Page 24 of A Royal Kiss & Tell
“As it happens. I sail tomorrow evening.”
Lady Caroline gasped loudly. “So doI! What a coincidence! What a delight to share a ship with you, Highness. I am very good at whist, sir, I’ll warn you now.”
“Oh, Caro... I think His Highness will be on a different ship,” Eliza said with a slight wince.
“Really? Are there so many ships sailing to England from Helenamar on the same day?” Lady Caroline asked jovially. “An entire fleet, is it?”
“Well, no,” Eliza said. “But I think there is a special ship for, ah...for the royal family?”
Lady Eulalie coughed. She looked as if she was choking on a laugh.
“Oh.” Lady Caroline seemed to take that in, then suddenly smiled again so brightly that Leo was a little amazed by it—she was bold as brass and hard to ruffle. “Ofcourseyou’ll need a special ship, Your Highness!” she said. “However could I think differently? I’m such a cake about these things.”
“You’re not a cake, Caro,” Bas said. “It’s a mistake anyone might make.”
“Perhaps not everyone,” Lady Eulalie murmured, and smiled as she toyed with the earring dangling from her lobe. But Leo could see her smile was not one of shared amusement. It was the sort of smile people used on witless children.
“Why should you know how ships come and go?” Eliza added charitably. “It’s not the sort of education that is required of proper ladies.” She and Lady Caroline laughed again. They seemed to have their own unique sense of humor.
“Your brother will miss you terribly,” Eliza said to Leopold. “And so will I, quite honestly. You’ve been so very helpful to me.”
“It’s been my pleasure,” he said sincerely. He truly had come to adore Eliza.
He noticed that Lady Caroline was smiling at him as if he’d directed his comment to her. Her smile was so dazzling that he realized he might have noticed it a moment too long. He quickly shifted his gaze to Eliza. “I’ll return to Alucia soon enough, once I’ve wrapped up my affairs in England,” he assured her. He had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to appease everyone when he said it. “I hope to return to the joyous news of a future arrival of a niece or nephew.”
“Ha! Ha ha!” Eliza laughed hysterically.
“By God’s grace,” Lady Eulalie agreed.
“When the time is right,” Bas said.
“Ah, there he is,” the duke said, looking over Lady Eulalie’s shoulder. “The Weslorian prime minister has arrived. If we may have your leave, Your Highness?” he asked, turning to Bas. At Bas’s nod, the old duke offered his arm to Lady Eulalie, and the two of them departed. Bas sighed with relief. “Now that the prime minister has deigned to join us, we might dine. I’m famished.”
“Should we assemble the promenade?” Eliza asked. “Lord help me, I’ve already forgotten the order—”
“Don’t trouble yourself, darling,” Bas said. “We’ll go in informally and ask everyone to find places. Leo, you’ll escort Caro, will you?” He turned around and called for the butler. “Jando? Jando!” He waved the butler to him.
Leo glanced at Lady Caroline. She frowned.
“Jando, let them all proceed and find their places. Dinner is served.” He presented his arm to Eliza. “The duchess first, of course.”
With another glorious smile, Eliza put her hand on Bas’s arm and they walked away, completely lost in each other.
Leo must have sighed when he offered his arm to Lady Caroline, because her frown deepened.
“What?” she demanded crossly. “It wasn’tmysuggestion. I don’t like it any more than you do.”
“I didn’t say a word.”
“You needn’t say a word, as your displeasure is plainly written on your face. Really, whydoyou hate me?” she demanded as she put her hand on his arm.
He arched a brow with surprise. “There is nothing plainly written on my face but the tedium of another wedding celebration. And I don’thateyou—how could I? I don’tknowyou. Well,” he said after a slight hesitation. “I suppose I do know you now, don’t I? You’ve made certain of it.”
“I understand that the concept of cordiality doesn’t come easy to you, Highness, but many of us who don’t reside in palaces practice it frequently.”
“Cordiality? Is that what you call it?”
“I call it any number of things. Civility. Manners. Conduct becoming a polite society.Friends, even, as we are practically related by marriage now. You should look them all up in your palace manual of etiquette. I think you will find some illuminating entries under ‘enviable traits of the common folk.’”
