Then, he leaned back to look down at her.
“I won’t be able to give up everything, you know,” he warned gently. “I will always be a prince. Do you think you could manage being a part-time princess?”
Lydia pretended to consider carefully, her heart freer than ever before.
“You live in a palace?” she asked.
He nodded, a grin on his face.
She heaved a longsuffering sigh. “I suppose I could just about manage it,” she said with a smile.
Who would have thought that Lydia Charring would have found her fairy-tale ending? Lydia asked herself as she looked up into Alex’s handsome face.
Who would have thought that she would fall desperately in love with her very own prince?
Alex released her momentarily and dipped a hand inside his coat.
Lydia watched with a frown of confusion, which gave way to a shocked laugh as he produced a sprig of holly.
Wordlessly, he held it over her head, then once more pulled her closer.
“What is that?” she asked with a grin.
“It’s tradition,” he answered solemnly, before capturing her lips in a kiss once more.
The End.
Epilogue
The golden ballroom shimmered in the light of more crystal chandeliers than Lydia had ever seen in her life.
All around her was opulence and an obscene show of wealth that she could never have imagined, yet none of it could hold her attention for long.
Not when she was waltzing in the arms of her husband.
Even now, months after their real wedding, she couldn’t quite believe that Alex was hers.
The room was crowded with people she didn’t know, yet it didn’t bother her as much as she would have imagined.
Having had a quiet ceremony back home at Chillington Abbey, Lydia had travelled to Aldonia to meet Alex’s family.
Nobody could have accused King Josef of being overly friendly, but in the months leading up to this celebration ball, her father-in-law had thawed toward her and her parents. Prince Christopher, Alex’s older brother, wasn’t around much but when he was, he was perfectly polite, if a little stuffy.
Being the heir to a kingdom, however, would have that effect on a person, she reasoned.
Sir James and Lady Prudence were even now standing with Queen Anya and Princess Harriet, watching the couple’s waltz. Huntsforth had been too ill to travel with them.
The royal announcement had gone out only days after their arrival in Aldonia; Prince Alexander was married and there was to be a ball to honour the new princess.
Lydia had spent the weeks leading up to the ball in a fit of nerves.
And whilst Queen Anya had been pleasant, and Harriet a godsend, the only one who’d really been able to calm her was Alex.
“What did I tell you, sweetheart?” he whispered now as he held her close. “They love you, just as I knew they would.”
Lydia grimaced up at her husband with mock severity.
“Be that as it may, I’m still not sure about all of this princess stuff,” she whispered.
“Come,” he coaxed. “It’s not so bad.”
Lydia raised a brow.
“This from the man who pretended not to be a prince?”
His quick grin took her breath away.
“You really aren’t going to let me forget that, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” she answered stoutly, trying to maintain her composure as his eyes glinted with a familiar fire and his hand dipped outrageously lower on her back.
Alex pulled Lydia impossibly close, smirking as she whimpered with sudden, potent desire.
“You don’t think it was a little romantic? Falling in love with a hidden prince?” he whispered as he dipped his head to place a swift, scandalous kiss on her neck.
“P-perhaps a little,” she conceded on a breathless sigh.
Alex’s sudden, pained groan sounded in her ear and he straightened up, his eyes gleaming in a way she recognised, and which never failed to set her alight.
“There’s only one thing I can think of that’s better than a hidden prince,” he grinned.
“Oh, and what’s that?”
“Why, a hidden princess, of course,” he whispered. “What do you say we go into hiding together, wife?”
The dance ended and Alex made light work of sweeping his princess from the ballroom and into the privacy of their rooms where he planned to keep her hidden for hours.
The End.
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Keep reading for a special preview of Protecting the Princess.
Prologue
“You shouldn’t be here, Your Highness.”
Harriet Liezel Farago Wesselbach, Princess Royal of Aldonia spun around at the sound of a voice behind her, clutching a hand to her speeding heart.
“I – I was – that is –”
She stumbled to a halt under the scrutiny of the family’s private butler, Ansel.
At only ten years old, Harriet was already well aware of what behaviours were acceptable for the princess royal.
It was just that occasionally she forgot.
Or chose to forget. She wasn’t usually caught though.
“Your Highness, your father does not want anyone privy to his talks with the duke. Especially his children.”
Harriet scowled up at the long-serving butler who was honestly more like a family member than a servant. At least to Harriet.
“But if Christopher wanted to listen –”
“His Royal Highness is heir to the throne, Highness. And more importantly; he is eighteen.”
Harriet scowled but well, facts were facts and everything Ansel said was true.
Heaving a sigh, she allowed the butler to guide her back to the private living quarters in the palace, away from where Father was conducting what sounded like a very tense meeting, if the shouting was anything to go by.
They skipped along the corridor surrounded by windows on both sides that led to the private quarters.
Harriet loved it here. In the summer, the sun warmed her skin in the glass hallway. In the winter she could see snow for miles around. In the rainy season, the rain lashed against the windows and she sat for hours listening to the sound, watching the stormy clouds stream by.
She stopped now to watch the new recruits in her father’s army march in formation around the courtyard.
Christopher was down there. And Alexander. She saw them resplendent in their army blues, covered in medals and badges befitting the princes of the realm.
As she looked on, another figure arrived in the courtyard, bedecked in the blue jacket sans the medals and badges.
He skidded to a halt at the back of the last line of soldiers.
As Harriet looked on, the formation ceased their marching and a tall, straight-backed figure stomped toward the straggler.
Even from up here she could tell that the young man was in trouble. Harriet knew the feeling. She constantly seemed to find herself in trouble.
“Come along, Highness,” Ansel coaxed Harriet away from the window.
The captain or whomever he was had turned and strutted back to the front of the soldiers. It appeared the young man was safe for now.
Just as Harriet was moving away from the window, the young soldier looked up. She was surprised by how fair he was. Golden hair glinted in the spring sunlight under his hat, and his skin was fairer than a lot of Aldonians.
He grinned up at her, delivering a flourishing bow and Harriet giggled in response to his foolishness.
Before she could see if he would be taken to task for his antics, however, Ansel called out to her with practised patience.
Harriet
dashed off ahead of the butler, wondering as she ran just who the golden-haired soldier could be.
Learn more about the Royals of Aldonia series by clicking here.
Also By Nadine Millard
The Saints & Sinners Series
The Monster of Montvale Hall
The Angel of Avondale Abbey
The Devil of Dashford Manor
The Saint of St. Giles
The Ranford Series
An Unlikely Duchess
Seeking Scandal
Mysterious Miss Channing
The Revenge Series
Highway Revenge
The Spy’s Revenge
The Captain’s Revenge
Standalone Romances
Beauty and the Duke
Fortune Favors Miss Gold
His Yuletide Bride
About Nadine Millard
Nadine Millard is a bestselling writer hailing from Dublin, Ireland.
When she’s not writing historical romance, she’s managing her chaotic household of three children, a husband and a very spoiled dog!
She’s a big fan of coffee and wine with a good book and will often be found at her laptop at 2am when a book idea strikes.
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The Hidden Prince (The Royals of Aldonia Book 1) Page 8
