A Royal Proposition

by Marion Lennox

  ‘We can.’

  Hope flared again, but died just as fast. ‘No. It’s not possible.’

  ‘If I can, why can’t you?’ He ruffled Leo’s shaggy ears and grinned. ‘The only problem that I can see is Leo, and I’ve fixed that. Henri is having his bunions attended to on the day after the wedding. He’ll therefore have two weeks’ enforced rest, during which he’ll watch daytime television with Leo on his chest. And Madame Henri will dice fillet steak for your pup every night.’

  ‘Alastair…’ Rose was half laughing, half exasperated. ‘You know I can’t. It’s a gorgeous offer, but…’

  ‘But what?’

  ‘My sisters and brother…’

  ‘That’s what I need to talk to you about,’ Alastair took her hands and pulled her to her feet.

  Which was maybe a mistake. Her breasts pressed against his chest and, as his hands gripped hers, the texture of her hands and the closeness of her body was doing something really strange.

  But he didn’t know what.

  Just tell her what you need to tell her and then get out of here, he thought desperately. Now.

  And somehow he made his voice work.

  ‘You’re doing this for your family,’ he told her. ‘Marrying me. But when you said, “I’ve never been to the beach”, I thought, They won’t have either. And they’re probably just as deserving as you.’

  ‘But-’

  ‘Shut up and listen, Rose,’ he said kindly. ‘This is the plan. Your brother and sisters arrive tomorrow. They can have a couple of days looking over the castle. We marry on Thursday. And on Friday the five of us get on a plane and head for Fiji. The press will think your family is going home. Koneata Lau is renowned for its privacy-photographers are shot on sight. The five of us can have a very good time.’

  ‘The five of us…’

  ‘All of us. The very best honeymoons are crowded,’ he said, smiling. ‘What do you say?’

  ‘Oh, Alastair…’ He’d taken her breath away.

  All her life she’d wanted to give her family a holiday. She’d struggled but so had her siblings. Nothing was easy for a family as in debt as they were.

  And to take them all to Koneata Lau!

  Penny-Rose couldn’t resist it. Not when it wasn’t just for her. But… All sorts of possibilities were opening up before her.

  ‘Your mother,’ she whispered, starry-eyed. ‘Alastair, your mother could come, too.’

  ‘Yeah, and my butler could do with a break, and Bert and his team would build great sandcastles.’ He grinned. ‘No.’ Then he relented. ‘Actually, I asked my mother, but she refused. She’s probably right when she says that a long plane flight would be too much for her.’

  ‘If only she were well…’

  ‘We’ll get her well. After our honeymoon we’ll pressure her to stay here and give her a real break. But meanwhile, the thing that could give her real pleasure is if we agree to her plan. What do you say, Rose? Can I take you-and all your family-on a honeymoon to die for?’

  ‘Oh, Alastair…’

  It was too much. She looked up at him, her eyes shining, and suddenly, before he knew what she was about, she’d stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

  It had been intended as a kiss of gratitude-nothing more. But she was emotional, close to tears, and she let her feather-light kiss stay on his lips for just a fraction of a second too long.

  Because somehow it became not a feather-light kiss.

  In fact, feather-light suddenly didn’t come near it.

  Beneath the surface, a feeling of warmth and empathy had begun to flow between them, a feeling as powerful as it was real.

  They’d started this mad escapade as a business proposition. What had passed between them over the last few weeks had made them friends. And now it was shifting past that, to something deeper.

  It had already shifted for Penny-Rose-she knew what she was feeling-but Alastair had no idea. He’d let her lips touch his and he’d expected a soft brush of mouth against mouth. Nothing more. What he received was an electric charge that nearly blew him away.

  A surge of wanting engulfed him that was so powerful-so all-engulfing-that his hands moved up instinctively to steady her. As if she could somehow feel it too and be hurt by it…

  So it was natural that his hands held her-steadied her and pulled her even closer into him-and the linking of their lips forged an even stronger tie.

  Dear heaven…

  The taste of her… The feel of her…

  He’d never felt like this, he thought dazedly. It was as if her body were merging into his, and there was a sweetness about her that he could hardly believe. She was so innocent and she was lovely and…

  She was his for the taking!

