“Well, he’s not going to die now, but I will not have him doing anything that might set back my treatment.”
She walked out of the room as she spoke.
Nanny looked after her with a smile.
‘She’s very like her mother,’ she sighed to herself. ‘Eventually she always gets her own way!’
Latasha ran down the stairs and along the passage to the Royal Apartments.
The sentries knew her very well by now and saluted whenever she appeared.
The daily aide-de-camp in charge dutifully opened the door without being asked.
When she went in, she found Prince Kraus sitting at his writing desk.
He looked up as she appeared and she said quickly,
“Please don’t rise, you must still take things easy, Your Royal Highness. I hear, although I cannot believe it is true, that you are talking of riding tomorrow.”
“I thought you would be pleased to have me as your companion, Lady Gloria, when you and Amalie go out in the morning before breakfast.”
“Of course you must not – when you do go riding I will give you a special massage first and you must take it very easy the first time you mount a horse.”
Prince Kraus lent back in his chair.
“I knew you would try to stop me, so when can I start?”
“Perhaps in two days time.”
“I am not going to wait as long as that. I feel so much better in myself and I have not had a headache since you came to Oldessa. I must take some exercise otherwise I will end up in a wheelchair!”
Latasha giggled.
“That is not likely, Your Royal Highness, looking as you do now. But I am so very worried that you might have a relapse and I will have to start at square one all over again.”
“Would you mind having to do so?”
There was a pause before Latasha replied,
“I will have to return home sometime.”
“I appreciate that and I am also extremely curious to know what your report will be on Stefan.”
Latasha stared at him wide-eyed.
“What can you mean?” she asked incredulously.
Prince Kraus smiled.
“I am not a complete idiot. I soon realised you had come here to spy out the land – for Harry.”
Latasha drew in her breath.
She had no idea that he could be aware of the real reason why she was visiting him.
“When I wrote to Harry suggesting that his sister Latasha should marry Stefan, I thought perhaps he might suggest coming himself to pay me a visit. But when you appeared as his friend who was interested in travelling, I guessed exactly why he had sent you.”
“As a spy?” she murmured.
“As a very charming, very clever and very beautiful spy! Which of course all women spies are traditionally!”
Latasha laughed.
“I don’t think it is a compliment when you call me a spy. I will admit Harry asked me to let him know what I thought about Oldessa and I have every intention of telling him how lovely I think it is.”
“And Stefan?” Prince Kraus enquired.
Latasha made a helpless gesture with her hands.
“He is determined to marry no one.”
“That is exactly what he has said to me. Actually we had a flaming row about it last night.”
“After you had had your massage, you should have gone to sleep,” Latasha reproved him. “It is very wrong and naughty of Stefan and something I will not allow him to do again.”
“You really think you can stop him?” Prince Kraus enquired. “He came up to say goodnight and when I asked him to accept a British bride to save Oldessa, he flew into a rage. He said that he was not going to be bullied by me or anyone else into marrying a plain, boring, stupid English girl!”
“Latasha is none of those things,” she muttered to him indignantly.
“Surely – but because I told Stefan I thought he was selfish and unpatriotic, he and Madame le Telbé have gone off today to the Summer Palace.”
Latasha’s eyes widened.
“I did not know you had one.”
“It is some miles away just over the mountains and was built by my father on the side of a lake. The situation is amazingly beautiful and the Palace although not very big is comfortable. Stefan will doubtless enjoy himself there.”
“And you let him go?” Latasha said reproachfully.
Prince Kraus sighed expressively.
“What was the point of trying to stop him? He is over twenty-one and can now do what he likes. Personally I am a little tired of Madame le Telbé’s endless silly giggles and flirtatious eyes. I thought it would be a nice rest without her!”
Latasha felt the same, but knew she must not say so.
Instead she suggested,
“If I let you ride tomorrow, will you promise to do it no more than for only one hour in the morning and then lie down after luncheon?”
“I will ride with you at ten o’clock. We will have luncheon together when we return, but I make no promises as to what I will do in the afternoon.”
“Now I know you are better, Your Royal Highness! When a patient starts defying his nurse, it means that he is really well again and has no further need of her.”
“That is not true, Lady Gloria. I have great need of you, and what I want to do, as soon as that tiresome nurse of whom you are speaking allows me, is to show you some of the improvements I have introduced to Oldessa – ”
He paused before he added,
“Also a discovery that has just been made in the mountains.”
“A new discovery?” she asked excitedly. “What is it?”
“For the moment it must be a secret. I understand that those who are working in that particular area have all sworn on the Bible that they will keep silent about what they have found.”
“And what have they found?”
Prince Kraus looked towards the door as if he felt that someone might be listening.
