“No, sir, not yet. She is, to my knowledge, perfectly safe. I came only to request your formal permission to pay my addresses to your daughter.”
The general’s mouth fell open. “What? What?”
Baird had paused in the doorway, and now turned back to face the room.
Zelig said, “I wish to make Miss Lisle an offer of marriage, an offer I have every reason to believe she will accept.” She had already accepted, in the sweetest way possible, but that was between himself and Esther.
Lisle closed his mouth, then struggled to speak several times before he finally exploded, “Baird! Show this imbecile out!”
Baird advanced purposefully.
“You should know,” Zelig went on, “that your permission and your blessing are important to me for Esther’s sake, but it makes no conceivable difference to the outcome of my offer. I will marry her.”
“Baird!” the general roared. “Throw this imbecile out!”
“With pleasure,” Baird breathed, and reached for Zelig.
Zelig brushed the heavy hand from his shoulder. “I wouldn’t.”
Baird made to replace it with considerably more force, but Zelig spun, seized the manservant’s hand, and twisted his arm behind him, holding him in a still, firm grip. The general, who had clearly never seen his guard dog bested by a morning caller, gawped.
“What a fuss you make,” Zelig said contemptuously to the general, “against an offer of marriage from a man who has already proved he can care for your daughter. And yet you were more than happy to sell her into marriage with a man, whose reputation was not only appalling, but deserved.” He gave Baird a little push toward the door and released him. “Get out.”
Outraged, Baird started back toward the general who, however, waved him away with irritation. Zelig had no doubt, when the door closed with an aggrieved snap, that the manservant’s ear would be pressed firmly against it.
General Lisle drew in his breath and stood very straight. “My daughter, sirrah, is a lady. I do not have to explain her choices to you.”
“That is true,” Zelig retorted. “And since I have no wish to quarrel with you, I will even keep to myself my opinion of the choices you have made for her. For Esther’s sake, I hope never to quarrel with you, and so I make my formal request for her hand.”
General Lisle stared at him as if he had never before come across quite this variety of insolence. “And I formally refuse!”
“It makes no difference,” Zelig said. “She is of age, and I will marry her.”
General Lisle’s face reddened with fury. “Baird!” he yelled. “I desire my daughter and Mrs. MacVey to step in here as soon as they might. And find me a messenger to carry a letter to Baron von Hager. Now, young man—”
“There is no need, Father,” Esther’s voice said quietly from the doorway, causing both Zelig and Lisle to swing around to face her.
She wore a morning gown with a pretty rosebud print, and the sight of her took Zelig’s breath away. Even though he’d wanted to spare her this unpleasantness, he could never be sorry for her presence. Besides, he realized he needed to see her, to reassure himself that she didn’t regret the sweet intimacy of last night. His body heated all over again at the memory.
“Ah!” Lisle exclaimed with triumph. “Come in my dear, come in and let’s settle this nonsense once and for all. This impudent fellow has just made me an offer for you. Tell him your answer and be done.”
Esther’s dark eyes met Zelig’s with a hint of a smile. She blushed quite adorably and his tension relaxed. No regrets, no shame. Only love that he still couldn’t quite believe he’d inspired.
She lifted her chin. “Yes, sir. I accept.”
“There!” the General exclaimed with satisfaction. “Now you have your answer, be—” He broke off, his gaze flying from Zelig back to Esther. “What? What did you say?”
Esther said patiently, “I said, I accept Herr Garin’s kind offer of marriage.”
“But…but,” Lisle floundered. “You’re engaged to Prince Otto!”
“No, I’m not. I ended any understanding between us.”
“But he’s an agent of the police!” Lisle spluttered. “A commoner with nothing!”
“Well, I am a commoner with nothing,” Esther said reasonably. “And though you’re wrong about him having nothing—he is, in fact, the King of Kriegenstein’s true heir—you should know that I would marry him were he a pauper with no more than the shirt on his back. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but you will come around, I promise.”
“Lord Henry Niven,” Baird announced triumphantly, as Lord Harry strode into the room and came to an abrupt halt, the cheerful smile on his face fading as he looked from one occupant of the room to the other.
