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 not wanted to 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 the real Roberta Ashton.
Apart from that one, brief window of opportunity, before most people had even opened their eyes, when she pushed aside the shackles 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 questionable gathering 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.
Roberta was deciding what she should wear to the picnic with Estelle when she was informed by a maid that Mr. Freddie Hart was awaiting her in the yellow sitting room.
Alarmed—this must be something to do with last night—she quickly changed and went down to see what he wanted.
She wasn’t surprised to find Gabriel there too.
He and Freddie were fast friends. They looked up as she entered the room, and their expressions did not suggest they had been reminiscing about happier times.
In fact, Gabriel was frowning, and Freddie’s hazel eyes had a watchfulness about them that only increased her unease.
“There you are, Roberta!” Gabriel said. He opened his mouth as if to ask her where she had been this early in the morning and then seemed to think better of it.
She and Gabriel had come to an understanding.
In public, she kept any reckless behavior carefully confined beneath an outer shell of “elegant young lady,” and Gabriel did not ask any questions about what she’d been up to in private.
For a man with six sisters, it was probably the only way his nerves could survive.
“What is it?” she asked, looking from one to the other. The two men did look very serious. “Has the prince taken a turn for the worse, Gabriel?”
“No, no, it is nothing like that,” Gabriel hastily reassured her. “Although Freddie is here to discuss a matter with you regarding the prince—”
“His Royal Highness, Prince Nikolai Lichtenberg, Duke of Holtswig,” Freddie broke in, giving the man his full title.
Roberta sat down abruptly on the sofa and stared at them as they also returned to their seats, facing her.
The house was quiet, it was still early, and this moment suddenly struck Roberta as very strange.
She rarely heard Niki’s name spoken like that.
To her and her family, he had been simply Niki or Prince Nikolai, but she was reminded now that he had a life outside his encounters with the Ashtons. A life she knew very little about.
“How is the prince?” she said. “His injury—”
“Hale and hearty, so he says.” Freddie’s smile held a hint of mockery. “The truth is, no matter how hard he tries to put on a brave face, he’s worried. And so is the British government. Which means I’m worried too because it will be my job to sort out the mess if something happens to him.”
“‘If something happens to him’?” she repeated, her voice higher than usual. She remembered the look in Niki’s eyes, the trickle of blood at his temple. “Do you mean they might try again?”
Freddie leaned forward with his hands linked between his knees.
“Let me explain. The Lichtenberg family have ruled Holtswig for generations, but since the prince’s grandfather died a year ago, there has been growing unrest. Under Nikolai’s grandfather and father, the country was rapidly modernized—for the good of the people, I might add—but there are those who wish to return to the old ways.
These dissenters believe Nikolai should not be the next one to rule his country, that his family’s dynasty should come to an end, and their voices are growing louder. ”
“But he is the heir!” Roberta cried. “Is that what happened last night? Did these dissenters who disagree with his right to rule try to—to hurt him?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“But…What are you going to do about it?”
Gabriel gave a huff of laughter. “For goodness’ sake, Roberta, let Freddie speak.”
Freddie’s hair was particularly bright in the dull light that came through the windows.
When she first knew him, he had been in the army, but since then he had been seconded to a secret government department, and no one seemed to know exactly what his job entailed.
He had given up his uniform and now dressed in formal wear, plain but elegant, and Roberta thought that he looked like someone you could depend upon in a crisis.
Three years ago, he had helped extract Olivia’s husband, Ivo, from a tricky situation, and they were all grateful to him for that, so she should not be surprised he was the one looking into Niki’s troubles.
“The prince and I have spoken,” Freddie began, when he had her attention.
“At first, he refused help from our government because he felt as if it would weaken his position with his people even further—relying on a foreign power, you see. But we came to an agreement. The reason why I am here is that our agreement concerns you, Roberta.”
“Me?” She stared. “Why me?”
“The prince expects to be in England for three months. While he is here, he needs protection, but he is reluctant to agree. He has brought his own bodyguards with him from Holtswig, but they are unfamiliar with this country. It was suggested to him that if he was engaged to an English girl, then protection could come from our government, disguised as assigned to her.”
“Engaged?” Roberta knew she must look as shocked as she felt.
Niki engaged? She wasn’t sure exactly what she was feeling—jealousy, perhaps, and certainly disappointment, although those emotions seemed out of place for a woman who claimed she did not wish to marry and had long ago moved beyond her infatuation with the prince.