A Dangerous Disguise (8 page)

"I'll get you a table straight away, sir" he said.

"No, let's stand," said Ola. "I eat just as well on my feet."

"We'll stand," said the Duke with a grin.

They took wine and rolls, went to an upper deck, and stood watching the sun begin to set, while the breeze blew gently round them.

"The perfect end to the perfect day," Ola said contentedly.

"Has it really been a perfect day, Ola?"

"The most perfect of my life."

"And mine," he said. "Because it was spent with you. If only – "

"If only - ?"

He tossed his roll into the water, where it was seized on by seagulls.

"Have you even been in love?" he asked suddenly.

"No." She shook her head.

"That's what I was hoping you would say. And yet – " he sighed. "There is so much that I want to say to you, and yet I can't. If only we weren't – the people that we are."

Now would be a good moment to tell him the truth, she thought.

"John – "

He gave her a quick smile.

"I like to hear you use my name. The others call me Duke, or Camborne, but my name is John, and that's how I like to be with you. Just a man and a woman."

She remembered how he'd said women pursued him for his title, and suddenly she saw the trap she was in. He trusted her to see him as a man because he thought she had a title higher than his own. But if he knew the truth – would he cease to trust her?

A moment ago she had meant to tell him everything, but now the words died unspoken.

"Just a man and a woman," she repeated. "That is all I want us to be."

"I love you," he said.

Her heart soared.

"I love you," she told him. "I barely know you, and yet I love you."

He touched her face. "We have known each other since the beginning of time."

"And we shall know each other until the end of eternity," she whispered.

Strangely, it seemed that a look of uncertainty passed across his face. He looked down at her hand lying in his, then slowly raised it to his lips.

"I will never forget this moment as long as I live," he said. "Nor shall I cease to treasure it."

Somehow it wasn't quite what she had expected him to say, and she knew a flutter of unease. But surely that was nonsense. He loved her. How could anything be wrong?

They sat by the rail for what seemed like hours, watching darkness come down on the river, too happy to speak.

On the way back someone started playing the accordion again, and there was dancing. Laughing, they went to the lower deck and danced until they were giddy. The whole world seemed to be whirling around Ola.

And suddenly she was not dancing any more, but was in his arms, his mouth on hers, and he was kissing her urgently. Between kisses he murmured, "My love, my love."

"My love," she whispered back. "Oh John –

John – "

"Tell me that you love me," he begged.

"I love you, I love you."

"Promise me that you'll always remember tonight, and remember that I loved you. Promise me that whatever happens, you'll remember this."

"Why, what a strange thing to say."

"Promise me."

"I promise, I promise."

All too soon it seemed that the boat was tying up at the dock where they had boarded. They found another cab and he gave the driver the address of Ola's hotel.

In the privacy of the cab he kissed her repeatedly, like a man on the edge of despair. Naïve though she was, she sensed something in his kiss that was more than simply love – a kind of dread, almost anguish.

But she could not think about it. Everything in her was subsumed in pure emotion.

At the hotel he assisted her out and took her inside as far as the stairs.

"I'll be here for you at ten o'clock tomorrow morning," he said.

"Are we going riding?"

"No, not this time. We'll go somewhere where we can have a long talk. Goodnight, my darling."

"Goodnight," she said. "Until tomorrow – my beloved."

She floated upstairs on a cloud of joy. Tomorrow they would have their talk and all would be settled between them. No more deceptions or misunderstandings. Love and happiness lay ahead.

*

The Duke waited until Ola was out of sight. Then the smile faded from his face, and a look of gravity overtook it. A heavy weight seemed to descend on his shoulders, and for a moment there was an expression in his eyes that was almost wretchedness.

Then he straightened his shoulders, turned and went out to the waiting cab.

"Whitehall!" he said curtly.

In twenty minutes he was in the street where so many Government offices were located, and which culminated in the House of Parliament. At his instructions the driver halted half way down Whitehall, and the Duke walked into an unobtrusive building with plain doors and windows.

It was a place that would be easy to overlook. There was no plate on the door to announce its function, nothing to indicate that this was the headquarters of one of the most powerful, yet least known departments of the state.

