breads, then she turned away. “Alas, just a cup of coffee for me if I’m to fit into that wedding dress.”
“Fiddlesticks! One needs a good breakfast to start the day,” Lady Middlesex said. “I don’t hold with this ridiculous fad of dieting. A cup of coffee, indeed. That won’t keep your strength up.” As she said this she was piling cold meats onto her plate with abandon. “No egg and bacon, I notice,” she added with a sigh. “Not a kidney in sight. Not even a kipper. One wonders how you folk on the Continent survive without a good hot breakfast.”
I helped myself and sat down at the table. Matty poured herself a cup of black coffee then wandered off with it.
“I hear the men plan to go hunting,” Lady Middlesex said. “How they expect to tramp through this snow, I have no idea. Insanity, if you ask me, but at least it keeps them out in the fresh air for the day. And hunting’s a healthy pursuit for young men. Keeps their minds off sex. Maybe we should see if we can borrow snowshoes and go out for a walk ourselves, Deer-Harte.”
I was glad she wasn’t including me in this plan. I ate as quickly as possible, then excused myself, only to bump into Belinda in the doorway.
“Am I glad to see you,” I said.
“That’s quite a change from last night, I must say,” she said with a frosty stare. “You looked daggers at me for some reason. I couldn’t think what I might have done to upset you. It was almost as if you thought I’d spent the night with Darcy—which I haven’t, by the way.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was put out. At first I thought that you’d been invited to the wedding and hadn’t told me, and then when I found out how you’d arrived here, I was annoyed by your utter subterfuge.”
“Utter brilliance, darling, if you please. You do have to admit it was quite a coup. And you yourself said it would have been a lark if I could come to the wedding with you. So when you rejected my kind offer to become your maid, I decided that the wedding sounded like too much fun to be left out. So I packed my bags, caught the next train here, then I rented the oldest, most decrepit car and driver at the station, in the full knowledge that it would be likely to break down. Of course it did, at exactly the right spot, so I was able to present myself at the castle door and register surprise and delight when I found that Her Royal Highness the Princess Maria Theresa was in residence. ‘But we were schoolmates,’ I exclaimed and of course was received with open arms.”
“You’re as bad as my mother,” I said.
“Not quite, but I’m working on it,” Belinda said with a grin. “There was only one small glitch to my perfect scheme and that was when I didn’t recognize Matty. My dear, can you believe the transformation? I suppose it is really she? Where did all those missing pounds go? And what about the moon face?”
“I know. I didn’t recognize her either,” I said. “She’s quite lovely, isn’t she? And her bridegroom isn’t bad either.”
“Neither is his brother.” Belinda gave me her cat-with-the-cream smile. “Very satisfactory in all departments. Too bad he’s a prince or I might snap him up for keeps. But he’ll have to end up marrying someone like you. I know—you could marry him, I could remain his mistress in a delightful ménage à trois.”
“Belinda!” I had to laugh. “I’d share a lot of things with you, but not my husband. Besides, Anton isn’t the man I have in mind, although I have to admit that among available princes he’s the best so far.”
“Wouldn’t suit you, darling. Too naughty. He told me some of his exploits last night and they made even me blush. Not an ounce of moral fiber in him. That’s why we’re perfect for each other.”
“So I gather you didn’t sleep in your own bed last night?”
“What a question to ask a lady! But darling, at beanfeasts like this who does sleep in their own bed? All you hear is curses and grunting as people bump into each other in the dark, tiptoeing between bedrooms. It’s too, too funny for words. But I suppose you slept soundly and didn’t hear a thing. I gather you’ve been given a room on the superior floor usually