“I do not need your help.”
“I literallyjustsaved you,” he pointed out. “Moments ago. An unplanned rescue is still a rescue. Some might even say the action is ongoing.”
She did not look impressed. “I am uninterested in leaping from one set of men who ‘know best’ into the protection of another.”
“What if it’s not protection?” he suggested. “What if I am the Sancho Panza to your Don Quixote? The Peaseblossom to your Titania? Benedick to your Beatrice?”
“Pease what?” Her eyes went wide. “Titania who?”
“Literature.” Graham waved this away. “I have never met royalty before. What mischief are you here to make?”
“It is not mischief,” she said. “It is a mission, which I will be completing on my own. That is why I left my maid aboard the ship—”
“You stowed away with a lady’s maid?”
“I cannot arrange my hair properly without her,” the princess explained. “And she was the one who fetched food so that I could remain hidden. But I cannot ask her to leave the protection of the royal vessel. Not to spend forty days cringing about in some inferior accommodation in a large, dirty city with no amusements to speak of—”
A string of consonants rattled from Graham’s mouth before his electrified brain could find words to defend his home from this slander. “I’ll have you know London is a fine city. A great, powerful, beautiful, thriving metropolis full of the best entertainments and the most elegant of…” He tilted his head. “In which specific inferior hostelry has your highness taken shelter?”
“I am not a princess. I am Kunigunde.Coo-nee-goon-deh.And my rooms are in the Pull…the Pult…in the Pick…”
“The Pulteney Hotel? In Piccadilly?” he said in disbelief. “The same noble establishment that hosted Alexander, Czar of Russia, and his sister the Grand Duchess Catherine four years ago? The Pulteney is the finest accommodation in all of London.”
“And,” said Kunigunde, “it is your only establishment with modern water closets, according to my guidebook.”
Water closets. She was definitely a princess, no matter what she claimed.
“Are you carrying enough finery for a place like that?” he asked.
“I brought a single valise containing weapons, a few changes of clothes…the usual. And some jewels I could sell for pounds sterling. You must know the rest of the world does not use your currency. I find the English system both confusing and inconvenient.”
“Couldn’t you have exchanged your country’s money?”
“Not without calling attention to the fact that I am from Balcovia. You were the first of your countrymen to divine the truth. Instead of exchanging currency that might have caused unwanted attention, I sold my least-favorite earrings. Diamond-sapphire castoffs from a friend.”
“What sort of friend hasdiamond-sapphirecastoffs?”
“My dear friend Princess Mechtilda. Unfortunately, the jewels were too heavy to wear comfortably in combat situations.”
“Diamonds and sapphires,” he repeated. “Do not even tell me how much blunt you traded them for. Even if I beg to know the details with my last dying breath, do not even hint at what you thought was a fair trade for bejeweled earrings belonging to a Balcovian princess.”
“I know exactly how much they are worth and received every penny. I then registered with the hotel under a false name whilst pretending to be a lady’s maid. The proprietor did not even question it.” She added under her breath, “I was both proud and offended.”
“Welcome to England,” Graham said. “Our natural condition is proud and offended.”
“In any case,” said Kunigunde, “you can see that I no longer need you.”
“On the contrary. You need me more than ever. If your brothers haven’t found your rooms yet, they will. Even if you change hotels, it should not be much bother to bribe the right parties to discover your presence.”
Graham would be mortified to take over a week to find a family member if he knew in which city to begin looking. The only wonder was that the search had taken the guardsthislong.
Perhaps the saving grace was that her brothers were just as unfamiliar with London…and, apparently, they had underestimated Kunigunde’s determination and resourcefulness.
She nibbled on her lower lip. It was a distractingly appealing action.
Graham wasabsolutelygoing to be mentioned in every gossip column in England once news of the royal presence spread. Now that he’d met Kunigunde—and two Balcovian Royal Guardsmen—he was only one step removed from having met royalty himself. Perhaps he would be invited in appreciation of his outstanding service to his own king.
The next time the papers mentioned Graham Wynchester, it would not be in the usual pejorative terms. It might read:Graham Wynchester, provider of critical intelligence to the Crown, as well as bosom friend of Kunigunde de Heusch, practically a princess…
