Twice a Princess

by Susan Meier

With her mind made up, Merry knew there was no sense delaying the inevitable. Running to her villa, she swiped at the tears that had collected in her eyes and willed them to go away. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She wasn't even a spoiled princess anymore. She was an adult. A wise adult. Her godmother had cursed her to teach her valuable lessons about love, but she'd learned the most important lesson by falling in love with Alexander Rochelle.

  She couldn't curse Prince Alec to a marriage without love. She might be able to pick up the mantle of duty and responsibility. She might also be willing to make sacrifices. But she couldn't curse Prince Alec to a hopeless marriage where there was absolutely no chance she would ever love him.

  Falling in love with Alexander had cursed her as much as Lissa's spell had. It almost made no difference that she was returning to her crone status. She would never love anyone the way she now loved Alexander. She would spend her life alone.

  She entered her villa and barely paused to close the door before she hurried to her bedroom. She wouldn't buckle under the temptation to throw herself across the bed and weep. Instead she straightened her shoulders, picked up the receiver of her phone and dialed her father's private number.

  Nothing happened. Confused, she disconnected and listened for a dial tone. There was none. She stared at the phone. Were the phone lines down?

  She tried to call the front desk, but even the inter-resort phones weren't working.

  She hung up and slumped with defeat until she remembered she had the cell phone in the nightstand by her bed. She opened the drawer and pulled out the phone, and, sure as heck, it was on.

  Welcome back.

  "Well, gee, thanks," she told the phone, knowing it was crazy to talk to an inanimate object, but the stupid thing talked to her first. "Am I going to be able to use you to call my dad?" she asked, but before the phone could reply, she continued, "Never mind. I forgot that under this stupid curse my dad doesn't recognize me. He doesn't even know my voice when I call."

  He will tonight.

  Merry's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

  You're getting a bit of a break because it's so close to your birthday.

  "A break?"

  The whole curse hasn't kicked in yet.

  Merry stared at the message on the phone. Then glanced at her hand, realizing that though she'd covered herself, preparing for a sudden physical transformation, no outward changes had occurred in twelve hours. "Why not?"

  Your godmother put it on hold this morning when she realized how little time you had left.

  "So she can change things about the curse?"

  No. The best she could do was buy you some time.

  "She got me an extension?"

  If you call not zapping into a crone immediately an extension, yes. But she didn't change the end result because she can't. If you haven't made a twenty-first match by your thirtieth birthday, you'll be a crone forever.

  Merry took a quick breath. "How much time have I got before the rest of the curse kicks in?"

  I don't know. I have no clue what kind of an extension Lissa could give you or even what parts of the curse are delayed.

  "So I could still zap into a crone at any second."

  Yeah. Sorry.

  "Great."

  Call your dad while you know you still can.

  Her inability to talk to her dad when she was a crone was another reason to immediately let Prince Alec out of their betrothal. This time tomorrow her dad might not recognize her and Prince Alec could spend his life waiting for a princess who would never return.

  "Thanks for reminding me."

  You're welcome.

  "Right." With that she dialed her father's private number. When Charles answered she said, "Good morning, Charles. How are you today?"

  He cleared his throat, still uncomfortable with the new Merry, but ever polite. "I'm fine, Mum."

  "Could I please speak with my father?"

  "Yes, Mum."

  Merry waited only a few seconds before her father took the phone. "Merry? Did you call to tell me you're coming home?" he asked, his kingly voice booming through the receiver.

  Merry grimaced, but wouldn't let herself back out of what she had to do. "Father," she said, using her princess-on-her-best-behavior voice. "Some things have happened and…" She paused as an eerie feeling overwhelmed her. A pain skittered down her spine and her shoulders bent. Lissa might have been able to slow her outward transformation, but the internal changes were happening right on schedule.

  She drew a long breath and forced her shoulders to straighten as much as they could, physically fighting the curse because she intended to beat it. "I can't marry Prince Alec."

  "What!"

  Merry pulled the receiver from her ear, waited for her father to stop ranting, then said, "I'm sorry, Dad. But I can't marry him."

  "You must marry him!"

  "I can't."

  "Why not?"

  She couldn't tell her dad she had been cursed and was becoming a crone. In her last round with this curse, every time she tried to explain it to anyone her words came out as gibberish, and she wasn't sure she could talk about it now. Fortunately, the curse wasn't the only reason she couldn't marry Prince Alec.

  "I've fallen in love with someone else." Suddenly the tears that had begun at Alexander's villa returned.

  "What?"

  "Dad, I've fallen in love with someone else. Someone really wonderful," she said, for the first time grateful that she had all these remarkable feelings for Alexander. She knew her dad would hear the emotion in her voice and believe her.

  "And you're marrying him," her dad concluded dully.

  Merry's heart broke. She almost whispered no, but knew that would only confuse the issue. Plus, experience with both the difficulty and unpredictability of the curse forced her to cover all her bases. If she didn't make her final match and remained a crone for the rest of her life, it would be better for her dad to think she and her mystery man had run away to be together than for him to think she had disappeared for no good reason. Or, worse, for something he had done.

  She swallowed the lump of sadness in her voice. "Yeah, I am. Actually, we're going to elope."

