Lady Werta was waiting for her. “What did he say? Did he guess? He was close to Princess Aria so he might know that you weren’t she. They may have shared lovers’ jokes.”
The woman was beginning to bore Aria. “Go to your bed. I have no more need of you tonight.”
“But I—”
“Go!” Aria snapped.
“Yes, Your Royal Highness,” Lady Werta said, and retreated backward.
Upstairs Aria stood still as her dressers removed her gown and put on her nightgown. She didn’t speak to them as they worked, and when they turned out the light and bid her good night, she still didn’t speak.
She settled down to sleep and she felt good for the first time in days. Perhaps her life was not going to come apart because she no longer lived with Lieutenant Jarl Montgomery. Perhaps she could forget him and make a life of her own.
Tomorrow she planned to give all of her attention to Count Julian. He was the man Lanconia needed and he was the perfect husband for her. All she had to do was make herself fall in love with him—and judging by his kisses, that wouldn’t be overly difficult.
As she went to sleep, though, her self-control faded and she began to remember Jarl sitting in the bathtub, Jarl tasting her fried chicken and telling her she should have been a chef, Jarl touching her breasts.
Chapter Seventeen
SHE had just fallen asleep when the door burst open and the light was turned on. In a flurry of silk petticoats, blond hair, and layers of diamonds, Princess Eugenia jumped into Aria’s bed.
“I’ve missed you,” Gena said, throwing her arms about her sister’s neck. “Please don’t tell me to behave myself and please don’t tell me to leave. I’ve just ridden all night with the most divine man to get here as soon as I heard you were well enough to receive visitors.” She hugged Aria tighter. “Aria, they said you nearly died. I couldn’t have borne to have to be queen.”
Aria, smiling, held her sixteen-year-old sister at arm’s length. “I wouldn’t like for you to be queen either.”
“Are you going to send me away? Tell me so I won’t get comfortable.”
“No,” Aria said, “I’m not going to send you away. Tell me what has happened while I’ve been away.”
Gena stretched out on the bed. She was very pretty, and pretty in a modern sort of way, Aria thought jealously. Put her in a bathing suit and she would win any beauty contest in America. Too bad she had cotton for a brain.
“The same as usual.” Gena sighed. “Nothing ever happens here. But you went to America. Was it filled with soldiers? Were they all as divinely handsome as my American soldier?”
“What is this about?” Aria asked sharply. “Have you fallen in love again?”
“Don’t scold me, Aria, please don’t. Grans has hired him for something or other—something to do with the peasants—but my soldier allowed me to ride around the countryside with him. He even let me sit in the front seat beside him. He acted as if he were reluctant to have me, but I won him over. He is a most handsome man and he’s smart—Grans says so. Oh, Aria, you’re going to adore him, at least I hope you do, because Grans sent him here to work with you.”
“With me? Doing what?”
“I don’t know, but I think he may be coming here to put all of us in order. I’ve never seen Grans like anybody so much. They sat up late and drank and told each other vulgar stories. Ned nearly died, but Grans looked the best he has in years.”
Aria sat up straighter in bed. “I wish you’d stick to the story. What is this American to do here? Has he come about the vanadium?”
Gena’s eyes were beginning to close. “Aria, may I sleep here with you? It’s so far to my chamber. Call someone to undress me and fetch my nightgown.”
“Here,” Aria said impatiently. “I’ll help you undress and you can wear one of my nightgowns.”
Gena’s eyes flew open. “Wear someone else’s nightgown?”
“Don’t be a prude. I have slept on sheets slept on by other people.”
“No,” Gena gasped, stunned into speechlessness.
Aria pulled her sister out of bed then began to remove Gena’s clothes.
“Are you sure you know how to do this?” Gena asked.
“It would help if you weren’t an inert weight. Lift your arms. Now tell me what Grans has hired this American for.”