Lord Stanton's Last Mistress. Lara Temple

      ‘To Prince Alexander.’ Hunter raised a toast. ‘You will make a fine despot.’

      Alex shook his head at his friends’ nonsense, but their attempt to dispel the tension Oswald’s comment introduced was welcome. There was no point in arguing, after all.

      ‘Why don’t you just tell me what is expected of me since it is apparently already arranged?’

      ‘Good. I will travel down with them from London to Berkshire tomorrow and see them settled. We will expect you the next day.’

      ‘Will you?’

      ‘Don’t scowl, Alexander. I am impervious to shows of temper. I am well aware you are otherwise occupied with Canning on the business of the Congress over the next couple of days, so I offered to escort the King and Princess to Stanton myself until you can join us. It will be an opportunity to keep our Russian and Austrian friends under my eye.’

      The same eye was currently grotesquely magnified by the quizzing glass and Alex knew he had lost. It was damnable, but his uncle could always get his way without the slightest show of effort or emotion.

      ‘Lucky them. Very well, I will come as soon as Canning is done with me. But I draw the line at courting princesses.’

      ‘A pity. The island is most strategically located for our navy and a marriage would be more effective than a treaty. Never mind. I will bid you gentlemen good evening.’

      Alex cursed and sat down in his armchair as the door closed.

      ‘One day I will walk out of a battle of wills with him the victor.’

      ‘I doubt it,’ Hunter said. ‘He’s a true cold fish, that man. You just act like one. Or at least you have for the past five years.’

      ‘Better a cold fish than a landed one like you two old married men.’

      Ravenscar propped his boots on the grate and sighed.

      ‘Here we go again. Another smug lecture from the bachelor. We had best see him hitched soon, Hunter. Either that or take him round back and show him a thing or two.’

      ‘You could probably use the exercise, Raven,’ Alex taunted. ‘When was the last time you went to Jackson’s?’

      ‘Oh, we get plenty of exercise, Alex.’ Hunter grinned. ‘And not merely at Jackson’s.’

      Ravenscar laughed. ‘Careful, Hunter, you’re embarrassing him.’

      ‘It’s a pity neither Nell nor Lily have sisters.’

      ‘Damn it, Hunter. If you dare take up matchmaking...’

      Hunter raised his hands in surrender.

      ‘I’m not such a fool. Besides, I would rather watch you fail on your own. Perhaps we should put a wager on it, Raven? Think the Princess will do the trick?’

      ‘Don’t waste your blunt, Raven. When I do marry it will be to a biddable female who understands the rules just so I can finally put a stop to your crowing and my father’s unveiled hints. Until then I intend to continue to enjoy being the only one in the Wild Hunt Club who hasn’t been leg shackled and domesticated.’

      ‘Just you wait. When you fall from those icy heights, you’ll fall hard, King Alexander.’

      ‘You forget, I met the Princess some six years ago and though she was just a child, I hardly think she has grown into anything that might tempt me to change my state of unwedded bliss.’

      Raven frowned.

      ‘I remember now. When you came back to London with that hole in your side, you mentioned a veiled nurse who brought you back from the dead. I always liked that touch of mystery. What was her name? Athena, right? Very romantic.’

      ‘Hardly romantic,’ he answered Ravenscar’s comment as lightly as possible. ‘If wearing those curtains is part of the wedding ceremony on Illiakos that is another incentive to stay away from the Princess. That poor nurse was about as unsuited to be a biddable bride as any I’ve come across.’

      ‘You are hardly an authority on who is suited to be a wife, my friend. You probably think you should marry someone like your stepmother.’

      ‘And why not? Sylvia is sweet, practical and undemanding. What more could one want in a wife? After almost ten years with my mother my father deserved someone who didn’t push him to the edge of insanity. I know you two have become disgustingly smug since you wed, but not everyone wants to be dangled over a ravine on a daily basis.’

      ‘I rather like the sensation,’ Ravenscar mused. ‘Lily is magnificent at both dangling and catching me before I hit the ground. An excellent combination.’

      ‘For you. When I have to finally account for the title I think I will choose someone a little more docile than your Lily and someone rather less subversive than Nell.’

      Hunter laughed. ‘That is assuming the choice is yours, Alex.’

      ‘One always has a choice. That is what distinguishes us from animals. We might have urges, sometimes even powerful ones, I grant you, but in the end we choose how to act upon them. It is as simple as that.’

      Ravenscar considered him over the rim of his glass.

      ‘Simple is never that simple. You might have thoroughly reformed yourself these past five years since what happened with Countess Vidanich, Alex, but you might be surprised to find there are areas outside even your control. Life has a way of turning us down new roads and we only realise we are there when it is too late to turn back.’

      ‘You make it sound like something mystical, Raven.’

      ‘Sometimes if feels like that. For example, I remember thinking at the time that you were rather unusually taken with that little nurse when you described your forced stay on Illiakos. Perhaps that Athena was a priestess in disguise and she cast a spell on you.’

      ‘Very creative, Ravenscar,’ Hunter approved. ‘I’m beginning to hope your veiled temptress will be accompanying the little Princess so you can thank her yourself. In person. That might be even more enjoyable than losing you to a kingdom. You could finally put that little mystery to bed. Literally.’

      Alex shrugged. ‘It is hardly likely the nurse will accompany the King and Princess on a state visit. She is probably married now and with a full brood of children so I will have to remain with my fantasy of what lay beneath those voluminous veils. Now are we going to Cribb’s or are you two under curfew?’

      Ravenscar stood and stretched.

      ‘Careful, Alex, your romantic petticoats are showing. Next you’ll be saying you don’t want to marry because you left your heart under some faceless chit’s veils.’

      ‘My what?’ Alex enquired politely and Hunter laughed.

      ‘You do have one, you know. One day you’ll stumble over it and fall flat on your face.’

       Chapter Two

      Berkshire

      Christina leaned her forehead on the window and watched as the sun speared itself on the trees at the edge of the lawn. Like Ari, she was a little disappointed to leave London for Stanton Hall so soon after their arrival in England, but with each mile into the rolling green hills of Berkshire she had felt the rise of an unfamiliar mix of peace and homesickness. She had never expected to discover she actually missed the green and grey of England. No doubt after a couple of weeks of English autumn she would be pining for the sun, but for now she and Ari could enjoy the quiet of the countryside while the King was engaged in his negotiations.

      She looked around their shared parlour. It was both large and cosy, a difficult combination but one a clever hand had succeeded in throughout Stanton Hall. Perhaps it was the choice of colours: deep-forest and light-grass greens with