An Insubstantial Pageant by Sheila Walsh

Author:Sheila Walsh [Walsh, Sheila]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: historical romance, regency fiction, regency romance, regency historical romance, georgian romance, clean and wholesome, clean regency romance
Publisher: Wyndham Books (Regency Romance)
Published: 2019-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

For a moment no one moved. Then:

‘The devil!’ Max Annesley strode forward, his face white with rage, while Lottie, with a calmness she was far from feeling, glanced swiftly back to assure herself that no one was watching ‒ and looked straight into Countess von Deiter’s eyes.

She flung her a brilliant smile, shut the door unhurriedly and leaned back against it, stifling an overwhelming urge to scream. Something of her intensity of feeling was evident in her voice, which shook very slightly.

‘Highness ‒ how could you? This is madness! I would not have believed that even you could sink so low!’

Had she been less angry, the expression in his eyes might have given Lottie pause; as it was, he neither moved nor spoke, and she had too much else to worry about to notice.

Alys, in the circle of Prince Paul’s arm, a trifle pink from being kissed and still in a state of euphoria, did not immediately register what was happening, but she greeted their arrival with pleasure.

‘Oh, how splendid! You are just in time to see …’

But her brother saw only the tears still wet on her face ‒ and Alys in the arms of this royal dissolute whom he had seen with his own eyes, only moments before, subjecting her to his odious advances. There was but one thought in his head.

Lottie guessed what must be his intention and ran forward to catch at his arm. ‘No! Mr Annesley … Max, pray don’t!’ He brushed her aside with indifference, and had Alys not spoken, he must surely have thrown himself upon the Prince and attempted to choke the life out of him without regard for the consequences. But the sound of his sister’s voice, troubled, even a little aggrieved, reached him at last and he turned instead to grasp the hand she held out, drawing her to himself, away from the Prince.

‘Max … what is it? Why are you so angry? I had thought you would be pleased!’

He uttered something like a groan and said gently, ‘My dear, you don’t understand.’ His eyes, like hard blue chips, belied the gentleness. They moved to Prince Paul and then found Lottie. ‘Perhaps, Baroness, you would oblige me by taking Alys away from here.’

‘Leaving you and Prince Paul to come to cuffs ‒ or worse?’ she cried, incensed beyond all measure. ‘Indeed I will not!’

‘No, and I will not go anywhere either,’ Alys declared, her uncertainty turning to fear, ‘until someone tells me what is happening!’

The silence that followed was broken by Prince Paul whose eyes held a curious blankness more chilling than mere anger. He said with contemptuous irony, ‘My dear Miss Annesley, I infer that your brother in his roundabout way is accusing me of attempting to seduce you and is resolved upon calling me to account.’

‘Oh, no!’ she exclaimed, turning her head a little towards him. ‘But that is ridiculous …’

In spite of the tenseness of the situation, Lottie found herself momentarily diverted by Paul’s reaction to this.

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