He watched as Rufus, his private secretary, bustled around about Ruby. He would probably give her a headache in the first five minutes, but his heart was in the right place.
Rufus had organised everything once he’d known Ruby would be coming. From her favourite foods and TV shows to her clothes—everything would be taken care of. The only thing he’d asked for some input with was where to put her in the palace.
Alex hadn’t been quite sure, but had finally decided she should be in the West Wing, overlooking the sea. The rooms there had always been his mother’s favourites.
It only took a few moments before his phone rang.
‘Your Majesty? I’m afraid there’s a problem with our guest. Her accommodation is unsuitable. She’s requesting rooms next to Princess Annabelle.’ Rufus was so overwrought he was practically squeaking.
‘Take her to the library. I’ll be along directly.’
Five minutes. That was all it had taken for Ruby to cause turmoil in his life. He just hoped this wasn’t a decision he’d live to regret.
He strode down the stairs and along the corridor towards the library. Rufus was flapping around the doorway. He wasn’t used to people not going along with his plans.
‘Where is she?’ Alex looked around the empty room.
‘She went upstairs to Princess Annabelle’s quarters. She knows Annabelle isn’t there but she said she wanted to make herself familiar with the place.’
Rufus cringed. The whole thing was probably giving him palpitations. It didn’t take much these days.
Alex waved his hand. ‘Leave this to me.’
He didn’t need Rufus getting over-excited. What on earth was Ruby doing? She’d barely put her feet across the front door.
He bit his lip as he climbed the stairs at a rapid pace. She wasn’t used to things like this. Maybe he should try and exercise a little patience. Ruby wasn’t used to royal palaces and protocols. She was here because he’d asked her to be. She might have a job to do, but she was also his guest.
He reached Annabelle’s rooms quickly. The door was open wide, giving a clear view of the palace gardens and the sea. Ruby was sitting on one of the window seats, but she wasn’t admiring the view. One of Annabelle’s stuffed toys was in her hands. It was a koala left by the Australian ambassador after his last visit. Ruby was looking around the room carefully.
He stood behind her, looking at her outline, seeing every curve of her body. It sent a rush of blood around his own body.
He hadn’t quite imagined how this would feel. Ruby, sitting in his palace, with the backdrop he’d looked at every day for years behind her. It almost seemed unreal.
‘Ruby, what are you doing in here?’
She sighed and turned to face him. The first thing that struck him was her big brown eyes. So dark, so deep, so inviting... He really needed to get hold of himself.
‘There are rooms right next door to Annabelle’s. It would be best if I stayed there.’
‘Why?’ The rooms he’d chosen for her in the West Wing were brighter, more spacious. The ones next to Annabelle were smaller, usually reserved for staff. ‘The other rooms are nicer. They have more space.’
She waved her hand. She didn’t look happy. Was she already regretting coming here?
‘I need to be next to her, Alex. You forget—I live in London. These rooms will be a penthouse compared to my flat. I need to see her, Alex. I need to see her in her own environment. I need to see how she functions. I need to see how she communicates with those around her. She’s three. I need to watch her in the place where she’s most comfortable. I’m not just here to assess whether she can actually speak or not. I need to assess her ability to understand—her cognitive abilities. I need to see how she interacts with those around her.’
She held out her arm across the immaculately kept room.
‘Is this Annabelle’s world?’
There was tinge of sadness to her words. As if to her the beautiful rooms were clearly lacking.
‘Where is she now?’
Professional Ruby. The one he’d never really experienced before. She wasn’t having wishful thoughts about him. She was concentrating on the job she was here to do.
He glanced at his watch. ‘She’s with her nanny. She goes to the local nursery for a few hours twice a week. Her nanny thought mixing with other children might be good for her. She’s due back any minute.’
Ruby nodded and smiled.
Alex continued. ‘This isn’t a big country. Annabelle will go to the local school with the other children, just like I did. My father always believed that to lead the people you had to be part of the people.’
‘He sounds like a very wise man.’ She turned and looked out over the sea. ‘Where is your father? Is he here?’
He hesitated. They kept details about King Leopold closely guarded. But this was Ruby. He trusted her with the details of his daughter—why not his father?
‘He’s not here. He’s in Switzerland.’
‘Switzerland?’
‘His stroke was severe. We have a hospital in Euronia, but we don’t have ICU facilities.’
She walked towards him, concern lacing her brow. Clearly no one had told her about the protocol of remaining ten steps away from the Prince. He was glad. He could see a tiny smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Had they been there before?
If asked, he would have said that every part of her face had been etched on his brain. But these were new. It was disconcerting. A part of Ruby he hadn’t kept in his head.
She put her hand on his chest. He could practically hear the alarms going off around the building.
‘Ten years on your father still needs ICU facilities?’
