Free An Officer but No Gentleman by Bronwyn Scott Page A

stifling.
    “I never wanted to leave London,” Elowyn replied honestly. It was one of her secrets, the one thing she kept buried deep inside her. In all her years of travel, she’d never admitted as much to her father.
    Grahame looked at her and she could see the words had surprised him. “I would have thought a diplomat’s daughter was used to moving.”
    “Being used to it doesn’t mean I like it,” Elowyn sighed. “This time, I thought we might stay. London is the hub of the empire now. There’s plenty of diplomatic work to do without leaving England. We’d been there five years. I thought this time it would be different.” Elowyn shrugged. “But I was wrong. Britain wanted my father well-positioned for negotiations when the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi expires so there are no surprises like last time.” The secret clause between Turkey and Russia had led to eight years of British unrest where Russian allegiances were concerned.
    “What about you? Are you looking forward to Vienna?” She turned the conversation back toward him.
    “I’m excited about the opportunity but I, too, will miss England and my friends.”
    “And your family,” Elowyn supplied. “You’ve not mentioned them in all the time we’ve talked, but they must be sad to see you go.”
    “No. I don’t have any family. I never knew my father, and my mother passed away several years ago.” Grahame’s eyes had gone granite hard in their grayness. She had trespassed into forbidden territory, a reminder that no matter how far they’d come together, there were still areas off-limits like this one, like the one last secret he held.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Elowyn answered tersely. Let him hear the scold in her words. She should have known that much about him. He should have told her. The thought halted her. She was right. She should have known. Knowing the basics of his family was harmless enough. Unless it wasn’t...
    Elowyn studied his profile, straight and strong. Did his last secret have to do with his family? Was there some kind of embarrassment he was loath to share? Was it potent enough that it could not be tolerated? The reference to his father asserted itself, conjuring up images of illegitimacy. Her own father would resist such a match. He’d always fancied her married to a foreign prince or high-ranking Englishman. To date, she’d defied him with her discreet, temporary affairs; they were a chance to remind herself she had control. She decided the course of her life, when so often she felt she didn’t.
    Road traffic was picking up, making it difficult for extended private conversation. There was no chance to probe further. Elowyn noted they were passing wagons, other riders and families on foot dressed in their best. “What do you think?” she said to Grahame, the first words they’d spoken since his mention of his family. Perhaps returning to lighter conversation would lessen the tension between them. “There’s something going on up ahead.”
    Grahame nodded in agreement. “I bet a shilling it’s a fair.” He called out in German to a man on the roadside with his family. “What’s happening today?”
    The man grinned and gestured down the road. “It’s the beer festival!”
    It was the perfect distraction whether they wanted to go or not. The road passed straight through the village where booths were set up in a field, pennants and flags flew gaily and the smell of food filled the air. “I think we are duty bound to stop,” Elowyn suggested as traffic clogged the street. She was desperate to reclaim Grahame from wherever he’d retreated. Even if she was fooling herself, she’d be glad to fool herself a little bit longer.
    Grahame grinned and the tension disappeared. Perhaps he, too, was eager to prolong the illusion. “I do believe you’re right. A fair is exactly what we need.” A celebration of sorts, a chance to say farewell without doing it in Vienna. That wasn’t where they should say