“Is that so?” Ned murmured. He glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “Hello there,” he said.
“Incorrigible lout,” came the reply.
Constantinopla spun about and nearly tripped over herself, curtsying. “Your—Your Majesty,” she stammered.
“Yes, yes,” the Queen said at the end of a weary sigh. “Young lady, would you run and fetch me a parasol while I have a word with Major Candent here.”
Constantinopla was intelligent enough not to glance at the large Chinese paper parasol the Queen was carrying. She bobbed another curtsy and fled. Queen Victoria gave Ned a blank look that twitched at its edges and sparkled in its eyes. His grin deepened. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cecilia staring at him incredulously.
“I never knew a girl more determined to remind me of my majesty,” Queen Victoria said. “The constant curtsying made me quite dizzy.” She looked then at Cecilia. “You, however, are not curtsying at all.”
“Ma’am,” Cecilia said, and held out her hand. Queen Victoria stared at it as if it was a bishop’s wig.
“Your Majesty,” Ned said smoothly, taking a step forward. “May I introduce Miss Cecilia Bassingthwaite, niece of Miss Jemima Darlington, who is a pirate of some ill repute. Cecilia recently resided in Mayfair and has a particular interest in literature. Miss Bassingthwaite, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of India.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Cecilia said.
“I see you are one of thoseeducatedgirls who believe they are equal to everyone else,” the Queen commented archly. “I cannot abide the subject of women’s rights. It is alike in folly to the notion of marriage. The only woman with personal agency should be me, and the only man worth marrying was my dear Albert.” However, she reached out reluctantly and touched her fingers to the back of Cecilia’s hand in the manner of bestowing a blessing.
Cecilia turned her own hand, grasped the Queen’s firmly, and shook it. The Queen’s eyes, nostrils, in fact entire face, widened. Ned bit his lips to prevent himself from laughing.
Victoria snatched back her hand. “Major,” she said, turning to scowl at Ned. “Where is this Morvath creature about whom everyone has been pestering me?”
“Dead, Your Majesty,” Ned reported. “He attempted to escape in a garden shed but it crashed.”
“You are certain?”
“There was a rather persuasive explosion, ma’am. The world and its publishing industry are safe at last from Captain Morvath’s machinations.”
“Excellent. Come and drink tea with me, you pretty young rapscallion, and tell me all the details. Did you gut anyone with your sword? Were you forced to seduce any women to gather information?” She held out her arm and Ned released Cecilia’s hand to take it instead. He brushed a fingertip against the Queen’s bare skin and she huffed with amused disapproval. Leaning near to Cecilia, she said, “His fashion sense is intolerable, but I do declare there is a fine figure beneath it. What a shame men no longer wear tight breeches. I say, do you think he dresses to the left?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, ma’am,” Ceciliamurmured, but the look she gave Ned turned his face scarlet. The Queen chuckled.
“Excuse me,” Cecilia said, “but I must find my aunt.”
“Darlington?” Queen Victoria asked. “My physician is attending to her in the thirty-second guest bedroom. Have a footman show you the way.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Cecilia said, and ran off without a backward look.
Ned sighed as he watched her go. “I am so glad you are back,” Queen Victoria was saying. “I declare you shall never leave again.”
“Your servant, ma’am,” he said, and smiled down at her with all his pirate charm.
She laughed. “What a lie!”
“You’re the first to ever doubt it, ma’am.”
“And that,” she said, marching him toward the picnic site, “is why some are merely pirates and I am Queen.”
Cecilia was almost to the castle when Alex O’Riley stopped her. Stepping directly in her way, six foot tall and bristling with weapons, he gave her a look that was effective as a knife to her throat.
“May I help you?” she inquired.
“That was a long time you were gone,” he said pointedly.
Cecilia straightened her back and presented him with a stare so Darlingtonesque, he paled and took a step back.
“We were experiencing technical difficulties,” she said, daring him to argue.
