A Scandalous Adventure (3 page)

Staufer did not know what had gotten into the general, but he seemed to have withdrawn into his own thoughts and was listening with only half his attention. Lady Augusta chatted away at him, and Bergen responded with smiles and nods, but his glances kept sliding over to Lady Olivia. She, in turn, grew more flustered every time the general looked at her.

Max did not mind, since this left him free to concentrate on Lady Susannah. She was every bit as attractive as he had first thought—even with her hair pinned back severely, her posture stiffly perfect, and her dress buttoned up to her chin. Did she think that buttoned-up dress disguised her curves? It just made them more tantalizing, especially since that peach hue was deliciously close to the color of her skin.

She was being a most proper lady. Oh, so very proper. She had poured coffee for everyone and seen to it that they all had pastries. At the moment, she was using her fork to take tiny little bites of her slice of raspberry pastry and then sipping delicately from her cup of coffee. Not a crumb fell on her pretty dress, and whenever a speck of whipped cream escaped to land on her upper lip, she promptly blotted it off with her napkin. He kept hoping she would lick it off instead. He would be glad to do so himself.

She was so very prim and proper that he could barely keep from laughing out loud. Did she think she was fooling him? He had seen her fly into action when her little friend seemed to be threatened. She was not so prim and proper then. Her wariness was that of a warrior, prepared to go into battle when necessary, not that of a shy little miss.

What amused him most was the way she tried to avoid meeting his eye. Did she think he would eat her up? It was a temptation. And then she kept glancing over at Lady Augusta and Lady Olivia, as if to make sure all was well
.
Or to make sure they were behaving?
No need to worry about them, pretty Suse. What can happen to them here?

So he let the silence between them stretch out. When it seemed to be growing uncomfortable for her, she asked, “What made you think the princess might be in Baden, Captain Staufer? Is this not rather far from Sigmaringen?”

“So very formal, Suse. Surely you can call me Max. After all, you did attack me with your parasol. That makes us friends, doesn't it?” He spoke in German, partly to see if she understood, and partly because he did not speak English well and disliked sounding foolish.

A delightful shade of rosy red crept up her cheek. She definitely understood, and replied in excellent German. “That would be most improper, Captain.”

“Proper, improper—we must be beyond that, no? After all, you did kick me. And I picked you up and held you on my hip. Does that mean nothing?” He put his hand over his heart and looked soulful.

“Really!” Her mouth pursed up. She was either annoyed or trying not to laugh. “If you were a gentleman, you would forget that ever happened.”

“But was it not more interesting than the usual stroll through the gardens?”

She did laugh then. “You are dreadful, Captain. Even if it was, I should not admit it.”

“How does it happen that you speak such excellent German?” He was curious.

The question seemed to startle her, as if she had not even realized that they were no longer speaking English. For that matter, she noticed, the others had all drifted into German as well. “Our governess—Olivia and I had a German governess. She was from Vienna, and while she was with us, she would speak only German. If we wished to converse, we had to learn.”

“An obviously effective method.”

Susannah smiled.

“And did she call you Suse?”

“Most certainly not, Captain Staufer.” She made an effort to look affronted, but he did not find it successful. “She called me Lady Susannah, just as she should.”

“You should call me Max,” he persisted. “My name is Max.”

She ignored that. “You did not answer my earlier question about the princess.”

He gave a plaintive sigh. “I do not want to talk about the princess. She is a very stupid and tiresome creature. I would much rather talk about you. Why do you keep looking over at your friends? Are you their guardian?”

The question seemed to startle her, and she gave a little laugh. “Why…I suppose I am, in a way.”

It was as he had thought. She was a companion to the old woman, though obviously not a servant. Probably a poor relation if it was her task to watch over the others. “There is no need to worry about them. I promise you no harm will come to them at my hands—or at the general's hands either.” He offered a reassuring smile and held out his cup. “Might I trouble you for some more coffee?”

