Free To Wed a Wicked Prince by Jane Feather Page A

has he been in town?”
    Lilly threw up her hands. “I don’t know anything, Letitia, except that he’s a Russian prince and I at least thought him handsome. But Livia’s tastes may run to a different kind of look.” She glanced at Livia as she said this.
    Livia decided it was probably best to get the subject over and done with. “He’s fair, with blue eyes…tall, quite slim, dresses well,” she said, counting the points off on her fingers. “I have the impression that he’s relatively new to London, but he hasn’t confided in me…I barely know the man.”
    “Well, I shall ask Oglethorpe as soon as he comes in,” Letitia stated. “I must say, Livia, your lack of curiosity is unnatural. An eligible bachelor arrives in town and solicits your hand for a dance, and you don’t have any interest in him at all. It’s not natural, is it?” She appealed to the three other women in the salon.
    “Not everyone is as inquisitive as you, Letty,” a somewhat older woman said, offering Livia a sympathetic smile.
    “Maybe so, but I think it’s most ungenerous of Livia not to share her opinions,” Lady Oglethorpe declared. “Let us go into luncheon.” She rose from her chair in a swirl of orange taffeta and tucked her arm into that of Lady Devries. She led the way to the dining room, leaving the remainder of her guests to trail along in her wake.
    Livia glanced at the clock as they crossed the hall. It was half past one. Another hour and a half and this torment would be over.

Chapter Five
    A URELIA WAS RETURNING FROM A walk in the park with Franny when Livia stepped down from the hackney carriage that had brought her back to Cavendish Square.
    “Aunt Liv…Aunt Liv, we’ve been in the park,” the little girl shouted. “We fed the ducks.” She tugged on her mother’s hand, prancing on tiptoe in her eagerness to reach Livia.
    “How was it?” Aurelia called, as she obeyed her daughter’s insistent tugs and hurried across the road, clutching Franny’s hand tightly. The child had a habit of shooting off on frolics of her own if not firmly tethered.
    “Ghastly,” Livia said, pressing her hands to her temples. “It will teach me not to hurry when I’m answering invitations. I can’t think how I missed the card. Guess what the main topic of conversation was?” She bent to kiss Franny, whose chattering monologue continued unabated.
    “Prince Prokov,” Aurelia hazarded.
    “Spot on.” Livia turned to the steps to the front door. “Are you coming in?”
    “Yes, I think I’ve probably succeeded in tiring Franny sufficiently to take an afternoon nap.” Aurelia, still holding Franny firmly by the hand, followed Livia up to the door and they waited the usual interminable time before Morecombe opened the door.
    The heady scent of the flowers hit them as they stepped into the hall. “I’m guessing you didn’t mention the prince’s inordinately extravagant gift,” Aurelia said, releasing Franny’s hand and picking her way past an ornamental shrub that seemed to have thrown out tendrils, since it was carefully positioned on one side of the front door. Franny, shrieking with delight, ran from one display to another, like a bee sipping nectar.
    “You guess right,” Livia agreed above the child’s excited babble. “Can you imagine what the gossips would make of it?” She shook her head with a grimace.
    “If he continues to pay you attention, though, it will get out,” Aurelia warned her. “You are prepared for that?”
    “Yes, but as long as the attention’s within bounds, it’ll be no more than the usual gossip,” Livia said, making her way to the stairs. “Talking of which, I’d better get ready for our jaunt in the park. That will stir some tongues certainly.”
    “But it’s a perfectly respectable jaunt,” Aurelia said with a soft laugh. “Not like the florist’s shop. By the way, I left the brown velvet pelisse on your bed.”
    “Thank you, you’re a love.” Livia hurried