Genevieve clapped her hands together. “Oh, that does sound like fun.”
“Mama, I think if we’re going to do this, we should also head over to the Gara Hotel for their tea service afterwards. You know, really make a day of it.”
“Are you sure they can fit us in for tea?” Carolina asked. “They’re usually booked solid this time of year.”
“I’ll give the owner a call,” Genevieve said. “Since we’ve booked the entire hotel for wedding guests – which is costing us more than a little money, to say the least – I’m sure they would be more than willing to accommodate us.”
As the other women began chattering, Alex leaned over and whispered in Rebecca’s ear. “Are you all right with this? If you don’t want to go out, you don’t have to.”
Rebecca smiled, a little resigned. “This day had to come eventually, right? We were bound to run into one of your old flings at some point. I’ll go with the girls. Grace is right; hiding here isn’t the answer.”
“Rebecca.”
“Shhh,” she said, placing her fingers over his lips while conversation continued around them. “I’ll be all right. I’ll see if my mother can come along, too. That will make me feel better.”
Alex’s mouth quirked in a half-smile. “It also doesn’t hurt that your mother won’t take shit from anyone, and will talk back if anybody has the gall to speak out against you.”
Rebecca smiled. “No, that doesn’t hurt at all.”
He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. “You’re taking extra security with you. If all of you are going out together, it needs to be done anyway.”
Rebecca nodded. “All right.”
Alex kissed her again before pulling back and speaking to the table. “What time were you planning on leaving?”
“I think just after lunch,” Genevieve said. “The rain should be over by then and it will give Sarah and your Nonna a little more time to settle after they arrive. Nathaniel, do you think Charlotte will be able to come?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll convince her,” Nate said with a knowing smile.
“I’d like to ask my mother to come along.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Rebecca,” Genevieve said genuinely. “I do have a number of wedding-related items to discuss with her.”
“Don’t you think you should be discussing those with Rebecca first?” Alex asked, frustration clear in his voice. “Or me? It is our wedding, after all.” Rebecca smiled; this wasn’t the first time Alex had needed to remind his mother about that.
“You know,” Genevieve started, “I very much resent the implication that I don’t have both of your best interests at heart when it comes to organizing this wedding. It is a massive undertaking and I would think that my help would be appreciated.”
“My dear, of course it is appreciated,” Gabriel said as he took his wife’s hand and tried to soothe her.
“It absolutely is,” Rebecca said. “Alex and I both appreciate your help and guidance.”
“Well, sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.”
“Well, Mama,” Alex said dryly, “then we’ll apologize properly. We are sorry for reminding you that the people getting married are Rebecca and myself, and we do thank you profusely for your unending stream of advice and guidance, often unsolicited.”
The rest of the table burst out laughing, as did Genevieve after a few moments later. “Stop it. I am not that bad.”
Alex rose and walked over to his mother, and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Of course not, Mama. You’re actually much worse. I was trying to be diplomatic.”
Everyone laughed harder and even Gabriel had a hard time keeping his smile from breaking through.
“Enough,” Genevieve said, still laughing a little. “We all have plenty to do today, so away with all of you. Just make sure you’re back for family dinner tonight.”
All of the siblings groaned. Though they loved the times they spent together, family dinner was usually a form of allowed torture.
“Stop that,” their mother said. “It won’t be a proper family dinner, since Arianna won’t be here, but we’ll make do. Everyone else is here, and I expect full attendance at dinners through the rest of the year. Am I understood?”
A chorus of scattered ‘yes, Mama’ was heard around the table.
“Good. Ladies? We’ll meet at the main entrance at one.”
As everyone rose and went about their various days, Alex held Rebecca back until the room cleared. “Are you sure you’re all right, darling?”
She wrapped her arms around Alex and burrowed against him, inhaling his unique scent. “Hold me.”
“Always,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her in return, and dropped a kiss to her head. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”
“I know we will.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head against his chest, against the silk of his now dark green tie and the smooth, expensive fabric of his suit. “Stop apologizing. It happened. We weren’t together when it did. I don’t blame you for this situation; I blame her.”
He kissed her head again. “Something still doesn’t feel right between us. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something. Isn’t there?”
Fear dropped like a chunk of ice into the pit of her stomach, sending goosebumps scattering across her skin. “I feel it, too.”