She blushed again and took the cup to refill for him, adding cream and sugar just as he had requested the first time. It delighted him that she remembered. When she handed it back to him, their fingers brushed and he sucked in a sharp breath. There had been something, a spark between them—he would have sworn it was powerful enough to set the table aflame. Whatever it was, it wiped the smile from his face and left him so shaken that his coffee splashed into the saucer.

* * *

Susannah pulled back abruptly. What was that? Surely the mere touch of a man's hand could not have such an effect. This was ridiculous. It was like touching that voltaic pile her brothers had made one summer. Except that it hadn't been that kind of shock. She did not know what to think.

Mercifully, the general sat up, looked around, and waved the remaining waiter from the room. He stood and walked over to the door, pulling it open quickly and checking to see if anyone was nearby before he returned to his seat.

“Otto…” Lady Augusta began reprovingly, but she stopped when he shook his head.

“You all showed some sympathy with my country's plight,” he said.

Olivia and Lady Augusta nodded. Susannah simply looked at him blankly. His country's plight? Oh yes. The missing princess. The diplomatic worries. The possibility of war. She had forgotten all about that. She focused her eyes on the general, trying to concentrate on his problems and forget the presence—the very disturbing presence—of his aide.

“I assure you we will say nothing of this.” Lady Augusta smiled and patted the general's hand. “If there is any other way we could be of assistance, you need only ask.”

“There is.” But having said that, the general fell silent again. The silence drew out uncomfortably.

“If you don't tell us what it is, we cannot know if it is something we could do,” Susannah said, trying to be helpful. To her annoyance, that remark prompted a choked laugh from Staufer. She thought she had sounded quite reasonable and didn't see what was funny about it.

The general smiled slightly. “It will sound mad. It is mad. But I think it can be done. It is just possible that it can be done.” He looked at Olivia. “You, my dear lady, are the image of Princess Mila. No one in Sigmaringen could tell the two of you apart. No one anywhere could. I would swear that her own father would be unable to tell you apart.”

“Yes, we understand that,” said Lady Augusta. “That accounts for Captain Staufer's confusion.”

“Yes, but don't you see? If she comes with us to Nymburg as the princess, no one will know that she is not. That will give us time to find the real princess and avoid any problems with Hechingen.”

There was a brief silence while they all looked at him dumbfounded.

“That's preposterous,” said Susannah, putting down her cup with a clatter. “Absolutely insane.”

“Oh, I couldn't possibly,” said Olivia at the same time.

General Bergen ignored Susannah, but took Olivia's hand in his. “Ah, but you could. It would not be difficult. You are a lady, and you have been to court in your own country, have you not?” At her hesitant nod, he beamed and continued. “It is not just the way you look, but the way you behave, the way you speak. You have the manner. No one would question it.”

“This is ridiculous,” said Susannah, putting an arm around Olivia to pull her away from the general. “How can you possibly make such a lunatic proposal? One simply doesn't do things like that. It does not matter that Olivia resembles your missing princess. She can't possibly lend herself to such an idiotic scheme.”

The general concentrated on Olivia, still holding her hand. “It will not be for long. A few days only. Just to give us a chance to find the princess and bring her back to her duty. No one will ever know.”

“But I wouldn't know what to do, what to say.”

Olivia sounded hesitant, but not nearly hesitant enough. A chill made its way down Susannah's spine. Olivia couldn't possibly be considering this, could she? Not really. This was insane.

“I don't know, Otto,” Aunt Augusta said slowly.

Good heavens, not Aunt Augusta too.
Susannah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes, you do know, Aunt Augusta. You know perfectly well that this is utterly impossible. Think of your position. Think of Olivia's position. We're not a troupe of strolling players, for goodness' sake!”

“Of course not,” said the general. “If you were actors, we could never manage it. But Lady Olivia here, she knows how to behave, how to hold herself, how to speak. Listen to her. Her German is perfect. She is as much a princess as the real one, isn't she, Max?”

And Max—Captain Staufer—that traitor, was beginning to smile as if he actually thought this was a reasonable proposal. He looked at Susannah. “She is, you know. In fact, she seems more like a princess than the real one does. Much more gracious. Much better behaved.”

