resemblance is extraordinary. You are as lovely as my mother was."

A flush spread up Tatiana's face. She was not entirely sure what she expected, but the affection in her cousin's greeting warmed her heart. "It is good to meet you at last, Lady Beaumont."

"My dear, Your Highness, do call me Natasha. We are cousins, and there are not so many of us that we can afford to be standoffish." Natasha cast her a brilliant smile, then turned toward Matthew, offering him her hand. "And you are obviously the Lord Matthew Weston."

"A pleasure to meet you, my lady." Matthew took her hand and brushed a polite kiss across it.

"Natasha, Cousin," she said firmly.

"Natasha." He smiled and glanced from one woman to the other. "I gather from your greeting, you know

precisely why we are here."

"Of course." She laughed. "Surely you didn't think Her Grace could resist sending me a note with every

detail."

Tatiana's brows pulled together. "Does everyone know?"

"Dear me, no." Natasha shook her head. "The duke is the only one who knows all-besides his mother

and myself. Even my son is still unaware of who you are. I can scarce believe you are finally here. I was just telling my father that the world is filled with wonderful possibilities, and then you appeared."

"Your father?" Matthew's brow furrowed with confusion.

Natasha nodded toward a small portrait on the wall beside her. It was no more than nine inches square, displayed in an elaborate carved and gilded frame.

"It is the painting Sophia carried with her from Avalonia, is it not?" Tatiana stepped closer and examined the portrait.

"Indeed it is. Her husband, my father."

"I had no idea he was so young." The man staring back at her could not possibly be much older than Tatiana was now. He was handsome and dashing and had an air of confidence about him, if as he were invulnerable.

"This was painted a few months before his death. The portrait was at Worthington Castle until recently." Natasha laughed softly. "I used to speak with him, or rather his portrait, often when I was a child, and it appears to be a habit I have failed to break."

"It must have been difficult for your mother to haul this across Europe." Matthew moved to Tatiana's side and peered closely at the frame. "It looks rather cumbersome."

"Oh, this is not the original frame. My mother carried the painting rolled up." Natasha nodded at the work. "She had the frame made for it sometime later."

"It scarcely matters, my lord," Tatiana said, pushing aside a touch of annoyance at Matthew's continued fascination.

"Probably." Matthew's brow furrowed. "Admittedly, I don't know a great deal about the presentation of art, my lady, but the frame seems too heavy in scale given the size of the painting."

"Do you think so?" Natasha crossed her arms over her chest and considered the portrait. "I'm not sure I've ever noticed that."

Tatiana stifled her growing impatience and forced a pleasant note to her voice. "I think it looks most appropriate."

Matthew ignored her. "The balance seems off somehow." He reached out and ran his fingers along the carved frame. "The molding is far too wide and the carvings..." He leaned closer and his eyes widened so slightly no one but Tatiana would have noticed. He straightened and met Natasha's gaze. "The carvings are extremely interesting."

"I have always thought so." Natasha directed her words to Tatiana but kept her gaze on Matthew. "You have an extraordinarily clever husband."

"It can be a most annoying quality," Tatiana said sweetly.

He glanced at her and grinned. "I'd wager it won't be nearly as annoying in a moment."

Natasha laughed. "I believe we should continue this discussion in private."

"Just the two of you, I think," Matthew said. "I am feeling rather pleased with myself right now and I'm certain that will make me that much more annoying."

"If that is possible." Tatiana's gaze shifted from her husband to her cousin and back. "I have the distinctly unpleasant feeling that there is a joke you both find most amusing, yet I am not in on it."

"Then obviously it's time you were included." Matthew took her hand and drew it to the frame, then guided it over the carvings. "Observe, Princess."

She studied the whorls and curves and angles of the intricate design and started to pull her hand away when her gaze caught on the shape of a half moon. At once the complicated pattern became clear. She stared in disbelief.

Heritage is the tie that binds the past to the future.

The frame was a series of stars and moons and celestial bodies. She caught her breath and snapped her gaze to Matthew's.

He bent to speak low into her ear. "I believe, Your Highness, you have found your Heavens."

"I couldn't simply give them to you," Natasha said. She and Tatiana sat on a sofa in a small library just off the main rooms. "No, that's not entirely true. I could have given them to you, and I fully intended to do so if you had come to me."

Tatiana stared at her in confusion. "I was told you were traveling and not in England."

