Page 19 of Last Duke Standing

“I beg your pardon. He is only a year or two older than me.”

“Astonishingly young, then,” he said with a grin. “Gray hair?”

Lila laughed. “Very brown. He has a serious disposition and is never far from Queen Agnes.”

Valentin swallowed another forkful of eggs. “That’s it. I remember him now. Where is the king?”

“In St. Edys. He’s quite ill.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Valentin said. “The weakest king of Europe, isn’t it said?”

“Perhaps the sickest,” Lila said. She read the letter from Robuchard.

“Well?” Valentin asked as he polished off his eggs. “Who is it this time?”

Whowas the most important unmarried person in all of Europe just now. Lila looked up at her husband. “Princess Justine. The crown princess of Wesloria.”

“She had a bit of trouble, didn’t she?” He shook his head. “She ought to have been married before now.”

“Valentin!” Lila laughed. “You know such arrangements are made with much study. She is in London, under the tutelage of Queen Victoria. Robuchard says the king’s health is dire and the princess will be queen very soon, perhaps before the year’s end.”

“Oh dear. Then shemustbe married straightaway,” Valentin said gravely, then winked playfully.

Lila smiled. She loved his thick, dark hair, salted with gray, his neatly trimmed beard, his wide chest...and other parts of him, too. She just loved him.

“This will be the match of the decade,” Valentin offered, although he knew nothing of matches and matchmaking.

“Possibly.”

“And the retainer?” he asked.

Lila held up the letter and pointed to the figure Robuchard had suggested as a fee for her matchmaking services. Valentin’s brows rose. “Oh. He must want a match very badly. I suppose you’ll accept?”

She was most intrigued. A successful match with a crown princess would be a boon for her business. She lowered the letter. “Do you want me to stay here?”

“Of course I want you to stay here, with me.” He took her hand and tugged on it, forcing her to stand and come to his lap again. She laughed as he kissed her mouth, her chest through the vee of her shirt. “Of course I want you to stay, Lila. You know I can’t bear to be away from you. London, you say? Maybe I’ll come with you. How long will you be gone?”

She thought about it—matchmaking required a certain finesse. Sometimes it could be done in a matter of weeks. Sometimes it took much longer to convince two people they were perfect for each other. “A month. Maybe two. Will you really come?”

“I really will the moment I begin to miss you so desperately I can’t breathe.” He moved his mouth lower, pulling her shirt open to press his lips against the tops of her breasts. “You taste like salt.”

“It’s rather warm today.”

“You need a bath.”

“I do.”

“Ah, my English rose. I am the one to give it to you.” He lifted his head. “Karla!” he called. “Karla, come and clear this away. My wife must have her bath.” He suddenly stood up, taking Lila with him, and walked toward the house, carrying her in his arms. He kissed her as she laughed and told him to watch where he was going when he banged her head into the door frame.

CHAPTER SIX

London

SOMEONEHADPREPAREDa lunch for Justine that she had not requested and did not want, given her late breakfast. But it arrived in the drawing room along with the day’s post, which included a letter from her mother.

Justine preferred to receive letters from her mother in private, and generally near a good, blazing hearth into which she could toss the pages in the event she disagreed with her mother’s words, as the physical distance between them prevented Justine from arguing her point. But sometimes watching her mother’s words go up in flames was just as satisfying.

This afternoon, lamentably, Justine was not alone—because Lady Bardaline was looping Amelia’s braids over her ears in the fashion English ladies arranged their hair. Lady Bardaline wore a new afternoon dress. It was quite becoming on her, but then again, she was a small, attractive woman, with very dark hair and clear blue eyes. Justine took particular note of the dress, because she thought it meant her lady-in-waiting believed she would accompany Justine to Windsor.

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