PRINCE CHARMING: A Secret Baby Stepbrother Romance

by Mia Carson

  She couldn’t argue. Allete pulled her up out of her chair, and Olivia used all her muscles to keep herself upright as she took one step and then another. They were more of a wedge than a heel, at least, so she didn’t feel like she was going to slip and fall going down the stairs. That didn’t mean she liked them, though. Maybe she’d have a talk with her mother, while they were at lunch, about changing the required footwear for the princess.

  Allete held the door open for her and Olivia walked out, followed as usual by Allete, her other ladies, and one guard. Melinda would be waiting for her in the car so they could ride into town. They had a lunch to attend to with several other elite women of the court, and after that, it was time to get fitted for her bridesmaid dress. Olivia was excited about that, but her mother did tend to have an eccentric side, just as she did.

  “Olivia, you look stunning,” Melinda said when she spotted her daughter.

  “You say that every day,” Olivia said as she reached the bottom of the steps. “Are you trying to say I didn’t look good enough as plain old me?”

  Melinda stared at her daughter, ready to apologize until she saw the smirk on her lips. “You’re terrible. You know I love my jeans just as much as you, but you have to admit, this is kind of great. Dressing up every day?”

  “If that’s what you think, Mom,” she said. “Who is going to be at the lunch?”

  “Most of the women from the dinner the other night and their daughters. It should be a great time.”

  Olivia tried hard not to cringe. The daughters from the other night. She hadn’t minded most of them, but Gigi was most likely going to be there, and that woman made Olivia want to run in the other direction. She was nice enough on the surface, but underneath, Olivia suspected exactly what she was after and what she would do to get it.

  The drive into town wasn’t long, and Olivia and Melinda were escorted into a small café, closed for the afternoon except for the ladies of the court. Olivia watched all the curtsying and greetings as they waltzed into the café and to the head of the large table that had been set up. Melinda was a hit amongst the ladies, and Olivia sipped her iced tea while she listened to her mom act like it was any other luncheon with friends. Olivia was seated between Gigi and a young woman around the age of eighteen who happened to be Edric’s little sister. Her name was Cheree, and Olivia liked her right away.

  “Edric said he had a chance to meet you at the dinner the other night,” she said. “He said you were pretty, and he was right.”

  Olivia laughed. “Thanks, Cheree. I wanted to talk to him longer, but Prince Quincy came outside and quite rudely interrupted us.”

  “Prince Quincy is anything but rude,” Gigi defended from the other side of Olivia. “And for you to say such a thing is outrageous. It could very well damage his reputation.” She sipped her drink and shot Olivia a glare over the rim of her glass. “Besides, you hardly know him enough to say he is rude.”

  “I was only teasing,” Olivia said as Cheree hid a smile.

  “You should not do such things in public.”

  “Fine, then I will tease him in private,” she replied and grinned widely when Gigi’s scowl tightened. “After all, we do live right next door to each other. Already shared quite a few laughs together over a bottle of wine or two. He’s going to be a great stepbrother.”

  Gigi’s snobbish smile returned as she shrugged and picked at her salad. “Well, that’s all he can be to you, isn’t it? A stepbrother. But not for me.”

  Olivia nodded. “Well true, but I’m not sure what you mean. As far as I could tell from dinner the other night, he has quite a few admirers besides you, Gigi. Though I wish you all the best in winning his heart. Not such an easy feat.”

  “Edric, on the other hand seemed quite taken with you,” Cheree interjected. “He couldn’t stop talking about your gown.”

  “It was pretty,” she said, remembering how it had hugged her body.

  “It was from last year, I thought. Not exactly up to date with the current fashion of the isle,” Gigi commented.

  “Better than my blue jeans and flannel,” Olivia replied with a bright smile, making Gigi choke on her mouthful of food and Cheree laugh loudly. “If I could set that as a new fashion statement, I would.”

