Page 19 of A Queen's Match
Instantly May stiffened. “How can you miss me when our friendship wasn’t real? When you were using me the entiretime?”
“I don’t see why both things can’t be true at once! I had my own goals, but I also really was your friend, and trying tohelp.”
May realized, with a sinking feeling, that it didn’t matter whether Agnes had really been her friend. All that mattered was that Agnes stayed silent. She knew what May had done, and that made her a liability. One that May needed to control.
“Perhaps I can help you someday,” May said slowly. “If my plans succeed, as you hoped, then I’ll be well positioned to introduce you to all manner of titled men.”
Agnes smiled. “I know! I can be useful to you, too; just let me know what you’re planning.”
“No, Agnes,” May said heavily. “Not after you violated my trust.”
Agnes’s eyes flashed with what might have been hurt, but then she shook out the flounces of her dress. “Very well. If you need me, you know where to find me.”
When her old friend had disappeared into the crowd, May scanned the room once more. She saw Missy on a fringed ottoman near the fireplace.
Fixing a smile on her face, May started toward her. On her way she lifted two flutes of champagne from a passing tray.
“Cheers,” she said brightly, and handed Missy one of the glasses.
Missy’s eyes lit up with excitement, though she hesitated. “Are you sure we’re allowed? Mama never lets me have any.”
“I promise that if your mother catches us, I will take the blame.”
To May’s relief, Missy propped one hand behind her on the ottoman, leaning back to take a long sip of the champagne. She lowered the glass with a pleased sigh. “Hopefully, Mama will be too distracted by all the eligible men to notice. You know how mothers can be when they want to marry you off. It’s exhausting, isn’t it?” Missy rolled her eyes.
May fought to hide her irritation at Missy’s cluelessness. Didn’t she see that May was older, and far less eligible, and in possession of a mother who hadn’t helped her in the slightest?
“I know what you mean,” she forced herself to say. “Is there a gentleman in particular that we should name to your mother? Perhaps His Royal Highness Prince George?”
Missy was silent for a moment. May feared she’d overstepped, but then Missy drained the last of the glass and smiled. “George is wonderful. You know we used to see each other every year, when my family summered in Malta?”
If May hadn’t hated Missy already, she would have begun hating her now, for speaking with such casual affection aboutGeorge. About their shared enchanted childhoods and how they’dsummeredon the Mediterranean.
She waved over a passing footman, who quickly refilled Missy’s champagne flute. “Do you and George have an understanding?”
“Oh, no! George is very private about his feelings.” Missy took a hearty sip from her newly full glass, then grinned wickedly. “Unlike some princes I know.”
“Really? Who?”
May winced; she’d sounded so eager she was almost shrill, but to her relief, Missy didn’t seem to notice. The other young woman’s cheeks were growing flushed. “You wouldn’tbelievehow obvious Ferdinand of Romania was. The last time my sister and I visited Munich, he was quite forward.”
“Really? What did he do?”
“Just followed me around all week like a puppy, talking about his hunting. He’s all brawn and brute force,” Missy added with a giggle.
“And you and your sister want to marry someone more…intellectual?” May was trying, in a roundabout way, to steer the conversation toward the point of interest—toward Ducky.
Missy tittered again. “I’m not sure Ducky would mind brawn and brute force. You shouldseeKiril’s muscles. He’s so broad-shouldered; I imagine that he could rip a tree from its roots. With his bare hands.”
Kiril. The name was familiar…. Hadn’t Missy mentioned him at the baptism, in connection with Ducky? Little alarm bells went off in May’s mind.
“Missy!”
Before May could ask anything more, Ducky swept forward,plucking the champagne from her sister’s grasp. “That’s enough for you, I think.”
Missy shook her head, a bit too emphatically. The pearl droplets in her ears swayed with the movement. “As if you have any right to talk, Ducky! I saw you sneaking cigarettes in St.Petersburg, not to mention that I never told Mother you were alone with—”
“That’senough,” Ducky snapped.
