“I fear your flattery is wasted upon me, Your Royal Highness,” she said calmly. “You would be better served to save it for those who welcome it. Undoubtedly, there is a host of such fortunate ladies.”
With that, she took a sip of her tea.
“My, you’ve a sharp tongue.” He grinned, seemingly enjoying their repartee. “I dare say I’ve never received as many stinging setdowns in the course of one afternoon.”
She almost told him he should take tea with her more often because she would be happy to pay him even more insults, but Eleanora tamped down the urge, knowing it unwise. The wily prince would likely take the slight as an invitation. And she had no intention of taking tea with His Royal Highness again.
Ever.
No, the sooner he was gone, the sooner she could breathe easily again. Her stays seemed suddenly unaccountably tight. She had to get rid of him.
“Forgive me, Your Royal Highness,” she said politely. “I didn’t mean to deliver any setdowns, merely to establish my insusceptibility to flummery.”
“Flummery?” His brow furrowed, a look of befuddlement stealing over his handsome features. “I don’t recognize the word, I’m afraid.”
Save for the faint hint of an accent, the prince’s command of the English language was so precise, his wit so rapier-sharp, that Eleanora had forgotten that his native tongue was Varossian.
“Nonsensical flattery,” she elaborated.
“How kind of you to tutor me, Miss Brett.” He paused to smile again, his silken tone falling over her like a caress. “I wonder how else you might offer me further edification.”
The velvety hint of suggestion in his words sent a frisson down her spine. He made it sound as if she had granted him a sinful favor instead of explaining the definition to an ordinary word.
He made it sound wicked and…intimate.
And that was when it occurred to her that she wasn’t simply taking the place of the princesses in their absence. Rather, she was who he had wanted to see all along. How had she missed it? Over the past few weeks, the evidence had been there, as obvious as the nose on her face. And yet Eleanora, who prided herself on her intellect, had failed to realize that Prince Ferdinando hadsettled uponher, rather in the fashion of a hunter choosing a stag from a herd before him.
The prince wanted to seduce her.
How astonishing to find herself the sole recipient of this gorgeous prince’s rakish intent. He’d set a trap, and she had fallen neatly into it. Worse, now here she sat, alone with him. Utterly at his gorgeous mercy. Oh, there were servants about. But none of them would save her from the certain ruin she’d face if the prince attempted to seduce her in truth.
She straightened in her seat, resuming the icy tones she had greeted him with upon his initial arrival. “I am sure there are no areas in which you need any edification at all, Your Royal Highness.”
He raised his tea but hesitated before partaking. “I’m not as certain, Miss Brett. You’ll find me an eager pupil.”
Heat rose to her cheeks. His insinuations were hovering on the edge of being scandalous.
Something had to be done. With all haste.
Eleanora reached for her dish of tea and instead of gracefully retrieving her beverage, she upended it. Hot liquid spilled over the table and pooled on the carpet.
She shot to her feet. “Oh, how clumsy of me. I’ll have to ring for a maid to clean up the mess I’ve made.”
And the maid would prove a suitable enough chaperone for the two of them, thereby thwarting the prince’s plan.
But Prince Ferdinando stood as well. “No need to bother one of the domestics. I’ll mop up the tea. I’d hate for our conversation to come to such an abrupt halt. I’ve been enjoying myself immensely.”
She had no doubt he had, the rogue.
“That’s hardly necessary, Your Royal Highness,” she countered.
The notion of a prince performing the task that more properly belonged to a servant was ludicrous. But aside from that, she was hoping for a respite. She needed a shield between herself and Prince Ferdinando, who was deceptively excellent at getting what he desired.
In this case, her virtue.
And that wasn’t happening.
She’d sooner toss him out the drawing room window. Eleanora had worked too hard for far too many years to surrender everything she had built for a few stolen moments of illicit passion with a rake. Even if he was a prince and more decadently handsome than any man she’d ever met.
