When We Meet Again (20 page)

Pamela raised a brow. "A lovely morning?"

Clarissa watched him ride off, that content smile lingering on her face. "Following a rather exceptional evening."

"Oh?"

Clarissa pulled her gaze away from the count's retreating figure. "I like him, Pamela. Quite a lot. I never thought I'd ever like a man again as much as I do this one."

"He is probably as vile as his prince, " Pamela said grimly.

"He is not the least bit vile, and I doubt that his prince is either. " Clarissa glanced at her cousin. "What has His Highness done?"

"He is convinced that I have grave secrets, and he insists on knowing what they are. He is both arrogant and demanding, royal if you will, none of which I find especially attractive."

"Grave secrets?" Clarissa laughed. "I hardly think so."

"He does. He insists we have met somewhere before and is most annoyed that I will not confirm his conviction. " She headed her horse toward the far distant park gate. Clarissa's horse walked beside Pamela's and for a few minutes they rode in silence.

"So, " Clarissa said at last. "Have you?"

For a long moment Pamela said nothing at all. At last she heaved a sigh of surrender. "Perhaps." Clarissa nodded in a knowing manner. "The prince is the gentleman from Venice, isn't he? The one who never saw your face? The one you've been dreaming about ever since?" Pamela nodded. "You don't sound at all surprised."

"I'm not. In spite of your denials, I suspected it all along. " Clarissa chuckled. "Between your reaction when you first saw him, Aunt Millicent's recalling that she had met him when we were in Venice, and the way you look at him, well, it was obvious."

"Do you think Aunt Millicent knows?"

"She might. That could be precisely why she is so determined to keep the two of you apart. Or she could think now that we are back in London, she should at last become a responsible chaperone."

"As opposed to a chaperone who encouraged both of us to experience life however we wished?"

"She never was a traditional sort of chaperone, " Clarissa said wryly. "However, I should think it's more than likely that she's noticed not merely the way you look at him but the way he looks at you as well."

"He looks at all women that way. " Pamela waved away the comment. "He is that sort of man."

"Perhaps, but there is something in his eyes when his gaze settles on you. Something I cannot quite define... " Clarissa shrugged. "Of course, I know nothing about men. " She paused. "Are you going to tell him that he's right then? That you have indeed met? In truth, much more than merely met."

"No. " Pamela shook her head. "I never expected that he would recognize me. Indeed, I took great care to make certain of that. But if he doesn't remember that particular night at all, and I would be surprised if he did, well, I don't want to know. It would be most humiliating and, frankly, rather devastating. " She blew a long breath. "Besides, I have no idea how to approach the subject. I can't simply walk up to him with an 'I say, Your Highness, it's the most amusing thing but we did indeed meet several years ago, in your bed if I recall. '"

"That would be rather awkward."

"Awkward? Hah! No. " Pamela set her jaw firmly. "It's best that I say nothing at all."

"I see. " Clarissa studied her. "And what if he does remember?"

"I don't know. " Pamela thought for a moment. "I've never seriously considered that."

"What if he has spent the last four years thinking about you? Dreaming about the unknown woman who shared his bed in Venice? What if, beyond a number of other things, that is the real reason, a reason of the heart as it were, why he has never married? What if he has been looking for you?" Pamela scoffed. "That's absurd. " Even so, it was an idea worth pondering. "Is it possible, do you think?" Clarissa glanced over her shoulder in the direction the count had taken and smiled. "Anything is possible, cousin dear."

"Do you realize this changes everything?" Pamela reined her horse to a halt. Excitement sounded in her voice. "If indeed he has thought about me the way I have thought about him, why there is no reason we can't be together."

"You said he would still be a match for a princess."

"Nonsense. " She shrugged. "I was being kind. What princess would have him without a country?

Politically, he's practically worthless."

"Pamela!"

"Oh, come now, Clarissa, you know it's true. But I'd have him. Indeed, I want him. I've always wanted him. And we'd be perfect together. A prince and an Effington."

"An exiled prince, " Clarissa said cautiously.

"And I'm a ruined Effington. We were made for each other!" Pamela grinned with sheer delight. "And we are already engaged. It's scarcely any distance at all from betrothed to wed."

"It's not a real engagement. Besides, you don't know—"

"You're right I don't. " Pamela drew her brows together and thought for a moment. "But you can find out for me."

"Me?" Clarissa's eyes widened. "How?"

"The count will know. I would wager he and the captain know all of Alexei's secrets. " Pamela chuckled.

"No doubt His Highness has all sorts of secrets. Probably why he wants to know mine." Clarissa narrowed her eyes. "How, precisely, do you propose I get this information from the count?"

"The same way women have always gotten information from men, " Pamela said blithely. "After all, you are sharing his bed and—"

Clarissa gasped. "I most certainly am not!"

"You said you had an exceptional evening."

"I did. " Clarissa sputtered with indignation. "We talked. We strolled in the garden. We gazed at the stars. We kissed. Once!"

"Oh. " Pamela considered the other woman. "But you will be sharing his bed?"

"I have no intention—"

Pamela raised a skeptical brow.

"Very well, I have every intention. " Clarissa huffed. "But I am certainly not going to slide into a man's bed just to get information about another man for you."

"Of course not. " Pamela forced a shocked expression to her face. "That would be wrong."

"Yes, it would."

"However, " Pamela said in a casual manner, "if you find yourself in his bed and the subject happens to come up—"

"Pamela!"

"Goodness, cousin, it's not as if I am asking you to seduce him. " Pamela leaned forward eagerly. "At that point, the seduction part of it will have already been accomplished. I'm simply asking that afterward, or before if you prefer, not during, as that would be most awkward and would definitely arouse suspicion among other things, that you ask a few casual questions about—"

"Very well, I'll do it, " Clarissa snapped.

