Page 3 of Second Chance Prince
“Are you hurt?” she asked him stupidly.
“No,” he mumbled. Then, seeming to regain his composure, “No. A near miss.” But the eyes he lifted to hers were wide and shocked and anything but composed. He looked so uncharacteristically vulnerable that something inside her twisted.
“Did someone just try to kill you?” she whispered.
He was still leaning against her, his body heavy and warm, and she felt his breath on her lips as he answered, “Yes.”
And then they were surrounded. Guests were expressing their shock and concern, and men who seemed to be part of Niki’s entourage helped him to his feet, leaving Roberta to rise to hers and step away. She could only watch dumbly as the prince was led off, so closely surrounded by his people that he was almost invisible.
Then she caught a glimpse of familiar red hair. Nowtherewas someone she recognized.
Freddie Hart.
Roberta knew Freddie well. He was a close friend of her brother and Charles Wickley, her sister Justina’s husband. Gabriel, Charles, and Freddie had been children together in St. Ninian’s Foundling Home for Boys and had forged a bond that had never been broken. Freddie used to be in the army but was presently engaged in work for the government. Very secretive work, according to her brother. And yet here he was now, dressed smartly in fashionable evening wear with his auburn hair cut short above his neatly tied cravat. He wasn’t a particularly handsome man, unlike Gabriel and Charles, but there was an appeal about him, and a steadfastness that was very reassuring.
Especially reassuring to Roberta at this moment.
His gaze was sweeping about the room, and when their eyes met, he didn’t seem at all surprised. Roberta had the sense Freddie did not miss much. He had probably been watching her conversation with the prince before the shot was fired.
He came to join her. “Are you injured?” he said sharply.
Until that moment, Roberta had not considered that she too might have been hurt. She shook her head. “No, not me. Is Niki…is the prince badly hurt? He was bleeding.” She touched her temple and found her hand was shaking badly.
Freddie took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Not seriously,” he said. “Shocked, I think. I need to speak to him. Can you get home, or do you require my help?”
Roberta looked about her and was surprised to see the room was almost empty. At some point after the shooting, the guests had been shuffled out. Here she was, all set for a pleasant, uneventful evening, and now this. And of course, she had to wonder why on earth someone would want to shoot at the prince here in the heart of London. Would want tokillhim.
She opened her mouth to quiz Freddie and then remembered he had asked her a question. “I have the coach,” she said. “But thank you.”
He nodded solemnly. “Come on, then. I will wait with you.” He took her hand and tucked it into his elbow. “Gabriel would not be happy with me if he thought I had abandoned you.”
That made her smile. It was true, Gabriel was a very diligent brother. And then she shuddered again, remembering what had just happened. “I will have a story to tell him when I get home,” she said. “I can hardly believe it. The prince did say there had been disturbances in his country, but for someone to try to harm him in the middle of a Society gathering…”
Freddie’s expression was grim. “It is a bad look for a foreign guest of our government to come under attack. Something will have to be done.”
Roberta let his words wash over her. She was remembering the shocked expression in Niki’s eyes as she held him in her arms. It made her heart ache in a way it had not done for three years, and she wasn’t exactly sure what that meant.
Chapter One
The next morning, Roberta rose early because she intended to go riding. She had learned long ago that it was really the only thing that kept her sane. Because her natural exuberance needed to be curbed whenever she went into society, she would find herself watching her every word and every move. She couldn’t be her true self, and that made her jittery. If she was honest, there were times when, in the midst of a ball or a soiree, she wanted nothing more than to saddle her horse, Arrow, and ride as far and as fast as she could. The wind blowing in her face, the strength of the horse beneath her…it was a sensation she never grew tired of.
But these days, she had to curb her rebellious nature. Not because she was hanging out for a husband; Roberta had no plans to marry—being chained to a man was not something she imagined for herself. Well, not since she grew up anyway. She was the sister of a duke, the daughter of a duke, and she had a role to play. Olivia used to scold her for her thoughtlessness, but she had not understood—or perhaps she had notwantedto understand. Now she did. She had to watch herself carefully, and that meant that for many of the hours in her days, she could not be therealRoberta Ashton.
Apart from that one, brief window of opportunity, before most people had even opened their eyes, when she pushed aside theshackles and let the wild girl inside her run free. It was Roberta’s favorite time of the day.
The weather was cool today with a hint of rain, but Roberta didn’t care. She rode hard, shaking off her jitters and calming her nerves. The evening before seemed to have made those jitters worse than usual. Not just the pistol shot through the window aimed at Niki but seeing him again. There had been a time when she had imagined herself in love with him, but she knew now that it had been nothing but a girlish infatuation. He had always been out of her reach; she just had not known it.
Remembering now how she had insisted he be invited to her coming-out ball last year made her squirm with embarrassment. Had she really believed he might be interested in her? Roberta remembered her crushing disappointment when he did not reply. Then she had still been a child—he was a silly dream she had held on to since she first met him—but maturity had brought self-awareness. She was not designed for a conventional marriage, but she just hadn’t known it then.
Having seen Gabriel and Olivia find their perfect partners, and make peace with their true natures, had made her wonder if she might find someone, one day, who would allow her the freedom she needed to be herself. Someone who would not cage her in with protocols. Wedded to Prince Nikolai of Holtswig, even if such a thing were possible? What a disaster that would be!
By the time Roberta returned to the town house, she had put aside memories of her girlish fantasies and was looking forward to a picnic she had been invited to by Estelle Longhurst. Roberta had made the acquaintance of Estelle nearly three years ago, when she accompanied Olivia to an extremely questionablegathering at the home of the bohemian Longhursts. While Olivia dallied with Ivo—and there was a great deal of dallying going on, that was for certain—Roberta had spent the evening safely in Estelle’s bedchamber playing with dolls.
Dolls were more her little sister Edwina’s plaything, but it had been the beginning of an unlikely friendship between Estelle and Roberta that had since grown and flourished. They were very different personalities, it was true, but perhaps that was why they seemed to get on so well.
Estelle had made her debut too, and they gravitated to each other at society entertainments, heads bent close as they giggled and exchanged secrets. Indeed, Roberta could not think of another female—besides her sisters—with whom she was closer.
Gabriel and Vivienne had accompanied Roberta to Ashton House this year for the London Season, and Antonia had been permitted to join them. At nearly sixteen years, Antonia was the next Ashton sister to Roberta’s nineteen years, and although she was not yet out and wouldn’t be for some time, she was good company. After Antonia came Georgia, at eleven years, who seemed to enjoy being disliked, and Edwina, at eight years, who was a sweetheart. The two youngest girls remained at Grantham, the Ashton estate in Sussex, with their grandmother and their governess.