He tilted her chin up until their eyes met. “This is the ‘worse’ part.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our vows. ‘For better or for worse’. This is the ‘worse’ part, that’s all. We’ll make it through.”
“Technically, we haven’t said our vows yet.”
“Haven’t we, though? Maybe we haven’t said them in a church in front of the entire world, but we’ve said them to each other through each touch, and in each gesture. Even in the way we’re holding each other now.”
Rebecca let out a shuddering sigh as emotion swept through her. “Yes. Yes, we have. God, I love you.” She pressed her mouth to his, hard and fast. “I love you so much. Don’t forget that. Don’t ever forget that.”
“Never. I love you.” He kissed her back, just as passionately.
“Don’t forget how much I love you, my prince. My one and only lover. My life,” she ended on a whisper.
He groaned and pulled her harder against him. As their mouths ravaged, they didn’t even notice the waitstaff come in, catch them in a heated kiss, and leave barely a second later.
***
Nate walked down the familiar paths to the kitchens. He’d made the journey often enough before he and Charlie had become a couple, so no one batted an eye to see him now. They bowed or curtsied as he passed, but otherwise left him alone; they knew exactly where he was going.
He turned the corner into one of the smaller kitchens and saw her bent over a counter, intently focused on her task. He took a moment to just watch her, taking in the sight of her able fingers efficiently piping an intricate design on a counter filled with petit fours. When she finished, she put down the piping bag and wiped her hands on her white chef’s coat, which had already been spotted with dots of colour and bits of sticky dough. She would say she looked messy.
To Nate, she looked achingly beautiful.
“Miss me, Charlotte-mine?”
Her head shot up, just as it had that morning. She still looked surprised whenever he came to visit her, and he wondered how much longer that might last.
“What are you doing here?”
He walked up to her. “My family runs the palace, remember?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Did you want me to leave?”
“No,” she said quickly. “No, that’s not what I meant. I thought you might be resting.”
The uncomfortable itch of irritation bit through him. “I’m not some fucking invalid. I’m fine.”
“I know you are. I was just worried about you,” she murmured and turned back to focus on the counter.
Nate cursed under his breath and turned her to face him again. “I love that you worry about me. I love you, Charlotte-mine.”
She let out a long breath. “I love you, too.”
“Would you do something for me?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What?”
He couldn’t keep from smiling. “So wary of me. There’s no reason to be.”
“Well, what do you need?”
“I need a great many things, but right now I would very much appreciate it if you’d spend the day with the other women in my family.”
She blinked. “Come again?”
Nate briefed her on the newspaper articles and photos. “All the women are going shopping as a show of support to Rebecca. I’d really like it if you’d go with them.”
“I’d like that, but, Nate, I’ve just got so much to do.” She pursed her lips as she glanced around the small kitchen, taking in the petit fours, along with the supply-covered counters and cake-filled ovens.
“I’m not just asking for Rebecca’s sake. I’m asking for my own, too.”
“What do you mean?”
He wrapped his arms around her, and brought her against him. He was sure errant bits of flour would end up on his clothes, but he didn’t care. “I’m worried about you. I know you’ve got a lot to do, and I’m in no way saying that I don’t think you can do it all. I do wish, however, that you’d pass a little of this on to someone else and take a break.”
“That was a very diplomatic way of saying you think I’m trying to do too much.”
“Can’t get one by you.”
“Nate.”
“Please, Charlie? Just like you want to take care of me, I want to take care of you, too.”
She huffed out a breath. “That’s very clever, the way you just said that.”
“It’s the truth.”
“I know. That’s why it’s clever.” She rested her forehead against his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
“I should also mention that, at breakfast, my father made a very declarative statement about your place in this family.”
She went rigid against him. “He did?”
“He said you were, without a doubt, a member of this family, just like Grace, Rebecca, and Finn, and to hell with anyone who says otherwise.”
“Your father said that?”
“I may have paraphrased it a little, but that was the gist.”
Charlie relaxed against him again. “All right. I’ll go.”
Nate tried to get his broad smile under control, but it was a futile attempt. “Thank you, Charlie.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said as she pushed back. “What time are we leaving?”
“Around one from the main entrance.”
She looked around the kitchen again. “That’s only a few hours away.”
“Charlie.”
“I know, I know. I’ll be there. Let me just, um, shift some things around.”
