Page 12 of Second Chance Prince
“No. Ours is a short engagement, and we will break it off in three months. Nothing obvious, just a quiet parting of ways. Niki will go home to Holtswig, and I will stay here.”
When she said it aloud, the future did sound very dreary. She wondered how she would manage after being at Niki’s side and the center of attention. She would have to go back to her everyday life, which consisted of riding in the park and visiting Estelle Longhurst, as well as attending the usual Season activities. She knew she should be grateful, and that she was luckier than many young ladies, and yet she struggled to feel it right now.
“It seems unfair that you can’t carry on being his fiancée,” Antonia said, watching closely and no doubt reading Roberta’s feelings perfectly. Antonia was good at that. She had always been quiet, blending into the background and observing those about her. She had learned to understand her sisters very well.
“Well, I can’t,” Roberta said bluntly.
“I still don’t understand why he can’t marry you properly. Isit because you are illegitimate? Does he have to marry another Holtswigger?”
Roberta realized she did not know the answers, and she did not want to quiz Niki in case he thought she was too invested in their pretend engagement. “I’ll ask Freddie.”
“Will there be a scandal?”
“Freddie says not. It will be a joint decision to end the engagement, but Niki will accept any consequences. We will say we remain friends but weren’t suited to marriage.”
“It is all planned then, rather like a play.” Antonia shook her head. “I still think…You are tempting fate, Robbie, and fate has a nasty habit of overturning the best-laid plans.”
There, exactly as she’d predicted! Roberta sniffed. “I am doing it for a good cause, so fate should remember that.”
Antonia watched her in silence for a moment, as if choosing her words. “I want to go with you,” she said in her considered way. “To the official announcement of your engagement. I want to be your lady-in-waiting.”
Roberta wondered if her mouth had fallen open. She knew she was staring.
“Come,” Antonia wheedled, “youneedme. Imagine how tumultuous it will be! I can support you, be by your side, and I am good at listening and watching. I’ve been doing that all my life. Perhaps I will even overhear something I can share with Freddie.”
It sounded ridiculous, but looking into Antonia’s grave face, Roberta didn’t doubt for a second that her sister was capable of those things. All the same, she should say “no,” but even as she went to do so, she realized she didn’t want to. She wanted Antonia at her side. She didneedher.
“I suppose I can ask if that is acceptable,” she said slowly. “Or maybe…I will just tell them you are coming with me. Not give them the chance to refuse.”
Antonia smiled.
“But for goodness’ sake, don’t tell anyone! Especially not Georgia! She can’t be trusted. She will use all of this in some dastardly way.”
Georgia was not their favorite sister. She seemed to go out of her way to upset others and then find it terribly amusing. They had thought after the incident at Ivo’s house, when she threw Edwina’s doll from the window in a fit of spite and caused Olivia to be kidnapped by Ivo’s enemy, that she must have learned her lesson. Although all had ended well, Georgia had been very repentant, quieter and more thoughtful, but it hadn’t lasted. All too soon, her true nature had returned.
“My lips are sealed,” Antonia responded, but there was a sparkle of laughter in her eyes. All of the Ashton sisters had blue eyes, but Antonia’s were particularly brilliant, almost aquamarine. People did not realize it because she kept them lowered modestly most of the time, but Roberta knew that wasn’t so much modesty as Antonia’s trick of pretending to be invisible so that she could observe the world unseen.
Roberta wondered if perhaps Antonia was right. That if anyone could discover if there was an enemy hiding somewhere close to Niki, it would be her clever sister.
The official engagement announcement was only days away, and Roberta found herself caught up in the excitement despite hersecret concerns. News had spread throughout the ton that something was afoot—Freddie’s work, she guessed—and there were whispers wherever she went.
This would probably be the most exciting moment of her life, and she wished her sisters were all here with her. But then wouldn’t she have had to tell them the truth? She had moaned to Gabriel about it, but although he sympathized, he reminded her sternly that she could not do that. Of course, as he lectured her, she did not tell him she had already taken Antonia into her confidence.
“The more people who know the truth, the more likely it is to leak out. When this is all over…Well, perhaps you can tell them then, although I’m not sure the prince would want his business to be common knowledge. But for now, you need to concentrate on playing your part, Robbie.”
It occurred to her that now might be the time to ask Antonia’s question. Gabriel would know the answer. He looked at her sympathetically when she finished, as if…“No, no, I don’t want it to be real!” she assured him. “I just wondered, that’s all.”
“I imagine he would be expected to marry someone equal in rank, or a woman from his own country. Roberta, I don’t think you will lose anything by your engagement. I wouldn’t have let Freddie ask you to do it if I thought that. People will look at you differently.”
“With more respect?” she teased. “‘There goes that Ashton girl who turned her nose up at a prince’? That sort of thing.”
“I never know whether or not you are being serious,” he growled.
So far, playing her part had been fun. There were fittings for dresses, one for the engagement itself and others for the events to follow. She thought Gabriel must have scrimped and saved forthe occasion, but now, when she tentatively asked him how much this was costing him, he grumbled that the prince was paying. Roberta remembered Freddie mentioning something about payment, and she was relieved—the Ashtons were financially embarrassed most of the time and more than usual right now because of the state of the east wing. Gabriel really did not need anything more to worry about, but she could tell his pride was dented at the thought of someone else bankrolling his sister’s wardrobe.
“He will get over it,” Vivienne assured her later, when they were in the sitting room. She bounced Austin on her hip until his contagious giggles filled the air. Austin had a nursemaid, but Vivienne took every opportunity she could to liberate him. At nearly two years old he wasn’t a baby anymore and was growing into a friendly, charming little boy.
“And Niki is far richer than us,” Roberta continued the conversation as she pretended to tickle her nephew.
