Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (273 page)

'Val.'

turned from the mirror and

murmured a few words to the maid.

'You saved me the effort of doing that myself,'

Valerian joked, taking a seat on the bed as the maid shut the door behind her.

'I assumed you needed to talk.'

Valerian nodded. 'I need to thank you for all you did today. My valet insisted on regaling me with all your efforts. According to him, as he heard it from Mrs Wilcox, you left no detail overlooked, from the dinner menus to getting chambers opened up, even the nursery.' Valerian paused here and reached for her hand. 'My valet says that you behaved honourably and denied the guests nothing, not even when there was speculation the boy was my bastard son.' He said it in

tones. But

tensed.

He'd had to drag that confession out of his valet.

His valet had suddenly fallen silent at some point in their very one-sided conversation, aware that he'd said too much. But Valerian had not let him stop. It explained the odd look on Philippa's face downstairs. She'd thought it was possible.

'His dark hair and age made it a distinct pos-

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sibility,'

answered. 'But, Val, I did not

condemn you for it. If Constantine had been your son, I could not blame you for that. I had no claims on you during those years. It is not realistic to expect you would form no attachments.'

'You are too kind, Philippa. I hardly deserve it.'

Especially, Valerian thought, knowing that she understood him to have been a very different man during that time, thinking that he'd truly shunned her.

'Do you have any more secrets, Val?'

queried.

'None I can think of at the moment.' Valerian drew her to him, settling her on his lap. 'But is deuced difficult when I am so distracted.' He her neck, his hand working at the belt of her robe. His need for her had intensified to the point he knew he couldn' t control himself for the duration of the evening. If he didn't have her now, he'd be sneaking off with her for a quick tumble on the billiards table.

laughed between kisses. 'Do you think there's time?'

won't serve dinner without us.' Valerian grinned and rolled her on to her back.

If they were twenty minutes late coming down to the drawing room where the others patiently waited, or if anyone noticed that Valerian's cravat was tied in a less than complicated knot, no one said anything.

Conversation hovered around Lilya's journey and

Scott

news of acquaintances Valerian knew. Occasionally, he'd lean over to Constantine, who sat on his left and say something in Koine, the language spoken by the Phanariots. He would have to see to tutors for the boy immediately so that Constantine could start learning English. He wondered where he'd find an English tutor who spoke one of the Balkan languages. Constantine spoke some Turkish and Russian. Surely there was someone in London or at one of the universities who would be able to converse with him?

'You still remember ! ' Lilya was delighted to hear Koine. She directed the rest of her comment to the table at large. 'Valerian has the most wonderful command of languages. He learned Koine while he was with us, but he also speaks French and German and some Russian and Turkish too.'

Valerian felt uncomfortable under the aegis of her praise.

was smiling at him. 'I had no

idea, aside from the French,' she said.

'It seemed the best way to accomplish my work,'

Valerian said shortly. 'One can hardly be assured of fair negotiations, even with a translator present, if one doesn't know the language.' Beside him, a tired Constantine yawned. Valerian was thankful for the well-timed

and Lilya rose. 'Let's get Constantine settled for the evening while the men have their port,'

suggested. 'Don't take too long,' she instructed as she led a sleepy Constantine from the room.

For a moment Valerian let his mind

that

it was his son and his wife heading upstairs. Those

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of domestic fantasies had taken up a considerable amount of his time lately. Whenever he saw in her little office or

to the house-

keeper about menus or arranging flowers for the many vases sprinkled about the house, he could not imagine

without her.

'German? You learned German?' Beldon was saying.

'Yes. It wasn't that hard. English came from you know.' Valerian dragged his thoughts back to the present.

Beldon was thoughtful for a moment, studying his friend. 'Is that why you were in London at Christmas?'

'Whatever can you mean?' Valerian schooled his features into a look of utter confusion, as if he could not grasp the connection between his fluency in German and being in the capital in December.

Beldon wasn't fooled for a moment. 'It was.

There had been a

that the Russians and the

Turks were willing to negotiate peace. Britain and France were to broker the treaty. Those talks are in process right now. The papers are calling them the Protocols".'

'One would hardly need to speak German for that,' Valerian said, pushing the remark aside as he reached for the decanter of brandy. Talk about his diplomatic skills always made him self-conscious.