Chapter 32 #2
“For I am not ashamed of my love,” he continued relentlessly. “I want the entire world to know that I am going on an outing with the woman I love.” The tone of his voice increased in volume, so that it rang loud and clear through the courtyard.
“For it is her and her alone I shall love and cherish for life.” It was a vow, like one made in church, in front of a priest. “Until death do us part.”
Pippa went pale, then red. Heat flushed through her, and he did not wait but grabbed her by the waist and, in one fell swoop, lifted her into the sled, looking up at her.
He laughed.
Suddenly, her heart lifted, and the fear that had shackled her fell off. All she felt was that this was right, oh so right, and that she loved him, and only him. And that it did not matter what they said, if they only had each other.
“Hear, hear,” cried one voice and “hip hip hooray,” shouted another voice. It may have been that of Kovacz.
Mimi laughed and clapped. “Ach, what a pity Papa missed out on this.”
Klemens made a show of tucking her in, wrapping her in fur blankets, placing heated bricks under her feet, and pulling mittens and muffs over her hands, fussing over her as no one ever had.
She was so well wrapped up that only her eyes emerged from the pile of wool and mink.
“This will be the ride of our lives,” he promised her.
Then the ride began.
Klemens sat next to her with the reins in his hands, with red cheeks and sparkling eyes.
“Hü!” and their sled set in motion, through the palace gate, as he deftly guided the horses through the narrow streets, where the people stood by the side, cheering.
Through the K?rntnertor they went, over the bridge and through the suburbs, where the houses thinned out and the landscape opened into a magnificent winter scene spread out before them.
It was exhilarating.
Klemens slowed the pace of the horses to a canter, and another sled sped by them, with hollering and cheers.
“It isn’t a race,” Klemens muttered. “At least not for us.” He turned to her, slid his hand into her muff and pressed her hand. “They should pass and leave us alone. We’ll come in last, and that is fine.”
But Pippa was still processing his earlier words.
The Grand Duchess is gone. The engagement dissolved.
Klemens, who loved her, was here beside her.
She lifted her face to him and saw his bright blue eyes glittering and his cheeks reddened from the biting cold.
There was an air of joy about him she had not seen in a long time. “What you said just now. Is it true?”
“About the Grand Duchess? I was informed of it days ago. She eloped the day after Metternich announced our engagement.” He paused. “I did not understand it and was furious at the moment, but it was a strategic move on his part.”
“But…how?”
“She did not expect that announcement either,” he explained.
“Metternich, of course, had known that she was secretly engaged to someone else. In taking us by surprise through this announcement, he prompted her to action. But not even he imagined that she’d run away and actually marry the man so immediately afterwards. ” Klemens shook his head.
“But why would Metternich do this?”
“Believe me, there is nothing the man does that does not serve him. He rid himself of the Russians, who had been hanging like a millstone around his neck. And he now has earned the eternal gratitude of an archduke.”
“But Klemens, no doubt the profound scandal has now been caused by the Grand Duchess, but how does this solve our problem?”
His eyes flashed. “I vow, Pippa, that before the end of the week we’ll be married.”
Pippa shook her head. “But—” She wanted to believe him desperately, but the laws and regulations, expectations and duty were not so easily overcome.
He cupped her head in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers.
A second sled that drove past them hooted.
“I am done with secrets, secrecy, keeping you a secret and, most importantly, my love for you hidden. I am not ashamed of it. I will no longer hide it.” He wrapped her up again in the mink blanket. “Let us go. They are waiting.”
He flicked the reins, and the horses surged forward, kicking up a spray of powdery snow that swirled about them like a white cloud.
Their sled pulled in last at Schonbrunn Palace.
Klemens lifted her out of the sled and refused to relinquish her hand even when the Tsar suddenly approached them.
He looked at her curiously. “But how charming. So you are the mysterious lady who has captured our Archduke’s heart.
Do you even know how many betting books you have filled?
I myself could not resist and participated in a small wager.
” When he smiled, two dimples appeared in his cheeks, which were round as a cherub’s.
Pippa was completely unprepared to encounter this onslaught of royalty, and dropped into an awkward curtsy. “Your Majesty.”
He was not at all who she expected. Charm oozed out of every pore, and when he talked to her, he made her feel as though there was no one else in the world.
He flirted with her unashamedly, and she blushed despite recognising the technique for what it was: a cultivated skill, honed to perfection.
So that was why he was so successful with women.
He took her hand and planted a kiss on it.
“Charming. But I understand now why His Imperial Highness saw fit to hide you away all this time, lest you be spirited away by someone else.” He turned to Klemens, who frowned at him.
“I must apologise for Irina. I shall also apologise to the Kaiser personally. A scandal like this is inexcusable. Though, to see this differently, maybe she has done you a favour, and it is for the best of everyone involved?”
Another wink, a smile, and he was gone.
“What an insufferable fellow,” Klemens muttered. “Come.”
He wanted to lead her up the main stairs to the palace when Kovacz caught up with them. “Imperial Highness. You must make haste.” He was panting. “You have been summoned, and you as well, Fr?ulein Cranwell. To see the Emperor immediately.”
Pippa’s hand tightened involuntarily in Klemens’. This was it, then. When everything would be decided, when the Emperor would either bless their union or destroy them both. She straightened her spine.
Whatever came next, she would face it standing upright.