“Misting,” Prince Ferdinando countered, offering her his elbow. “Come.”
At the opposite end of the chamber, Maxim was leaning nearer to Princess Anastasia’s ear, murmuring something to her. The picture they presented was akin to a dagger in Tansy’s heart. And suddenly, she couldn’t bear to remain another moment, witnessing the grand spectacle.
Impulsively, she placed her hand in the crook of the prince’s elbow. “As Your Royal Highness wishes.”
The prince whisked them from the drawing room without a single objection from the guards and other courtiers lining the chamber. They passed quietly through the town house. In no time, they reached the double doors that led to the small outdoor courtyard and the privacy beyond.
They didn’t even stop for wraps or a hat.
The air was cool and damp beyond the brick walls of the home they’d fled. But she was surprised to discover that the prince was not wrong in his assessment. The rain of the morning had dissipated, giving way to a fine, cold mist.
“You were correct, Your Royal Highness,” she observed, trying and failing to keep the bitterness from her voice. “No one noticed our departure.”
“And why should they? Those ancient documents they’re poring over are undoubtedly scintillating,” the prince told her with a teasing air and a rakish grin that revealed a pair of dimples.
His conquests likely sighed over those dimples. Tansy felt distinctly unmoved.
“Indeed,” she said, suppressing a shiver as a brisk wind whipped at her gown and they moved down the gravel path together, farther from the windows and door and prying ears and eyes. “I suppose they must be.”
“You’re cold,” Prince Ferdinando said, startling her with his concern. “Take my coat.”
“No,” she hastened to deny. “It would be dreadfully improper of me to do so.”
But he paused on the walk and withdrew from her to shrug from his coat just the same. “I’m known for being improper. No one will be surprised in the slightest.”
Another wind blustered past them, and the prince settled his coat over her shoulders as if it were a cape, the warmth of his body seeping into hers. She pulled it around her, grateful for the protection from the mist and chill, even if it was wrong.
“Thank you.”
He smiled. “My pleasure, Lady Tansy.” He gestured for her to continue along the path. “Shall we?”
She resumed their journey. “Will you tell me the reason for our walk now?”
“Need there be a reason for a gentleman to take in the air with a beautiful lady?” he asked with a flirtatious air.
Tansy gave him a stern look. “I’m hardly beautiful.”
His expression turned serious. “You are, though. I can see why my brother is so taken with you.”
A strange sensation settled in her stomach at the mentioning of Maxim being taken with her. She reminded herself it didn’t mean what she wanted it to mean. He desired her. He was a powerful man who could have whatever and whomever he wanted.
“His Majesty isn’t taken with me,” she protested.
“Of course he is,” Prince Ferdinand said easily. “I know my brother very well. Better than anyone, I should venture to say. I haven’t seen him react to a woman this way since his wife.”
Wife.
The word almost made her stumble.
She cast the prince a searching glance. “His wife? His Majesty was married before?”
It stood to reason that he could have been; he was forty years old after all. But Tansy had never heard a word to suggest he had been. Rumors abounded concerning his campaigns on the battlefield. His bravery, his fearlessness. But try as she might, she could not recollect a single mentioning of a wife.
“It was many years ago, before Maxim became king. He was young, and so was Mina.”
How strange to think of Maxim with a wife. She didn’t think she liked it.
“Was theirs a love match?” she asked.
