Magical Masquerade: A Regency Masquerade (28 page)

‘Your
grandmother sent for me. It is a letter I shall cherish forever. Without one
unpleasant word or phrase, she managed to convey to me that I was a brutal, senseless
philistine who had cast away the greatest treasure the world held for me. You
were only too far above me but, as you were about to go into a decline and
expire, I should come and hear the truth for myself. To be honest, this was the
conclusion I had pretty much come to myself.’ His arm tightened around her. ‘I
did not really need to hear your words to know that I had been a fool. But,
sweet, loving, little Minette, I am so very glad I did.’

She
lifted his hand to her lips and kissed the palm. ‘I do not know what I should
have done if you had not come to me.’

‘As I
told you, I have it on excellent authority that you would have gone into a
decline and died.’ He pulled her closer with a half-laughing shudder.

‘No,
I should not have because—’she glanced up at him with a smile combined of
mischief and a little apprehension‘—because I should have had something to live
for, even if you had not come for me.’

‘Something
—?’
He pulled away from her and took her by the shoulders. This time, there was
joy, not darkness, in the face he bent to her. ‘You are with child?’

She
nodded laughing. ‘I was not sure before, so I did not tell you
—
but, yes, I am.’

‘We
must be married as soon as may be!’

‘Are
you free yet?’

‘Oh,
there must be a quiet annulment. Trust me, no one will know. I still have some
power in the world. Then we will slip away quietly to the parson here and be
married by special licence. Who is to know or care if Philip Clareville and
Minette de Saint-Saze are married or connect them with the Duke of Rochford and
his bride?’

She
folded her hands demurely in her lap. ‘Shall I have to go through life being
called Eugénie?’

‘On
formal occasions, I am afraid you will. But at home with me and Bella, you will
be our own sweet Minette.’ He pulled her closer. ‘It is a small price to pay
for a lifetime’s happiness. Do you not agree?’

‘Yes,
but it is as well Génie will be living in France. It would be confusing to have
two sisters both called Eugénie who look exactly alike.’

‘Not
confusing for me. I shall never be in any doubt as to which twin is which. Mine
is more beautiful, more loving
—
and
much, much more desirable.’

‘I
daresay Charles would say the same.’

‘Yes,
but he would be mistaken.’

The
shadows were lengthening at last as the perfect, summer afternoon faded towards
twilight. Madame D’Evremont was seated upon a bench in the fragrant rose-garden
at Camer Castle, a pretty, golden-haired babe sleeping against her breast. Minette,
Duchess of Rochford, watched her sister with a smile and laid a hand upon the
swelling curve of her own slight form. ‘He kicked,’ she murmured.

‘
He
may be a
she
,’ Génie reminded her.

‘No.
In our family girls come in pairs.’

‘True.’
She lifted one of the sleeping baby’s hands and kissed it.
‘My
precious little boy
bébé
.’

‘Could
you really have given him to the Bovarys?
If your Charles had
not returned.’

Génie
shuddered. ‘Do not speak of it. Of course, I could not. When your child is born
you will understand.’

‘I
understand now.’ She looked up, and a radiant smile lit up her lovely face as
she saw her husband coming towards her with the setting sun at his back.
‘Philip!’

Rochford
kissed her hand and bowed a little stiffly to his sister-in-law. ‘I have had a
letter, my love.
From Lady Talgarth.’

‘Not—not
bad news, I hope.’

‘Not
at all.
She writes that the climate in Rome has done William a world of good. He is so
much improved he has embarked on another play and, indeed, has sent us a
fragment enclosed in his mother’s missive.

‘I am
so very glad. Read it to us.’

He
seated himself beside his wife, encircled her waist with a protective arm, and
commenced to read:

Roam on, my soul, through this enchanted
sphere,

O’er oceans of bright fortune, realms of
fire.

Vain wanderer, cross not that dread
frontier,

But live to love, find freedom in desire.

The
End