To Charm a Prince

by Grasso, Patricia;

  Samantha stared at him through blue eyes that shone with love. The prince enjoyed his daughter and was a good father. He was the type of man with whom she had hoped to share a family.

  Samantha retrieved her slippers, and they continued their tour. Stepping into the Tudor great hall was like traveling back in time. The floors were wood with no carpeting, and several pieces of furniture had been pushed against the walls in preparation for the servants’ Twelfth Night celebration. A huge fireplace ran along one wall, and unlit torches adorned the walls.

  Rudolf removed his waistcoat and settled it over her shoulders. “Let us step into the garden for a few minutes,” he said, taking her hand in his.

  Though the garden was winter barren, Samantha could see that it would be lovely the other three seasons. There was a carved semicircular stone seat with winged lion end supports. On the other side of the pond, five Doric columns supported a stone gazebo with wrought-iron cupola. Stone lions stood guard with a sundial on the near side of the pond.

  “This must be paradise in summer,” Samantha said.

  “My estate on Sark Island is heaven on earth,” Rudolf said. “You must visit me there.”

  Samantha forced herself to smile. She didn’t want to think of their lives outside the manor. When the danger had passed, they would return to London and go their separate ways. She would never see Sark Island.

  Samantha pointed across the pond. “Look over there.”

  A few yards back from the opposite shore of the pond stood an enormous playhouse. Near that, an ancient oak held a treehouse in its branches.

  “The marquess must be planning a large family,” Samantha said.

  “I always wanted a dozen sons and daughters,” Rudolf said, regret in his voice.

  “Your wish may still be granted,” she teased him. “You do possess the Kazanov Venus.”

  “I doubt I will marry again,” the prince said, his expression grim. “The pain was too great.”

  Returning the way they had come, Rudolf paused near the piano. “You must bring your violin down here and play a duet with me.”

  “Do you play the piano?” Samantha asked in surprise.

  Rudolf shrugged. “I can carry a tune.”

  “Play something for me.”

  Rudolf inclined his head and sat on the bench. He flexed his long fingers a few times, which reminded Samantha of how those fingers had played upon her naked flesh.

  The prince’s playing combined great strength with gentleness and delicacy. His tune held an irresistibly jaunty air, reminiscent of springtime songbirds and dancing wildflowers.

  Samantha leaned against the piano and closed her eyes. She let his melody transport her to another happier place. His energetic playing lightened her spirit and brought a soft smile to her lips. Lord, but she wished for her violin.

  Opening her eyes when the music stopped, Samantha saw him smiling at her. “You play divinely, Your Highness.”

  Rudolf gave her a devastating smile. “I am certain we will make beautiful music together.”

  Samantha was certain of one thing only. She had fallen hopelessly in love with a prince who wore a red silk bedrobe, played the piano divinely, and waltzed with his five-year-old daughter.

  An hour later, Samantha sat inside the first-floor office and watched the prince. Rudolf sat at the desk and muttered unhappily in Russian as he tried to bring order to the mountain of papers and ledgers that Karl had dumped there.

  “Excuse my impatience,” Rudolf said with a sheepish smile, turning to look at her. “At the moment, I could choke the life from Karl and never feel a twinge of guilt.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Then I would need to train a new driver,” he said. “Fortunately, your soothing presence makes my task easier.”

  “You are an incorrigible flatterer,” Samantha said. “Now I know why all those ladies were hovering around you at the Emerson ball.”

  Rudolf gave her a boyish smile. “I am guilty as charged.”

  Samantha returned her attention to the book on her lap, The History of the Douglas Family. She opened the book and began to read.

  “What is so interesting, Princess?”

  Samantha looked up. The prince had put the mountain of papers into order and sat with one of the ledger books in front of him.

  “I am reading about Sweetheart Abbey, from which my family named the manor,” she told him.

  “What is so interesting about the abbey?”

