Lakota Princess by Karen Kay Page A

dirty, scratched, with various branches of several different bushes and trees caught in his hair and his clothing, and carrying Estrela over his shoulder as though she were a deer he had shot for supper, her Grace never said a word.
     
     
    “Surely there must be a way to stay here. I am, after all, injured.”
    “I’m afraid t’ Duchess was specific,” Anna said. “I am to get ye dressed and escort ye to t’ breakfast parlor. ’Ave ye a dress that ye favor wearin’ today?”
    Estrela glowered at her reflection in the mirror and Anna almost laughed at the expression.
    “Ye could wear that pale pink creation t’ Duke and Duchess of Colchester gave ye. W’ yer blond ’air and fair coloring, would go well w’ it.”
    Estrela sighed. “’Tis almost see-through.”
    Anna laughed. “’Tis t’ style.”
    “Just the same, I’ll wear something else. He’ll think me wanton if I come to breakfast in a transparent gown.”
    Anna paused while she studied her friend. At length, she said, “Is ’e t’ one, then?”
    Estrela lifted her gaze only briefly to her friend, then just as quickly looked away, saying simply, “Yes.”
    “’E came after ye all t’ way from t’ Americas?”
    “Yes.”
    “And ’e came to yer room last night?”
    Estrela nodded.
    “And…?”
    “I told him I was married.”
    “Ye told ’im ye were…” Anna paused a moment. “Do ye think that wise? Ye could ’ave waited a bit, couldn’t ye? Waited at least until t’ man settled into ‘is new ’ome?”
    Estrela winced and lifted her blue-eyed gaze toward Anna. And in that glance blazed a wealth of emotion, raw with feeling.
    Anna held her breath.
    “He is leaving.”
    “I see.” Anna said, studying her friend through the looking glass, seeing things about Estrela that others might miss: from the stubborn set of her ladyship’s chin to the perfection of her creamy complexion.
    The maid shook her head. Some might mistake Estrela’s soft-spoken manner for weakness or lack of strength, not realizing that only a strong person can afford to be kind. Some might see only her flawless beauty without looking beneath the surface to notice the loyalty, the truthfulness, the innocence of a true friend. And it was with no surprise that Anna realized that Estrela’s allure had little to do with the physical, her outward beauty being a mere complement to all that she was.
    “Did ye ’ave to tell ’im?”
    “How could I not? To keep it to myself would not have been fair—to him. I have no right to keep him here. I have no right to…”
    “’e will be snatched up if ’e stays here.”
    Estrela gasped. “What do you mean?”
    Anna sighed, wishing she were not the one to have to educate Estrela about the more unscrupulous aspects of the society in which she now found herself. “W’ t’ Duke and Duchess be’ind ’im now,” Anna began, “’e will become a sought-after ‘catch.’ ’Tis not one lady who will not want ’im for ’er own daughter…as a son-in-law. ’E is, after all, under the guardianship of t’ Duke. ’E ’as become a valuable, matrimonial ‘catch.’”
    Estrela opened her eyes a tiny bit wider.
    “’Tis a shame ye ’ave told ’im of yer marriage. If ye ’adn’t, ’e would not even look at another—now…”
    Estrela shrugged. “’Tis done. And I would do it again. I did not tell him for my sake, but for his.”
    “Still,” Anna persisted, “’e is a bachelor and ’andsome and I’m afraid many of t’ young ladies will seek ’is favor. Besides, there is somethin’ about ’im: a backwoods charm or some sort of wildness that t’ ladies will find irresistible.”
    “But he is leaving. He told me so himself.”
    Anna shrugged. “’E may change ’is mind, especially after ’e finds ’imself so popular. Ye did tell ’im t’ truth of yer marriage, did ye not? That ye are not truly married in deed?”
    “No. I wasn’t somehow able to and then I thought maybe it was better this