The Duke went straight up to the third floor and was admitted without question to the office of a plump, pleasant looking man. This was Sir Bernard Danson, the head of the British Secret Service.

He looked up sharply as the Duke entered, and uttered one word.

"Well?"

The Duke shook his head ruefully.

"She's not who she says she is."

"Then who is she?"

"I have no idea. But whatever her true identity, she is not Princess Relola of Oltenitza."

"When did you start to suspect?" Sir Bernard asked.

"From the very first moment, but I've been hoping all the time that she would prove me wrong – maybe turn out to be a real Princess of Oltenitza that we've simply never heard of before, perhaps a cousin of the reigning family,?"

Sir Bernard shook his head.

"I've had that matter exhaustively researched, my dear fellow. The Oltenitzan royal family is exactly what we've always known about, King Mathias and Queen Freya, their five daughters, Ludmilla, Sibylla, Myrlene, Flaviola, Helola, and three sons, none of whom is married to a woman called Relola, or has any children of that name.

"Our agents in the field are adamant that the whole family are trapped in Hollentot Castle by a band of Russian soldiers who are keeping them captive, determined not to let any of them reach London."

"But Flaviola – Helola - the similarity of name – "

"Helola is sixteen years old, and I've met Flaviola, one of the ugliest women I've ever seen."

"Then it can't be either of them," the Duke agreed. "But couldn't one of the others have escaped and fled here to ask our help?"

"Then why hasn't she done so? She's been to the Palace, she's met you, a man in the royal service. Has she asked you to introduce her to anyone in Government?"

"No."

"And she's made no attempt to contact her Embassy. I know. Her every movement has been watched, including the long hours she has spent in your company."

"I was doing my duty to my country," the Duke said stiffly, "keeping a suspicious person under observation."

"Very close observation, apparently. All right, my dear fellow. I'm not going to ask awkward questions about how far you felt obliged to go in the Queen's service. It's an occupational hazard, of no importance, as long as you don't lose your head."

Under Sir Bernard's keen eyes, the Duke reddened slightly 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 heard of it."

"Most people hadn't until recently. Then it was in the newspapers once or twice. The royal family are trapped in their castle by Russian soldiers. You must have seen it and noticed it, without realising."

"Oh my goodness! There really is such a place." She pressed her hands to her cheeks and gave a little laugh. "Fancy that! Oh, I've been such a fool!"

"What kind of game were you playing? Where do you really come from?"

"Scotland. My name is Ola McNewton. Papa and I were going to come to London for the Jubilee, but he died. He made me promise to come anyway, and I – I just thought it would be fun to be someone else. I was so bored with being me. Can you understand that?"

"Of course I can," he said tenderly. "I can even see that it's amusing. No wonder you didn't want any contact with the Embassy. But my dear girl, can you imagine the chaos you've caused? We thought one of the family must have escaped from the castle and reached England, and we've been going crazy trying to work out the truth."

Her hand flew to her mouth.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I just wanted to enjoy myself, and think of Papa. You see, in some ways I've felt I was doing it for him. He was very sentimental about the Queen. A long time ago he was a little bit in love with her."

"What?"

"He was in the army then, and a whole group of officers were invited to a ball at Balmoral. He danced with the Queen, several times. In those days he had a very strong Scottish accent, and she had to make him repeat everything twice. He was starry-eyed about her all the rest of his life. Mama used to tease him about it, not minding at all, of course, because they loved each other so much.

"He said it would be nice to see her again, just from a distance. And when he died recently, I was going to see her for him."

The Duke regarded her with a rueful grin.

'Wait until Danson hears this,' he thought, shaking his head. 'Innocence personified.'

He took her hand between his.

"Come with me," he said. "I want you to talk to a friend of mine, and then we'll put this business behind us, and think of the future."

"The future, John?"

He smiled and carried her hand to his lips.

"Come," he said.

They took a cab to Whitehall and were instantly admitted to see Sir Bernard Danson.

He listened to the story, which they told between them, with an ironic smile on his amiable face.

"And how about 'Lady Krasler'?" he asked. "Who is she?"

"That's Greta Lanso, my maid. She came to look after me and make sure I didn't get into any trouble."