  Cheree continued laughing as Olivia worked on finishing her lunch and Gigi muttered under her breath. By the time lunch had ended, Olivia had learned quite a lot about Edric and was pretty sure Gigi hated her with a burning passion. It had probably not been the best idea to piss off someone who might one day become queen, but that’s what Gigi got for being a spoiled, entitled snob.

  Melinda and she walked down the street from the café, followed by several of their ladies and a full detail of bodyguards. They headed towards the dress shop to look at wedding and bridesmaid’s dresses. Olivia was, at least, the only bridesmaid, so she didn’t have to deal with anyone except her mother, who might freak out over the next few months.

  “Mom, you haven’t told me what this dress is going to look like,” Olivia said as the seamstress, a young woman with beautiful ebony skin and short, black and caramel hair, bustled around, taking measurements of the soon-to-be queen.

  “You are going to love it, I promise,” she said, and the seamstress nodded in agreement.

  “It is true. I have already made most of it, but your mother, I think, has another surprise for you,” Bernice, the seamstress, said.

  Olivia frowned as she lounged in the plush chair. “Surprise, huh? Not sure how I feel about this. Think there have been too many surprises lately.”

  “Oh, you’ll like this one, I promise.”

  The seamstress disappeared into the back as soon as she finished with Melinda’s measurements. Olivia wondered what the hell was going on, but that lasted only a minute before her mom went to a dressing room with a curtain over the doorway and pushed it aside. The dress that hung behind it was ivory with a turquoise underlay of tropical fauna that ran throughout the skirt, and a train spread out around the back of it.

  “Mom, is that your dress?” Olivia asked quietly. She got to her feet as her mom clasped her hands together and smiled. “It’s beautiful. When did you have this made?”

  “I started it before I left,” she explained as she motioned for Olivia to move closer. “She took my measurements, and I picked out the fabric. You really like it? I wasn’t sure about going strapless, but hopefully, it works well.”

  “You haven’t put it on yet?”

  Melinda reached out for her daughter’s hands and squeezed them tightly. “Course not. I was waiting for you.” Olivia hugged her mom and felt hot tears prick her eyes. They pulled away, giggling and crying as Olivia pulled the dress off the hanger and helped her mom get into her wedding dress, one fit for a queen. When she stepped out, Olivia and the seamstress, who had come back, stared in awe at the sight. It was even better on, and Melinda stepped up onto a small platform so the dress hung perfectly all around.

  “It is magnificent, Bernice, really,” Melinda said as she smoothed her hands down the front.

  Olivia’s body tingled all over as she shook her head, awed by the sight. “You will be perfect on your wedding day, Mom. I’m really glad you showed me this today.”

  “Oh, this isn’t your surprise,” Melinda said. “You are getting a dress made for the ball!”

  “Ball… Right,” Olivia murmured and sank down into a nearby chair. “I guess that means more heels and schmoozing with the court, right?”

  Bernice laughed under her breath as she worked at Melinda’s hem while her mother scowled. “I thought you enjoyed the dinner the other night.”

  Olivia nodded. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to enjoy a ball where I have to dance all night and pray I don’t make a fool of myself. You know how I am in heels and dresses.”

  “Quincy and you looked perfect dancing on that floor.”

  “He led the whole time,” Olivia said and thought of herself in front of even more people. That night had been a fl
uke, a night when she’d tried to cheer up her stepbrother and distract him from his life. This was a ball, which meant everyone would be focused on the dancing and Prince Quincy. Gigi was going to be there, too, and Olivia wasn’t sure she could last another hour of listening to that woman babble on and on about how she was Quincy’s first choice and soon enough, he would announce it to everyone.

  Olivia hated the members of court all of a sudden. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

  “Olivia, you get that look off your face right now,” Melinda ordered, her eyes narrowed and hands on her hips. “You will go to that ball, and you will look presentable and act accordingly. You promised you would try, remember?”

  “I am trying.” She let her arms fall to her sides. “I will behave myself, promise.”

  “Good. Then you’re next. We need a gown for you that will make Edric’s jaw drop.”

