The Royally Broke Billionaire_Royal Wedding Blues_A sweet billionaire and royal mash-up romance novel

by Ann Omasta

  “That’s overdone already. Besides, they need something that will bring in consistent, high-dollar clients.” Trevor didn’t look overly surprised that Trey had quickly eliminated his tiki hut idea.

  After hearing them brainstorm, Tess was even more confident that her idea was the answer to the kingdom’s financial struggles. Even though she wasn’t going to be with Sebastian, she wanted the best for him, his beautiful island kingdom, and its residents.

  When she spoke, she looked directly at Sebastian. “You need to create a bed and breakfast inside the palace.”

  The queen sucked in a breath as if Tess had just slapped her. “Rent out rooms in the castle, like a common hotel? Never––We are not a Motel 6!” she hissed.

  Sebastian’s deep brown eyes never wavered from Tess when he said, “Let’s hear her out, Mother.”

  The queen’s sour lemon-sucking face was back, but she didn’t interrupt Tess again.

  “This needs to be the ‘it’ place to be and be seen. The selling point will be living like a king or queen for the day. The guests can have their own wing of the castle, and even their own staff. While they are here, they will be able to live out the fantasy of being an actual royal.”

  All eyes were focused on Tess. She couldn’t help but notice how proud both of her brothers looked. Since Trey had insisted on sending her to an outrageously expensive business college, she was thrilled to prove to him that his investment hadn’t been wasted on her.

  Only one set of eyes was narrowed with hostility. “How will opening our home to a different set of strangers every day bring in enough money to help with anything? The queen asked, without bothering to hide her high degree of skepticism.

  “Oh, it will cost a fortune to stay here,” Tess smiled. “We will promote it to the richest of the rich. Once those people catch wind of it, they will be competing to get reservations here.”

  Anticipating the queen’s next objection, Tess alleviated the concern before the other woman could even raise it. “You and the other royals will never have to even see the guests. They can be kept in a side wing of the castle, without access to your private residence.”

  Unable to devise another problem with Tess’s plan, the queen sat back in silence. Tess almost couldn’t believe it had been that easy to convince her.

  The air of excitement built in the room as Tess’s idea began to take hold in the minds of the others. Several murmured comments circled the table… Pierce weighed in with, “I think that might actually work.” Mo leaned over to Tess and said, “Fantastic idea!” Millie asked the room at large, “Why didn’t I think of this?” But it was Sebastian’s enthusiastic, “Brilliant!” that made Tess’s heart swell.

  Ellie waited until things quieted down to make her suggestion. “Once the guest quarters are ready, we will come back and be your very first guests!”

  Tess thought it was a rather odd offer, until Ellie expanded. “When my bakery was struggling to get by, one Tweet from Trey to his millions of Twitter followers was all it took to make Snickerdoodle the hottest cupcake shop around. If he sends out a few snapshots with captions about how much he loves this island, every billionaire in the world will be clamoring to come stay here!”

  Ellie beamed around the room, obviously extremely proud of her idea, which made Sebastian’s resounding and firm, “NO,” seem even more daunting.

  44

  “What do you mean, no?” Trey’s black brows were forming a tall vee of displeasure on his forehead. He obviously did not care for anyone to rain on Ellie’s proverbial parade.

  “I’m not accepting any help from you, or anyone else connected to Tess,” Sebastian answered stubbornly, his eyes darting to Trevor as if to curtail him from offering his assistance. “She already thinks that I used her to get to you. I don’t want to add any fuel to that fire.”

  As if sensing that Tess didn’t appreciate being talked about as if she weren’t in the room, Sebastian turned to face her. “Thank you so much for the wonderful idea. I think you might have saved the kingdom. You have done more than enough, though. You and your family should probably go home.”

  With that, Sebastian scooted back his chair and stood to leave. On his way to the door, he paused beside where Tess was seated. “You will always be my princess,” he whispered for her ears only. She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of his hot breath wafting along her hairline. After pressing his lips to her temple with a soft, sweet kiss, he left the dining hall.

