“The king wants to see you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Since when are you running errands for Uncle?”
“There are reports that Alicia is on the island.”
Hadrian’s eyes went wide, and he jumped up. I followed, and Lindsey led us back into the palace.
“Security is being doubled,” the king said, coughing. “I want you both on constant protection.”
Hadrian nodded. “Where was she seen?”
“On the coast,” the king said. “Though no one can confirm it is her.”
Hadrian glanced at Sydney. Her face was rigid, her hand resting on her stomach, the new hairstyle a glamour that didn’t match the situation.
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Hadrian said.
“Forgive me, Majesty,” Sydney said to the king, “but isn’t it pretty difficult to get in here? This is your home. There’s already security everywhere. Not to mention the press outside. Surely she wouldn’t try to come in, would she?”
“We have to prepare for every eventuality.”
Hadrian nodded. “Who do you think her target is?”
“At this point, we can only assume she’s going to try to complete her plans.”
Getting him on the throne wasn’t going to happen, not with Heather’s impending baby, which was all over the news. The king had made an announcement the other day that she was with child, along with announcing his and Syd’s impending nuptials.
“But what about her mental state?” Sydney asked. “By now, she’s realized that even if Hadrian is the crown prince, she won’t be allowed anywhere near him.”
Hadrian glanced at his wife. “So what are you thinking?”
Sydney shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I would think, if I were her, anyway, I’d be after Hadrian. He did turn over her computer.”
The thought made sense. “Or you,” Hadrian added. It pained him to think it, but it was a fact. Alicia might very well be after her as well. “She could blame you for ruining her plans.”
“True,” Sydney said. “I do bring out the rebel in you.”
Hadrian smirked. When Sydney came around, he did start feeling the need to assert himself. It might have been coincidence, but regardless, Alicia probably won’t be in the state of mind to be rational.
“I have to ask you again, Hadrian,” the king said, the formality in his voice having a carved edge that seemed to slash across Hadrian.
He didn’t like that.
“Are you absolutely certain she never exhibited anything unusual in the last year? Any sign of delusion?”
Hadrian shook his head, unsure what the king meant.
Sydney leaned over to him. “Has she acted like she’s been in love with you?”
Hadrian’s eyes went wide. “Oh, uh, well, no. Nothing I can think of.”
The king glanced at Sydney. “You were around her for a brief period, did she show anything that you might consider unusual?”
“Besides glaring daggers at me the entire flight home and saying all kinds of nasty things under her breath, as well as at the hotel? Nope, nothing comes to mind. But she gave me the impression of a woman who thought I was moving into her territory.”
“You were,” the king said. He quickly made his dictates that everyone was to be back under twenty-four hour guard.
Robert would watch over Hadrian and Nico over Sydney.
The queen came in at that moment, flanked by her own pair of royal guards. “Are you finished?” she asked the king. “I need Sydney. She needs to get ready for the engagement ball.”
Hadrian shook his head as the king dismissed Sydney, and she practically scampered out of the room.
There’s a crazy woman on the loose, but let’s not let it interfere with the engagement ball.
Chapter Thirty-One
Between my own makeup skills and Elizabeth’s and Lindsey’s, though I really think Elizabeth came because Lindsey encouraged her, I wore a perfectly painted face. Not that it helped the worry in my gut. While I felt somewhat safe in the palace, it still gave me the willies to know that Alicia was roaming the island somewhere.
Lindsey swished around me, her own dress having something rustling in it, though it looked as light as a feather, and it distracted my macabre thoughts.
“You need a necklace or something,” she said, appraising me as a maid fastened the dress up my back.
I touched my throat and glanced in the mirror. The bright fuchsia pink of the dress went along great with my hair, and I stroked a few bangs out of my eyes. “Really? I think it looks pretty cool blank.”
“You’re a duchess. Or will be shortly,” Elizabeth said. “You need to wear jewels.”
“And this,” Lindsey said, glancing at my finger, “you’ll be showing off your diamond all night. You can’t wear the wedding band with it.”
Elizabeth grabbed my hand. “Oh, no. We can’t have that.”
I hadn’t thought about it. I’d not taken the rings off since we’d gotten married except to shower. And they were a touch large, or were, when Hadrian gave them to me. Now, though, my fingers were starting to get a little larger, and the rings were snugger.
“I hope I can get them off,” I said, tugging.
Lindsey glanced at Elizabeth. “Should we get some butter?”
With a tug, I managed to get them both off. “Whoa!” I yelled, falling backwards. The maid behind me caught me. “Oh I’m so sorry.”
“Zet’s no problem, ma’am.” The maid helped me right myself, and straightened out the dress as I stood, trying to keep my balance.
Nico had been let in, since I was dressed, and he stood in the doorway, and I could tell he was smirking. There wasn’t much movement on his face, but enough. I wanted to stick my tongue out at him, but I stopped myself. I doubted the princesses stuck their tongues out at their guards.
They hardly seemed to notice theirs.
I separated the rings, and tucked the wedding band… I was going to put it on my dresser, but something made me tuck it into the front of my dress, in my bra.