  Olivia’s cheeks burned hot. “How do you know about him?”

  “One thing you should learn about being in a court is everyone knows everything eventually.”

  ***

  Quincy flipped through another folder on yet another single woman of the upper class, and his lips thinned. “Why are they all the same, Pascal? Why? I just want one woman who is different than the others, just by a hair. Is that too much to ask?”

  Pascal grinned from across the room as he set up a bowl with fresh mangos in it. “I don’t know, sir. Perhaps the women on this isle all went to the same schools and learned from the same tutors and hairdressers and… Well, you know where I’m going.”

  “I do, and I do not like it.”

  “Such is the life of a prince on a tiny island, sir,” Pascal said.

  Quincy groaned and tossed his head back over his chair. “This is hopeless. I’m going to wind up marrying whomever the king chooses if I cannot find a wife!”

  “I suggest Your Highness makes a choice quickly.”

  With a raised brow, Quincy looked to Pascal. “Is that right? Are you giving me orders now?”

  “I have always given you orders, sir, you just never noticed before,” Pascal said and winked. “The ball will be your best chance to get to know some of these women. Pick out a few and see what happens.”

  “You make it sound like I’m test driving a car.”

  “Mostly the same concept, isn’t it?”

  “Pascal, I never knew you to be so… so…”

  “Forward, sir?”

  Quincy tilted his head back and forth. “I guess we can go with that word.” He stared at the files in front of him again, stood, gathered them up, and headed for the door. “I am going out. I can’t think in this place.”

  When he had his hand on the door, Pascal cleared his throat. “I believe if you are heading to where I think you are heading, you should consider taking your stepsister. She looked a bit put off when she and the queen returned from their outing.”

  “Why would I take her there?”

  “Sibling bonding time? She is new to this place, sir. She doesn’t have anywhere to disappear to and hide like you do,” Pascal said as he went about straightening the prince’s room. “You are not the only one who worries about their future in this place.”

  Quincy opened the door and turned to walk down the steps but stopped halfway as Pascal’s words ran through his head. He turned around with a curse and marched to Olivia’s rooms. He knocked once, and she answered with a disgruntled look on her face.

  “Hi,” she said with none of the enthusiasm she’d had before when he’d seen her.

  “You look upset. Did something happen?”

  “No, no, I don’t think so.”

  “How can you be unsure?”

  “I don’t know, I just can. Did you want something? I’m in the middle of having a panic attack.”

  Quincy’s lips turned up in a smile. “About the ball and your new friend Edric, perhaps?”

  She backed up a step. “Why does everyone know everything in this damn place?”

  “Welcome to life in a palace.” He held out his hand for hers. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

  “Right now? What is it?”

  “Surprise. Let’s go before we lose the light.”

  Her eyes darted back to her rooms, and he saw the second guess on her face for just a moment before she stepped out, closing her door behind her. Her hand slipped into his, and he pulled her through the palace, down the main steps, and through a long stone corridor that led to the courtyard. His heart pounded in his chest, and he realized how excited he was to share this with Olivia. He’d never taken anyone else there, but Olivia needed to see it.

  She asked a few times where they were going once they passed through the other side of the courtyard and walked to the outer edge of the palace walls. He stopped at a statue of some ancestor or other, glanced around to make sure the coast was clear, and pulled on the statue’s arm.

  “Holy crap,” Olivia muttered as a part of the stone wall pulled itself in and slid to the side. “This place has secret passages?”

  “If you spend enough time looking, you’ll find everything this palace has to offer,” he teased. He ducked under the low doorway, and Olivia followed close on his heels. The corridor was dark, but he’d walked it enough times he knew exactly where he was going.

  The air became fresh instead of dank and musty as they walked. They were close to the beach, and the sound of the waves echoed back to them, reverberating against the stones. After a few more yards, they stepped out onto a sandy path. Quincy spread his arms wide.

  “Welcome to my sanctuary.”