  The occupants of the room sat in stunned silence over his abrupt departure. No one seemed quite sure what to say.

  Trey regained his wits first. “I don’t care if he’s the next in line to be king or not, he doesn’t get to tell me what I will or will not do to help.”

  Tess was the first to laugh at her stubborn, wonderful brother. Soon, the entire table was cracking up.

  The reigning king chose that moment to enter the elegant dining room. He was wearing a too-short, black silk robe. “Did I miss anything important?” he bellowed.

  That ridiculous question made the diners laugh even harder. Even the queen cracked a smile, finally allowing herself to feel a bit of hope for the future of their kingdom and her son’s reign.

  Once their laughter subsided, Mo finally answered the king’s question. “What you missed was my lovely friend Tess devising a genius plan to save this kingdom.”

  “Excellent!” The king weighed in jovially, before lifting a glass with a questionable amber-colored beverage sloshing around inside it. “To Tess,” he toasted before downing the liquid.

  Deciding to let the queen and royal staff handle the king, Millie turned to Ellie. “You know who we need to come stay here?” she asked.

  Both women answered in unison, “Selena!”

  Tess nearly spat out the hot tea she had just sipped. “Selena? Do you mean Selena Chase?!?” Turning to her brothers, thinking that their girlfriends had lost their minds, she asked, “Isn’t she your archnemesis?”

  “We’re not villains in a comic book,” Trey quipped.

  Deciding that Tess deserved a better explanation than that, Ellie said, “We’re all friends now! Let’s go outside on the terrace… we’ll explain it all to you,” she accentuated her words by standing and indicating for Tess, Mo, and Millie to follow her.

  Tess shook her head to clear it as she followed bubbly Ellie outside. What kind of crazy, helter-skelter world were they living in where she willingly turned down the opportunity to be a real princess and where the Donovan Brothers didn’t despise Selena Chase?

  45

  Once the ladies had clarified the truce between Tess’s brothers and Selena Chase––as well as that illogical turn of events could possibly be explained––the conversation quickly turned to Tess and Mo’s romantic relationships.

  Under normal circumstances, Tess wouldn’t discuss anything so personal with anyone other than Mo; but Ellie and Millie were already beginning to feel like sisters to her. She sensed that Mo wouldn’t mind including the other ladies in their heart-to-heart.

  “How could you forgive Pierce so easily for his part in deceiving us?” Tess squared off at Mo and jumped right to the heart of the matter.

  “They had been deceiving the entire world since they were children––at the request of their parents. We were strangers to them when we met at the gala. It wouldn’t have made sense for them to share their deepest, darkest secrets with us on that first night.” Mo defended both men.

  “Of course not,” Tess responded, but she felt like Mo was missing the bigger issue. “They sought us out, though, intending to use me to get to my brothers.”

  Mo nodded. “They did,” she agreed, before adding, “But they really didn’t go through with it––even for a moment. Did they? If they had followed their plan, Pierce would have asked you to dance, rather than me. He was the one who was slated to become king.”

  Tess couldn’t deny the accuracy of Mo’s statements, but she wasn’t yet willing to give up her anger. “I su
ppose that’s true,” she decided, before adding, “But perhaps they intended for Sebastian to take the crown all along. In that case, it would make sense for him to go after me.”

  Ever-rational Millie nodded her head, seeming to agree with Tess’s assessment. “If so, he must have been asking you all kinds of questions about Trey and Trevor, then, right?” When Tess didn’t agree right away, Millie knew she was on to something. “Did he ask you to bring them here or hint around for an introduction?”

  “No,” Tess admitted quietly, knowing that she was getting backed into a corner, but stubbornly refusing to let go of her anger.

  Quickly catching on to Millie’s tactic, Ellie jumped in. “Did he ask you to mention the kingdom’s financial problems to your brothers?”

  Tess knew exactly what the ladies were doing, but she responded with the truth by shaking her head.