He kissed her forehead. “You can also finish your Christmas shopping. Weren’t you complaining a few days ago that you wouldn’t have time to get it all done?”
She sagged a little. “Christmas shopping? Holy shit, I totally forgot about that.”
Nate couldn’t help but laugh. “You don’t have to buy anybody anything, you know that.”
“But it’s our first Christmas as a couple. I can’t not buy something for your parents and family.”
“I just told you how much they love you. You don’t have to buy something. You could bake them a cake and they’d love it.”
“Maybe.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “Think about it.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You don’t want me to buy you anything?”
He brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “No, Charlie. You love me, you’ve moved in with me, you take care of me. I don’t need anything else but a vow from you.”
She stiffened. “Nate.”
He put a finger over her lips. “Shhh. I’m not proposing. I know you’re not ready, and that’s fine. For now, anyway.”
“I do love you.”
“I know you do.” He kissed her lips again, this time slower and softer. “Now, go. Finish up what you need to so you can be work-free this afternoon. I’ll see you when you get back.”
She nodded. As he began to walk out, she called after him. “Nate? You didn’t buy me anything for Christmas, did you?”
He gave her a sly smile and strode out, leaving the question unanswered.
He’d already arranged her gift. He had a feeling she’d hate it – at first anyway – but hopefully she’d come around.
He needed her to come around.
Chapter 3
Arianna walked down the now familiar halls of Brazenbourg Palace, her heels clicking softly against the polished floors, with security agents surrounding her. She still had a hard time believing that it had been barely three months ago that she had first stepped foot inside, and that her life had changed so much since that day.
As she entered Finn’s suite of offices moments later, she was greeted warmly by a few of Finn’s advisors and staff, who had been lingering after the end of a meeting. She was still wary of some of them, as a few had been Henry’s advisors, too.
Finn’s chief of staff, Saskia, came up to greet her and curtsied.
“Oh, please don’t. I told you, there’s no need for that.”
“There is, Your Highness,” she replied with twinkling eyes. “You are still a royal from another country, and you will soon become our royal as well.”
Arianna smiled. “That’s very true. In that case, thank you. Is Finn available? I thought I might steal him away for a quick lunch if there was time.”
Saskia began tapping swiftly away at her keyboard. “I can rearrange his schedule for you.”
“Oh, please don’t do that,” Arianna said quickly. “I wasn’t sure if I’d be feeling up to lunch and, when I was, I thought I’d take a chance. I’ll just pop in for a few minutes instead.”
Saskia smiled broadly. “Too late. I’ve already arranged it. You’ve got a full forty-five minutes before he needs to be back. Enjoy.”
“Oh. Well, thank you.” Arianna would definitely speak to Finn about giving her a raise.
As she walked into his office, she was once again breathless at the sight of him. Finn was on the phone, absently running a hand through his deep brown hair. His dark dress pants hid the legs she loved to feel against hers. His collared shirt was unbuttoned at the top, revealing a smattering of chest hair, and the sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows, revealing a set of strong arms.
Oh, how she loved his arms. They held her through the night, supported her through morning sickness, and had even dug through rubble and saved her life when an explosion had buried her underneath a pile of palace ceiling.
He’d saved her in more ways than one.
Finn’s bright green eyes caught sight of her and he let loose his devilish smile. “Something’s just come across my desk that I need to see to. We’ll discuss this more later.”
As soon as he hung up, they both walked towards each other, like two magnets unable to keep apart. Their arms easily wrapped around each other and he gave her a soft kiss.
“What a lovely surprise, Princess. How are you feeling?”
“Hungry.”
His lips curved into a broad smile, then dimmed. “I wish I could have lunch with you, but I’ve got a meeting.”
“Not anymore; Saskia moved your meetings around.”
His smile grew brighter again. “She did?”
Arianna nodded. “I think she deserves a raise for her exceptional work.”
“So do I. That’s why I’d already arranged it, starting the first of the year. Don’t you remember me mentioning it a few days ago?”
Arianna furrowed her brows as she thought back over the last few days. “No, I don’t. I have been forgetful lately, haven’t I? I wonder if this is the ‘pregn
ancy brain’ I’ve heard so much about.”
He chuckled, and the low sound sent tremors rippling through her. Her morning sickness had killed her libido for the last several weeks, but it finally seemed to be coming back.
A Royal Holiday (Royals of Valleria #5) Page 4
