Julia London - The Princess Plan

Eliza didn’t think she cared much for the haughty prince, in spite of his fine green eyes. She wondered where he was off to at such a clip.

The slim man suddenly looked up and through the banquet hall door. His gaze seemed to land directly on Eliza. She froze, a chipmunk with her cheeks full of sandwich. Was he looking at her? It was difficult to tell with the mask. Surely not.

Well, if he was, he was frightened off, because he suddenly turned and walked briskly in the opposite direction. He walked up to a round Englishman and whisked him off to the side of the hall for animated discussion.

That porcine Englishman seemed terribly familiar to Eliza. She called up many faces in her head as she tried to sort it out.

“There you are!”

The shout startled Eliza so badly she fumbled her sandwich.

“Dear Lord , what are you doing , Eliza?” Caroline exclaimed in horror. “You’re eating as if you’ve not dined in weeks .”

“I’m hungry,” Eliza informed Caroline. “The food is delicious. I want to try everything.”

“Well, it looks like you have everything on your plate.” Caroline sat heavily beside Eliza with a sigh. “I’ve danced to the point I don’t think I can take another step.” Even though her mask was slightly askew, Eliza thought Caroline was particularly lovely tonight. But that was Caroline for you—always impeccably dressed. She had the good fortune of fine looks and a fine figure. Even in her bedclothes and her hair tangled around her, she was quite lovely. She was tall and lithe, and her pale blond hair was put in loops above her ears, anchored there by the velvet ties of her gold mask. Her gown was made of gold and white muslin, and gold velvet ribbons wrapped around her sleeves. She wore a single strand of pearls around her neck.

But it was her mask that stood out above all else. It was a work of art. It was shaped like the oversized eyes of a cat and was covered in the same material as her gown. Cascades of beads hung from the corners and bordered the full mask.

When they’d dressed for the ball, Caroline had taken an inordinate amount of time in front of the mirror, admiring herself from all angles, making slight adjustments to her gown and mask, depending on her perspective. “Madam Rosenstern made the gown especially for me, especially for tonight,” she’d informed Eliza and Hollis.

Caroline suddenly reached for Eliza’s dance card dangling from her wrist. “Eliza! You’ve only three of them filled!”

“I was forced to dance a polka,” Eliza said, and took another bite of sandwich. “Have you any idea how dreadfully I dance a polka?”

“I know how dreadfully you dance , darling, but I rather thought you’d do well enough with a quadrille, and yet, you haven’t a partner for that dance. We must find a hostess—”

“No!”

“And will you put down the sandwich? A gentleman will not be inclined to consider a lady for a dance partner, much less a potential wife, if he fears he must feed her as much as his livestock.”

Eliza put down her sandwich. “If a gentleman considers me for a potential wife, he must also consider that I eat. This may come as quite a shock to you, Caro, but I did not come to this ball in search of a husband. I came to meet a prince, and that , I have done. Twice over,” she added pertly.

Caroline gasped. “You have? When? ”

“When I was avoiding the ballroom hostess. Look there, do you see that thin Alucian gentleman speaking to the fat Englishman?”

Caroline looked around. “Which one?”

“One of his hands is in a black glove and he holds it at his side.”

“What of him?”

“He was the one making introductions to the prince. Who, by the bye, has shaved the beard you swooned about.”

“Ah. To add to his disguise, I suspect.”

“Who is the gentleman speaking to?”

Caroline sat up a little straighter to see. “If I am not mistaken, that is Mr. John Heath, the banker. You’ve met his daughter, Lucille, haven’t you?”

Eliza shook her head.

“No?” Caroline leaned forward and whispered, “The poor dear has been out two seasons without a single offer. I have heard it said that her modest dowry is not enough to make up for her plain looks. She is not considered a catch .”

“She and I could be fast friends, then, couldn’t we?”

Caroline gave her a little glare. Both women turned their attention to the two men and their discussion across the way. A second Englishman had joined them.

“How on earth did you gain an introduction to the prince?” Caroline demanded. “One must be invited to be introduced.”

“So I was instructed.” Eliza forked a healthy bite of the tipsy cake. “I encountered him in a passageway between a study of some sort and the ballroom.”

“A what?”

“A passageway.”

“What were you doing in a passageway?”

“Hiding,” Eliza admitted. “He sampled my punch. Said it was very good. And then he tried to seduce me.”

Caroline’s eyes rounded. And then she burst out laughing. “You can’t be serious!” she cried gleefully.

“I am quite serious. He tried to seduce me, plain as day. I didn’t know he was the prince then, obviously, or I might have allowed it, but moments later I found myself in a line to meet him, and Caro, I perjured myself.” She laughed. “I claimed to have an invitation, and would you believe that not one person challenged me? Well, that’s not entirely true. There was a woman dressed as a peacock who challenged me, but she didn’t call the authorities.”

Caroline’s eyes widened. “Eliza Tricklebank! You were in the group of debutantes invited to make his acquaintance?”

“Did you see them?”

“I heard of them in the retiring room. Everyone did. Sarah Montrose was bragging and Emily Peters was crushed that she was not invited to join. Apparently, she’s been struck off the list.”

Eliza had another bite of cake. “I wanted to meet a prince and I saw no other way to do it. His eyes are an amazing shade of green, Caro. I’ve never seen such a color. Oh, and he stepped on my foot.”

“What?”

“Right across the top of it, with all his weight. It’s a wonder he didn’t break it—he’s quite a large man up close.”

Caroline gaped at her.

“But I didn’t mind,” Eliza insisted through another bite of cake. “It was an accident, and I own some of the fault, because I leapt in front of him before he got away. I will never have another opportunity to meet a royal prince and I wasn’t going to let it pass because of some unwritten rule that one must be invited .”

Caroline’s mouth dropped more. “What has happened to you?”

Eliza laughed. “Where is the harm? If he’d been swept off his feet by the sight of me and had sent all the other unmarried ladies home, I would apologize profusely for my behavior. But he wasn’t, and he didn’t, and therefore there is no harm. This isn’t Cinderella after all.”

“Well, this is certainly not Cinderella. At least she danced,” Caroline said, and helped herself to a piece of cheese from Eliza’s plate. “You are not the only one to have encountered a prince tonight, you know. I was meant to dance with Prince Leopold, whose name is very clearly written on my dance card, do you see?” she asked, shaking her dance card at Eliza.

Eliza peered at it. She saw the name clearly written.

“We are acquainted, as you know,” Caroline said.

Eliza resisted a roll of her eyes. She loved Caroline, but Caroline adored every opportunity to mention any of her many important friends. She had told Eliza and Hollis the story of meeting Prince Leopold of Alucia at a country house last summer. She had told them more than once—several times over, if one was counting. The meeting had been very brief, but according to Caroline, hugely memorable to her and the prince both.