Free A Dangerous Disguise by Barbara Cartland

and said,
    "You were saying about the Oltenitzan Embassy. She's been avoiding it. She says she doesn't want them to know she's here because they would envelop her in protocol."
    "Or she knows they would expose her. Did she ever try to get access to Her Majesty?"
    "Never. I mentioned the lunch for foreign royalty a couple of days ago and suggested that she should be present, and she said she didn't want that. She said it was enough if she could see the Queen at a distance. It was always at a distance."
    "Always?"
    "Yes, she mentioned it again later, said she'd like to see Her Majesty driving past in her carriage, but she didn't want to get too close. I see why now. She was afraid of having her silly joke exposed."
    "Of course. But look here, Camborne, this could be very serious indeed. We don't know what her agenda is."
    "I'm sure it's innocent. It's a game to her, no more."
    "You don't think she's got anything serious in mind?"
    "Of course not. The sheer clumsiness of the pretence proves its innocence. Why, she even told me that Oltenitza was a land locked country, which it isn't. She told me she was an only child, whereas we know the Oltenitzan royal family is large.
    "She hasn't bothered to learn the simplest thing about the place. If she were a spy, which I take it is what you're suggesting, she'd be far more professional."
    "Yes, I dare say you're right. But she's got to be stopped. We can't have young women running around London pretending to be royalty from a friendly foreign power. It could lead to unfortunate – er misunderstandings."
    "I see that. I'll talk to her."
    "No, bring her to me. Let's see if I can persuade her to go back to where she came from and stop being such a ninny."
    "You won't be hard on her?"
    "Good grief, what do you take me for? I've got daughters. In fact, you've met them."
    The Duke had been hoping Sir Bernard would not say that. He had indeed met the Danson daughters on a weekend visit to their home, and endured their mother's determination to thrust them to his attention. His good manners had constrained him to remain for the whole weekend, but he had finally escaped with a sigh of relief, feeling that he had only just got out alive.
    He knew now why no other woman had claimed his heart. He had been waiting for Ola to flame across his horizon. Soon any barriers between them would be down, and he could ask her to marry him.
    He was a happy man when he went home that night.
    *
    The Duke was waiting for Ola at the foot of the stairs next morning, in exactly the same position as he had left her. His eyes lit up at the sight of her, just as she knew her own must have done at the sight of him.
    "Where are we going?" she asked smiling at him.
    "For a walk in the park. Not Hyde Park this time, but Green Park, which is just over the road."
    At first it seemed just a pleasant walk through beautiful gardens, but even then she was aware of a strange tension in him.
    Suddenly he said,
    "My darling, do you trust me?"
    "Of course I trust you," she said at once.
    "Do you believe that I love you?"
    "If you tell me that you do, I believe it."
    "And I tell you that I love you with my whole heart, and I always will. I love and I trust you, and I beg you to trust me enough to tell me the truth."
    "The truth?" she asked cautiously. "About what?"
    "About who you really are. I know you're not a Princess," he replied.
    Her heart seemed to skip a beat.
    "You do?"
    "Darling, I know that it's all a pretence. I realise it's just a game to you, but it's a very dangerous game. How could you be so incautious as to choose a real country? Didn't you realise that we could check on the royal family of Oltenitza?"
    "You mean there's really a – ?" She stopped, realising what she had given away.
    "Yes, there's really an Oltenitza. Don't tell me you didn't know."
    "But I didn't. I made it up, I swear I did."
    "How could you?" he enquired.
    "I don't know – it just came to me. How could I have imagined a real name? I've never