  “Hmm…” Millie tapped her lip with her index finger as if she were just thinking about this for the first time. “That doesn’t sound to me like someone who was trying to manipulate you or the situation.”

  “In fact,” Ellie inserted, “That sounds like someone who could have used the situation to his benefit, but he chose not to take advantage of you.”

  Mille and Mo both nodded their agreement with that assertion. Adding her opinion, Mo said, “It is obvious to anyone who has spent five seconds in the same room with you two that you are crazy about each other. He looks at you like you are a tender and juicy pan-seared filet mignon.”

  Tess chuckle-snorted at her goofy friend’s description before scrunching up her face to say, “That sounds like he wants to eat me!”

  Mo went on as if Tess hadn’t said a word. Giving her friend a serious look, she added, “I’ve never seen you look at anyone the way you look at Sebastian. Have you considered the facts that he needs a wife, and you might very well have fallen in love with him?”

  “Love?!?” Tess spluttered. “We haven’t known each other long enough for that.”

  “How long does it take?” Ellie asked her, without a trace of snarkiness in her voice.

  “Longer than this,” was Tess’s vague response. She couldn’t believe these seemingly-rational women were bringing up the L-word so flippantly. Meeting a king-to-be, following him to his castle, and marrying him within a matter of weeks was not approved on her mental timeline of how things should go. As much as she had wanted to be in her youth, she wasn’t a real-life version of Cinderella.

  “Marriage is a huge deal,” Tess gaped at the other women, unable to believe she was being forced to convince them of this. “I can’t just jump in with both feet. I would need to date someone for months before I would be ready to even discuss such a thing.”

  “Sebastian doesn’t have that long,” Mo revealed sadly, making Tess wonder what her friend knew that she didn’t.

  Giving Mo a perplexed look, she said, “Sebastian is going to be coronated as the king. He can do that without being married.”

  Mo was shaking her head. “When Pierce was in line for the crown, he was told to choose his wife at the gala,” Mo reminded her. “There are very strict rules and guidelines in place. A prince cannot be crowned king, unless he is married, and they want it all to happen right away because the sitting king is such a hot mess.”

  Tess was surprised to find that Mo knew more about the local customs than she did, but she balked at their rigidity. “Sebastian is going to be the new monarch of this island. He can change the rules,” she tried, but Mo shook her head.

  “That’s not the way it works,” Mo informed her. “He’s probably scrambling to find a wife right now, unless he plans to marry the spoiled, wealthy princess his mother has chosen for him.”

  Bile rose in Tess’s throat at the thought of Sebastian being stuck marrying such a person. She tried to tell herself that he wouldn’t actually go through with a wedding to someone he didn’t care for, but she knew that he would feel that it was his duty to abide by the obligation in his new post as the heir to the throne.

  “He can’t,” Tess croaked out the words.

  As if the universe heard her objection and wanted to prove her wrong, Geoffrey stepped out onto the verandah. He cleared his throat to gain the ladies’ attention. His official tone made it sound like he was making a formal announcement to fifty people, rather than four. “Her Highness, the Queen, has called a press conference in the media room, which will be held in five minutes, where she will officially announce the royal engagement of Prince Sebastian Savoy Astor to Princess Adeline Beatrice Camden of the Edrapis Empire.”

  46

  Tess felt like she was going to pass out. Even though she was sitting outside, she had the distinct feeling that there wasn’t enough air in the room.

  Geoffrey bowed to them, wheeled around, and went back inside.

  Three sets of eyes were trained on Tess as the stunned women attempted to absorb what they had just been informed. Tess stared straight ahead as she shook her head, willing it not to be true.

  Mo was the first to regain her senses. “You have to stop this,” she told Tess firmly.

  Tess glared at her friend. “How am I supposed to do that? If he wants to have a quickie wedding with someone else, that’s his prerogative.”