“Talk some sense into her, Niven,” the general barked, “for I cannot!”
“About what?” Niven asked, bewildered. “What’s going on?”
“I would like you to wish me happiness, my lord,” Esther said, going forward with her hand held out. Zelig had to bite back a hint of unreasonable jealousy as Niven took her hand. “I know I told you last night that I would never marry anyone, but I have just become engaged to Herr Zelig. I love him, you see.”
While Zelig felt himself swell with ridiculous pride, Niven paled. His gaze shot from Esther to Zelig and back. He swallowed. “So,” he said ruefully, “that is how the land lies.”
“I’m afraid it does,” Esther said.
Niven, as if just remembering he still held her hand, hastily raised it to his lips and kissed it. “Then of course, I wish you happy,” he said in a rush. “And you, sir.” He walked toward Zelig, determinedly offering his hand. “Vienna this morning is full of your good fortune, although not, so far, of this happy announcement. Congratulations. You have won a wonderful lady.”
Zelig, his hostility melting in the face of such gracious defeat, shook Lord Harry’s hand. “Thank you. I know it.”
Esther spun around to the general. “Oh and that reminds me, we have a wedding to plan most urgently.”
“Oh no!” the general protested. “I draw the line at that! There will be no urgent wedding of my daughter!”
Esther laughed. “Not me in this case. Juana. Major Belling has set a date and it’s our responsibility to keep Juana up to the mark.”
Epilogue
A week later, Juana married Major Belling in a private ceremony at the Imperial Hotel, performed by the Papal representative at the Congress, Cardinal Consalvi. General Lisle gave the bride away. Esther and Garin were the chief witnesses.
Afterward, General Lisle hosted a lavish wedding breakfast in the hotel. Lord and Lady Castlereagh themselves attended, as did various Spanish dignitaries, and the King of Kriegenstein, who was holding his head high in face of the disgrace, and indeed the fall, of his family. Vanya and Lizzie also attended, along with Lizzie’s uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels, and Vanya’s mother.
“So when are we to wish you happiness also?” Countess Savarina demanded of Esther.
“Soon,” Esther replied, with a quick glance at the king. “Garin just has a few things to arrange first.”
In truth, the king was being perfectly cooperative, so far as it was in his power to grant anything in a country now occupied by a foreign force. Fortunately, the King of Prussia was eager to look magnanimous in order to recover some of the international favor lost by his seizure of Kriegenstein and Saxony, so there wasn’t likely to be a problem over Garin’s inheritance. It seemed probable that the king would be demoted to being Count of Kriegenstein, owing allegiance to the King of Prussia. Garin was now his legitimate heir. Otto had been returned to his remaining private estate in Kriegenstein and was forbidden from entering Austria again. Meyer languished in a Viennese prison.
“Of course,” the Countess said graciously. She cast a quick glance at the general, who was chatting amiably over his meal with Cardinal Consalvi. “I’m sure your father is in no hurry to lose you.”
In fact, the g
eneral seemed just a little lost today. He would soon be without either Juana or Esther to see to his comfort—to say nothing of his vanished diplomatic post in Kriegenstein. He was waiting to be recalled to London, or, he hoped, be given some position on Castlereagh’s staff.
“He’ll be fine,” Esther said affectionately. “Once he gets used to the idea.”
“Of course,” Countess Savarina agreed. Since the general happened to look up at that precise moment, she cast him a glance that Esther thought was almost coquettish. “I’m expecting my own daughters to arrive in Vienna any day now,” she told him. “I’ll be holding a ball for them, of course, and I do hope you’ll come.”
Not long after that, Esther kissed Juana and waved her off on the first leg of her new life with Major Belling. Surreptitiously, she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
“You don’t regret encouraging the match?” Garin murmured beside her.
“Of course not,” Esther assured him. “But I will miss her. For years she was both a friend and a mother to me.” She glanced up at him. “And now, I think, talking of mothers, that it’s time to meet yours.”
