Belinda put on an acting performance to rival my mother. “Georgie, it’s you. What a lovely surprise,” she cooed. “So you got here safely. I’m so glad. I had a beastly experience. Have you heard about it? If I hadn’t come upon this castle, I’d have been done for.”

“Poor Belinda’s car broke an axle and she had to walk for miles in the snow,” Anton said, gazing down at her adoringly. “Wasn’t it lucky that we were in residence? Most of the year the castle is unoccupied.”

“Belinda tends to be lucky,” I said. I still found it hard to forgive her trickery, although I had to admire her gall.

We entered the banqueting room. It was impressively long and high ceilinged with arches along both walls and above them high leaded-pane windows. A white-clothed table extended for its entire length, big enough to accommodate a hundred diners, and footmen in black and silver livery stood at attention behind the gilt chairs. It was all very grand. Siegfried led me to the head of the table and I was seated across from Matty.

“Are your parents not here?” I asked Siegfried, realizing that we were being given places of honor and there was apparently not a king or queen in sight.

“My parents and the parents of Nicholas are supposed to arrive tomorrow,” he said. “As will all the other royal guests. We are the advance party, so to speak, and thus we are rather informal.” He looked across the table in distaste as Field Marshal Pirin was pushing his way into a seat close to us.

Nicholas saw that Pirin was aiming for me and forestalled him. “I suggest that my godfather sit next to you tonight, Georgiana. I am afraid his English is not brilliant but he tells me that he knows you.” He turned to summon somebody. I wondered how many more surprises there would be tonight. Then I saw that the godfather in question was none other than Max von Strohheim, my mother’s latest conquest.

“Georgiana, you remember Herr Von Strohheim, don’t you?” Nicholas said easily. “And are you acquainted with his charming companion?”

I looked across the table into my mother’s startling violet eyes.

“Yes, we are acquainted,” I said.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Later that night

It was not one of my favorite dinners. Max’s English was severely limited. My mother was clearly miffed that I was there, a living proof to everyone that she was over thirty.

“You might have warned me that you were coming along for this beanfeast,” she hissed at me.

“I didn’t know until a week ago when the queen asked me to represent the family.”

Those eyes that had wowed audiences on a thousand stages opened even wider. “Why on earth did the queen send you?”

“How about ‘It’s lovely to see you again, my darling?’ ” I said.