“Because it happened before somewhere else,” Graham answered. “Last year, a Princess Caraboo deceived gullible country gentry before being unmasked as a fraud.”
Jacob nodded. “When the Throckmortens attempt to spread their Princess Mechtilda story, it will destroy their credibility and social standing as well. All the same, we never do anything without a contingency plan. In this case—”
“Enough delaying.” Tommy handed out parcels of clothing. “Start dressing.”
Quickly, Kunigunde and each of the Wynchester siblings disappeared into the thick trees to change into their disguises.
Graham shucked his cravat and frock coat and waistcoat in exchange for purple-and-gold livery. Pinkish-purple. Not Balcovian amaranth, but Marjorie insisted no one here would know the difference. They only needed to keep up appearances for today and tomorrow.
He emerged from the trees to find Jacob and Tommy wearing the same Balcovian livery. Philippa stumbled out next, wearing a long gray dress with a white apron.
Tommy stretched Philippa’s blond ringlets into a severe bun and tucked it beneath a floppy linen mobcap. “You look adorable.”
“I look like a chambermaid, I hope.”
Tommy kissed her cheek. “An adorable chambermaid.”
Graham couldn’t see Marjorie and Elizabeth yet, but he could hear them arguing about which pose looked more royal in between what sounded like the whoosh of a sword snapping stray twigs from a tree.
Where was Kunigunde? Everyone else was ready. Had she become turned around in the woods? Did she need his help?
Graham slipped through the trees, nimbly dodging uneven branches and jutting knots of gnarled roots. The woods were utterly silent, save for the sound of his own breath and the distant calls of swifts and wheatears.
And then he saw her.
She was just fastening the final gold button.
His heart leapt into his throat. He had never thought woman-in-trousers was a particular fantasy of his. But now that he saw Kunigunde dressed as a Balcovian Royal Guard, all Graham wanted to do was to peel the uniform off and make love to her out here in the grass beneath the spring flowers.
Her eyes met his and she gasped.
“I just got here,” he said quickly. “I wasn’t…watching…you…”
Except obviously he was doing just that. Standing foolishly behind a leafy branch and drooling hungrily into his collar points.
“I arrived too late to see anything good?” he tried again.
She arched her brows. “You don’t see anything good?”
He charged through the branches with the grace of a rhinoceros and pulled her into his arms. He had bumbled his words, but he could be eloquent with a kiss.
She wrapped her arms about his neck, careful to mind his white wig, and kissed him back as though she, too, was tempted to peel off his livery and make good use of the soft grass in the clearing. He wished they had more time together.
Graham could not abide the thought of Kunigunde leaving without giving him a chance to court her properly. She looked like a Royal Guard and intended to become one.
Whereas,hisaspirations…
On the journey north, he had made a list in his mind. Arealromantic supper, a sunset promenade, a waltz, a moonlit garden, the fair, the opera, the sea at Brighton.
He kissed her with all the emotion she did not want him to confess aloud.
If she stayed a little longer, he might find the right words, perform the right feats. He could interview every love match in London and find the exact moment when the stars aligned, and then recreate every one of them for Kunigunde.
Except that there wasn’t time. They wouldn’t get to any of the items on his list. Just trundling along backward in a carriage for five days, a quick stop to save Adella and Victor from an unsavory fate, then five more days of bumping back home, arriving just in time for Kunigunde to repack her valise and set sail for Balcovia.
When was she supposed to fall in love with him during all of that?
This journey was Graham’s one and only chance. He had been doing his best. They were always side by side in the carriage and at every meal, and pressed front to front in each other’s embrace whenever they had a moment alone. They talked, they laughed, they kissed…but would it be enough?
