The Golden Valkyrie (16 page)

Honey nodded, feeling a trifle bemused. It was impossible not to like the baroness, despite her blatant aggressiveness. “Yes, he’s still here, but he’s in his studio working. Would you like me to take you to him?”

“Not at the moment,” the baroness said. “It’s really you I came to see anyway.” She turned to the helicopter pilot and instructed briskly, “You will wait here, yes? We will be back shortly.” She didn’t wait for the man’s casual nod before turning back to Honey and slinging her large Gucci bag over her shoulder. “Now, where can we go so that we won’t be disturbed?”

“I suppose we could go for a walk on the beach,” Honey said slowly. She had heard the woman’s name only in casual conversation, and she was sure Alex hadn’t mentioned that she’d be coming to the island. Why would the baroness fly thousands of miles just to see her?

“That will be fine,” Bettina von Feltenstein said. She looked down wryly at her exquisitely crafted high heels. “I guess I should have expected to run into this on an island.” She calmly took off the shoes and slipped them into her voluminous shoulder bag. “It’s fortunate that I always carry an extra pair of hose. These will be shredded to pieces by the time we get back.” She gestured to Honey to precede her. “Lead on, Miss Winston. I’ll try to keep up with those long, lovely legs of yours.” Her lips turned down gloomily. “You would have to be tall as well as gorgeous.”

Honey gave her a questioning glance before obediently leading the way down the palm-bordered path to the beach. The German woman didn’t speak again until they reached the lower reaches of the hill and the trail widened enough for her to come alongside.

“You even carry yourself well,” the baroness said moodily. “You’d be surprised at how many tall women have an absolutely atrocious posture. Do you know how many years I’ve studied ballet to get a slight edge over you sultry giantesses? Did you ever study ballet, Miss Winston?”

Honey shook her head, thinking of her very spartan upbringing in the orphanage. “I’m afraid not, Baroness,” she replied gently.

“I suspected that,” she said mournfully. “There’s no justice in the world.” She peered owlishly up at Honey through the thick lenses of her horn-rimmed glasses. “You’re even younger than I am.”

“Not very much,” Honey said soothingly. How on earth had she been put in the position of comforting this small, strange rival for Lance’s affections? “I’m twenty-four, Baroness.”

“And I’m thirty-one,” Bettina von Feltenstein said tersely. “I’m one year older than Lance. And call me Bettina; I will find it very hard to speak with frankness if we’re formal.” She added, “I will call you Honey. What an abominable name. Why do you not change it?”

She hadn’t noticed that the baroness was shy about speaking her mind, Honey thought in amusement. “I agree with you, but it’s not worth the bother,” she said lightly. “How did you know I was here, Bar—Bettina?”

“Can we sit down?” Bettina asked abruptly, halting in her tracks. “This hot sand is most uncomfortable on my feet.” Without waiting for Honey to agree, she plopped herself down on the sand in the shade of a palm tree. “I saw your picture in the newspaper and I thought it worthwhile to find out all I could about you,” she said grimly. “Actually, the expression on Lance’s face told me quite a bit.”

“Newspaper?” Honey asked, dropping down beside her. Her brow creased in puzzlement. Then she remembered the photographer in the lobby of the hotel the night before they’d left. It seemed very far removed from her present existence. “They used that picture of Lance and me?”

The baroness opened her large shoulder bag and drew out a folded newspaper.

“They used it,” she said curtly. “Complete with smutty innuendoes and juicy references to Lance’s very disreputable past. Lance’s parents were very displeased when they called me after they’d seen it.”

“You know Lance’s parents?” Honey asked absently as she spread out the newspaper. She glanced only briefly at her own shocked face as she stood in the curve of Lance’s arm. It was the expression on Lance’s face that caught her attention. He was looking down at her with desire and tenderness and a fierce protectiveness that filled her with a quiet joy.

“Our families have been very close since we were small children,” Bettina said softly. “When Lance wasn’t in Sedikhan, we were practically inseparable. Their Majesties have always approved of a match between us.”

“So I understand,” Honey said quietly, carefully refolding the newspaper and handing it back. “Yet the marriage has never come to pass.”

