Moonspun Magic by Catherine Coulter

married?”
    â€œNo, ma’am. He has just come home from the sea, I gather.”
    â€œFor good, I trust,” said Lucia. “Rest now, my dear.”
    With that command, Victoria was soon left to her own devices. She stood in the middle of the roomthinking vaguely of the unexpectedness of fate. “Well,” she said aloud to the empty chamber, “this can’t be worse than Damien or that Bishop smuggler person.”
    She removed her shoes and stretched out on the very comfortable bed. Very quickly she was enjoying the sleep of the innocent.
    Â 
    Lucia, a strategist of the first order, carried the gown to Victoria’s bedchamber. She heard the splashing of the bathwater and grinned. She knocked lightly, then opened the door and entered.
    Victoria gasped until she saw Lady Lucia.
    â€œOh, ma’am!”
    â€œDon’t drown yourself, my dear. I’m not Captain Carstairs. Now, just finish your washing. I’ve brought you a gown left by my niece, Diana Savarol. Did Captain Carstairs tell you about her?”
    Victoria, routed utterly, nodded even as she continued with the bathing sponge on her left knee. “Yes. ma’am.”
    Lucia looked at the very slender shoulders showing above the edge of the tub. “How bountiful is your bosom?”
    Victoria couldn’t help herself. She laughed. “Not excessive bounty there, I’m afraid, ma’am.”
    â€œPity. Diana, as my nephew Lyon was wont to point out, is very amply endowed. I fear this dress won’t fit you. Well, no mind. We will go shopping tomorrow for you.”
    â€œBut, ma’am, you don’t know me.”
    â€œWe’ll remedy that in short order, don’t you think? Of course you do. As Didier will tell you, if he’s in one of his moods, you are providing me with much-needed entertainment. Now, my child, out of that tub. I will leave you. Grumber! Do come and be of some assistance.”
    But Victoria very firmly told Grumber she didn’t need any assistance.
    â€œYour hair, miss,” said Grumber, and her pained voice told Victoria that she was in dire need.
    â€œCan you come back to me, then, Grumber, in about thirty minutes?”
    â€œVery odd,” said Grumber to Lucia a few minutes later. “Are you certain that Miss Abermarle is a lady? Her speech is certainly ladylike, but not wanting me to help her?”
    â€œYou’re right, of course. Here, fasten the pearls for me. Thank you. Well, perhaps the child is simply modest. I love a mystery, don’t you, Grumber?”
    â€œHarrumph,” said Grumber at her most sour.
    â€œGet into the spirit of things. That face of yours would curdle the milk.”
    Lucia wasn’t at all surprised to find Victoria Abermarle quite a beauty. True, the high-necked yellow silk looked more appropriate for a sixteen-year-old, but that would be quickly remedied. She looked briefly toward the clock on the mantelpiece. A good half-hour until Captain Carstairs arrived. Plenty of time, yes indeed.
    â€œDo sit down, Victoria.”
    Victoria sat.
    â€œNow, my dear child, you must trust me. Will you?”
    â€œI suppose so, ma’am.”
    â€œExcellent. Tell me how you met Captain Carstairs.”
    Victoria chewed on her tongue.
    â€œNo, please don’t tell me he’s a longtime friend or semirelative or any of that nonsense. If I’m to help you, it must be the truth. Now, onward, my child.”
    And Victoria, unused to such lightning tactics, succumbed without a whimper.
    â€œI thought the captain looked a bit familiar,” wasthe first thing Lucia said after Victoria, twenty minutes later, finally fell silent. “I knew his father, the former Baron Drago. A handsome man, a very strong man who wrung the withers of many a hopeful female before he married a noblewoman on a trip to Seville. I didn’t know, however, about this twin business.”
    â€œAs I told you, ma’am, Rafael