Page 30 of A Queen's Match
May waited, sensing that silence would draw him out. Sure enough, he sighed.
“I don’t know what to do. I still love her, but she’s seeing someone else now. I can go on the tour, of course, but what if I come back and she’s married him—and then I’ve lost my chance to win her back?”
May decided to risk it. She couldn’t keep competing with Eddy’s cousins, trying to eliminate them one at a time. She would put all her cards on the table, come what may.
“Eddy,” she said, using his Christian name for the first time. But really, one couldn’t begin a proposal of marriage withYour Royal Highness.
“I know this is unconventional and perhaps a bit shocking, but…this woman you love. If you cannot marry her, if she ends up married to someone else…” May let that trail off for a meaningful moment. “Well then, you should do the next best thing. You should marry someone who will make your life easy, who will let you be yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that you could marry me.”
Eddy stared at May, dumbfounded. Clearly, he hadn’t considered this possibility.
“I know you thought about marriage as something based on love, but what if it was more of a partnership? I don’t expect you to love me,” she added hastily, “but I’ve always felt that we understood each other. We could be friends, you andI.”
“May…”
“Don’t say anything yet. Just hear me out,” she pleaded. “If you married me, you would escape Her Majesty’s incessant pressure to find a wife. Not to mention that you would be granted houses and a much larger income. As for the two of us—I would be as unobtrusive in your life as I have been on this boat. I will make no demands of you. I will manage your household and your public appearances and your children, and let you do as you please.”
Eddy went slightly pale at the mention of children, but May forged ahead.
“I have no issue with you continuing to live your life as you do currently. The woman you love—I would never make you feel guilty,” she said clumsily. “I mean, if you wanted to keep seeing her.”
Well, she had done it. She had offered him everything she could think of, including a carte blanche for all future infidelities. There was nothing else to say.
“You’re suggesting a loveless marriage,” Eddy said at last.
“I’m suggesting an arrangement that will benefit us both. I think, in our own way, we could find happiness together. Even if it is not the sort of happiness you expected,” May concluded.
Eddy stared at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he looked away. “I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, May. But I meant what I said. I am in love with someone else, and as long as there’s a chance I can win her back, I have to keep hoping.”
May swallowed and nodded. She felt the sea air cutting through the fabric of her gown, chilling her all the way to the bone.
“Your Royal Highness! Welcome back!” called out a sailor on the beach.
Atop the hill, a blue, yellow, and red flag began to snake up the flagpole: the royal standard rising over Osborne House.
“May, I trust that everything we spoke of will stay between us.” Eddy’s words were soft, but for the first time, May heard a blade of command in his voice. He sounded…well, he sounded like a king.
She hurried to nod. “Of course. I won’t speak of it again.”
What had she done? She was as bad as her father, staking his entire fortune on a single hand of whist. May had gambled everything on this conversation with Eddy, and she hadlost.
Chapter Thirteen
Alix
Hélène was undoubtedly a badinfluence, Alix thought, her entire body flushed with anxious heat. Just look at what Alix was doing now, leaving a party to wait at the top of the servants’ staircase at Osborne House. Waiting for Nicholas.
Hélène had suggested it earlier in the evening, after she and Nicholas had danced together very publicly, multiple times. Alix understood that it was all for show, and yet—it was hard to watch, knowing that everyone assumed Hélène and Nicholas reallywereon the brink of an engagement.
When Hélène had looped an arm through Alix’s and suggested they walk along the gallery, Alix had readily agreed. At least it would separate Hélène from Nicholas.
Behind them, the party had been in full swing. Uncle Bertie always hosted a gathering at Osborne House for the opening night of the Cowes Regatta; but this year Grandmama was present, so the event was less raucous than usual. Guests in their evening finery drifted through the Royal Pavilion, spilling from the billiards room to the reception hall to the dining room.
“I finally understand how awful you felt last year, when Grandmama was trying to match me with Eddy,” Alix saidsoftly. And it must have been worse for Hélène. At least Alix knew that this courtship between Hélène and Nicholas was all a sham.
