn't have kissed her. It was basic physics. Energy couldn't be destroyed. And they had created a lot of power with that kiss. Now it would walk with him, pestering him all day, with no chance of dissipating.
Pedro tilted his head to the side, his compelling gaze studying him closely. "If the problem was financial, the king would've come to me. Last month, I learned Luis kept a Spanish mistress, and she was selling his love letters. Before my aide-de-camp could retrieve them, Canastra bought the lot."
"What a sordid mess."
"Indeed. Before I go—"
"Go? How did you even get here?"
"The Angel is anchored in a hidden cove south of here."
"If Gabriel and Cris have returned from their grand tour, they can take my place."
"They haven't. I bought another yacht. Anne believes we are summering here."
"I have an idea. You stay here to clean up after the king's affairs. I will escort Anne to Biscay Bay."
Pedro laughed. The sound was still foreign to Henrique's ears, and in all their time serving in Mozambique and haunting Lisbon's hells, he never knew his friend had so many teeth. Marriage to Maxwell's sister agreed to him. The girl combined softness and courage, her strength so acute she could put a grown man to shame. At first, Henrique believed their marriage was doomed. Pedro and Anne were as different as combustion and photosynthesis. While the first released energy by breaking organic matter—or people's skulls—the latter consumed power to build matter. Who knew destruction and creation's final product were smiles?
"Even if I had the slightest inclination to relinquish my wife's company, she would balk at having me here with the princess. Despite her friendship with Isabel, I don't think she forgot Luis offered me the princess' hand last summer."
"Curse Dom Luis and his impulsivity." Pedro was a handsome devil, and the shrewdest bastard he ever knew, but a marriage between him and Isabel would've ended disastrously. They would clash day and night, both as bendable as a granite slab. "If you explain the situation to the princess, we could convince her to return to Lisbon." And then he could resume his life.
"I cannot be seen here, and before we discover Canastra's schemes, incurring his wrath would be a mistake."
But what of Dolly and Charles? The plan was already in place. In fact, Isabel would witness the couple strolling in the garden after dinner. If Isabel left because of a personal matter, Canastra could not blame Dom Luis. Henrique crossed his arms over his chest. "Why me? You are the politician. Every day I dally here risks my position in Oxford, not to mention the sale of my estate."
Pedro placed a hand atop Henrique's shoulders. "Your photographic memory and deduction skills will prove invaluable in bringing Canastra to the ground. I'm sure you will make your country proud. Your sacrifice won’t be in vain."