  “Monks named the abbey Dulce Cor in honor of the lady who founded it,” Samantha answered. She gave him an impish smile, adding, “Here is the interesting part. The lady loved her husband so much that she embalmed his heart and carried it with her wherever she went for twenty-two years. When she died, the lady had the embalmed heart buried with her at the abbey’s altar,”

  “What a heart-warming story,” Rudolf said. “Would you carry my embalmed heart with you, Princess?”

  “I have a weak stomach.” Samantha shook her head. “I do love romances, though. I love happy endings.”

  “Princess, I adore your gentle heart.”

  “Will you have it embalmed and carry it with you wherever you go?” she asked.

  Rudolf burst out laughing.

  “Perhaps, I’ll write a romance and call it The Embalmed Heart.”

  Rudolf laughed even harder at that. They were still chuckling about the embalmed heart when they left the office to dress for dinner.

  Wearing her garnet velvet gown, Samantha knocked on the prince’s bedchamber door just before dinner.

  Instead of calling out for her to enter, the prince opened the door and stepped aside to allow her entrance.

  “Could you—?” Samantha gestured over her shoulder to her buttons.

  “The pleasure is mine.” After fastening her buttons and nuzzling her neck, Rudolf turned her around to face him. “The ruby looks good with your gown,” he said. “What color is that?”

  “The gown is garnet.”

  “It looks red to me,” he teased her, planting a chaste kiss on her lips.

  When he reached for a painted wooden box, Samantha asked him, “What is that?”

  “A surprise.”

  Leaving his chamber, they walked downstairs to the dining room where Durwin supervised two footmen as he’d done the previous evening. Samantha smiled when she noted the majordomo had put their place settings side by side in the middle of the table.

  “I see you have remembered my request,” Rudolf said to the majordomo,

  “Remembering your request is my job, Your Highness.”

  The two footmen served them tomato soup, followed by ribbons of cucumbers sprinkled with cayenne pepper in a sharp dressing and accompanied by Geneva rolls with butter. The main course was deviled rump steaks with a tangy marinade of oil, vinegar, cayenne, and mustard.

  “I have noticed that most rooms in the manor have a red color scheme,” Rudolf remarked. “The marquess must be partial to red.”

  “So are you, judging by your bedrobe,” Samantha teased him.

  The prince stared at her gown’s neckline until she began to squirm uncomfortably. “The ruby looks good, but you need jewels to accessorize your other gowns,”

  Rudolf told her. “Diamonds and pearls would suit you, I think. When we ride to Dumfries for your new dagger, I will purchase you a gift.”

  “That is generous but unnecessary.”

  “Would you deprive me of that pleasure, too?” Rudolf asked, lowering his voice.

  Samantha pinkened. She knew exactly to what other pleasure he was referring.

  At dinner’s end, Rudolf rose from his chair, grabbed the painted wooden box in one hand, and offered her the other. “Princess, let us retire to the large drawing room and allow these men to attend their party.”

  In the drawing room, Samantha sat on an upholstered love seat in front of the white hearth. She watched the prince set a small table down in front of her and then drag an ottoman across to the tab
le to sit opposite her. He placed the painted wooden box down on the table and opened it to reveal a chessboard and pieces.

  “Princess, you must learn to play chess.” Rudolf started placing the pieces on the board, adding, “These pieces represent the heroic warriors from the Great Battle on Ice. Hundreds of years ago Alexander Nevsky led an army against invading knights on the frozen Lake Chudskaye.”

  Samantha lifted her head as the first strains of music drifted into the room. “It sounds like fun.”

  “I will teach you to play chess another time,” Rudolf said, rising from the ottoman and offering her his hand. “We will attend this party. I must speak with Karl anyway.”

  Samantha stood and placed her hand in his. “We will leave if our presence makes them uncomfortable?”

  “You always think of others before yourself,” Rudolf said, raising her hands to his lips. “We will leave whenever you want. Your every wish is my command.”

  Samantha gave him a sunny smile. “That is because you want me to carry your embalmed heart wherever I go.”

  Chapter 7

  All activity stopped when Rudolf and Samantha walked into the Tudor great hall. The music and conversations died as the servants turned to stare at them.

