9 Chapter 9

Folana was still away.

* * * *

“Telephone, Miss Portia. It’s your father.” Ackerman handed me the receiver.

“Thank you.” I waited until he disappeared into the butler’s pantry. “Hello, Father. How’s everything on your side of the pond?”

“Excellent, my dear! Never better!” His bluff tone told me it was anything but. “Regrettably, your brother’s engagement has been called off, and we’ll need you to cut short your stay with your godmother.”

“Of course. How is Tony holding up?”

“As well as can be expected. Unfortunately, the young lady was not everything we hoped she’d be.”

Meaning she’d realized our country would always come first with Tony, and apparently she had no intention of dealing with a rival with whom she could never compete. I just hoped she wasn’t his one.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Well, well, better to learn of it now than later. He has missed you.”