Then he said in a low voice only she could hear,
“Gold!”
Latasha gave a cry of delight.
“Gold! Surely that is most unusual.”
“Very unusual, even for those in the Balkans who have lead, iron and coal. I don’t think we have much gold, but even a little will cause a major sensation and make us outstanding amongst all the other countries around us.”
“Of course it will,” Latasha agreed, “and I am very pleased for you and Oldessa.”
“And you will help me?”
“As much as I can, but I don’t quite see how.”
“I will tell you later, Lady Gloria, but first I want to show you and I want to see myself exactly what has been found in the mountains.”
“It is so exciting,” Latasha exclaimed. “I presume you have not yet told your brother.”
“Certainly not, if I told Stefan, he would surely tell Madame le Telbé and what woman could possibly keep a secret like that?”
“But you have told me!”
“You are different.”
“Why?” she asked him wide-eyed.
There was silence until Prince Kraus replied,
“Because you are so unlike in every way anyone I have ever met in my entire life.”
He paused for a moment.
“Who else could have healed me when I thought I was facing death? Now I am determined to live if only to prove you are right.”
Latasha clapped her hands together.
“That is exactly what I want you to say. But please, please don’t run before you can walk. Mama was always insistent that people should get well slowly.”
“The extraordinary thing is – I am now well. I am well in myself and I am sure the honey you have given me has already put on the first of the two stone you insist on my gaining.”
Latasha smiled at him
“Your clothes still look a little loose on you.”
“I certainly have no intention of being extravagant and buying others if I can only wear
them for a short time.”
They were both laughing and Latasha added,
“I think you have been doing exercises when I have not been looking!”
“I remembered those I learnt at school and I found I could not only do them very easily but they were definitely making my limbs move quicker and feel stronger than they have felt for a long time.”
“I think really we have to thank the Ginkgo Biloba tree, Your Royal Highness. When I tell them at home that you have one growing in your garden, I feel they will be very jealous.”
“Now to return to where we came in, Lady Gloria, “what reports have you given to the Duke?”
“None so far. Actually I had a letter from him this morning after shopping and it is good news for you.”
“In what way?” Prince Kraus enquired.
“First of all the Duke has been appointed Master of the Horse by Her Majesty – ”
“That will please Harry and he is exactly the right man to be Master of the Horse. What else did he say?”
“He said that whilst he was at Windsor Castle, he spoke to two distinguished ladies and one of them seems to know exactly the right Governess for Princess Amalie.”
There was silence for a moment before he spoke,
“I am sure Amalie would much rather have you.”
“I need to return to England very soon, Your Royal Highness.”
“Why, is there some attractive young Englishman waiting for you?”
Latasha did not answer him and after a moment, he added,
“I am now waiting to know if you are in love and engaged to be married.”
“I do not wish to answer questions about myself,” she answered. “I came here because I wanted to visit the Balkans and I thought it would be amusing to stay in your Palace, while the Duke at your own request is looking for a Governess, and teach your sister English myself for a short while.”
“Which you have certainly done extremely well. I was thinking only yesterday how fluent she has become. And she enjoys being with you, as indeed I do.”
As he finished speaking, their eyes met and Latasha felt a little tremor course through her body.
Then she told herself that she had come to prevent Prince Kraus from doing too much.
Now he should be resting.
So she rose to her feet.
“I am going into the garden and I think you should close your eyes and if possible sleep. Would you like me to massage your forehead now?”
He shook his head.
“Not at the moment,” he replied, “and if you want to go into the garden, I will come too.”
“Are you quite sure that it will not be too much for you, Your Royal Highness?”
He shook his head again.
“The only thing I am having far too much of at the moment is my own company. Because I am frightened of losing you, I want to keep you fully in sight of my eyes.”
Latasha walked to the door and he followed her.
She had a feeling that he was holding onto her.
He was placing scores of invisible bands round her body to prevent her from flying away from him.
‘He is apprehensive that if I leave,’ she mused, ‘he will fall sick again and there will be no one here to make him well.’
They walked out of the Palace by a side door and Latasha realised that Prince Kraus was now walking quite easily.
He was not dragging his legs as he had done when she had first arrived and it was obvious that his head was clear of headaches and migraine.
When he looked up at the sun, the light seemed to sparkle in his eyes.
He was so handsome silhouetted against the trees and was so different from any other man she had ever met.
Impulsively Latasha cried,
“You are well, you are really well! I can see it in your face and the way you move. All you have to do now is to be extremely careful. Then you will be as strong as you were when you were at Oxford with the Duke.”
“I intend to be even stronger than that. When I was a small boy I enjoyed life wildly and passionately without thinking about it. Now I need to think clearly and what you will have to concentrate on, my beautiful nurse, is my brain.”