He was trying not to concentrate on her warm skin penetrating through his shirt. ‘Yes—and no. He did at first. His recovery was limited and slow. He was moved to a specialist rehab unit. But now he has frequent bouts of pneumonia and he needs assistance with breathing. He has to be kept near an ICU. Euronia doesn’t have those facilities.’
‘You could get them.’
Her voice was quiet. She knew exactly what she was saying. It was enough. The rest of the words didn’t have to be said out loud. No one else around him would do this.
‘I could,’ he said gently. ‘But my father wouldn’t want people to see him the way he is now. It would break his heart.’ His voice was strained. Even he could hear it.
It was so strange to have Ruby standing right here in front of him, in his daughter’s room. He’d imagined her in many different scenarios over the years, but this had never been one of them.
In his darkest moments, when everything had seemed insurmountable, he’d always been able to close his eyes and go back to Paris, the fireworks and Ruby.
A perfect night. With a disastrous end.
She’d suited her red coat and hat that cold night. And for the last ten years that was the way he’d remembered her.
Ruby—with the sparkle in her eyes, the flirtatious laugh and the easy chatter. Every time he thought of her there were fireworks in the background. Fireworks that matched her personality and her vitality.
But today, in the sun, the pale green chiffon complemented her dark brown curls and brown eyes. The dress covered every part of her it should, but he hadn’t expected her to look quite so elegant.
It was just the two of them. No palace staff. No interruptions.
‘I’ve met so many different people, Ruby. I see masks, façades, the whole time. I’ve never seen any of that with you. Ten years ago I saw someone who was devastated at not getting her dream job—someone who wasn’t afraid to say that to a stranger. All the people who have assessed Annabelle...’
He shook his head.
‘None of them have felt genuine to me. Oh, they might be professiona
ls in their field. They might have letters after their names. But most of them only tell me what they think I want to hear. Others try and blind me with science. I don’t think any of them have ever wanted to find out who the real Annabelle is. They might be interested in the theory or psychology of why a three-year-old won’t talk...’
He put his hand on his chest, directly over hers. One set of fingers intertwined with another.
‘But none of them have cared in here about why she isn’t speaking.’
He could lean forward right now. He could lean forward and capture her lips the way he did ten years ago.
Ruby’s eyes were fixed on his. ‘Well, no wonder.’
‘No wonder what?’
‘No wonder you came looking for me.’
CHAPTER THREE
IT TOOK ANNABELLE four long days to acknowledge Ruby’s existence. At first she completely ignored her, preferring to communicate in her own way with her nanny.
The nanny, Brigette, was thankfully a dedicated and sensible woman. She’d spent all her life in Euronia and had been with the family since Annabelle’s arrival. The little girl trusted her completely, but once Brigette realised Ruby was here to stay and help with Annabelle it was clear she was glad of the assistance. She loved the little girl but felt frustrated that she wasn’t able to help more.
Ruby was patient. But Alex was hovering around her constantly, asking her questions, destroying her concentration and patience. Any time he appeared her senses went into overdrive. The timbre of his voice, the accent, could make her legs turn to mush.
She had to drive a little bit of her anger back into her head. Her anger that she was here for Annabelle—not for Alex. It didn’t matter that it might be irrational. It was the only thing currently keeping her sane.
He appeared at her shoulder, his scent drifting around her. She didn’t even turn around.
‘Alex, you need to leave me to get on with the job. That’s what I’m here to do.’
Annabelle was playing quietly in her room. Flitting between colouring at the table and drawing chalk pictures on her board. There was a television in her room, which she rarely watched, and a tablet on the chair next to her.
She was definitely an interesting study. She was a creative little girl. The drawers at her desk were filled with cardboard, paint, ribbon, glitter and glue. She was never happier than when she was covered in the stuff. But the life of a royal princess meant that she was continually being cleaned, tidied and paraded elsewhere.
The only time she showed interest in the tablet—which she could use easily—was when she watched clips of singing and dancing from films. Annie, The Sound of Music and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers seemed to be the favourites.
There was a mixture of melancholy and frustration that emanated from Alex when he watched Annabelle.
‘But I’m her parent. Aren’t you supposed to talk to me and give me a report?’
Ruby nodded and gave a little sigh. ‘I suppose... But I haven’t finished my full assessment of Annabelle yet. I can only give you my first impressions.’
She turned around to face him, conscious of the fact that she’d be subjected to his killer blue eyes.
‘This will take longer than I thought. I have to wait until Annabelle is ready to communicate with me—to work with me. I’m not going to force myself on her. She’s not that type of kid.’
The smile that spread across his face was one of complete relief. He put his warm hands on her shoulders. ‘That’s why you’re here, Ruby. You’re the first person who’s assessed Annabelle that has said that to me. You don’t care about the time span. You care about the child.’
Because you’re paying me to.
It was an uncomfortable thought racing around in her brain. She was used to working for the health service. She’d never seen private patients before. Every child she’d assessed had been given the best possible assessment. But the health services were pushed for time and it sometimes frustrated her. Here she didn’t have those worries.