Lindsey and Elizabeth watched me, Lindsey raising her eyebrow. “I’m not going to ask.”
I shrugged. “I don’t feel right not having it.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “You’re royalty, dear. It’s no longer about right, but about proper.”
Boy, that was awfully telling. “I guess that means I need jewelry, huh?”
Lindsey took my hand, practically dragging me out of the room. “This is my favorite part of dressing up.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“The safe.”
My eyes went wide. “Oh.”
She dragged me down the stairs, and back toward the rear of the palace. Elizabeth was on our heels. And Nico, along with several other royal guards were behind us. Nico tried to lead the way, but Lindsey walked around him like he was standing still. It rumpled his feathers a bit, but he let us go.
I glanced at Elizabeth, whose eyes were twinkling as much as Lindsey’s.
“You need jewelry too?” I asked her.
Elizabeth smiled. “I never turn down any chance to get into the safe.”
I guess I was expecting a little wall safe or something hidden behind a picture.
Not a room roughly the size of my suite upstairs. ’Course, we had to get through the foot-thick metal doors, two sets of them. And the guards outside. I wasn’t sure, at first, if they were going to let me in. But Nico said something to them, and we went inside.
The room was massive, a jeweler’s dream.
Shelves lined every wall, sorted in sections—sets of jewelry were on the left wall, floor to ceiling, all put together. Then on the right wall, random pieces. Everything glittered under special lights to make it that much more impressive.
Tables sat out in certain areas, highlighting certain collections of jewels, and mirrors were on each table top, as if to check the jewelry.
Not to mention the full-length mirror on the back of the safe door. It was a
lmost blinding walking in there.
I wished I had my sunglasses. Everything glistened and glowed. Except for one spot across from us. There, several notches remained empty, the lights shining on the empty spaces, highlighting the void.
My heart hammered. Had someone been in here? Stolen something?
“Look, things are missing,” I said.
Lindsey glanced where I pointed. “Oh, that’s Mom and Dad’s. They’ve already gotten their crowns.” She glanced at Elizabeth. “You want to bring Heather and Michel theirs?”
Elizabeth grinned. “I’d be happy to carry tons of jewels, thanks,” she said with a laugh and headed to the shelf where there were missing items. As I looked, I realized that, yes, the spaces had mannequin heads that were bare. Across the shelf, there were several other crowns, all sitting, waiting patiently to be used.
She picked up a set of matching small crowns, as well as another singular crown that she placed on her head, adjusting it in a mirror. She then walked over to the wall of random pieces, picking up a few more pieces. “Think George will like these cufflinks?”
She held up a pair of extremely large diamond links, larger than some of the pendants.
“Wow,” I muttered.
“Only if you want a divorce,” Lindsey said with a laugh.
Elizabeth grinned. “Yes, he’s no fun.” She put them back and picked up smaller ones.
I whispered to Lindsey, “Doesn’t her husband get a crown too?”
Lindsey shook her head. “George is not a prince. He’s a duke, like Hadrian, but that’s all he’s got. No crowns for him.”
Though it didn’t make much sense to me, it seemed the same as when Hadrian explained why I wouldn’t be a princess. After all, I was standing in a safe full of jewelry, probably more than I’d ever see in my lifetime. If someone would have told me last Christmas I’d be looking at this, I would have told them they were crazy.
Talk about an insane ride. I started checking out different pieces. Nearest me were the collections, the pieces that went together. There were necklaces that looked literally like piles of jewels, then other necklaces with single pendants on them.
Albeit the pendants were almost as large as my palm, but still.
“Raiding the safe?” came a voice behind us.
I spun around, and the queen stood there, crown on her head, looking far taller and more foreboding than she ever had. Not that she’d looked like a pushover before.
Her crown and upswept hair accentuated her height, and her dress revealed her long neck.
“Sydney needs jewelry,” Lindsey said, as though the queen snuck up on her all the time. She picked up a piece. “What about this?” The pearl and diamond mix glistened in the air.
The queen shook her head, her eyes roaming over me, analyzing again. “No, not for this dress.” She walked straight for the collection and picked up a few pieces, examined them, then set them back down.
Then she spun around. “Perfect,” she said, holding up a diamond necklace. She didn’t even ask if I liked it, instead, she slipped it around my neck. She spun me to the mirror on the back of the door. “What do you think?”
The necklace had little teardrop shaped diamonds hanging down, all the way around my neck, and I reached up, touching them.
“I feel like Pretty Woman,” I whispered, reaching up and stroking the gems to see if they were real. I was surprised how cold they were against my fingers, like little ice pieces.
“Good,” said the queen. “Now, let’s find you some trinket for your hair.”
I stared. “But I’m not officially married yet,” I whispered.
The queen put her hand on her hip. “Let an old woman have her fun. I rarely get to play down here.”
There wasn’t much I could say to that.
I had never seen anything quite like it.
The entire island, or so it seemed, turned out for the engagement ball. I had barely gotten back upstairs before people started arriving.
Lindsey and Elizabeth disappeared downstairs, saying they were going to greet people.
