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happened to her& it wasn't your fault. You know that, don't you?
Nikolas didn't answer, staring at the door as if he half-expected a ghost to appear. The maid returned
with the parcel, coming forward to hand it to Nikolas. At Emma's gesture, the maid took the baby and
carried her to the nursery for a nap.
Slowly Nikolas slid the strings from the parcel and parted the layers of brown paper. Emma leaned
forward in eager curiosity. The package contained a folded letter, two or three volumes with Cyrillic
characters on the covers, and another object Emma didn't have a chance to see. Nikolas reached for it
and turned his back to her, staring at whatever it was he held. Silently he rose and walked to the window.
She saw him lift a hand to his face, whether to blot sweat or tears she couldn't tell.
Emma picked up the letter and saw that it was written in English.
To His Highness Prince Nikolas Dmitriyevich Angelovsky:
Having completed the research you requested, I would like to thank you for the experience of traveling
to Russia. The accommodations were superb, and I found the translator, Mr. Sigeyov, most effective.
Should you have questions regarding the materials I have sent, I would be happy to meet with you and
provide further details. Most of the information regarding the fate of Emelia Vasilievna was contained in
personal correspondence written by her son, Prince Alexei Nikolaievich Angelovsky. The letters were in
the possession of your oldest sister, Katya, a charming woman who gave them to me along with her
affectionate wishes for your well-being. There was also a mention of Emelia's residence in her latter
years, a small Moscovian estate which Empress Elizabeth reputedly visited in the company of Alexei
What happened to her? Nikolas asked hoarsely, still facing the window.
Emma scanned the letter rapidly, jumping forward a page or two. Emelia left the convent seven years
after you& after Nikolai died, she said. Angelovsky relatives kept her and the child with them in St.
Petersburg for a brief time. They were harassed by city officials and agents of the Imperial government,
until Emelia virtually disappeared with her son for the next ten years. It's possible they lived in her former
home of Preobrazhenskoe one year the village church listed an unidentified woman and her fatherless
child in its register. That could have been Emelia. Emma found another significant passage from Almay's
report and read it aloud.
Two years after Tsar Peter's death in 1725, Emelia and her son finally came out of hiding. At that time
Alexei was around nineteen or twenty years of age. He claimed complete ownership of all Angelovsky
holdings, and assumed his place as Nikolai's rightful heir. Apparently no one in the family was able or
willing to contest him. Alexei established Emelia in a palace outside Moscow, where she lived in comfort
for the rest of her days. For the next twenty years, he applied himself to increasing the Angelovsky
fortune. There are several letters preserved from this period, written in Alexei's own hand and addressed
to his mother at her home. These are included in the materials I have sent. From this correspondence it is
apparent that Emelia objected to her son becoming the private consort of Empress Elizabeth, Peter's
daughter. However, she lived long enough to see her son marry a Russian noblewoman and produce two
children, Sergei and Lida. Emelia's death was recorded in 1750. She was sixty-three years of age.
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Among your sister Katya's collection we discovered a miniature of Emelia Vasilievna, painted not long
before her death&
Emma's voice faded as she realized what Nikolas was holding. Nikki? she said quietly, setting aside
the letter. She rose from the bed and joined him at the window. At first the glare of daylight made the
image impossible to see. She touched his hand, and he tilted the miniature until the face became clear.
Emma stared at the tiny portrait of an old woman with silvery-peach hair. Her face was weathered but
regal, her mouth unsmiling, her eyes of an indistinguishable color. She looked as though she were staring
wistfully at something or someone very far away. Does she look like me? Emma asked, her fingers
curving around Nikolas's. Her throat became very tight. Yes, I suppose she does.
She never married again, he murmured.
Emma looked up and saw the glitter of tears on his cheek. No, it appears she didn't.
She had no one.
She had her child, Emma said. She took comfort in Alexei, as well as her memories of Nikolai. Most
of all, she knew they would meet again& and they did.
Emma sensed an easing in him, a relief that made his fingers unclench. Did they? he asked, turning to
her with the miniature clasped in his hand. How can you be certain?
Emma smiled and leaned against him, until his arms closed around her. I just know.
Nikolas rested his face against her hair, whispering his love to her, while they stood together in the
healing warmth of the morning sunlight.
About the Author
Lisa Kleypasis the author of nineteen historical romance novels that have been published in twelve
languages. In 1985, she was named Miss Massachusetts and competed in the Miss America pageant in
Atlantic City. After graduating from Wellesley College with a political science degree, she published her
first novel at age twenty-one.
Her books have appeared on bestseller lists such as theNew York Times, USA Today, Publishers
Weekly, andWaldenBooks . Lisa is married and has two children.
Please visit her at www. lisakleypas.com.
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By Lisa Kleypas
SECRETS OF ASUMMERNIGHT
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AGAINTHEMAGIC" WORTHANYPRICE
LADYSOPHIA SLOVER" ONLY INYOURARMS
ONLYWITHYOURLOVE" WHENSTRANGERSMARRY
SUDDENLYYOU" WHEREDREAMSBEGIN
SOMEONE TOWATCHOVERME
STRANGER INMYARMS" BECAUSEYOU REMINE
SOMEWHEREI LLFINDYOU
PRINCE OFDREAMS" MIDNIGHTANGEL
DREAMING OFYOU" THENCAMEYOU
And the Anthologies
WHERE SMYHERO?
THREEWEDDINGS AND AKISS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
PRINCE OF DREAMS. Copyright © 1995 by Lisa Kleypas. All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the
non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of
this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or
introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether
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PerfectBound"!.
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