Surrender to a Stranger by Karyn Monk Read Free Book Online

The low-cut, fitted bodice was decorated with a lavish stomacher, a triangular piece heavily encrusted with pearls and sapphires. The beauty of the gown made Jacqueline feel like a princess, and in her heady excitement she imagined meeting a prince who, unaware of her tender years (for she was quite certain she did not look her age), would immediately drop to his knee and profess his undying love at first sight of her. She carried a little white-and-gold lace fan, which she had practiced opening and closing with an accomplished snap in front of a mirror for days. After listening to his wild declarations, she intended to give it to the prince as a token of their meeting, tearfully informing him that despite her womanly appearance, she was in fact too young to marry.
    Her father looked magnificent that night as well, gloriously outfitted in a gold brocade jacket, ruffled shirt, white satin culottes, and silk stockings. He carried a gleaming sword at his side with graceful ease, as was expected of an aristocratic gentleman. Even Antoine, who had become rather tall and lean at fifteen, was particularly fine in his blue velvet jacket and silvery waistcoat. Their excursion to Paris was an attempt on the part of the duc to pull himself and his two eldest children out of the self-imposed mourning that had gripped their lives for over a year. Since the unexpected death of Jacqueline’s mother, the Château de Lambert had become a quiet, sad place, with little reason for merriment or celebration.
    The opulence of that evening in Paris was unlike anything Jacqueline had ever experienced. After the theater the duc took his children and some friends to a fashionable restaurant, where they were attended to by a flock of waiters. A sumptuous five-course meal was ordered, beginning with velvety truffled foie gras and iced oysters, then on to a selection of elaborate dishes made with veal, mutton, duckling, squab, rabbit, beef, capon, partridge, and quail, and finally ending with fresh fruit, compotes, ice cream, cheeses, and pastries. The gay melodies of a string quartet drifted pleasantly around them as the happy group laughed and talked and quenched their thirsts with bottle after bottle of sparkling champagne. When dawn was painting pink-and-gold patterns against the sky, the De Lamberts climbed back into their carriage and returned to their magnificent hotel, where a respectful staff was only too anxious to cater to their every whim. For Jacqueline, Paris was a magical, glittering world of dazzling gowns and exquisite jewels, of theater and music and fine food, of wealthy people enjoying themselves and perfectly content servants seeing to their every comfort. It made life at the Château de Lambert seem rather quiet and provincial by contrast. Not any less enjoyable of course, but not nearly so exciting.
    That was in 1788, a year before the start of the revolution. The next time Jacqueline came to the magical city of Paris, it was to see her father in prison.
    It was the spring of 1793, and the world that Jacqueline had known had literally turned upside down. In their quest for a new social order, educated, idealistic men like the Duc de Lambert had disputed the absolute power of their king, Louis XVI. In doing so, they introduced a whole new philosophy of society, one based on equality rather than the rigid social hierarchy that had been in place for centuries. The new National Constituent Assembly, of which her father was a member, abolished the ancient system of feudalism and the collection of seigneurial dues and services, and drafted a Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. As the liberal ideals of equality and liberty took root, the assembly went on to eradicate the age-old privileges of the nobility, including exemption from the
taille
or tax, the use of hereditary titles and coats of arms, the monopoly on high office, and the wearing of the sword. The new France was to be a freethinking society of “citizens,” all