“It will in time,” Bettina said with complete confidence. “I’m a very determined woman, Honey. This marriage is not only desirable, but it’s necessary for Lance.”

“To keep the royal bloodlines pure and unpolluted?” Honey asked tartly, unconsciously moistening her lips. The absolute certainty that the woman exuded was making her uneasy despite the comforting message generated by Lance’s expression in the newspaper photo.

“No, of course not,” the baroness said. “I have a great respect for selective breeding, but there have been too many dynamic leaders born on the wrong side of the blanket for me to be a complete fanatic on the subject. I only use that argument with Lance because I can’t tell him the truth.”

“The truth?” Honey asked slowly.

“I love him,” Bettina said simply, with utter sincerity. “I’ve loved him all my life. Everything I’ve studied and worked for since childhood has been to prepare me to be a fitting wife for him.” Her face was earnest. “I’ll be everything that he could ask for in a mate, Honey.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Honey asked, looking away from that earnest little face to stare blindly out at the gentle roll of the surf. Suddenly she was no longer finding the situation amusing. It hurt to think of Lance in the intimacy of marriage with any woman. “Your relationship with Lance is none of my business.”

“I don’t usually go around confiding my most intimate feelings to strangers,” Bettina said bluntly. “This is the first time I’ve felt it necessary to approach one of Lance’s
petites amies.
After I saw that picture, I thought we’d better meet. I was frightened. I’d never seen Lance look at any woman like that before. I wanted to come to an understanding with you before a terrible mistake was made.”

“Should I be honored that you consider me a threat?” Honey asked tightly. “I’m sorry if I can’t see that we have anything to talk about. We obviously play two very different roles in Lance’s life. There’s no reason why the two should encroach upon each other.”

“Ah, you realize that?” Bettina asked with a relieved sigh. “That is good. I was afraid that you might have hopes for a more permanent place in his affections. That is, of course, totally impossible.”

Honey flinched at the sudden thrust of pain that struck her. “Of course,” she said huskily.

The baroness’s eyes were warmly sympathetic as she reached over and gave Honey’s hand a bracing squeeze. “None of us can have everything,” she said gently. “We must all compromise.”

“And what have you given up, Baroness?” Honey asked sharply, blinking back the tears and turning to her with her chin lifted in defiance. “What do you intend to compromise?”

“I’ve given up the hope of ever having Lance look at me as he did at you in that newspaper photograph,” she answered quietly, and the pain in her face mirrored that in Honey’s. “I know that he’ll never love me or desire me as he does you. I’ve had to accept that.”

“How can you?” Honey broke out fiercely. “How can you possibly want a man who doesn’t want you?”

“Because he’ll learn to care for me,” Bettina said serenely. “There are many ways of caring. If I cannot have his passion, I will earn his trust, his gratitude, even his affection.” Her smile was bittersweet. “It’s not everything, but it will be enough.”

She would not feel sorry for the woman, Honey thought feverishly. This strange empathy that existed between them was far more dangerous than if the baroness had been openly antagonistic. How much more difficult it was to fight against a rival who loved Lance as much as she did.

“Is that what you came to tell me? That I have no real place in Lance’s life?” Honey asked bitterly.

Bettina shook her head. “No, that isn’t why I came,” she said gently. “I came to tell you that there is room for both of us. I am a modern woman, and I have come to terms with the knowledge that you give Lance something that I can’t.” She shrugged wearily. “Glamour, sex, the love mystique—I don’t know. Whatever it is, he doesn’t see it in me. You’ll have to supply it.” She looked away. “I want you to know that as long as the two of you are discreet, I will ignore your relationship regardless of how long it continues.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Honey said slowly, and there was no sarcasm in her voice. In the baroness’s place, she doubted very much if she could have made a similar offer.

“Not really,” Bettina said throatily. “As I said, I made it my business to find out a great deal about you, Honey Winston. If you and Lance are lovers, it is because you have a genuine affection for him. That is essential.” She looked up fiercely. “For, whatever happens, he must not be hurt. You understand that?”

“I understand,” Honey said huskily. “I love him very much too, you know.”