  She was to be his wife!

  For a whole minute he gave himself up to the exquisite sensation of savouring her touch. Of believing that something could come of this. Something magical-that he could let himself love.

  That in four days’ time he could marry this woman and take her to him and have her for ever. That he could let this sensation run where it would, letting it take its own sweet course and be damned with the consequences.

  The kiss grew deeper. Neither could break the moment-break the contact. It was too precious. Too infinitely valuable.

  It was as unexpected as it was magical.

  ‘M’sieur…’

  The voice came from below, echoing up toward the open door of the battlements. Henri must have seen Alastair come up and was calling for him. ‘M’sieur, are you there?’

  With his feet, it would have been agonising for the old butler to climb the spiral staircase, but they heard the heavy tread as he started.

  It was enough.

  Penny-Rose broke away. For one long moment Alastair still held her, his hands on her arms and his gaze locked on hers. Their eyes reflected mutual confusion, mutual need.

  But…

  ‘I’m coming, Henri,’ Alastair called, halting the man before he could do himself any damage. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Your friend from Paris is on the phone,’ Henri announced. He didn’t need to say more. The staff hadn’t taken to Belle, and Henry used the same words and inflection every time she rang. Your friend from Paris…

  Belle. It had to be. As usual, her timing was impeccable.

  They both knew who it was, and the moment Henri spoke it was as if Belle had planted herself firmly between them. Alastair let his hands fall.

  ‘I’m…I’m sorry,’ he managed, and Penny-Rose shook her head. It needed only that. An apology.

  ‘Don’t be. I had no business to kiss you.’

  ‘I never meant-’

  ‘Of course you didn’t.’

  He looked at her uncertainly. ‘It was just… I was worried about my mother and-’

  ‘Don’t explain things to me, Alastair,’ she said gently. Because he couldn’t.

  Penny-Rose had to let him off the hook. He was confused and angry with himself. She could see that. He’d broken his unwritten rule.

  This hadn’t been a kiss that could be forgotten. It had been very much more.

  Penny-Rose knew how much more.

  But Alastair would have to discover it for himself.

  Talk about avoidance! If two people didn’t want to see each other, a castle was the perfect home, and over the next twenty-four hours a lot of avoidance took place.

  Not deliberately, of course. Never that. But if Penny-Rose happened to be visiting Marguerite and Alastair decided to do the same, he’d hear her voice on the other side of the door and suddenly think of an urgent task down in the offices. Or there was a cow in trouble in the river pasture that he felt sure his farm manager needed a hand with-and it just happened to be dinner-time when it happened.

  Or he’d be eating his leftover dinner in the kitchen and hear Henri and Rose walking down the passage toward him-and suddenly he’d had enough to eat. He was no longer hungry.

  This was going to be some marriage if he couldn’t face the
girl!

  ‘Keep it formal,’ Belle had said, and he knew he had to do just that. Anything else was the way of madness.

  He was not going to lose his head like a stupid schoolboy. He was not exposing himself to the pain he’d known when he’d lost Lissa. And what he’d felt for Lissa seemed pale to how he could love-

  No! Stupid thought.

  Keep it formal. Or keep away entirely.

  For twelve months?

  He could only try.

  It was madness, Penny-Rose thought bleakly to herself as she tried for sleep that night. Loving and marrying without being loved in return?

  For the first time she let herself think what would happen if her loving didn’t work. What if nothing came of it but cold formality and divorce after twelve months?

  ‘I could go nuts,’ she told Leo. ‘Seriously, peculiarly nuts.

  ‘Or maybe I am already. Maybe I was nuts to agree to this wedding.

  ‘And now a honeymoon.’

  But she wasn’t backing out. No way.

  And money didn’t enter the equation at all.

  ‘He’s a dish, but he’s awfully formal.’ Twenty-four hours into their visit her siblings were ready to pronounce judgement. ‘Why doesn’t he lighten up a little?’

  ‘He’s a prince. He’s supposed to be formal,’ Penny-Rose retorted, and got howled down for her pains.

