Chapter Two
Niki stood at the window, hands behind his back, and stared out at the streetscape. Then he remembered he’d been warned to stay away from windows and quickly stepped back.
Blast it all! He was furious and worried, all at the same time.
Since his grandfather’s death, he had grown used to being in charge of his life, but now he was being told by others what he could and couldn’t do.
His Holtswig bodyguards wore worried frowns, and Freddie Hart wasn’t helping with his reminders about snipers taking aim at him whenever he showed himself.
He was sick and tired of it, which was one of the reasons he had given in and agreed to this pretend engagement with Lady Roberta Ashton.
At least, that was what Niki told himself in public.
It was only in his private moments that he reluctantly admitted how fascinating he had always found Roberta.
Rather like the boring Mr. Walter, although Niki refused to believe he had anything in common with that gentleman.
All the same, he would probably have been better off dealing with his attraction by staying as far away from her as possible, but instead, he was drawn to her in a quite ridiculous fashion.
As if she were a magnet and he a pin. For three years, he had rarely given her a thought, and suddenly it was as if she had been there all along, occupying a special part of his brain.
There was no one else he knew who did and said things like Roberta.
Was that the reason he was longing to be in her company?
He suspected that spending more time with her would soon rid him of this uncomfortable attraction. Or perhaps he just hoped it was so.
In every way, she was so very different from Niki.
She seemed to have no trouble in expressing her feelings, loudly and freely, and she did not care a jot what others thought of her—at least, he remembered she had not cared during Niki’s stay at Grantham.
Time and maturity had somewhat tempered that defect in her character, but he suspected the change was all on the surface.
Even as she was mouthing polite nothings to him last night at the ball, he was certain he could see hidden secrets in her blue eyes.
Niki had always struggled to convey his intimate feelings.
He was not brave like Roberta. In his position, one did not blurt out confidences, and even in the safety of his private chambers, he remained cautious.
Was that the reason he found himself captivated by her?
Because she was everything he could never be?
As a small child, Niki had been under the direction of his father, Prince Edgar, who believed his only legitimate son and heir should show little or no emotion and restrain himself at all costs.
“Your feelings are nobody’s business but your own,” he would say.
“The people do not want to hear your inner thoughts. They want a leader who can make decisions coolly and calmly, and without hotheaded emotion. The Lichtenbergs are an old and important family, and Holtswig is your country to rule, Nikolai. The future depends on you. Never forget that.”
Niki had not found it difficult to be stiff and proud and often silent.
The effort of making conversation was never easy for him, especially when he felt all eyes upon him.
Over the years, he had discovered it was better to shrug off overtures of friendship from those who did not have his best interests at heart and be thought cold and rude and proud rather than awkward and indecisive and shy.
When his father died and his grandfather took over his care, Niki’s personality did not change in public, but it did in private.
He found he could convey his feelings to the older man as he had never been able to do with his father, and they grew close.
His grandfather’s urging was one of the reasons he had agreed to visit Grantham three years ago.
Later, he regretted it when he was embroiled in a scandal, which did not explain why he still found himself mulling over that brief time and remembering it in remarkable detail.
As soon as he had arrived at the Ashton estate, he had guessed that the Dowager Duchess of Grantham planned for him to marry her granddaughter Lady Olivia.
The dowager had already given him veiled hints at the prospect in her letters, and Niki had certainly been struck by Olivia’s beauty.
For a time, he had thought that perhaps this was a very good plan, and that he would allow himself to be swept up in it.
But it wasn’t long before Lady Olivia showed an obvious preference for the Duke of Northam, and then came the shocking revelation that the new duchess, Vivienne, had penned a romance novel with her cousin. Niki had decided to walk away.
For all his father’s lectures on their elevated position, Prince Edgar had also led a life riddled with scandal.
He and Niki’s mother, Countess Marie, took numerous lovers between them, and the countess was currently estranged from her son and living with a paramour in Italy.
Francis Ruess, Holtswig’s chief chamberlain, and a man Niki had grown to trust implicitly, had warned him many times that the people of Holtswig did not want a prince who followed in his parents’ footsteps.
Times had changed, and Niki must set an example.
Where Olivia Ashton was concerned, it had been better to be thought heartless than weak.
If Olivia had been an impossible choice, then her younger sister Roberta had been worse.
She had “borrowed” Leopold, Niki’s prized stallion, and ridden him roughshod through a bramble thicket.
He had feared his beloved horse had been permanently damaged and had spent several sleepless nights until Leopold recovered.
Yes, Roberta had apologized, but he could tell she didn’t think she had done anything wrong.
He supposed, in hindsight, she had been young and reckless.
Afterward, she had even had the audacity to treat him as if they were friends.
He hadn’t been sure what to make of her.
Yes, her nature was warm and open, and as a man who revealed very little of his own inner life, her behavior had bewildered him, but it had also thrilled him.
When he returned home and told his grandfather about Roberta, the old man had laughed and advised him to wait a year or two and then make her his mistress.
Niki had not, of course. The thought of broaching such an arrangement with Roberta had made him cringe—he had never been the sort of man who could carry off such brashness—and yet he found himself imagining such a scenario far more often than was healthy.
