“Which can be easily arranged,” Flora said, undaunted. “His father would die tragically the day after our wedding. Oh, and my prince would have twenty younger brothers and sisters and I would have a dozen children and we would all live together in the palace as one big, jolly family.”
She sighed soulfully and then laughed.
Claudia was touched by those last details. In reality Flora was so alone in life.
“A worthy dream,” the marquess said. “And you, Miss Wood?”
“My dream,” Edna said, “is to have a little shop as my mama and papa did. But abookshop. I would live among the books all day long and sell them to people who loved them as much as I and…” She blushed and stopped.
She had strung more words together in that one speech than Claudia had heard her utter during the whole journey.
“And one of those customers would be a handsome prince,” Flora added. “But notmyprince, if you please, Ed.”
“Perhaps Edna dreams of someone more humble,” Claudia said. “Someone who would love books and help her run the bookshop.”
“That would be foolish,” Flora said. “Why not reach for the stars if one is dreaming? And what about you, my lord? What isyourdream?”
“Yes,” Edna added, looking at him with eager eyes. “But don’t you already have everything?” And then she blushed and bit her lip.
Claudia raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
“No one ever has everything,” he said, “even those who have so much money that they do not know what to spend it on. There are other things of value than just possessions that money can buy. Let me see. What is my greatest dream?”
He folded his arms and thought. And then Claudia, glancing at him, saw his eyes smile.
“Ah,” he said. “Love. I dream of love, of a family—wife and children—which is as close and as dear to me as the beating of my own heart.”
The girls were charmed. Edna sighed soulfully and Flora clasped her hands to her bosom. Claudia looked on with skepticism. His answer had very obviously been crafted for their benefit. It was, in fact, utter drivel and not a genuine dream at all.
“And you, Miss Martin?” he asked, turning his laughing eyes on her and making her wonder for an unguarded moment what it might feel like to be nearer and dearer to his heart than its own beating.
“Me?”she said, touching a hand to her bosom. “Oh, I have no dreams. And any I did have are already fulfilled. I have my school and my pupils and my teachers. They are a dream come true.”
“Ah, but a fulfilled dream is not allowed,” he said. “Is it, young ladies?”
“No,” Flora said.
“No, miss. Come on,” Edna said at the same moment.
“This game must be played by the rules,” the Marquess of Attingsborough added, resettling his shoulders so that he could look more directly at her. His eyes looked very blue indeed from this distance.
Whatgame?Whatrules? But she had been undeniably interested in hearing from the other three, Claudia conceded. Now it was time to be a good sport.
She felt very resentful, though.
“Oh, let me see,” she said, and willed herself not to flush or otherwise get flustered. This was remarkably embarrassing before two of her pupils and an aristocratic gentleman.
“We will wait,” the marquess said. “Will we not, young ladies?”
“Yes,” Edna and Flora said together.
“We have all the time in the world,” he added.
“Oh,” Claudia said at last, “my dream. Yes, it is to live in the country again in a small cottage. With a thatched roof and hollyhocks and daffodils and roses in the garden. Each in their season, of course.”
“Alone,Miss Martin?”
She looked unwillingly into his eyes and could see that he was enjoying himself immensely at her expense. He was even smiling fully and showing his white, perfectly shaped teeth. If there was a more annoying gentleman in existence, she certainly did not wish to meet him.