  She took a few more steps, and her mouth fell open. “Incredible.”

  Behind them, the palace stretched up on the cliff face, standing sentinel along the coast. The waves and wind, over time, had carved out sections of stone around and beneath it, creating stone columns that disappeared beneath the waves. Stones rose up in other places, jutting out from the sandy shore covered in bright green palm leaves, with coral in shades of blues and oranges so vibrant they could be seen beneath the waves rolling in. Birds with bright red and yellow feathers called overhead and flew from one opening to another.

  “When did you find this place?”

  He moved beside her and looked up and around at the stones he’d stared at for so long. “I think I was twelve when I found the passage. Had to lose Pascal long enough to explore.”

  “He was your servant back then, too? He’s not that old now.”

  “No, just the son of my personal servant so he followed me around.”

  “This is amazing. I’d stay here all the time… Paint here,” she said as she turned again to take in the view with wide eyes. “These are the types of views I wish we had in Nebraska.”

  Quincy smiled at her happiness. He walked over to a large stone covered in moss and ferns and dug around in the sand at its base. There was a plastic bin to keep the sand out buried underneath, and he pulled it up on top of the sand. Inside was a blanket and at least two bottles of wine for him to drink whenever he came here. A few other random odds and ends littered the bottom, stones and shells he’d found over the years. While he laid out the blanket, Olivia crouched and picked up a dried starfish out of the bin.

  “This really is your special place, isn’t it?”

  He flattened out the corners of the old, blue and grey blanket. “Yes, it is. Come here any time I need to think or get away from the palace. Or if I just want to drink alone and listen to the waves roll in.”

  “Why did you bring me here if it’s so special?” she asked and set the starfish down. Worry flashed across her face and she stood, looking towards the corridor.

  “Because, for the time being, you can use this place to escape. I know this life isn’t always easy, and hiding in your room is never actually hiding in your room.” He glanced around and leaned back on his elbows as he laid on the blanket. “This is what it takes to really disappear for a few hours.”

  He patted the blanket beside him, and
she sat down beside him as he dragged the bin over and pulled out a bottle of wine. The file folders sat nearby, and he caught her glancing at them before quickly looking away.

  “Are you sure you want to drink while you look through those?”

  “Helps soften my mood so I’m not as critical.”

  “You should be critical if you’re going to marry one of them.”

  “Alright then,” he said and picked up the folders. “You be the critical one and I’ll drink.” He tossed them on her lap and grinned as she glared at him.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  He popped the cork off the wine, a bottle he’d opened only yesterday, and took a swig before passing it to her. “You know you’re curious. I can see it in your twitchy fingers.”

  Olivia’s tongue pushed against her cheek as she tapped her nails on the top folder. With a sigh, she flipped it open and he laughed, taking the bottle of wine back from her. “Just so you know, I am a very blunt person.”

  He tilted the bottle of wine towards her in toast. “Be my guest.”

  “Is Gigi in here?”

  “Why?” he asked, his gut clenching painfully around the wine he just swallowed.

  “She seems to have quite the attraction to you,” Olivia said lightly as her eyebrows raised. “I wanted to do some well-deserved snooping to see how well-matched you would be.”

  “Who said I want anything to do with her?”

  “She does, quite frequently and loudly,” Olivia said as she flipped through the folders. “Ah! There she is. Let’s take a gander, shall we?” She ran her finger down the page and clicked her tongue. “Wow, she does have an impressive family lineage.”

  Quincy snorted and laid back on the blanket. “That’s about all she has.”

  “Not all. Says here she graduated top of her class from Oxford University with a degree in… What is that?” she said as she squinted down at the page. “Fashion? Really? They have a degree for that at Oxford?”

  “You’d be surprised what’s offered nowadays.”

  “Not really, I’m an art major,” she mused as her eyes skimmed the rest of the page. Quincy watched her face scrunch in disgust at something, and she turned the page again. “Hmm, interesting. Says here she does volunteer work.”