Startled, she glanced across the yellow gorse-covered ground to where her eleven-year-old niece, Paloma, rode toward her.
Fortunately Donovan and Corie’s eldest daughter, an expert horsewoman even at her tender age, slowed her mare to a trot as she grew closerto the cliff. Yet Estelle’s heart beat faster all the same.
“I’d hoped to find you here! The stable hand told me you’d rode out this way.”
Estelle smiled as Paloma drew her mount alongside her, struck anew by her young niece’s unrivaled beauty.
It seemed during the months since she’d last seen her, Paloma had grown even lovelier, if that was even possible. Her plaited mahogany hair gleamedin the sunlight, her skin the color of cream, her lips red as cherries. Clearly her Spanish mother must have been an astonishing beauty. Yet Paloma remained as sweet and loving as always, her exquisite features lit with excitement.
“Estelle, you must ride back to the manor house with me! A letter has come from Prince Valentin!”
Her breath stopped, Estelle felt for a moment that the world hadstopped around her, too.
“The messenger only just arrived! Papa and Mama said I might ride out this far to see if I could find you, but to go no further. I was so happy to see that you’d not gone all the way to Porthleven—oh, Estelle, can you believe it?”
No, she couldn’t believe it, Estelle still finding it difficult to breathe.
Gesturing for Paloma to ride alongside her, the two of them setoff at a gallop across the heath, Estelle’s heart hammering in her throat. A thousand questions assailed her, one thought ringing in her mind.
Valentin was alive!Thank God, her fugitive prince was alive!
***
“Oh, Estelle, it’s the most amazing news! Donovan and I couldn’t be more relieved—”
“Good news, then?” Her heartbeat thundering in her ears, Estelle glanced from her eldest sister,Corie, who stood beside Donovan’s chair, to her brother-in-law seated at his desk with the contents of the packet spread out in front of him. He shook his head as if in disbelief, a rare thing for a man who always seemed in command of any situation.
Corie, too, appeared as astonished. Her hand trembled upon her husband’s broad shoulder, tears welled in her eyes. To see such emotion from her indomitablesister made Estelle’s knees suddenly feel weak. She sank into one of the leather chairs in front of the desk. “Oh, Lord…”
“No, no, Estelle, everything is well, truly!” Corie blurted, indicating the letter and the broken scarlet seal upon the ivory-colored envelope. “It’s from Bratavia, Prince Valentin’s homeland, hand-delivered by royal messenger. Donovan sent the man to the kitchen for foodand refreshment while he awaits our reply.”
“Reply?” Her gaze skipped from Corie to Donovan’s face, Estelle watching as he reached up to squeeze Corie’s hand upon his shoulder.
They made such a handsome pair, Donovan so tall and strapping with his midnight hair and Corie blessed with the lustrous auburn tresses and lovely brown eyes that all four Easton sisters possessed. He nodded and slidthe letter closer to Estelle so she might read it for herself.
“Prince Valentin Chevalier is safe and well,” Donovan began, while she scanned the formal script. “He says only that there was a coup in April and his father returned to the throne, though he died a few weeks later. Valentin has invited us to his coronation, well, as many as are able to attend—”
“A coup?” Estelle cut him off, herbreath caught as she imagined shots flying and cannon firing.
Donovan nodded again, glancing at Corie before he continued. “Valentin’s uncle, Archduke Henri Chevalier, imprisoned his elder brother, Renaud, and usurped the throne. Bratavia is a small principality situated between Belgium and France, but a rich one. Given that, such treachery is not surprising. Valentin was fortunate to escapeaboard a ship bound for Cornwall, and took refuge here with his valet, Robert, when they docked in Porthleven. We would never have known any of this if Valentin hadn’t rescued you that Christmas Day. He would have come and gone as quietly as he had intended, none of us the wiser.”
Realizing Donovan knew more about Valentin than she could have ever imagined, Estelle shifted in her chair when heseemed to grow pensive for a moment. Only when Corie gently squeezed his shoulder as if to draw him back from some dark thought, did he continue. “The coronation will take place in a month…and your sister and I have already made our decision. You’ve long wished for the opportunity to thank Prince Valentin for saving your life, so now’s your chance. Would you like to journey to Bratavia?”
“Yes,oh yes!” At the edge of her seat now, Estelle quickly perused the letter again, but there was no more information than Donovan had revealed. She had so many unanswered questions!
How long had Valentin been a fugitive abroad before he returned home? Was it after the coup? Or had he managed to return to his country and rally the Bratavian citizens to his cause? Even so, would they have needed convincing?His uncle, Archduke Henri, sounded like a horrible man…
“You cannot travel alone, of course,” Donovan said, his low voice breaking into her racing thoughts. “You’ll need chaperones, but Corie and I cannot attend the coronation with you. The children are too young to leave them for any great length of time, and it’s the same for Marguerite and Walker, and Lindsay and Jared, for that matter. Linetteand Adam have no children as yet, so they would be the perfect choice of travel companions for you. I’ll send them a letter at once.”
It was true, Estelle agreed, running her forefinger across the embossed wax on the envelope while Donovan rose and drew Corie toward the window to confer quietly with her.
Her second eldest sister, Marguerite, and her husband, Walker Burke, the Duke of Summerlin,had recently welcomed a baby girl, Flora, their five-year-old son, Dwight, delighted by his new sister.
Lindsay, Corie’s dearest friend, and her husband, Jared Giles, the Earl of Dovercourt, had three children now, Justin, almost eight, Cecelia, nearly six, and little Mary, just turned one.
Corie and Donovan’s brood had grown, too, Paloma, the eight-year-old twins, Dahlia and Draydon, and littleAdele, now three, welcoming another girl, Penelope, five months ago. It seemed babies were raining from the sky!
Well, except for Linette and Adam, married two years now and still no little one, though they all knew how desperately Linette wanted children. Estelle had never seen her so sad as when the entire family, which always included Lindsay and Jared and their children, had gathered forEaster at Arundale Hall, the rooms ringing with the sound of youngsters laughing and playing.
