His lips moved over the softness of her cheeks before he said,
“After we are married, my darling, I will prove to you how real I am so that you will never doubt it again.”
He kissed her straight little nose, each corner of her mouth and then when he would have kissed her lips she put up her hand to prevent him.
“I am still – curious.”
Even as she spoke, he felt her quiver against him and smiled.
“You are trying to prevent me from doing what I want to do, which is to kiss you.”
Then, as if he felt that that he had teased her enough, he said,
“When the Czar told me I was to marry Eudoxia, I realised that she had set a trap for me and I was extremely angry!”
“I knew – that.”
“She has wanted to marry me for quite a time,” the Prince went on, “but very stupidly I did not take her serio
