There was the barest hint of a lull in the conversation before Olivia said, “I just called for tea before you arrived, Sir Harry. Will you join us?”

“I would be delighted.” Harry took a seat across from the prince, flashing him a bland smile.

“I must confess,” Olivia said, “that I am terrible with languages. My governesses despaired of my ever mastering French. I have such admiration for those who can speak more than one. Your English is truly superb, Your Highness.”

The prince acknowledged her compliment with a nod.

“Prince Alexei speaks French as well,” Olivia said to Harry.

“As do I,” he responded, since there didn’t seem any reason to hide it. The prince might let something slip in Russian, but he would never do so in French; there were far too many French speakers in London. Besides, after so many years on the Continent, it would have been strange if he hadn’t picked up some of the language.

“I didn’t realize that,” Olivia said. “Perhaps the two of you can converse. Or maybe not.” She let out a little laugh. “I quake with terror over what you might say about me.”

“Only the deepest of compliments,” the prince said smoothly.

“I doubt my skills are up to par with His Highness’s,” Harry lied. “It would be a frustrating conversation for us both, I am sure.”

Again, a lull, and again, Olivia leaped into the breach. “Perhaps you can say something for us in Russian,” she said to the prince. “I am not sure that I have ever heard the language spoken aloud. Have you, Sir Harry?”

“I believe so,” he murmured.

“Oh, of course you would have done, during your time on the Continent. I imagine you must have heard any number of languages.”

Harry nodded politely, but she had already turned back to Alexei. “Would you say something? French I do recognize, even if I can hardly understand a word. But Russian-well, I have no idea what it sounds like. Is it a bit like German?”

“Nyet,” the prince replied.

“Ny-oh!” Olivia beamed. “That must mean no.”

“Da,” the prince said.

“And that must be yes!”

Harry wasn’t sure whether he was amused or nauseated.

“Say something more,” she urged. “I can’t really hear the rhythm of the language from single-syllable words.”

“Very well,” the prince said. “Let me see…”

They waited patiently while he thought of something to say. After a few moments he spoke.

And Harry decided that he had never hated another human being as much as he hated Prince Alexei Gomarovsky of Russia.

“What did you say?” Olivia asked with an expectant smile.

“Only that you are more beautiful than the oceans, sky, and fog.”

Or, depending on the translation, I’m going to pump you until you scream.

“That’s so poetic,” Olivia murmured.

Harry did not trust himself to speak.

“Can you say something more?” Olivia entreated.

The prince demurred. “I could not think of anything more-how do you say it?”

Offensive.

“Delicate,” the prince finished, looking extremely pleased with his choice of word. “Delicate enough for you.”

Harry coughed. It was either that or gag. Or really, it must have sounded like a bit of both, because Olivia looked at him with an expression of panic. He could do nothing but roll his eyes in return. No reasonable man could listen to this drivel without some sort of reaction.

“Oh, here comes the tea,” Olivia said, sounding more than a little relieved. “Mary, we will need another setting. Sir Harry has decided to join us.”

After Mary had set the tray down and gone off to fetch another cup, Olivia looked over at Harry and said, “You don’t mind if I begin to pour, do you?”

“Of course not,” he said, and happened to glance at the prince, who was regarding him with nothing less than a smirk.

Harry gave him an equally juvenile look in return. He couldn’t help it. And, he reasoned, it would help to maintain the fiction that he was just another jealous suitor. But really, did Alexei think that Olivia signaled her favor by serving him tea before Harry had a cup?

“Do you enjoy our English tea, Your Highness?” Olivia asked. “Although I suppose it isn’t really English. But we have made it our own, I think.”

“I find it a most pleasant custom,” the prince said.

“Do you take milk?”

“Please.”

“Sugar?”

“Yes.”

She prepared his cup, speaking as she spooned the sugar. “Sir Harry recently told me that tea was what he missed the most while serving in the army.”

“Is that so?” Prince Alexei responded.

Harry was not sure who the prince was speaking to but decided to answer nonetheless. “There were many nights when I would have killed for a hot beverage.”

“I expect there were many nights when you killed, anyway,” the prince returned.

Harry gave him a cool look. “I was armed at various times with a saber, a rifle, and bayonet. I killed frequently.”

The prince met his stare with equal measure. “You sound as if you enjoyed it.”

“Never,” Harry said curtly.

One corner of the prince’s mouth curved very slightly. “Evil is sometimes necessary for good to flower, da?”

Harry acknowledged this with a single nod.

The prince took a sip of his tea, even though Harry had not yet been served. “Do you fence, Sir Harry?”