Page 78 of A Royal Kiss & Tell
“Do you know what my brother did? He whispered the size of my dowry to his friends, and suddenly every gentleman with a debt has come to call.”
The judge laughed. “That’s one way to accomplish it.”
Poppy banged into the room with a caddy which carried a tarnished tea service. “All at the ready,” she announced. “Cook has made a new batch of gooseberry jam.”
“Oh, I’ll have some,” the judge said.
“Serve the tea, darling, then take your own and sit,” Hollis said. “Caro is about to tell us all how she’s fended off an unprecedented number of suitors.”
“Do tell!” Poppy said eagerly.
Caroline sat up while Poppy served tea, stroking Pris, the cat, who had made his way onto her lap. And then she proceeded to regale the Tricklebanks about the night she had two gentlemen callers and a third unexpected one, and how they’d all trooped off to the Debridge supper, where she had announced she wanted a suitor to find his interest in her, and not the size of her dowry.
“My God, youdidn’t,” Hollis said with an expression that could be construed as either horrified or admiring.
“Idid. Why not? It was true and everyone knew it, including the peacock Katherine Maugham. And do you know the only person who wasnotshocked by what I said?”
“Who?” Hollis asked.
“Prince Leopold, that’s who. He laughed.”
Hollis giggled. “Papa, I wish you could see howsparklyCaro is just now. At every mention of the prince, another spark shoots right off of her,” she said, squeezing Caroline’s knee. “She’s in love with him.”
Poppy gasped. “Another royal wedding!”
“Good Lord, not another one,” the judge moaned.
“Rest assured there won’t be another one,” Caroline said confidently, even if the mention of it sent a wave of shivers down her spine, just like those she’d felt at Eliza’s wedding.
“Why not?” Hollis asked. “It’s a lovely fairy tale dream to be an ordinary person and be swept off your feet by a true prince.”
“It is indeed a fairy tale, which is precisely why nothing will ever come of it. But I don’t mind, really. It’s been quite a lot of fun, and honestly, the reality hasn’t kept me from kissing him.”
Poppy and Hollis squealed at the same time.
“Heaven help you, Caroline Hawke!” the judge said disapprovingly over their shrieks of delight. “That sort of talk will see you ostracized from the very society you love to rule!”
Caroline laughed. “I haven’t yet gone out into the square and announced it, Your Honor. And really, is it so terrible? Men and women do share kisses. I’ve seen it happen time and again. I saw Lady Munro kiss Mr. Richard Williams at Kew Gardens just before we departed for Helenamar.”
“What? And you’re only telling me this now?” Hollis exclaimed.
“My point, if you will hear it, is that sort of affection should be reserved for husband and wife,” the judge said sternly. “Or at the very least, if you cannot contain your lust until you are married, for the gentleman who is tobeyour husband. What would Lord Hawke say to this?”
“He’d lock me away. For God’s sake, we must all swear to never tell him!” Caroline said, laughing.
“But...but aren’t you concerned about the maids, Caro?” Hollis asked.
“What maids?” the judge asked.
“Prince Leopold is notorious for a rather untoward preference for housemaids.”
“What?” Poppy exclaimed.
Hollis sighed. “Does no one in this house read my gazette? Did you not hear what happened in Arundel with the Norfolk maid?”
“No! Tell us!” Poppy said, inching forward on her seat.
“Hollis! You make it sound dreadful,” Caroline said. “The prince explained it to me. Norfolk was the one who was behaving badly. He was visiting the poor thing at night, if you take my meaning, and showering her with the sort of affections she did not want. And the prince, well...he helped her to escape. She was a Weslorian and I think he felt obliged.”
