The Paris Affair by Teresa Grant

Author:Teresa Grant [Grant, Teresa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical, Mystery
ISBN: 9780758283931
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2013-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Manon cast a glance round the dressing room. “Odd I didn’t realize until now how much I’d miss Paris. I’ve rather taken it for granted. Like a lover one doesn’t properly appreciate until he’s not there to pay one silly compliments or open the carriage door.”

Suzanne had only spent small snatches of her life in Paris, but the city seemed to run through Manon’s blood. She’d always been a font of information, for she knew everyone and everything. “Manon,” Suzanne said on sudden impulse. “Did you ever hear any talk about Tatiana Kirsanova?”

Manon gave a dry laugh. “Could anyone in Paris fail to hear talk about Tatiana Kirsanova?” She hesitated a moment, fiddling with one of the buttons on her coat.

“It’s all right,” Suzanne said. “I know. That is, I know about the rumors. The rumors that Princess Tatiana was Malcolm’s mistress. She wasn’t as it happens.”

Manon turned to look at her. “You sound very confident.”

“I wasn’t for the longest time, but I am now.”

“Because?”

“Because Malcolm told me, and I believe him.”

Manon’s brows rose above her spectacles. “You do have a remarkable marriage.”

“Trust grows easier with time,” Suzanne said, and then bit her lip because Malcolm trusted her far too readily. “But Malcolm was close to Princess Tatiana,” she continued. “He’d worked with her—”

“Worked with—I should have known.”

“That she was an agent? Yes, I felt quite foolish for not knowing it myself.”

“I heard your husband looked into her murder in Vienna.”

“He did. And though no one could be publicly charged, he learned a great deal. But Malcolm takes his responsibilities hard. I don’t think he’ll ever stop blaming himself for not having been able to save Princess Tatiana.” Suzanne hesitated, studying Manon’s artfully made-up face, then made a leap of trust. “It seems Princess Tatiana may have had a child.”

Manon’s eyes widened in seemingly genuine surprise. “Mon Dieu.” Her gaze flickered to the sitting room. “Hidden away?”

“Apparently. But Tatiana seemingly knew where. We think the child would have been born about eight years ago. Did you hear anything about who might have been Tatiana’s lover nine years ago or a bit less?”

Manon’s brows, thickened with blacking, drew together in consideration. “I remember the swath Princess Tatiana cut through Parisian society when she first arrived. I wasn’t invited to her parties, of course, but she was pointed out to me at the theatre. When she was present, the gentlemen in the crowd had a distressing tendency to look at her box instead of at the stage. And there’d be less of a crowd in my dressing room because a throng of gentlemen would follow her when she left. She had a group of us put on a private theatrical at one of her parties. It would have been the autumn of 1806. Love’s Labour’s Lost. A bit of a surprising choice.”

Suzanne said nothing, though she wondered if Tatiana’s fondness for the play had come from Malcolm or from their mother.

“I must say she was quite generous with her payment and she encouraged us to mingle with the guests afterwards,” Manon continued.

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