Its tall windows looked out on part of the formal gardens of the palace—the Duchess’s Garden, so called because it had been designed as a wedding gift for the wife of a late sixteenth-century ruler. Its classical design incorporated a formal rectangular fish pond and an Italianate summer house. Giselle, though, was oblivious to the view beyond the window. She was working at her computer, her blonde hair clipped up on top of her head, small wisps of it escaping to frame the elegant oval delicacy of her face. Her manner was one of total concentration on the computer screen in front of her. Despite the fact that he had opened unlimited accounts for her at Harvey Nichols in London and Barney’s in New York, Giselle still preferred to dress casually in jeans and a simple top when they were alone and when she was working, keeping her designer gowns for official and public functions—unlike his late cousin’s wife, Natasha, who had been almost addicted to shopping and had often changed her expensive clothes several times a day.
