‘You’re probably right.’ He hesitated and then said, ‘One of the reasons I wanted to speak to you without anyone else hearing is because the girls are discussing whom I might choose as a bride, from my grandmother’s list of possibles, and when I realized I was on the point of telling them – and filling them with disappointment – I thought it best to walk away.’

The blood drummed in May’s ears. From out of nowhere had come a subject so unexpected, she wondered if she had misheard him.

He said wryly, ‘They all expect me to plump for Mossy.’

She hadn’t misheard him. Scarcely able to believe Eddy was trusting her with such information, she turned to face him, her hand at her throat. ‘And . . . you haven’t done so?’

‘No. I know from Maudie that you never gossip, Cousin May, and that I can trust you not to let this go any further, but when I was at Balmoral a few months ago, so were the two younger Hesse-Darmstadt girls, and it was then that I knew who I was going to marry.’

The drumming in May’s ears became deafening.

Irène. He was going to marry Irène. And unlike the princesses on the list who were not of marriageable age, Irène was nearly twenty now, which meant the official announcement would not be very long in coming.

She had always known that when Eddy married, it would be to someone in her Aunt Queen’s vast extended family network, but she had been hoping it would be to someone like Mossy; someone she barely knew and therefore wasn’t on friendly terms with.

‘Granny Queen will be pleased.’ He gave her another of the slow, sweet smiles that she found so sexy, and which sent tingles down her spine. ‘Alicky will be sixteen in two years’ time,’ he added, ‘and her name has always been the one at the top of her list.’

May’s hand was still at her throat. The high collar of her gown was pinned with a brooch and beneath the tips of her fingers the jewels were cold and hard and sharp. She thought of Alicky’s letters to her. Letters full of her certainty that Nicky Romanov was her one true love, and that she knew with all her heart they would be together until the end of time.