Reading Online Novel

Red Wine For Miss Parker(20)



For a brief moment the turquoise orchids that were her eyes shot an angry glance at him.

She bit her lip.

Oh good God, let me do that for you, my beauty…

"Will you be in Italy permanently, Highness?" Lady Cartwright inquired.

"I don't know yet. It is possible I may venture to go to the Americas for some time. My cousin is king in Mexico."

"Yes, yes, I know…"

"I want to be as far away from here as possible, as soon as I can."

"Dear Cousin, this is such a lovely country," Eugenia interfered. "Surely you cannot leave, now that it has come back to you?"

General Cartwright puffed on his pipe. "Maybe he's running away from a woman. All those italian princesses must be chasing after you, huh? I've always gone to war when that was the case."

"You did not escape me," Lady Cartwright sniffed.

"Ha."

"What girl would not dream of marrying a Karlsburg Prince!" Lady Cartwright exclaimed, raising her arms towards the ceiling.

"Me!" Flora cried.

The Prince uttered a short, bitter laugh and Lady Cartwright looked at him intensely, obviously sensing some undercurrent.

So, for the first time in his life, Francesco was happy to see his cousin Dominic, who stepped into the drawing-room that very instant. Unexpectedly, Clara followed behind with flushed cheeks.

"Really, Surrey!" Lady Cartwright said sternly. "What have you done? The poor girl is under shock. Here come, Clara, have a sip of Madeira, I find it always restorative."

Dominic did not answer but sat down next to his wife, who gazed at him admiringly. "How did you get him to agree?" she asked.

"I shoved him a little," the Duke grinned wolfishly.

"Marvellous! Oh, Dominic!" She turned to Clara who was standing by the french windows, looking out into the park. "Look, Darling Clara, I told you, he would!"

Clara looked dazed. "Yes. You did."

Francesco had a suspicion. "Santo Cristo! Freckles, has there been some dreadful plot to get the poor man into your claws?"

Clara flushed even more but it was Eugenia who spoke. "Actually I had intended either Darlington or Lackerby to marry Flora…"

"You what?" Flora croaked.

"Well, we thought you needed some rich and highly aristocratic man to shut up you mother, but Lackerby is already engaged - who would have thought - so it had to be Darlington or maybe Raleigh, or Napier. I mentioned it casually to Elizabeth and Clara when they were at Seventree. Clara almost went to pieces and said she would throw herself off the roof if James Crawford ever married, because she had loved him forever and would not want to live if he married Flora or anybody else. Since we could not have her throw herself off the roof and since Darlington will have to get married eventually, it was obvious that there was only one solution. I told Clara she should not worry, her family would take care of it."

"Oh!" cried Lady Cartwright. "I applaud you, Darling! This could have been my very own idea!"

"But," mumbled Clara, "what if he did not mean it? What if he won't have me? What if he goes away forever, to America, or to India?"

Eugenia nodded. "I know how you feel, I was sure Dominic had made off to the West-Indies until he was standing in the drawing-room and proposed to me."

"I never proposed to you. You simply accepted."

"Yes, but that was all because of the West-Indies. Clara, darling, don't you worry. He's a man of his word, he'll marry you all right. But then you'll have to make of it what you can. Nobody promised you happiness. If against all expectations he should try to get out of it, well, you do have some very obliging male relatives who would be most willing to shoot him. Your brother, your Uncle Barnham, your cousin…"

"You play with our lives so light-heartedly, Your Grace," Francesco smirked.

"That's exactly it!" Flora stood up. The Prince was alarmed to see that she looked once more like a hairy tomato. "You play with our lives, Gigi! I never asked you to find a husband for me. Have I not said often and loudly that I do not wish to marry, that I wish to be a lady companion? Only because the man of your dreams swept you away in his carriage does not mean that it's everybody's destiny. Some dreams are never meant to come true. And how dare you speak about my mother in such a way? She has never harmed you. Yes, she is ambitious, but can't you understand her? We are poor! We have no castles, or titles, or dowries. We have to rely on the charity of your kind, to be taken along, to be invited, to be part of it all. You are my best friend and I love you with all my heart but can't you see that I'm different from you? I'm not as beautiful as you are, or as Clara is. I'm not the woman who turns the heads of highly aristocratic men, who gets married by the Napiers or the Raleighs of this world. I know my place. Please let me keep it!" She stormed out of the room.