‘But you do pursue. When you contrived to get yourself a place at the press reception-oh, yes, I know that too-you were in pursuit, were you not?’

‘That’s right.’

‘And I was the prey?’

‘Naturally. I only pursue the big bears. They’re the most rewarding.’

He looked down at her with a faint, curious smile. ‘And do you think you’ll find me “rewarding”?’

‘I’m not sure yet. It depends whether you give me what I want.’

‘And is that how you judge men-by whether they give you what you want?’

Lizzie raised delicate eyebrows in well simulated surprise. ‘But of course. What other yardstick is there?’

‘Are you by any chance trying to flirt with me, Miss Boothe?’

‘Certainly not,’ she said, shocked. ‘It would be improper for any woman to flirt with the King.’

‘True.’

‘It’s for the King to flirt with her.’

Her demure tone took him off guard, and he frowned, as though unsure that he’d heard her correctly. Then he smiled, cautiously.

‘And if the King didn’t flirt with her?’ he asked. ‘Might she not show a little enterprise in the matter?’

‘She wouldn’t dare,’ Lizzie informed him, straight-faced. ‘Lest he think her impertinent.’

‘I don’t think you fear the opinion of any man, Miss Boothe.’

‘But Your Majesty is a king, not a man.’

‘Is that what you think?’

She looked straight into his face, saying demurely, ‘I’m waiting for you to tell me what to think.’

‘By heaven, you’re a cool one!’ he exclaimed softly.

‘But of course. A woman would need to stay cool when entering the bear’s cave,’ she pointed out. ‘Unless she’s well protected.’

‘You, I think, are protected by your effrontery.’

‘Oh, dear! I have offended Your Majesty.’

His eyes gleamed. ‘Do not fish for compliments, Miss Boothe.’

‘Is that what I was doing?’ she murmured.

‘Yes. And it was quite unnecessary.’

There were a dozen ways to take that but, raising a questioning eyebrow to him, she sensed exactly what he was telling her and a swift excitement scurried through her veins.

She hadn’t meant this to happen. So far and no further. That had been the idea. Flirt with him, intrigue him until he was putty in her hands. It had worked before.

‘Use your charms to bring them to heel,’ Dame Elizabeth had always advised. ‘What else are charms for?’

But it had never been part of the plan for him to charm her. Now matters were getting out of hand. Beneath his stiff exterior this man had a devil in his eyes. Lizzie had an uneasy feeling that he’d sized her up and decided he could deal with her.

But how? That was the question that made her blood race. Whatever the answer she decided she was going to enjoy it, and if she could gain her professional goals as well, so much the better.

‘The music is ending,’ Daniel observed. ‘But our talk is just beginning. I’ve ordered champagne served on the terrace.’

Two hundred pairs of eyes watched him lead her from the floor and through the French windows that led onto the broad terrace. A footman was just laying down a tray bearing two fluted glasses and a bottle. Daniel waved him away, indicated for Lizzie to sit at the small table, and himself did the pouring.

‘So you’re writing a book about my grandfather?’ he said, putting the glass into her hand and seating himself opposite. Through the tall windows Lizzie could see couples swirling by as the dance resumed, and hear the soft swell of music. But she was intensely conscious of the King, watching her closely, as though she was the only person in the world. ‘Why do you wish to do this?’

‘Because he’s fascinated me all my life,’ she replied. ‘Aunt Lizzie told me so much about him, and about Voltavia. She made it sound like a wonderful country.’

‘It is a wonderful country. And I know she had many admirers there. Among whom, of course, was the King.’

‘She always kept the medals and decorations he gave her. She was a compulsive hoarder. I don’t think she ever threw anything away. When she died she left everything to me, and I still have them all-the medals, the scrapbooks, even some of her costumes.’

‘You must have meant a great deal to her.’

‘She was my grandfather’s sister and almost the only family I had. When I was ten my parents died and she took me in. She was thought very scandalous when she was young, but when I knew her she’d become Dame Elizabeth Boothe, and very respectable.’

‘And I suppose you were completely in her confidence?’

Lizzie considered. ‘Not completely. I don’t think she told

everything to anyone. She lived in the public eye but she kept many secrets.’

‘But some secrets are harder to keep than others.’

‘If you mean the fact that King Alphonse admired her, no, that was hardly a secret, especially with all the jewellery he gave her.’

‘He gave her jewels? I must admit I didn’t know that.’

Lizzie touched the diamond necklace and matching earrings that blazed against her fair skin. ‘These came from him.’

Daniel looked hard at the flashing gems. ‘Magnificent,’ he murmured. ‘Clearly he valued her a great deal. But how did she value him?’

‘She kept his photograph on her wall to the end of her life.’ Daniel shrugged, and she said quickly, ‘No, it wasn’t just a formal picture. It was inscribed in his own handwriting.’

He was suddenly alert. ‘What did he write?’

‘“In friendship and gratitude, Alphonse,”’ Lizzie replied.

‘“Friendship and gratitude,”’ Daniel repeated slowly. ‘Yes, my grandfather was a restrained man. I can imagine him using such words when what he really meant was something else-something a great deal more intense and emotional.’

There was a new note in his voice as he said the last words that made the silence hang heavy between them. For a mad moment Lizzie wondered if she’d strayed into something that was too much for her. This man held every card in the pack, yet she was trying to gamble with him on equal terms. It was heady wine, and his sudden urgent tone made it headier still.

The music of the waltz was floating out onto the terrace.

‘Dance with me,’ he commanded, taking her into his arms without waiting for her answer.

