She wanted so much to reach for his hand, to give him comfort and to feel his strength, but a glance at Robert and Mattie reminded her that she and Valentin had breached convention quite enough already. Somehow she would just have to be patient to feel his arms around her again, to feel his kiss again.
“We must think of the future, Estelle…ourfuture. I plan to speak to my privy council the morning after the coronation, but it’s only a formality. They’ll approve our match and then we’ll set our wedding date for as soon as possible. Does that please you?”
“Oh, yes! I only wish more of my family could join us. Donovan said it would be too difficult for him and Corie to travel so far, and my sister Marguerite and her husband, Walker,as they have young children. My father performed the wedding for all of my sisters—well, Marguerite and Walker married first in Scotland at Gretna Green and then had a second ceremony in our parish church.”
“I have an idea,” Valentin said gently, leaning closer. “We’ll marry here first in the cathedral so my people may celebrate with us, and then we’ll journey to Cornwall for a blessing by yourfather so all of your family can attend. What do you think?”
Estelle smiled at him, elated, which made him smile, too, and lean even closer as if he intended to kiss her—
“My lord, someone’s coming down the hall!”
Gasping at Robert’s warning that had startled them both, Estelle wondered if Adam and Linette might be returning to see how she fared. Yet Valentin’s expression suddenly looked tenseas if he recognized the approaching footsteps. He stood up abruptly and pulled the chair away from the bed, back to its original position against the wall just as Princess Hortense swept into the room.
“My dear girl, the news has spread through the town like wildfire! How dreadful for you to be nearly abducted and carried across the border!”
Estelle gaped in surprise as Valentin’s elegantlydressed half-sister, swathed in purple silk from head to toe, flicked her gaze in the direction of Robert and Mattie and proceeded directly toward the bed.
“Valentin, please, the chair if you would. I summoned a carriage and came here as quickly as I could. I must catch my breath!”
Silently obliging his half-sister, Valentin set the chair in the spot where he’d been sitting only a moment before,while Estelle still had not found her voice to speak.
My dear girl? Had she heard the woman correctly? Last night at dinner Hortense had barely acknowledged her and had blatantly seated her as far away from Valentin as possible!
“Valentin, why didn’t you send me word yourself as to what has happened?” Hortense said with clear reproach as she took a seat. “Your citizens are thronging the streetsto celebrate that Gaston Chevalier was slain by your hand!”
