Chapter Four

O h, this girl was adorable. Even sniffling and red-eyed, she had more fire and composure than any of the eligible debutantes Brewster was so fond of promoting.

Edmund knew what she needed. Not a gown with ruffles and a feather stole. She had class and beauty and needed something simple to frame her beauty.

And he knew just where to find it.

The simple gesture of offering his arm to her had been thrilling. Correction: It wasn't the gesture, it was her touch.

Within minutes, they reached the corner building facing Piccadilly.

35 Regent Street

Klonimus and Sons

Jewelers

A bell rang as he pushed the door open, and Raphi Klonimus, the second-eldest son in a family of Jewish jewelers, welcomed him with a bright, friendly smile.

"Edmund, what a pleasant surprise! Have you brought any difficult sheet music for us to work out?"

"Hello Raphi, it's good to see you. I haven't had time to play recently." Edmund unbuttoned his coat. "Can you believe the heat this month?"

"Don't you start with it, too. This is nothing compared to the summers in Italy."

Edmund smiled and inclined his head toward the young woman on his arm. "Raphi is an old friend one of the Crown Jewelers. He has a degree in mathematics and another from the conservatory in Milan, Miss Viola."

"My friends call me Lola." She curtsied, and Raphi gave a gentle smile.

"Welcome, Lola. What is the occasion for your visit today?"

Edmund intercepted Raphi's knowing stare. No, not an engagement ring. Stop looking at me like that. "The opening of the opera tonight."

"Don't tell me you have tickets for Rossini's new opera!" Raphi seemed awed.

"It's just Cinderella ."

"J-just?" Raphi asked. "Since Rossini moved to Naples—" he turned to Lola for a moment to explain—"that's the operatic capital of Europe—as director of music for the royal theatres, he's had more success than any other contemporary composer."

"You've met Rossini?" Lola asked.

"Yes, in Milan. I saw Cinderella in La Scala when it first came out two years ago."

Lola's eyes grew wide.

"I know exactly what you need for tonight." With the elan of an excited musician, Raphi stepped behind the polished counter and produced a wooden box. He retrieved a key from his waist pocket and opened the box with a click. Then he handed it to Edmund. "I have another piece from this collection. Please take a look, and I shall be back in a moment." Raphi left through a door at the back of the store.

Edmund took the book-sized box and turned it toward Lola. She stepped forward and crossed her arms, hugging herself. Edmund opened it and she leaned in to see inside. On a pillow of white velvet lay a yellow-gold necklace. Richly facetted oval rubies reflected the light in a blaze of crimson. Yellow gold bezel settings encircled each one like a halo of tiny diamonds, sending a spectrum of rainbow sparkles back to the rubies.

Lola held her breath, and Edmund thought her expression fanned the full spectrum light could offer.

"Do you like it?" Raphi asked.

Edmund nodded. "Can I borrow it for the night?"

"Certainly."

Minutes later, in his carriage, Lola asked, "How is it possible that the Crown Jewelers let you borrow such an exquisite necklace?"

"I'm an old friend of Raphi's, but I don't get out much."

She had no doubt.

Especially when they arrived at his home, a veritable gilded cage.

His servants drew her bath, brought fresh pink roses to a chamber they designated as hers, and to her astonishment, a lady's maid arrived with a raspberry-colored dress, plainly cut, with a train that bustled in the back. Another maid—who was, apparently, a skilled seamstress—took it in some places and let it out in others so that by the time the clock struck six, Lola had transformed into a fairytale princess.

She knew she was one when the duke, Edmund arrived like her prince, just outside her room to escort her.