Everything about this was a whole new experience. Staying in a palace. Knowing that after ten years she might bump into Alex at any second. The you’re paying me to thought had a tiny bit of self-preservation about it. It kept things in perspective. It kept her grounded. It reminded her why she was actually here.
Alex was still touching her shoulders. She was wearing a sundress and his fingers were in direct contact with her skin. The sensations that were currently running like little pulses down her arms were conflicting with all her previous thoughts.
‘Why don’t we do this somewhere else?
‘What?’
Do what somewhere else? She felt panic rush through her. How exactly had she been looking at him?
He lifted his hand from her shoulder and waved it towards the window. ‘I’ve not been a very good host. Let me show you a little of Euronia.’ He looked down at her sandals. ‘How do you feel about a walk?’
Her sandals were pretty, but flat and comfortable. Her curiosity had definitely flared. ‘I feel fine about a walk.’
‘Then let’s go.’
‘Don’t you need to let your security team know first, Alex?’
He smiled again and shook his head. ‘You know, you’re the only person that actually calls me that.’
‘What?’
‘Alex. No one else calls me that.’
She shook her head in disbelief. ‘What on earth do they call you?’
He shrugged. ‘Prince Regent or Your Majesty. If it’s someone I’ve known a long time they might call me Alexander.’
A different world.
She stepped right up to him, her nose only inches away from his. ‘But I know you as Alex. Always have. Always will.’
He smiled and gestured for her to follow him, and led her down a huge array of corridors and out through one of the back doors of the castle.
The gardens were beautiful—colourful and perfectly groomed. She recognised the marble fountain from an old black and white picture she had seen of Alex and his future wife as children.
They walked across the immaculate expanse of green lawn towards the city. It was officially the smallest city in the world—not much bigger than an average town. But it had grown exponentially as the economy of Euronia had grown.
‘Did you play in these gardens when you were a child?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. There’s a secret maze in the forest over there. And my father ordered a tree house to be built and it took the carpenter nearly a whole year.’ He gave a little sigh. ‘Annabelle is still a little young to play in it. I don’t even think she’ll like it.’
‘Haven’t you ever shown it to her?’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve been too focused on other things when it comes to Annabelle. We haven’t got around to anything like that.’
Ruby nodded and bit her tongue. It was important that she find out about the relationship between Alex and his daughter. It wouldn’t do well for her to criticise, but she could already imagine the kind of recommendations she might make.
‘Well, if you show it to me some time maybe I can give you some suggestions on how to make it more appealing to a little girl.’
He gave a little nod as they approached a gate in the high walls. Alex keyed in a code and the door swung open.
‘Won’t that set off alarms everywhere?’
‘No. It’s my code. They’ll know it’s me that’s opened the door.’
The back entrance opened directly on to the sea cliffs. The breeze was startlingly stiff and she shivered. She should have brought a cardigan, but the light summer breezes on the castle balcony had been pleasing.
Her bright pink dress whipped around in the wind and Alex pulled off his jacket and put it over her shoulders. The first thing she noticed was the smell of his aftershav
e as she slid her arms into the jacket and pulled it around her.
‘Do you do this often?’
‘Of course.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘Do you think I spend all my time holed up in the castle?’
‘I have no idea, Alex. I have no idea what you do at all.’
She heard him suck in a breath. She wasn’t trying to bring up the past, but if she wanted to help Annabelle she had to have a good idea about the environment in which she lived.
The walk into the centre of the city was pleasant. It was less than a mile and they browsed at the shop windows, with several of the shopkeepers coming out to speak to them. One gave Alex some cheese, another some ham wrapped in paper.
‘Your favourite,’ he said with a smile.
The clothing and jewellery shops were spectacular. No prices in any window. Ruby could only imagine how much things actually cost around here.
She was surprised at how relaxed everything was. The palace was much more formal. People nodded to Alex in the street, but no one seemed in awe of him.
They’d reached the casino in the middle of the city. ‘Would you like to sample some of the best cake in Euronia?’ he asked.
‘Is it better than the cake in Paris?’
Their eyes met. It was a moment. A second for them both to remember that night ten years ago in Paris. Both of them were smiling, as if it were an automatic reaction to the memory.
He leaned forward a little, the heat from his body emanating towards her. ‘The cake in Paris won’t even come close to the cake in Euronia.’
She lifted her head. They were so close. ‘Is that a promise?’
He slid his hand around her back and pulled out a chair for her. ‘Absolutely.’
The café Alex had chosen was opposite the casino. She’d seen pictures of the place on the internet. Just about every visitor who came to Euronia visited this café and watched the coming and goings at the casino.
‘Aren’t you worried you’ll get harassed here?’
He shook his head. ‘It’s Sunday. No cruise ships moor at Euronia on a Sunday and no bus tours run. Today’s the best day for me to take a walk around.’
The Prince She Never Forgot (Harlequin Romance) Page 5