Roberta’s smile when he closed the door of his bedchamber, where she was waiting, her arms welcoming him into her embrace…
That was three years ago, and much had changed for them both, so why was he now agreeing to Freddie Hart’s suggestion of a fake engagement?
The idea made him shudder. Yes, playing at being engaged to an English lady meant the British government could protect him without Niki seeming to be beholden to them.
As soon as Freddie set out his plan, Niki had sent an urgent message to Chamberlain Francis for his opinion on the matter.
Francis’s reply had returned posthaste, and in it he had—in his usual rather pompous manner—listed the pluses and minuses of the arrangement.
For one, Francis felt the people would find such an alliance between Niki and Roberta puzzling, but it helped that the Ashtons were an old and important family.
If it wasn’t for the rumors and scandals that surrounded them, then he felt the match would be acceptable—after all, Niki’s aunt had married an Englishman.
The chamberlain went on to admit that the Lichtenbergs were hardly unsullied, and the Duke of Grantham was well thought of, and Roberta had taken her place in society and there had not been a whisper of anything untoward attaching itself to her. So far.
Two wrongs do not make a right, Francis had written back to him. Just because your parents were imperfect in their behavior does not mean you should marry someone from a similar background.
He was right, of course he was. But it was Francis who had suggested Niki remove himself from Holtswig for three months until the unrest settled.
His aunt Matilda Brooks had been begging him to stay with her in London, and he had planned to use that as an excuse for his absence.
“You are not running away,” Francis had assured him the last time they spoke face to face.
“And I will be here to see the country has a firm hand on the reins.”
Francis had risen through the ranks of the Holtswig army to become the general in charge before Niki’s grandfather asked him to take on the role of chamberlain, which was similar to the British Prime Minister.
He was a wise man, and while Niki was happy to listen to his advice and trust his judgment, he also had to make up his own mind.
Do not engage yourself to Lady Roberta, Francis had written bluntly in the final paragraph of his missive. I think it would be most unwise.
Niki set the letter aside with a restless movement and sat gazing into space.
The truth was he did not want to take his chamberlain’s advice, not this time.
Something inside him yearned for Roberta Ashton, and if he said yes, then for the three months, he could pretend Roberta was to be his wife.
For three months, he would have her at his side.
He could listen to her chatter and express her opinions and be the recipient of her smiles and laughter and her generous spirit.
It would feel as if he had cracked open a door and sunshine was shining into the dark shadows of his life.
If his grandfather had still been alive, Niki could have told him his feelings and listened to the old man’s laughter.
He was sure his grandfather would have understood.
Francis Ruess gave him sound advice when it came to running the country, but as for what made Niki happy…
He felt very alone. Being the ruler of a small, wealthy country with a long and proud history was not an easy task, especially when somebody now wanted him dead.
Francis had promised to find out who was responsible for the attempt on his life and force the perpetrator or perpetrators out into the open.
Could it be Karl, his illegitimate older brother?
Karl had never shown any desire to harm Niki or any ambition to rule.
He was always loyal to Niki, and if Niki was jealous of how much the people loved his brother, then that was his own character flaw.
And yet something was not right. This was more than a few dissatisfied peasants drawing attention to themselves.
There had been the riot in the capital, timed just as Niki was about to attend a ceremony for the new recruits to the army.
His attendance had been a secret to all but a very few, and it was fortunate word of the riot got out before he was in a vulnerable position.
He could have been hurt, or worse. And the gate to the castle had been opened in the night and several men had entered but were seen and captured before they could make their way into the private rooms. So far, no one had admitted any negligence or complicity, and an investigation was ongoing.
Someone was pulling strings, Niki was sure of it, and he was worried it was someone close to him.
Like Karl. He had even considered his mother’s involvement.
She might be in Italy, but she was bitter and resentful about her banishment by Niki’s father.
There was no love lost between them while Prince Edgar had been alive, and Niki felt as if they were strangers.
It would be easier to harm someone you no longer knew well.
Francis had insisted he leave the questions to him, and honestly, Niki would be relieved not to think about them.
Until the assassination attempt last night, he had felt safe here in London.
He had Freddie Hart on his side now too, and the man seemed more than competent.
“Leave it to me,” Hart had said. “I will not allow anything to happen to you.”
Niki desperately wanted to believe him. He was tired of being under some nameless threat.
He wanted to feel safe again, and with Roberta at his side, he would have something else to focus on.
He had made his decision. Francis would not like it, but for once, Niki refused to be swayed by his chamberlain’s pragmatism.
This time, he was determined to act upon his own instincts, and anyway, he reminded himself it was only for three months. What could possibly go wrong?
He smiled. Roberta Ashton was someone he had thought about many times since he first met her, and when he had seen her again at the ball, when she had held him in her arms as if she could save him…
he knew his strange, confused feelings regarding her had not gone away.
Three months would be long enough. And he expected to be disappointed at the end of it.
When he discovered the Roberta he had constructed in his memory was but a fantasy, wouldn’t that be a good thing?
Yes, he would look at it that way. Roberta would drive him to the edge of insanity by openly expressing unasked-for opinions on everything and everyone, and he would be relieved to see the back of her.
Why then did Niki feel as if he was embarking on a momentous journey? Like one of the heroes of old, he was traveling to a mysterious land, seeking treasure and enlightenment. And when he returned, he expected to be changed for better or worse in some deep and fundamental way.