  “We shouldn’t have come,” Samantha whispered.

  “Leave it to me.” Rudolf gave their audience an easy smile. “Your music attracted us, especially since I need to speak with my man, who, I hope, has contributed vodka to the festivities.”

  The prince scanned the crowd until he found Karl. The man inclined his head in the affirmative.

  “Resume your activities,” Rudolf said. “The princess and I would like to watch this traditional Scots party.”

  When no one moved, Rudolf looked at the men holding fiddles. They began playing at once, and the party-goers resumed their dancing, conversations, and eating.

  “They seem subdued,” Samantha whispered.

  Rudolf put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close. After kissing her temple, he told her, “Drinking more vodka will cure them of that.”

  Durwin approached them. “Your Highness, let me escort you to our refreshment table,” the majordomo said. “We have some traditional Scots dishes.”

  “Thank you, Durwin,” the prince said. “I would like to taste these foods.”

  The oak trestle table had been laden with various dishes of hot and cold food. Samantha did not recognize many of the delicacies, and one, the dressed sheep’s head, repelled her at once. There were hot and cold puddings, roasted chestnuts, fried herrings, Finnian haddock savory, sardine savory, potato and nut savory, and various sweets. Along with the food were heather ale, whiskey, and vodka.

  “We will serve ourselves,” Rudolf told the majordomo. Handing Samantha a plate, he began to fill it with several of the selections. “Sheep’s head?”

  Samantha gulped back her revulsion, shook her head, and pointed to a hot pudding. “I’ll have some of that.”

  “That is haggis, Scotland’s national dish,” Durwin told her.

  “My parents never told my sisters and me very much about Scotland.”

  “Haggis is the heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep minced with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings,” Durwin told her. “The mixture is boiled in the sheep’s stomach.”

  Samantha managed a smile for the majordomo and glanced at the prince, who was grinning at her. With great difficulty, she kept from disgracing herself by swallowing what she had in her mouth.

  “I’m not hungry.” Samantha placed the plate on the table.

  With the prince and the majordomo watching, Samantha poured vodka into a small glass. She downed it in one gulp and popped a piece of cheese into her mouth.

  “You must have some Russian blood,” Rudolf said, making her smile. “Durwin, you will excuse us? I must speak with Karl.”

  “Of course, Your Highness.”

  Rudolf and Samantha walked around the dancers to Karl, who stood near a table of refreshment on the far side of the Tudor great hall. As they maneuvered their way across the hall, Samantha noted that several of the maids were staring with unmistakable adoration at the prince. A twinge of jealousy shot through her.

  “I want the coach ready to travel after lunch tomorrow,” Rudolf instructed his man.

  Karl nodded. “Where are we going, Your Highness?”

  “You are going nowhere,” Rudolf answered. “I am taking Samantha to visit Sweetheart Abbey.”

  When the man glanced at her, Samantha asked, “How is your sturgeon enjoying Scotland?”

  “He is enjoying himself very much,” Karl answered, smiling in the direction of the pretty maids.

  “Your sturgeon is a male?” she asked, seeing where his gaze was, wondering why the prince was smiling.

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  “I hope you have not supplied them with all our vodka,” Rudolf said.

  “These Scots seem to prefer whiskey,” Karl said.

  Sally, one of the maids, chose that moment to appear in front of them. When she curtseyed to the prince, Samantha noted the young woman’s large breasts and deep cleavage.

  “Your Highness, would you dance with me?” Sally asked. “I would love to tell my grandchildren about the night I danced with a prince.”

  “Sally,” Durwin called, a warning note in his voice. He started across the hall toward them but stopped when the prince gestured him away.

  “You do not look old enough to have grandchildren,” Rudolf teased the maid, giving her an easy smile.

  Sally blushed and giggled nervously.

  “You do not mind if I leave you for a moment, ma lyoobof?” Rudolf asked Samantha.

  She forced herself to smile and inclined her head. Watching the prince escort the maid onto the dance floor, she felt another twinge of jealousy. “What does ma lyoobof mean?” Samantha asked Karl.