“What can be wrong with your brain?”
“I have at the moment a problem I cannot solve and which is vital for both me and my country. There must be a way that I have not yet found of tackling and solving it.”
Latasha did not understand what he was saying.
She guessed that it must in some way concern the menace of the Russians.
Then she remembered that the real reason she was here in Oldessa was to take a good look at Prince Stefan to decide whether she would marry him as Prince Kraus had suggested to her brother.
Alternatively to take a chance that Queen Victoria would not recall her existence.
Other Royalty in deep need of a British wife might be different in every way to Prince Stefan.
They might be old, ugly and repulsive!
“Now you are looking worried,” he interrupted her thoughts unexpectedly. “What have I said to disturb you?”
“I was just thinking of you and your problem, Your Royal Highness, but you must forget it for now and come and look at the Ginkgo Biloba tree. I think that you should bow respectfully to it and thank it for making you feel as you now do!”
He chuckled.
Where is the tree? I seem to have forgotten.”
Latasha put out her hand to guide him to where the Ginkgo Biloba tree stood.
As his fingers closed over hers, she felt again that strange feeling she had felt earlier in his presence.
Then, as they were walking together in the garden in silence, she became suddenly aware that she had fallen in love.
When they found the tree, they both paid elaborate homage to it, which made them laugh.
They went back to the Palace and as they neared it, Amalie came running towards them.
She was wearing one of the new dresses they had just bought in the City and wanted her brother to admire it.
She told them that luncheon was ready and the chef was furious because they were late.
“I had totally forgotten all about luncheon,” sighed Latasha.
“So had I,” Prince Kraus admitted, “but now I think about it, I am feeling hungry.”
“That is indeed good news,” smiled Latasha.
“But I am worrying about my figure – ”
“If you don’t eat everything the chef has made for us, he will be cross or cry,” came in Amalie. “He believes that your being so much better than you have been for a long time is all due to him.”
“He must give a little credit to the Ginkgo Biloba tree!” replied Prince Kraus, his eyes twinkling.
“I am sure your chef thinks you should give him a medal when you are really well,” said Amalie, “and he will be able to ask for a much bigger salary than he has now!”
“I am sure he has learnt a lot more in Paris than just cooking – the French have a clever way of extorting money from everyone when they least expect it!”
“That French woman has taken Stefan away from us,” grumbled Amalie. “It’s very mean of them to go off to the Summer Palace on their own and not ask us if we would like to go too.”
“I think they just want to be alone. Personally I am perfectly content to be without them.”
He looked at Latasha as he spoke, but she avoided his eyes.
As they entered the Palace, Amalie ran ahead to tell the butler that she had found her brother and Lady Gloria.
They were all hungry and ready for their luncheon.
*
Later that afternoon Amalie was writing a story in English whilst Latasha went down to the library to find a book for herself.
She noticed that over the mantelpiece in the library there was a very striking portrait of Prince Kraus.
It had been painted over two years earlier and in it he was wearing the uniform of a General in the Oldessan Army.
<
br /> His head was bare and the artist, who had obviously remarkable talent, had caught an expression of interest and enterprise in his eyes.
It made him seem as if he might just step out of the frame at any moment.
Latasha stood still gazing at the portrait.
She knew that she was right when she had admitted to herself that she was in love with Prince Kraus.
It was impossible not to love anyone so handsome.
She recognised that he had, now that he could use it effectively, such a quick brain that she had enjoyed every moment she had conversed with him.
She was in love – as she had always wanted to be in love.
Then came the question which seemed to thunder in her ears – was he in love with her?
He paid her compliments and at the moment he said he could not be without her whilst she was making him well again.
But that was not the love she so desired.
She was well aware that perfect love really did exist if one could only find it.
He did admire her and she would not have been a woman if she could not have sensed it.
She had come into his apartment night after night to massage him and she had known by the way he watched her walking towards him that he thought she was beautiful.
But to Prince Kraus she was not Royal.
She was just an aristocratic English lady who had come to stay with him as a guest.
To save Oldessa, if his brother would not do it and now that his health was fully restored, he needed to marry Royalty.
Latasha had an agonising feeling deep within her.
Any Royal Englishwoman whatever she might look like would be more important to him at this very moment than anything he felt for her.
‘How can I tell him who I am?’ she asked herself. ‘I am sure that he would instantly offer me marriage. But if I don’t, whatever he feels for me at the moment, he would deem it impossible to offer me a wedding ring.’
To face the truth was like having a shower of iced water poured on something warm and lovely – something that was moving within her whenever she thought of him, looked at him or spoke to him.
‘I love him,’ she told herself again and again as she dressed for dinner.
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