I thought maybe I should have gone, but Nico stopped me. While I knew he was my bodyguard, he seemed to be part etiquette teacher as well.
“You will make your entrance with the duke, Your Grace.”
I stared at him. “How do you know that?”
He tipped his head to the side. “Propriety is important. Helps us coordinate your protection.”
“Ahh.” So much had been slammed in me in the last few days, the only breaks I got were at night, when Hadrian and I slept.
Well, we slept eventually. Mostly, though, we tested out the strength of the furniture in my suite.
I walked over to my window, where I could see some of the people arriving. Lots of big, shiny cars. I didn’t open the drapes, because I did know that I was a surprise reveal for the crowd.
The American who snagged the Pasta Prince. I’d caught that little tidbit yesterday on the news after the king had made his announcement. One of the few news reports I’d managed to find in English.
Evidently rumors were swirling around everywhere about me. I tried not to think about them. Someone was comparing me to Grace Kelly. Which I found very interesting and flattering until I remembered she died in a car wreck.
Others were not so flattering.
“Your Grace,” Nico said.
I glanced at him.
“The duke.” He held open the door, and Hadrian walked in. Dressed to the nines in a very sexy tuxedo though not traditional James Bond type but this was sleeker, more refined. His dark hair was combed back away from his face, gelled within an inch of its life.
And across his chest, he wore a long sash, the same colors as the Koros flag—dark purple and light green, with gold trim and a gold crest over his heart.
And he stared at me, his gaze practically a hand roaming over my body.
For a second, I thought I’d messed up the dress, that something was snagged or some such.
And then I realized, no, that wasn’t why he looked at me like that.
“You look amazing,” he said, appraising the dress as he walked across the room. He reached me in a few steps, and I was in his arms, and he nuzzled my neck. “The diamonds really set off this beautiful neck.”
I sighed as he placed kisses on my throat.
Then he brought his head up. “Maybe we should stay up here,” he said, his hand on the stones around my neck. “These draw a lot of attention to your sexy neck.”
I smirked at him. “We really should go. I think your aunt might kill you if all this effort went to waste.”
He sighed. “You’re probably right.” He glanced at Nico. “Are we ready?”
Nico nodded.
We turned and were about to walk out the door, when Hadrian stopped me. He pulled me in his arms. “Since I won’t get to do this tonight.” He caressed my cheek and pressed a searing kiss on my lips.
My knees started to go weak, and his grip on me kept me from sliding to the floor in a puddle of fuchsia fabric.
Hadrian finally pulled away, and I was able to regain my footing in his arms.
“Uh…”
He grinned. “I love rendering you speechless.”
We entered the hall and headed for a different set of stairs, ones I’d never used before.
This particular set, Hadrian told me, led straight into the ballroom, allowing for announcing our presence as we came in.
We stood in the hall before going in, and Hadrian squeezed my hand. “Remember, we’re not married yet.”
I inhaled a breath, my hands shaking. “I know.”
He held out his arm, and I clasped his elbow, and we started down the stairs.
When we reached the landing, there were a ton of people dressed in finery, though my dress was by far the brightest of all of them, and I suddenly felt very self-conscious of the bright choice.
The butler was on the landing, the same one who’d announced us before to the family. “Pres
enting The Duke of Bouzio, Hadrian Drake, and Miss Sydney Martinson, of the United States.”
Then the flashes started.
I didn’t realize there would be press at the ball, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. I started to wobble as I walked down the stairs the flashes making me lose my balance. Hadrian, ever graceful, reached across his body, grasped my hand to steady me.
We made it to the bottom without any incidents—though me falling on my presentation to the world would have been apropos—and I glanced at the reporters, and something caught my eye.
I saw a flash of curly blonde hair.
I snapped my head around to check, but the flicker was gone.
I must have been mistaken.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Hadrian took Sydney and presented her to the king and queen. With the room watching, Sydney managed to do a pretty decent curtsey.
She only wobbled a tiny bit. They took their place in the receiving line, and a sea of faces were presented to them. Some, Hadrian knew, others he recognized the face but not the name. Thank God for the attendant who stood behind him and Sydney, whispering names of the arriving guests.
It took over an hour, but he was proud of Sydney, she was a trooper, keeping a smile painted on her face to greet the dignitaries.
Just when Hadrian thought his arm would fall off from the greetings, the orchestra started playing a waltz, signaling the end of this particular event for the evening.
Then came the socialization.
Sydney and Hadrian walked around the ballroom, and he introduced her to different people. Michel and Heather accompanied them since Hadrian didn’t know who half these people were anymore.
“Ahh, Prime Minister Stanze,” Michel said, leaning on a cane. He approached the prime minister from yet another country Hadrian didn’t know.
“Wonderful to see you, Your Highness,” Stanze said.
Sydney clutched his arm, as though her life depended on it.
“You’ve met my cousin, Duke of Bouzio,” Michel said.
“A pleasure,” Stanze said. “It is your hour tonight, Duke.”
Hadrian smiled—he was getting really good at the fake, political smiles. “I am blessed.”
The Reluctant Prince Page 29