  ‘I suppose he wears a crown to bed.’ It was Heather, ever the impertinent one. She chuckled, bouncing on her sister’s gorgeous bed where they’d retired to gossip. ‘What does he wear to bed, by the way? Gold pyjamas?’ And then, as Penny-Rose turned an interesting shade of pink, her sister homed in like a bee to honey. ‘You mean you don’t know?’ Her jaw dropped in amazement. ‘You’re engaged to be married and you don’t know what he wears to bed?’

  ‘Maybe he doesn’t wear anything to bed,’ Elizabeth butted in, and Penny-Rose sighed. Honestly, her sisters were incorrigible.

  ‘Do you two mind? Mike’s here.’

  ‘Michael’s sixteen years old and sixteen-year-olds know more than you do,’ Heather retorted. ‘I’ll bet!’

  It was Mike’s turn to blush, but still he grinned.

  ‘Does he lighten up?’ he persisted. Accompanying Penny-Rose, Alastair had met them off the plane. He’d been welcoming and pleasant but distant, and as soon as they’d reached the castle he’d excused himself, saying Rose needed time with her family. They’d hardly seen him since.

  ‘He’s busy,’ Penny-Rose said. ‘He has a wedding to organise the day after tomorrow, and it’s getting to him.’

  But the question stayed the same. ‘Does he lighten up?’

  ‘He does.’

  ‘If you say so.’ Heather was fidgeting with her fingers. Finally she found the courage to say what needed to be said. ‘Love, you’re not just doing this for the money, are you? For…for us?’

  If ever there was a time to admit that this was a marriage of convenience, this was it. But Penny-Rose gazed around at the anxious faces of her family and found she couldn’t do it. They were obligated to her enough, she thought. It wasn’t fair to make the debt deeper.

  ‘Stoopid, why would I-?’

  ‘You would.’ Heather sounded seriously perturbed. ‘I know you would. It’s been getting harder and harder for us all to stay at uni, and the burden’s been heaviest on you. But I can leave. I can defer for a couple of years.’

  ‘You’d never go back.’

  ‘I would.’

  ‘The odds are against it.’ Penny-Rose spread her hands. ‘I love stone-walling and that’s what I’m doing. We’re all doing what we want. So…you’re going to be a doctor, Liz will be an architect and Mike will be the world’s greatest engineer.’

  ‘But…’ Heather was still threading her fingers. ‘Not if it means you’re making an unhappy marriage.’ Her chin lifted and her eyes met her sister’s. Really, they were very alike. ‘Do you love him?’ she asked directly.

  And there was only one answer to that.

  ‘Yes, I do,’ Penny-Rose said, in a voice that left no room for doubt.

  And how could she doubt? Marriage to Alastair? It was what she wanted, even more than stone-walling.

  But what was she being offered?

  Not a proper marriage. A marriage of convenience.

  ‘Of course I love him,’ she said, even more strongly. ‘And how can I want any more than that?’

  How indeed?

  CHAPTER NINE

  AND then there was the wedding.

  It was a wedding that Cinderella’s fairy godmother would have approved of, Penny-Rose thought dazedly. Because the magic wands were certainly out in force today.

  She’d seen the plans for the ceremony taking shape but until now everything had seemed a chaotic muddle. But on her wedding morning she woke and looked out of her window, to find the mass of canvas and poles and ropes had suddenly transformed themselves into the most beautiful marquee imaginable.

  The thing was huge-almost as big as the ground floor of the castle. It stretched over the river pasture. Part of it was built on a wooden platform over the river, and there were royal pennants flying gaily from each pole. The whole scene looked like something out of a mediaeval pageant.

  And the sight made her catch her breath. Up until now this wedding had been all talk. Today it was very, very real.

  What on earth was she doing? Doubts crowded in from every side as she showered and left her bedroom. Help!

  But who to turn to?

  Her siblings were nowhere to be found-they only had three days in this magic place and they were making the most of them. Even Leo had deserted her. Confused and aimless, she wandered down to breakfast in a muddle of caterers and guests she didn’t know. Then she headed outside.