  “He doesn’t want to do this,” Mo reminded her. “Pierce was in the same boat when he was in line for the throne. He wanted to take his time and get to know me, but the pressure of the crown was forcing him to rush.”

  Tess was having trouble making sense of it all. “He’s already found a princess to be the wife he needs, so I should just go.” She stood and started to leave.

  “This isn’t his choice,” Mo said. “The queen was trying to get Pierce to marry Princess Adeline, too. She thinks it will be an advantageous alliance between the two kingdoms.”

  “That’s great. I hope he’s very happy.” Tess said flatly, needing to get away from all of this craziness.

  “He’s not going to be,” Ellie weighed in. “He wants to be with you. We can all see it.” Ellie turned to the other two women for their support. Mo and Millie eagerly nodded their agreement.

  “And you want to be with him,” Millie put her two cents in.

  “I’m not a princess. I don’t have a kingdom to forge an alliance with Isle de Monsail. There is no reason why he would pick me over Princess Adeline.” Even saying the woman’s name left a bitter taste on Tess’s tongue. She might not know the princess, but the fact that she was getting to marry Sebastian made Tess fume with envy.

  “You need to at least let him know that he has another option,” Ellie nudged her with her elbow, knowing that the press conference would be starting at any minute.

  Tess tried to curb the hope that was beginning to surge in her chest. “What if he chooses her?”

  “What if he chooses you?” Mo beamed at her, seeming confident that was exactly what would happen. Sensing the moment her friend began to believe it really could work out, Mo said, “Go get your prince!”

  47

  Suddenly feeling confident, and not wanting to hesitate––for fear that she would chicken out––Tess whirled towards the palace and bolted inside. The three other women were hot on her heels.

  They burst into the massive media room to find it filled with reporters and photographers. All eyes turned from the big screen at the front of the room, which Princess Adeline’s face was gracing, to the back doors, where the foursome had created a commotion when they skidded to a stop, just inside the threshold.

  Sebastian’s eyes darted to Tess’s. She silently prayed that the emotion she was seeing in them was hope for her to reach out to him, rather than hope for her to keep quiet and let this announcement go off without a hitch.

  Losing her surge of confidence, but in too deep to back down now, Tess said, “Wait!”

  The queen glared at her over her reading glasses from the podium. “Young lady, we are in the middle of an official royal announcement. I would think that even an American,” she spat the word with
venom, “would understand the importance of such a momentous occasion.”

  Tess felt chastised. Mo was normally the boisterous one, who created scenes at inopportune moments. Until this morning, Tess was used to being the well-behaved, polite one, who followed the rules and fit in. She nodded and took a step backwards, intending to slither out of the room in shame.

  The other three women were directly behind her, and they weren’t going to let her sneak out so easily. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder as she took a shuddering breath.

  “Let her speak,” the firm command came from Sebastian. His eyes were locked intently onto Tess.

  “I… umm…” Tess paused, and awkwardly shoved her hair behind her ear. She hadn’t thought through what she intended to say. She had just reacted, and now she was here, with a room full of people staring at her and expecting her to have a good reason for barging in this way.

  She glanced at the giant, white screen and was surprised to discover Princess Adeline smiling. Would Tess’s interruption be a relief to her? Tess had assumed that the woman would be thrilled to marry Sebastian. Who wouldn’t be?

  Taking a deep breath and jumping in with both feet, Tess said, “The prince is getting engaged, but not to her.” She indicated the lovely woman on the video call. “He is going to marry me,” she proclaimed boldly.

  The entire room sucked in a reflexive gasp at her announcement, but Tess only had eyes for Sebastian. She was desperate to see his reaction to her outlandish proclamation. For a long moment, he stood frozen to his spot on the elevated stage by the podium where his mother had been speaking. When he bolted into action, he moved swiftly, his milk chocolate eyes never wavering from her as he crossed the room in long strides to stand directly in front of her.

  “Are you sure you’re up for dealing with all of this?” He held a hand out to indicate the hordes of reporters who were recording every moment of this monumental exchange.