"Really?"

"Yes. " Clarissa sighed. "I will find out what you need to know although I might not do so in Roman's bed. When I join him in his bed it will be for reasons that have nothing to do with you or the prince. And you and His Highness will be the farthest thing from my mind."

"Of course. And you certainly do not need to question him while in his bed. It just seemed that as you are obviously, well, probably, rather soon I suspect—"

"Yes, yes, probably. " Clarissa blew a long breath. "I have no idea why I've agreed to do this."

"I do. " Pamela grinned. "Because I am your dearest friend in the world, and you would do anything for me. Because if I were indeed to marry Alexei, the count would be free to follow his own heart. Because as you are obviously going to end up in the count's bed anyway, it might as well serve a dual purpose." Clarissa met her cousin's gaze firmly. "You do realize there is still every possibility that he does not remember that night. Only a few moments ago you said you didn't want to know. Have you changed your mind?"

"Yes. No. " Pamela drew a deep breath. "Yes. It seems a risk I must take. " She paused to find the right words. "I have always wondered, or perhaps hoped, that our night together meant as much to him as it did to me but I knew that was more than likely a forlorn hope. Being with him now, the way I feel about him—"

"You care for him then?"

"It seems rather absurd, I know, and in truth it could just be unrepentant lust, but I'm very much afraid I would like to spend the rest of my days finding out. " She winced. "So much for my intentions of a respectable life."

"But you do want marriage?"

"I do, but only with him, which does rather defeat the entire purpose of Aunt Millicent's feigned engagement plan. " Pamela fell silent for a long moment, then sighed. "I never told you, but I could have become his mistress four years ago. I did not want that then, nor shall I accept it now. If that one night was as special to him as it was to me, then there might well be a chance for a future. If not"—she squared her shoulders—"then I shall never tell him what we once shared. I shall put the past behind me and rely on what we seem to have between us now."

"Well, I shall do all I can to find out what Roman might know. It's not really that much to ask." Clarissa cast her a reluctant smile. "And I do intend to enjoy every minute." Pamela laughed. "As I intend to enjoy being the fiancée of a prince. Real or otherwise." Clarissa studied her cousin. "Is he really what you want?"

"I hadn't realized it until now, but he is not merely what I want. " Determination sounded in Pamela's voice. "One way or another"—she grinned—"he is what I will have."

"Have you learned anything yet?" Alexei asked the moment Roman pulled his horse up beside him.

"And a good day to you, Your Highness, " Roman said with a wry smile. "How was your chat with Miss Effington?"

"Perhaps the most irritating conversation I've ever had. " Alexei shook his head. "I am never certain if I wish to take her in my arms and kiss her senseless or wrap my hands around her neck. " He glanced at his friend. "Do you think I have an accent that sounds like something from a poorly acted play?"

"Not at all, Your Highness, " Roman said indignantly.

"Or that I am arrogant?"

Roman hesitated, then chose his words with care. "Arrogance is a question of degree I should think."

"Then I am?"

"I believe I would use the word proud."

Alexei snorted. "Semantics."

Roman bit back a grin.

"Miss Effington thinks I'm arrogant."

"Nonetheless, she likes you. A great deal I should think."

"I suspected as much. " Alexei grinned.

Roman laughed. "It's fairly apparent in the way she looks at you when she thinks you are not looking. Which is rather difficult to do as you seem to be watching her every minute." Alexei winced. "Am I that obvious?"

"Perhaps not to everyone, Your Highness, but I have been in your service for some time and your friend for much longer."

"Does Lady Overton think she likes me?"

"Forgive me for saying so, Your Highness, " Roman said, choosing his words with care, "but Lady Overton and I have found any number of subjects to discuss other than you and Miss Effington."

"Yes of course. And somewhat arrogant of me to think you would spend your time in the company of a beautiful woman in a discussion of my concerns. My apologies, Roman."

"Accepted. " Roman grinned. "Nonetheless, in the course of a discussion of interest to Lady Overton and me, I was able to learn about the scandal in Miss Effington's past."

"Excellent. " Alexei held his breath. He really had no idea what to expect. He was fast learning that expectations when it came to Pamela were rather pointless. She was a continuing source of surprise. "Go on."

"According to Lady Overton, Miss Effington was extremely shy and not overly attractive as a child. She did not—what is the word she used? Ah yes, bloom as it were until she was nearly twenty. It was almost inevitable, therefore, that she would fall in love with the first man who paid her any notice. " Roman shrugged. "Unfortunately for Miss Effington that was a scoundrel named George Fenton, now Lord Penwick. Apparently, she believed his intentions were honorable when they were not. Unbeknownst to Miss Effington, his marriage to the heiress of a substantial fortune had been arranged in his childhood."

"I see, " Alexei said grimly. It was not an uncommon story although he would have thought Pamela was more intelligent than to be fooled by such a man. Still, she had been young and naive, and women often do stupid things in the name of love.

"Her family might have kept Miss Effington's indiscretion from becoming public knowledge had Penwick not bragged about his conquest. Gossip being what it is, Lady Overton said everyone knew of it in no time, and Miss Effington's reputation was ruined."

"Why was Penwick not made to marry her?"

"Her family certainly could have forced such a marriage, but when she discovered he was promised to someone else, Miss Effington realized he did not share her affection and further realized she had been something of a fool. She refused to consider marriage and wanted nothing whatsoever to do with him."

"That is the Miss Effington I have come to know. " Alexei nodded with satisfaction. While it was perhaps not the wisest course for a ruined young lady of good family, it showed a fair amount of courage.