In the ballroom he had danced correctly, preserving the proper distance of a few inches between them, and touching her back so lightly that she’d barely felt it. Now he held her close enough for her to feel his breath on her bare shoulder, and his hand was firm in the small of her back. She had said that he was only a king, not a man. And she’d been so wrong.

‘What do they call you?’ he murmured. ‘Liz? Elizabeth?’

‘Lizzie.’

‘Lizzie, I’m glad we’ve had this talk. It makes many things clearer.’

‘Do you mean that you’ll help me?’ she asked eagerly.

‘Ah, yes, you want an interview.’

‘And much, much more.’

There was a sudden keen look in his eyes. ‘How much more?’ he asked.

‘Access to the royal archives,’ she said, breathless with hope. ‘Official memos, private correspondence…’

‘Private-?’ With a swift movement his hand tightened on her waist, drawing her hard against him.

‘I want to show him in the round, and for that I must see everything,’ she said, speaking breathlessly for he was holding her very tightly. ‘We all know the face he presented to the world, but it’s the things the world didn’t know that have real value.’

‘Ah, yes. Value. We mustn’t forget that. And of course their value is higher precisely because the world doesn’t know.’

‘Exactly. There’s no substitute for private letters.’

‘I’m sure that’s true,’ he murmured, sending warm breath skittering across her cheek. She saw how very close his mouth was to her own, and tried to control her riotous thoughts. But

they wouldn’t be controlled. They raced ahead, speculating about the shape of his mouth, the firmness of his lips, how they would feel against hers…

She looked up and what she saw gave her a shock. Despite the apparent ardour in his behaviour there was only cool calculation in his eyes.

She tried to clear her head, to know what this meant, but that was hard when the world was spinning around her. As they slowed she realised that he had danced her right around the corner of the building. He was smiling at her, and she could believe, if she wanted to, that the chill look of a moment ago had been all her imagination.

‘You’re not the only historian who wants to write about my grandfather, Miss Boothe.’

‘No, but I’m ahead of the pack,’ she said simply.

‘Are you?’

‘Yes. Because of Aunt Lizzie, who knew him as nobody else did.’

‘I wasn’t forgetting that, nor that such knowledge is valuable.’ He stressed the word in a way that fell oddly on her ear.

‘Priceless,’ she agreed.

‘I’d hardly say priceless. Sooner or later most things have a price. The problem is agreeing on it.’

‘I’m not sure that I understand Your Majesty.’

He smiled. ‘I think you do. I think we understand each other very well, and have done from the beginning.’

The reserve had gone from his eyes, replaced by something that made her heart beat faster. Almost unconsciously she raised her face towards him as he lowered his mouth onto hers.

She was no green girl experiencing her first kiss, but it might almost have been the first from its effect on her. There’d been a time when a king had held his throne by being better, stronger, more skilled at everything than his subjects, and perhaps it was still partly true, for this king kissed like an expert, ardent, subtle, knowing how to seek out a woman’s weakness. Lizzie had never been kissed like this before, not even by the eager young husband with whom she’d shared a few months of wild passion before parting in bitterness.

His mouth caressed hers with urgency. In repose his lips were firm almost to the point of hardness, but now their movements were teasing, driving her as though he was being harried by his own desire. She tried to master her own rising excitement, determined to stay in control, but he was equally determined to strip control away from her. And he was winning.

He kissed the soft skin beneath one ear and she gave a small gasp. She was so sensitive there that normally she tried never to let a man approach it, but he’d known her weakness by instinct and gone for it without mercy. He continued the subtle assault down her long neck while she trembled and clung to him.

When he raised his head she longed to pull it down to her again and tell him to continue what he’d begun. Instead she became hypnotised by his eyes, which were brooding over her as though he too was trying to comprehend her, and failing.

‘You came here tonight for a purpose,’ he murmured. ‘Was this it?’

‘I-don’t know,’ she said wildly. ‘Perhaps-’

‘Ah, yes, the letters. Words on paper between people who are dead and gone. But we are alive. No woman ever felt so alive in my arms as you.’

And no man had ever made her feel so vibrant with life. Her head was swimming.

A noise from nearby made him release her reluctantly.

‘We must talk more-in Voltavia,’ he said. ‘I leave tomorrow. You will follow me next week.’

It was more than she’d hoped for but she couldn’t help rebelling against this diktat. She wasn’t one of his subjects.

‘Will I indeed?’ she asked.

‘If you’re serious about what you’re after, yes. Be there on Wednesday. If not-’

‘I’ll be there,’ she said quickly, fearful of seeing the prize snatched away. ‘I promise.’

‘Of course,’ he said, amused. ‘There was never any question of your refusing. No, don’t be angry with me. I hold all the cards, and you know it.’

It would have been wonderful to take him down a peg, but she was too close to her dream to risk it. She took the arm he proffered and they walked sedately back along the terrace to the little table. Frederick was waiting for them, with the reminder of an ambassador’s wife who must be honoured. Daniel inclined his head graciously to Lizzie.

‘I shall be waiting,’ he said softly. ‘Don’t disappoint me.’

He walked away, leaving her to return to the ballroom on Frederick’s arm. She felt as though she was walking on air. The glittering professional prize had been held out to her. That, she told herself, was the reason for the swift beating of her heart. That, and no other reason.

But she was deceiving herself, and she knew it.


* * *

When the last guest had departed the King relaxed with a brandy and soda, indicating for Frederick, his most trusted aide, to join him.

‘Did she say anything of importance to you?’ Daniel asked.