*
Emilie Garin, who should have been the Queen of Kriegenstein, lived in a cottage in a small village on the other side of the Vienna Woods, but today, she would meet them at the old monastery. Esther and Garin found the boys once again hard at work repairing and building, although they immediately left off their work to run whooping to meet the horses.
“Is my mother here?” Garin asked, when the boisterous greeting calmed a little. A slight flush about his face was the only sign that he took pleasure in the boys’ enthusiasm. Gradually, he was realizing and appreciating that he had friends. Loyal friends.
“We gave her tea in the kitchen, and we never even had to tell Lutz not to rob her,” Kai said proudly. “I wondered if we should stay and entertain her, civil like, but then I thought it would only be a matter of time until we said or did something outrageous, so we went back to work instead.”
“Is she a little formidable for an old lady?” Esther asked him in a low voice as she slipped behind Garin and the others.
“A little?” Kai whistled. “She’s fierce, Miss! Best watch yourself.”
Esther’s heart sank from natural nervousness to something approaching fear—not so much of the woman herself but, for Garin’s sake, of not being able to like her. His mother had once been the only person in the world he cared about. She rode on.
As they dismounted, Garin said abruptly to Kai, “I’ve been thinking about you three, as I was talking about you with Miss Lisle. We think you should choose—when you’re ready—what you’d like to do. You can stay here and receive a proper wage for the work you do, or you can work for me in the police properly, again for a wage. Or if you prefer, I’ll try and arrange an apprenticeship, training with an artist or a musician, or learning in whatever interests you. We won’t set you adrift with nothing.”
“You’ve been a big help to both of us,” Esther added. “So think about how you’d like to spend your life.”
The boys seemed slightly overwhelmed by this.
“Where will you be?” Menno demanded. “Are you going to Kriegenstein? Leaving Vienna?”
Garin glanced at Esther.
“No,” she said. “Perhaps, but for visits only. This will be our home—and yours, wherever you go and whatever you do. So you’d better hurry up and finish it.”
The boys whooped again and ran off, leaving Esther and Garin to walk across the courtyard to the kitchen door. There, Garin paused with his hand on the latch.
“Thank you for that. I didn’t realize I actually cared so much what happened to them. Are you sure you’ll be content with this as our main home?”
She closed her hand over his. “Garin, I’m content anywhere with you.”
It was true. Although there had been no repeat of their passionate encounter on the night of the Carrousel, the physical intimacy seemed to have created a stronger emotional bond between them. Far from revealing himself to be a wicked seducer and a cad, he’d become a caring, exciting necessity in her life. And trust between them had become absolute.
His breath caught. He swooped down and kissed her, thoroughly enough to leave her tingling and breathless. Then, he flipped up the latch behind her so that she all but fell into the kitchen. “Now come and meet my ferocious harpy of a mother.”
Esther, steadied by his arm, turned quickly to face the tiny woman rising from the nearest kitchen chair. She wore a neat cap over pale, grey hair and her face, though worn and lined with tiredness, was gentle, her expression nervous as she gazed rapidly from her son to Esther and back.
Esther dug her elbow into her beloved’s ribs and hurried forward to meet her, both hands held out. “Oh, Madame, I have been so anxious to meet you,” she said with a little crack in her voice and found herself enveloped in a tight hug.
“Secretly, my son has a sense of humor,” Emilie Garin said shakily. “Ferocious harpy, indeed!”
Over the little lady’s head, Esther met Garin’s gaze, and for the first time that she could remember, he actually smiled. A full, spontaneous smile that caught at her breath and lit up his face, and her world.
The End
Author Bio
Mary Lancaster’s first love was historical fiction. Since then she has also grown to love coffee, chocolate, red wine and black and white films – simultaneously where possible. She hates housework.
As a direct consequence of the first love, she studied history at St. Andrews University. Several jobs later, she now writes full time at her seaside home in Scotland, which she shares with her husband and three children.
Mary’s books include several historical novels with strong romantic elements and a new series of light, fun Regency romances set at the Congress of Vienna.
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Vienna Woods (The Imperial Season Book 2) Page 24