Waltz With a Stranger Read Online Free PDF Page B

married him in good faith, done her best to be a loyal wife and a worthy duchess. And all the time he’d just been amusing himself, flirting with the “American upstart” before taking a proper English bride. How dare he? How dare they? Well, they could both go to the devil, Glyndon and that supercilious cousin of his!
    Buoyed by her anger—infinitely preferable to tears—she rounded the last corner and saw Aunt Caroline standing almost exactly where she’d left her. Amy paused to collect herself further, then assumed a polite smile and ventured forth. Her face had cooled slightly; she hoped that meant her flush had subsided into something less hectic and more becoming.
    “Amy, my dear,” Lady Renbourne greeted her with a fond smile. “I was hoping you’d return from your rambles soon. There’s someone I should like you to meet,” she added, indicating the tall, dark-haired man standing beside her. “Amy, this is the Earl of Trevenan. Lord Trevenan, my goddaughter, Miss Amy Newbold.”
    An earl. Summoning up all the charm and grace in her arsenal, Amy extended her hand to the newcomer and flashed her most dazzling smile. “How do you do, Lord Trevenan? I’m delighted to make your acquaintance.”

Four
    Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
    So with two seeming bodies, but one heart…
    —William Shakespeare,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Bad Ems, May 1891
    The trunks were packed and the porter summoned to carry them downstairs. All that remained was to wait for the carriage that would take them to the station.
    Aurelia took one last look in the glass as she pinned her hat into place with hands that trembled only slightly. The face that gazed back at her was a far cry from the one she’d seen on arriving here eleven months ago: fuller and rosier. But it was the expression that made all the difference; her eyes were no longer shadowed but bright with anticipation, and, despite her apprehension, her mouth wanted to turn up in a smile.
    She could not see her leg in the glass, as it was decently covered by her traveling dress. But she knew how much it had improved as well. Oh, her limp did become more pronounced when she was fatigued, but most of the time it was scarcely noticeable. And as for her scar…
    A discreet knock on the door broke into her thoughts.
    “Mother?” Aurelia called. Laura Newbold had been finishing her own toilette when her daughter had looked in on her five minutes ago.
    “ Mais non, m’amie —it is I.” The mellifluous, slightly amused female voice that replied had been known to bring countless audiences to their feet.
    Smiling, Aurelia opened the door. “Claudine,” she greeted her friend with equal warmth. “I hoped I would see you before we left.”
    Claudine Beaumont, the sometime toast of Paris, brushed her cheek against Aurelia’s in a fleeting caress. “ Vraiment, I have come to wish you and your mother le bon voyage . You will give my love to Paris, when you see her?”
    “I will, though I’ll miss you terribly. I feel you helped me just as much as Dr. Strauss.”
    Claudine gave a slight shake of her head. “ Eh bien , I could not have done so, were you not so apt a pupil , ma petite.” Slipping one elegant finger beneath Aurelia’s chin, she gently tilted her face up to the light and, after a long considering moment, smiled. “ Bon . I see the queen and not the little mouse. Even the so-cold English will notice the difference.”
    “Do you think so?” Aurelia asked, unable to keep the eagerness from her voice. “I should so like to make a…better impression than I did last year.”
    “ Mais oui .” Claudine’s dark eyes regarded her shrewdly. “Is there someone in England you particularly wish to impress?”
    Aurelia felt herself coloring. “Well, ‘impress’ might not be the word, exactly,” she temporized. “But someone I might like to see again, now that…things are different.”
    Mr. Trelawney—the name was never very far away. Other young men