  Here the sense of pageant was even stronger. Carriages were drawn up by the front gates, and horses were being walked up and down in readiness. The servants were in full livery. In her jeans and T-shirt, Penny-Rose felt like someone who’d wandered onto the wrong stage.

  It was someone else’s stage. Someone else’s life! Not hers.

  Where was Leo?

  And where was Alastair?

  He must be as confused as she was, she thought, but he’d absented himself. Deliberately? Maybe. And maybe he should. It was supposed to be unlucky to see the bride on her wedding day.

  The way Alastair was acting, it seemed it was unlucky to see the bride at all!

  But he’d organised Koneata Lau. They’d have their honeymoon when they’d have to see each other.

  ‘Yeah, it’ll be a really romantic honeymoon-just me and Alastair-and Heather and Liz and Mike,’ she murmured, scooting around the edges of the marquee and trying hard to settle the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Think of the beach! she told herself helplessly. Koneata Lau. It was something to look forward to.

  It should have been just Alastair and herself, alone on a tropical island.

  Which would have been a waste! she acknowledged, because if Alastair had his way they’d probably stay at opposite ends of the island. It made sense to take the kids with them.

  ‘Be contented with what you have, girl,’ she muttered to herself crossly. ‘Today you have a truly royal wedding.’ She looked around at the marquee with pennants flying, the castle as backdrop, the liveried servants, the carriages and the horses…

  ‘A mediaeval wedding,’ she continued.

  For a year!

  She kicked her toes against a rock, and one corner of her mind registered that it had a very flat base and would make a great foundation stone for the wall she was building.

  That was what she felt like doing, she decided. Climbing back into her overalls and heading back to her stone-walling.

  ‘But I can’t,’ she told herself. ‘Get back to your quarters, woman. Turn yourself into a princess. You have a prince to marry.’

  ‘It’s magic,’ Heather declared as she bounced into the room an hour later. Penny-Rose’s sister looked stunni
ng in a tiny crimson suit-a minuscule leather skirt and matching jacket. Her entrance destroyed the mediaeval air in an instant.

  Heather gave her sister a resounding kiss, and whirled to admire herself in the mirror. ‘Thank you for not insisting on bridesmaids,’ she told her, stroking her leather with sheer joy. ‘I spent all my money on this and I’ll love it for ever. My friends back home will die of envy.’

  Penny-Rose managed a smile. ‘It’s great. Where…where are the others?’ Where’s Alastair? she’d meant to say, but she couldn’t.

  ‘Elizabeth’s flirting with a distant cousin who says he’s a count. A count, for heaven’s sake! I could end up with a dynasty of royal relations! And Alastair and Mike have taken Leo for a walk by the river.’

  Penny-Rose took a deep breath. She might have known. Her little brother was almost overwhelmed by all of this. While her sisters thought it was exciting, Mike had been growing quieter and quieter, and to take him for a walk had been pure kindness.

  Her Alastair, she thought, was the very nicest prince a girl could ever marry!

  She forced her voice to stay casual, but emotion was threatening to overwhelm her. ‘They’ll…they’ll be back on time?’

  ‘Of course. There’s hours to go.’ Heather plonked herself down on the bed, and bounced. ‘This is the most gorgeous bed!’ She bounced again, and then focussed on her sister’s face. ‘Oh, stop worrying. Alastair doesn’t have to get his hair done. Like you do.’ Then she grinned. ‘That’s what I’m here for. The team are ready. Can I tell them to come up?

  ‘The team?’

  ‘Wait till you see what Marguerite has in store for you.’ Heather giggled. ‘You’ll die of shock.’

  Penny-Rose didn’t quite die of shock but she came close. Marguerite had decreed what was necessary and into her room came hairdresser, manicurist, beautician, florist…

  A fairy godmother would have been much simpler, Penny-Rose thought, dazed. As it was, she was twisted this way and that, pampered and petted, and turned into something she’d never dreamed was possible.

  And an hour later, Marguerite, looking stunning herself in a blue silk suit which must have cost a fortune, carried in the dress.