A tuneless whistle. “Never say he’ll pull the same trick on him as he did to his sister? Metternich snapped his fingers and lo and behold, she ended up being married to Napoleon.”
Aldingbourne uttered a curt, dry laugh. “Let him try. I doubt he’ll succeed.”
“Are you saying the archduke is resisting?”
“One may put it that way. His heart is occupied elsewhere. So you see, our friend will prove himself to be immune to schemings, manipulations and machinations, whether by you, or by Metternich. I daresay even Metternich finds him a hard nut to crack. Better to focus on Talleyrand. I hear you met him yesterday?”
“Yes.” A huff. “A cantankerous old fox whose words are more slippery than soap. Yet he is convincing, and his eye misses nothing.” Castlereagh laughed softly. “He isalso a rogue. It appears the fairer sex is quite taken with him, despite his advanced age.”
“Are they?” Aldingbourne’s voice sounded amused.
“The question is how we might use that.” Fingers drummed on a tabletop. “I say. You have the reputation of a rogue somewhat yourself, don’t you?”
A laugh. “What, me? Certainly not.”
“Come, come. I’ve seen how the ladies look at you. How about you take advantage of that and use your power of seduction to see what you can get out of the former Tsar’s mistress?”
“Believe me, I have more than my hands full with a certain lady already. She takes up all my spare time, energy and effort.”
“And who might that be?”
“My sister Evie.”
“Ah. That’s right, you came with your sister. She is enchanting. Do lend her to my wife once in a while, she would be delighted to have some company. Emily is quite taken by Vienna and loves nothing much more than going shopping.”
“Evie will be more than happy to comply. I say, Castlereagh, we must return before Metternich sends his bloodhounds to sniff us out.”
The voices moved to the door.
There was a longer pause. Then Pippa heard the door open, and close with a click.
They had left.
Pippa exhaled all the pent-up breath.
Her hand shook, her knees had turned to jelly, and she took two, three breaths to steady herself.
That had been the most frightening, thrilling, interesting situation she had ever found herself in.
Well, with the exception of one, for kissing Klemens had been all that and more, but the point was that she had had no idea that being a spy was so thrilling. And physically demanding. She had barely dared to breathe the entire time.
Drawing in big gulps of air, she pushed the curtain aside and stepped into the room—and froze.
For standing next to the desk was a lanky gentleman with sandy blond hair, arms crossed, a thunderous scowl over his forehead.
And leaning nonchalantly against the desk with crossed legs was a tall, dark-haired gentleman with an eagle nose and eyes of ice-cold silver, looking at her with an arrogantly lifted eyebrow.
Chapter Nine
Pippa openedand closed her mouth like a fish, without a sound coming out.
“By Jove, you were right. So much for this room being the safest in the entire palace,” the blond-haired man said, his scowl deepening. Pippa deduced he must be Viscount Castlereagh, the British Foreign Secretary. Which meant the other man with the intimidating stare was Aldingbourne.
“How long have you known I was hiding behind the curtain?” Pippa blurted out.
A look of surprise crossed over the faces of both men, and Pippa realised immediately she had made a grave error. She should have spoken German and pretended she had not understood a word.
“An Englishwoman? Metternich is becoming more and more creative,” Aldingbourne marvelled. “I wonder where he discovered you. And to answer your question, halfway through our conversation, I realised we were notalone in the room when I perceived the curtain moving when the window was closed and there was otherwise not a single gust of wind.”