“I don’t know,” Bettina said quietly. “But I’m about to find out. How generous is your love, Honey?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I want you to leave Lance,” Bettina said, but then held up her hand at Honey’s cry of protest. “Not permanently. Haven’t I just told you that I don’t expect that? Just until after Lance’s exhibit in New York next month.”

“You know about that?” Honey asked faintly.

“Alex told me on the phone the other evening,” she said wryly. “I think he was trying to put me off by extending the hope that I’d see Lance in New York. I knew as soon as I heard about it that it might be the answer to all Lance’s problems with his parents.” She smiled sadly. “Do you know I’ve only seen that one portrait in the library? Do you know how envious I am that it is you who has seen all his work and persuaded him to show it?”

“What problems with his parents?” Honey asked curtly. This was getting more painful by the moment. “It’s my understanding that they were never close.”

“Lance has always wanted his parents’ respect and admiration. This exhibit could give him that,” Bettina said quietly. “I want to try to persuade them to attend the exhibit and encourage a reconciliation. There’s only one difficulty.”

“Me,” Honey said huskily, her throat tight and aching with pain.

Bettina nodded. “If your liaison continues, it’s bound to attract publicity.” Her lips twisted ruefully. “Lance always does. Needless to say, we don’t need to upset his parents while I’m trying to negotiate a truce.” Her brown eyes were sober. “Do you love Lance enough to put his welfare above your own, Honey? It will be for only a little over a month, and then you can resume your relationship.”

“You don’t want me to see Lance at all?” Honey asked. And she’d thought becoming only a weekend lover was going to be difficult. She felt a shiver of loneliness run through her.

“You know that wouldn’t be wise,” Bettina said softly, her face sympathetic. “It would be impossible to keep your association quiet, after that newspaper story. If you’re going to do something, do it right.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have your innate incisiveness,” Honey said, her voice shaking despite her effort to steady it. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Of course you can,” Bettina said briskly. “I’ll make it as easy on you as I can. I’ll fly you back to Houston this morning in the helicopter. Then I’ll come back and explain everything to Lance. You won’t even have to speak to him yourself. I think you would find that very difficult. Yes?”

“Impossible,” Honey agreed miserably. “You have it all planned.”

“My incisiveness is generally accompanied by my efficiency,” Bettina said, her brown eyes twinkling. “You can phone him from Houston, if you feel it’s necessary.” She made a face. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Very frustrating things, telephones.”

Honey ran her hand distractedly through her hair. “I don’t know. It’s all coming too fast. I’ve got to think.”

“Of course you do,” the baroness agreed promptly. “I have no intention of rushing you into a decision you’ll regret later.” She stood up and meticulously brushed the powdery sand from the melon pants suit. “I’ll go back to the helicopter and wait for you there. You’re a very loving, intelligent woman. I’m sure you’ll make the right choice.” She padded away, her plump figure indomitably majestic despite her stockinged feet and the little hops she occasionally gave to avoid the heat of the noonday sand.

Indomitable. That was the right word for her, Honey thought. She had swept boldly into her life, and suddenly everything was colored by the baroness’s viewpoint. It was hard to ignore anyone as clear-thinking and fiercely loving as Bettina had proven to be. She had known Lance and his family for years, and that made her a far better judge than Honey as to what was best for Lance.

She frowned as the thought occurred to her that she would be making it ridiculously easy for a rival as strong as Bettina by removing herself from the picture for over a month. Was that what the baroness had in mind? Somehow she didn’t think so. There had been too much sincerity in Bettina’s face. Too much pain. Besides, if the relationship that existed between Lance and her would not withstand a month’s separation, then it deserved to be severed. There were so many problems already surfacing in their affair that must be solved if they were to continue with any kind of harmony. Perhaps a month’s hiatus would permit them time to think and see each other’s point of view a little more clearly.

Why was she sitting here, when she knew her decision was really already made? She’d known when Bettina threw out the challenge to her love for Lance that she would have to pick up the gauntlet. She got to her feet and automatically dusted herself off as she set off toward the path that led to the landing pad.

Bettina was leaning against the helicopter, and she straightened slowly, her face tense as Honey appeared beside her.

“I’m going with you,” Honey said curtly. “But it’s got to be now. I don’t want to see Lance before I go.” Otherwise she would never have the courage to leave him. The pain was already shooting through her.