Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“What are you even looking for?” He leans closer, trying to peek at the names Prince Aston’s secretary gave me.
“Nothing.” I stuff them back into the folder from which they came.
Recognition dawns in Calder’s eyes. “Dare I venture a guess that she has a blue dress and might be missing a heel, perhaps?”
A sigh escapes me as I turn my head toward the window, observing the children playing out on the palace lawn. I don’t want Calder to think this is more than it is. And I certainly can’t admit that I haven’t stopped thinking about the way she spoke to me. People might hate me, but they are always dignified to my face. It’s only when I turn my back that the knives come out. But that isn’t the case with the little fire-breather, whoever the hell she is.
As it turns out, Cinderella was a bogus name, and there are hundreds of real names on the guest list to sort through. That could take weeks, and so far, my search for her has turned up nothing. As much as I’d like to keep this to myself, I’ll have to get my secretary involved.
“I’m just planning to return her shoe,” I tell Calder. “And pay a visit to some animal sanctuary she rambled on about. She was trying to secure patronage for the charity.”
“You haven’t done a charitable thing in your life.” Calder muses. “Why start now?”
His words burn, particularly because it seems my entire life has been one charitable endeavor after another. However, he is right about one thing. None of it has been my choice, and therefore, I suppose I am due none of the credit.
“If you’d like to go back without me, I’m not holding you hostage here.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He stretches out on the chair and kicks his feet up onto the coffee table. “Aston is taking me shooting this afternoon if you’d like to join us.”
“Another time, maybe.” I grab the folder and head for my private room. “Hayes and I have a few things to discuss.”
“Your Highness?” Hayes knocks on the door to the study, interrupting me mid-email. “I have that information you requested. Would you like to schedule a time to go over it?”
“Now.” I set my phone aside and gesture him in.
Hayes has been my secretary for five years. He’s polite, studious, and respectful. But his loyalties lie first and foremost with the crown. I can trust that everything we say to each other will be leaked back to my father at some point.
“Charlotte Duncan.” He sits down across from the desk and slides a folder in my direction. “That is the name that was on the ticket. However, my research tells me she didn’t actually attend the ball. She was across the city at a business dinner with her fiancé.”
Fiancé?
My pulse thrums as I flip open the file and shuffle through the paperwork on Charlotte Duncan. At first glance, the woman in the photograph could be her. Their features are similar, but it’s the eyes that give her away. This is not the mystery woman in the blue ball gown. Whoever she was used Charlotte’s ticket if what Hayes discovered is true.
“You are certain this Charlotte was elsewhere that evening?”
“Yes, sir.” He points at the additional photographs printed out from the society section. Indeed, this is Charlotte Duncan, which makes my shoeless runaway a liar. Cinderella, as she referred to herself, used Charlotte’s ticket to gain entry to the bachelors.
“Should we alert Aston to this?” Hayes asks cautiously.
“No.” I shut the folder. “There is no need for concern. She probably just gave her ticket to someone else. Not exactly cause for the royal lynch mob to come and haul her away.”
Hayes frowns but gives me a stiff nod. “As for your other request, I have gone through the list of potentials and narrowed down the pool to five. But I believe this one is likely to be the woman you’re searching for, based on the fact she lives in Kent, and she’s blonde.”
I look at the name, Lavinia Maddison, and then the face. While she is a beautiful woman, this is not my mystery woman either. But if she lives in Kent, there’s a possibility she knows the woman I’m searching for.
“Thank you, Hayes. I will take it from here.”
“Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?” he asks.
“No, that will be all.”
He hesitates, and I know I’m not going to like whatever he has to say next. “Your father requested that you schedule a return flight home tomorrow.”
Absently, I nod. “Of course. Thank you, Hayes. You are dismissed.”
7
Ella
“What in the bloody hell took you so long?” Narcissa snarls at me as I set her cup down in front of her. “Did you have to go to China to source the tea yourself?”