  “Ma lyoobof means my love.”

  Samantha smiled at the prince’s man. Warm feelings for the prince surfaced, wiping away the distaste of jealousy.

  “All women want to dance with a prince,” Rudolf complained when he returned to her side at the dance’s end. “Let us escape into the night before another maid traps me into dancing.”

  Samantha arched an ebony brow at him. “You could refuse.”

  Rudolf put his arm around her shoulder, pulled her close, and led her toward the door. “I could not refuse to dance with any woman, even a maid. That would hurt her feelings needlessly.”

  Samantha let herself be escorted outside into the night. They stepped into a crisp winter’s night. Rudolf removed his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

  “Thank you, but you will be cold,” Samantha said.

  “Your mere presence warms me. “

  Samantha cast him a sidelong smile. “Are you flattering me so I’ll carry your embalmed heart around?”

  “Rudolf gave her an answering smile. “How did you guess?”

  Samantha looked up at the night sky. Accompanied by hundreds of glittering stars, a full moon hung overhead. “The beauty of the night makes the sun seem garish.”

  “Seductive night is infinitely more beautiful than the sun,” Rudolf agreed. “In Russia, we call this the Wolf Moon. At this time of year, our ancestors would gather around their hearth fires and listen to the howling wolves, which came closer to villages to search for food during the winter.”

  “That sounds frightening.”

  “Look at the stars, “Rudolf said. “On New Year’s Eve, the midnight stars return to their original positions like horses returning to their stables.”

  “What a pretty thought.”

  Rudolf pulled her against the side of his body and, with his left hand, pointed toward the biggest star in the sky. “That one is called Betelgeuse, part of the constellation Orion. Do you know the story?”

  Samantha shook her head.

  “If you drew lines from one star to another in that section of the sky, the finished picture would be a man,” the
prince told her. “One of the greatest hunters of all time, Orion was the son of the earth and the sea.”

  When she shivered, the prince asked, “Are you cold? Shall we return inside?”

  Though chilled, Samantha was reluctant to end the evening. The prince was at his most charming, and she wanted to savor the moment.

  “Tell me about Orion,” she said.

  “Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes—”

  “Who are they?”

  “Greek gods,” Rudolf answered. “These three Greek gods were visiting a man called Hyrieus, who showed them great hospitality. They wanted to give him a gift in return, but what Hyrieus wanted was a son. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes urinated into the skin of the ox they had eaten and told Hyrieus to bury it. Orion was born from that skin.”

  “That is an inauspicious beginning,” Samantha said.

  “Look to the south.” Rudolf turned her in that direction and warmed her body by pulling her in front of him and encircling her with his arms. “Sirius is the brightest star in the heavens. It is also called the Dog Star because of its proximity to Canis Major, the Big Dog constellation. Do you see it?”

  “Yes, I see it,” Samantha lied. She couldn’t see a dog, only a bright star, but was enjoying her nearness to the prince.

  Why am I tormenting myself like this? If she encouraged the prince, he would want entrance to her bed. He offered nothing but heartache in return.

  “What are you doing?” Samantha asked, feeling the prince turning her in the opposite direction.

  “There is Polaris,” Rudolf said, pointing to the sky. “The North Star never changes position like the other stars. Sailors use Polaris to guide them across the seas . . . You are cold. Let us return inside.”

  Samantha remembered the maids’ hungry gazes on him. “Let’s walk around to the front,” she said. “I don’t want to return to the party.”

  A few minutes later, Rudolf and Samantha walked into the deserted foyer and went directly upstairs. Again, the prince followed her into her bedchamber and gestured for her to turn around. When she showed him her back, the prince unfastened her buttons and nuzzled the side of her neck.

  “Pleasant dreams,” he whispered against her ear.

  Samantha turned to face him as soon as he released her, but Rudolf was already walking toward the connecting door. “You should not be so familiar with servants,” she said, before she could bite back the words. “You will only encourage their boldness.”