Natasha's brow furrowed for a moment. "I returned a few weeks ago. Of course, I was not in the city." She shrugged. "It scarcely matters, I suppose. You are here now and I am more than willing to at last fulfill the promise I made to my mother."

"Promise?"

"I should explain." Natasha paused to gather her thoughts. "Although my mother had put Avalonia and the life of a royal princess behind her, she still held the responsibilities of that position close to her heart. When she left Avalonia, her mother, the queen, insisted she take the Heavens for safekeeping. All that nonsense about Avalonia standing as long as the Heavens and the right to rule and whatnot.

"But the queen also gave her a letter that seemed to relieve her of that charge, implying the Heavens were not as important as our lives. My mother was never forced to make that choice, and to this day I don't know what decision she would have made. At any rate, she made me vow that upon her death I would be the guardian of the Heavens until such time as a legitimate guardian, a hereditary princess of Avalonia, came to claim them and return them to their rightful home. I'm afraid they were removed from the gold cuff and I have no idea what might have happened to that."

Natasha relaxed against the back of the sofa and smiled. "I cannot tell you how relieved I am to at last be able to fulfill that promise."

"No more relieved than I. I feared the Heavens were lost forever." Tatiana shook her head. "So the jewels are in the frame."

"That's what I have been told." Natasha wrinkled her nose. "Apparently, there is a piece of the carving that fits perfectly into a corner and conceals a hollow area where the jewels are hidden."

"But you've never seen them yourself?" Tatiana said with a growing sense of unease. "Then you cannot be certain they are still there."

"I suppose not." Natasha shook her head. "You don't think-"

"I think"-Tatiana rose to her feet-"we should look for ourselves."

"I think that is an excellent idea."

Tatiana clenched her fists and tried not to scream in frustration. Was the blasted woman everywhere?

Valentina stepped from behind the curtains. "I think we should all look."

Natasha stood and stared at the newcomer. "You must be Valentina." She studied her curiously. "I must say, you don't look all that wicked."

"What did you expect? Horns protruding from my head?" Valentina sniffed haughtily and glanced at Tatiana. "You have been telling tales about me, Cousin."

"Do forgive me for engaging in idle gossip," Tatiana said. "In truth, wicked hardly seems a strong enough term for treason or a multitude of dead husbands-"

"Scarcely a multitude. No more than two, unless I have miscounted. And their deaths were a tragic coincidence, nothing more." She looked at Natasha. "I know it is impossible to imagine now, but would you believe our dear cousin used to be quite shy and retiring? And much better mannered than she is now as well." Valentina lowered her voice confidentially. "Why, the perfect little princess I knew would never masquerade as the wife of a man she was not lawfully wed to."

"In truth, Cousin, some things do not change." Tatiana couldn't resist a smug smile. "I am indeed married, and have been for well over a year."

"A marriage your family is unaware of?" Valentina's eyes widened. "You simply overflow with one amazing revelation after another."

Tatiana ignored her. "How did you get in here?"

"You are intent on knowing all the petty details, aren't you?" Valentina shook her head. "Your predictability is certainly unchanged. Very well." She sighed. "I observed you talking and realized, from the so-easy-to-read expressions on your faces, your conversation was significant enough to seek privacy. I guessed you would use this room, as it is the most convenient-an excellent guess, I might add-and slipped in here before you."

"I didn't see you amidst the crowd." Natasha studied her thoughtfully. "And furthermore, I don't believe you were invited."

"And yet here I am, in spite of that omission on your part. The gentleman I am with was invited." She nodded at Tatiana. "Yes, it is the same gentleman I accompanied in the country and now, as then, he is dim but useful. I am certain I have committed some horrible social faux pas by my presence and I shall be banned from polite society forever. So be it. Now"-her tone hardened-"I suggest we proceed to do exactly what the two of you had proposed before I so rudely interrupted."

"I think not." Tatiana folded her arms over her chest.

"In fact, I believe this discussion is at an end." Natasha stepped toward the door. "I'm certain my son will be most interested in detaining you until the authorities can be notified."

Valentina scoffed. "By all means, notify whomever you wish. I have done nothing in this country that could be deemed illegal."

"Hah!" Tatiana glared in disbelief. "You stole my letter, ransacked my room and tried to kill me."

Valentina shrugged. "Trifles. And you can't prove it."