“What does a princess have to do, actually?” asked Olivia. Her eyes were starting to sparkle dangerously.

“Stop it!” Susannah wanted to shake her.

“Don't be such a cabbage, Susannah,” said Aunt Augusta. “Think how exciting it would be. What an adventure!”

“Exciting? Think what a disaster it would be. It's probably high treason or something. They would chop off our heads as soon as we were exposed.”

The blasted captain was grinning now. Did he take nothing seriously? He said, “Do you know, now that I think about it, it might work. The princess would not be expected to know much. Everyone knows she is not an intelligent woman. Quite ignorant, in fact. And it could win us the time we need.”

“It would not be for long.” The general turned to Lady Augusta, obviously having realized that she would be the easiest to convince. “A few days at most. It will not take us more time than that to locate her and bring her back. It is not as if she is someone who will know how to hide. As soon as we discover the road she has taken, we will be able to find her. And in the meantime, you could prevent a disaster for my poor country.”

“Honestly. Have none of you any sense?” Susannah stood up and glared at the two officers. “This could not possibly succeed.” There were a hundred reasons why it would fail. Now all she had to do was think of one. Of course! She smiled triumphantly. “For example, the princess must have attendants who will know she has gone and who will know at once that Olivia is not the princess.”

“Yes, of course,” said Olivia, looking regretful. “Her maids, her ladies-in-waiting would know right away. It's almost impossible to fool servants.”

Max shook his head, still smiling. “No, they would not know, not the servants who remain. Only her maid and her bodyguards knew her well, and they vanished with her. Suse, you and Lady Augusta can be the princess's attendants, her ladies-in-waiting. You will travel to Nymburg and be in the castle with her. You will be with her all the time.”

“Stop calling me Suse!” When she turned back, she could see Olivia and Aunt Augusta looking hopefully at each other. Surely they could not be seriously considering this lunacy. Olivia was always throwing herself into things before she thought them through, and Aunt Augusta—Great God in Heaven! Aunt Augusta was thinking it would be fun. Susannah knew she had to inject some common sense into this discussion. “How long has your princess been gone?” she demanded.

“Three days,” Max—Captain Staufer—said.

“And if you haven't found her yet, what makes you think you will find her in another few days? Or weeks or months? What if you don't find her before the wedding? Surely you don't expect Olivia to marry your prince, do you?”

The general shook his head. “We have men, trusted men, searching all the ways out of the country, but we have not yet heard from them all. It will not take long. A few days will surely be enough.”

Lady Augusta cocked her head. “How have you explained the delay so far?”

“We sent a wire ahead to say that the princess has a slight indisposition and is staying at a
schloss
, a manor house, on my estate until she recovers,” said Staufer.

“Lady Olivia, you cannot know how much it would mean to us if you would undertake to do this.” The general took her hand again. “You would save not only the prince, but the people of Sigmaringen.”

Olivia looked at Susannah, eagerness in her eyes. “It does seem that they really need our help.”

Susannah wanted to shake her. “You do not have to help everyone who asks you! This could be an utter disaster.”

“No, no, don't think that way. Instead, think how exciting it would be.” Lady Augusta turned to Olivia, beaming with delight. “Imagine having a chance to be a real princess. You can't possibly refuse.”

“Imagine me being a princess.” Olivia giggled. “Wouldn't those nasty cats in London have a fit!”

Susannah wanted to scream, but Max took her hands in his—in his big, strong hands—and suddenly her knees felt weak. He grinned at her. “Ah, Suse, don't turn timid on me. You know you could do it. Think what an adventure we will have. And you need not worry. I will not let anything happen to you.”

She could feel herself wavering, and then she pulled away. Once he was no longer holding her hands, sanity returned. “
I
will not let anything happen to me. You are mad, all of you. Completely mad. You”—she pointed at the count and the general—“out of here. Get out right now! I am going to talk some sense into these two ladies.”