Affaire Royale by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online

when he saw it. Just as he knew it when he felt it. Cautious, he released her hand. The step back was for both of them.
    “I’ll leave you to rest. Your maid’s name is Bernadette. Unless you want her sooner, she’ll be in an hour before dinner.”
    Brie let her hand fall to her side as if it weren’t part of her. “I appreciate what you’re doing.”
    “You won’t always.” When he reached the door, he judged the distance to be enough. Then he looked back, and she was still in front of the window. Light rioted in, flowing across her hair, shimmering over her skin. “Let it rest for today, Brie,” he told her quietly. “Tomorrow we can start knocking at that brick.”

Chapter 3
    She hadn’t meant to sleep but to think. Still, she felt herself drifting awake as groggy and disoriented as she’d been that first time in the hospital.
    Gabriella, she told herself. Her name was Gabriella and she was lying in her room, on the soft blue-and-rose-colored quilt that spread over her big carved oak bed. There was a breeze fluttering over her because she’d opened the windows herself when she’d explored her bedroom.
    Her name was Gabriella and there was no reason to wake up afraid. Safe, she repeated over and over in her head until her muscles believed it and relaxed.
    “So.”
    At the one indignant syllable, Brie sat up abruptly, panicked. An old woman was seated neatly in a straight-backed chair across from the bed. Her hair was pulled back into a knot so tight that not a single wisp escaped. It was gray, stone gray, without a hint of softening white. Her face was like parchment, thin skinned, a bit yellowed and generously lined. Two small dark eyes peered out, and though her mouth was withered with age, it looked strong. She wore a dignified, no-nonsense black dress, sturdy Mack shoes and, quaintly, a cameo on a velvet ribbon around her neck.
    Since Brie had no memory to rely on, she used instincts. Reeve had told her to observe without prejudice. It was advice she saw the wisdom in. There was no fear as she stared back at the old woman. Relaxing again, she remained sitting. “Hello.”
    “Fine thing,” the old woman said in what rang to Brie as a Slavic accent. “You come home after giving me a week of worry and don’t bother to see me.”
    “I’m sorry.” The apology came out so naturally she smiled.
    “They gave me this nonsense about your not remembering. Bah!” She lifted a hand and slapped it against the arm of the chair. “My Gabriella not remembering her own nanny.”
    Brie studied the woman but knew no sense of connection would come. It just wasn’t time. “I don’t remember,” she said quietly. “I don’t remember anything.”
    Nanny hadn’t lived for seventy-three years, raised a nurseryful of children and buried one of her own without being prepared for any shock. After a moment’s silence, she rose. Her face might be lined, her hands curled slightly with arthritis, but she pulled herself from the chair with the grace and ease of youth. As she stood over Brie’s bed, the princess saw a small, birdlike woman in black with a stern face and rosary beads hanging from her belt.
    “I am Carlotta Baryshnova, nanny to the Lady Honoria Bruebeck, your aunt, and Lady Elizabeth Bruebeck, your mother. When she became Princess Elizabeth of Cordina I came with her to be nanny to her children. I have diapered you, bandaged your knees and blown your nose. When you marry, I will do the same for your children.”
    “I see.” Because the woman seemed more annoyed than upset, Brie smiled again. It occurred to her she had yet to see herself smile. She’d have to go back to the mirror again. “And was I a good child?”
    “Hmph.” The sound could have meant anything, but Brie caught a tiny hint of pleasure in it. “Sometimes worse, sometimes better than your brothers. And they were always a trial.” Coming closer, she peered down at Brie with the intensity of the nearsighted. “Not sleeping