"Perhaps you are wickeder than you appear," Natasha murmured.

Valentina smiled modestly. "Thank you."

Natasha and Tatiana traded glances, then the older woman again started toward the door.

"Wait, Cousin." A note of sincerity sounded in Valentina's voice and Natasha paused. "I scarcely think

it is necessary to involve others in what is essentially a matter among the female members of the family. I find men do tend to muck things up more often than not, especially husbands. Besides, if you take another step"-Valentina pulled out a dueling pistol from the shawl draped over her arm-"I shall have to do something regrettable."

"Come, now, Valentina, are you not being overly dramatic?" Tatiana scoffed. "I doubt you will really shoot us." "My dear cousin, I have no intention of shooting you. That would be most unpleasant and possibly quite messy. However, the firing of this pistol will alert the men I have positioned in the other rooms." She glanced at Natasha. "I fear they were not invited either."

"Quite all right." Natasha smiled weakly. "My men will then proceed to shoot your"-she snorted-"husband and"-she nodded at Natasha-"your son." Tatiana's stomach twisted, but she refused to let so much as a flicker of fear show. Her gaze met and locked with Valentina's. Tatiana knew full well her cousin was more than capable of doing exactly what she threatened. She further knew Valentina's recent failure to seize power less than two months ago had left whatever supporters she still had disorganized and scattered. It was a risk, but the chance that Valentina was lying was probably greater than the possibility that she was telling the truth. The woman Tatiana had been once trembled at the thought of the consequences if she was wrong. The woman she was now knew there was no real choice. "Very well," she said coolly. "Fire your pistol." Natasha gasped. "I will, you know." Valentina's voice was cold, but there was a glimmer of uncertainty in her eye. At once, Tatiana knew she was right. "I doubt it. You have no men waiting for the signal to shoot anyone. Furthermore, I strongly suspect, aside from your escort tonight, you are alone." Valentina shook her head and heaved a sigh. "It does not sound very clever, does it?" "Rather absurd, if you ask me," Natasha said under her breath. "No one did," Valentina snapped and turned her attention back to Tatiana. "I must say, I liked you a great deal more before your ordeal by fire or whatever it was you said. It would be ever so much easier if you would simply do as I ask. You may not realize it, but I am a desperate woman and have no qualms about doing whatever it is I must. And as you apparently do not fear for the life of your husband"-she leveled the pistol at Tatiana-"perhaps you fear for your own."

Tatiana ignored the fear that did indeed grip her heart. "You will not shoot me."

"Oh, dear cousin, I am afraid this time you are wrong. I will indeed shoot you." Her eyes narrowed in a nasty manner. "And I shall quite enjoy it."

"Nonsense." Natasha stepped in front of Tatiana. "There's no need for that."

"What? Would you rather I shoot you?" Valentina snorted with disdain. "Are you mad, or has that air of nobility you all display addled your brain?"

"Not at all," Natasha said sharply. "If you want the painting, you may have it."

"The frame," Valentina corrected.

"Of course." Natasha nodded.

Valentina moved to the door, opened it a crack, then peered out. Tatiana took the opportunity to whisper into Natasha's ear. "Surely you're not going to give her the Heavens?"

"Of course not," Natasha said. "But I think our chances are better of saving the jewels and ourselves in the midst of a crowd rather than alone."

"I do hope you are right," Tatiana said softly. "Because in here only the two of us are her targets. Out there it is everyone."

Natasha murmured a low obscenity Tatiana couldn't quite hear.

"Ladies, if you please." Valentina nodded in the direction of the door and draped her shawl over her arm to cover the pistol. "After you."

Natasha and Tatiana obediently filed out, Valentina a step behind and positioned between them.

Tatiana searched the milling crowd for Matthew. She wasn't sure if she wanted him to come to her rescue or stay as far away as possible. She was fairly certain that Valentina would indeed shoot someone if provoked and Natasha's idea that their chances were better in the crowd might well miscarry. Still, Tatiana had no better plan.

"Now, then, let us walk casually over to the painting, as if you are doing nothing more than showing it to me. And I think a smile is called for," Valentina said softly. "Try to look as if you are having a lovely time. After all, we are all family."

Tatiana forced a smile through clenched teeth. They were but a few steps from the portrait and the Heavens. She had to think of something. Anything.

The trio stopped before the painting.

Valentina stared at it as if transfixed.