  "Elope!"

  "Yes. He's a wonderful man, Daddy. You're going to love him," she said. Though she was lying, she knew it was true. Her father would love Alexander's strength, his forthrightness, his cunning.

  "Merry, do you realize what you're doing?"

  She drew a quick breath. "Yes."

  "I don't think you do. Prince Alec's country needs this union. His monarchy may be deposed, but the country still holds to certain traditions. You'll upset the balance of the economy of our region."

  "Dad," Merry said, her voice beginning to tremble now as the ramifications of the rest of her life began to weigh her down. She fully intended to make her final match, but already having considered that she might fail, it dawned on her that if she didn't break this curse, she would never see her father again. She would never get the chance to explain to Prince Alec that she had put his country in a difficult position because she wanted him to find happiness. She would never get to marry anyone, have children, have a real friend.

  "When I rebelled against your marriage to Mathilda you simply told me that you loved her and you had a right to happiness."

  "Merry…"

  "I have a right to happiness, too."

  With that she disconnected the call because her tears began to fall in earnest now. For the first lime since she'd been cursed, she was afraid.

  Immediately after breakfast she next morning, Alexander reconnected the phone lines and returned to his villa to summon Merry. When he called her, she rudely refused his command that she join him and hung up on hint.

  Alexander stared at the receiver.

  His first intention had been to reveal himself as her prince at the ball Then, last night, seeing things had gone too far, he'd decided to tell her this morning in the privacy of his villa, where she could rant and rail all she wanted. Then,
when she was done, be would lay everything out on the table and force her to stay with him until they worked this out.

  But she refused to come to his villa.

  And she had been rude.

  Very rude.

  He smiled. All this time Lissa thought spoiled, selfish Merry had changed. Ha! This was the moment he had been waiting for. Spoiled Merry lived.

  He shoved the key for her office into his pocket, just in case she refused to answer his knock as she'd done at her villa the day before, and strode out into the sunny September day.

  The moment of truth was at hand.

  He bounded up the cobblestone walk, past Merry's villa and to the back entrance for the hotel lobby. As he entered, the roar of the fountain greeted him. So did several resort employees. He returned their hellos cheerily.

  Finally! Finally! The truth was about to come out.

  He matched through the lobby and down the corridor to Merry's office and knocked on the closed door.

  "I'm very busy. Whatever it is that you need handled. send me a voice mail and I will handle it."

  "No."

  Alexander's one-word reply was greeted by silence. He waited a full minute and was just about to open the door with his key when he heard the click of the lock and the door opened a crack.

  Wearing the big floppy hat that shaded her face, a long-sleeved blouse, long pants and.. He stared at her feet in amazement…boots, Merry said, "How can I help you?"

  "You and I need to talk."

  "There's nothing for us to talk about."

  "Actually, there's plenty for us to talk about, if you let me into your office, then the nice little crowd of employees who have gathered at the end of the corridor pretending to be working won't hear what we have to say."

  She swallowed, and for ten seconds Alexander actually believed she wouldn't let him in. Then she sighed heavily, pulled open the door and walked away.

  He stepped inside.

  Facing the big window behind her desk, effectively presenting him with her back, Merry said, "I told you last night that I didn't want to see you anymore."

  "Because of your betrothed."

  "I told you I'm not marrying him."

  "That's actually what we need to discuss."

  "It's none of your business."

  "It is my business." He paused, drew a fortifying breath and said, "I have a confession to make."

  Merry spun away from the window. "Alexander, I don't want to hear your confession!"

  "I know you think you don't, but…"

  "But nothing! Alexander, are you so obtuse that you don't see that it hurts me to love you when you can't love me in return? I love you and you can't love anybody. Even if things weren't changing in my life, I wouldn't pound my head up against a brick wall by being with you when you can't love me…"

  "Merry, stop. I'm…"

  She walked toward him. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say!" She grabbed his arm and turned him toward the door. "I thought you had a question about the resort. I wouldn't have let you in if I had realized you wanted to talk about personal things."

  "But I'm…"

  "Get out, Alexander!"

  "Merry…"

  "Stop!" she shouted, then with every bit as much passion, she suddenly asked, "Do you love me?"

  Alexander took a pace back, feeling that he'd just been slammed with the ultimate trick question. If he said no, she would boot him out without hearing him out. If he said yes, she would probably gladly hear him out and be ecstatic when she realized the man she loved was her fiancé.

  But it would be a lie.

  "It's a simple question, Alexander."

  A week ago. Alexander would have agreed with that. This morning, he didn't. He glanced down at her face, but he couldn't see her eyes because the big hat shaded them. The shadow created was so dark he could barely make out the downward turn of her usually smiling mouth.

  She wanted him to tell her he loved her because she loved him. A week ago, he would have thought it an empty phrase for a princess looking to have a good time, but today he knew it wasn't. Today he knew she believed all the hogwash Lissa had poured into her head about love, magic and happily-ever-after.

  A little voice told him to stop obsessing and just do it. All he had to do was say "Yes, I. love you," and his problem could be solved. It would be very easy to explain that he was Prince Alec after he told her he loved her. She would probably be overjoyed.

  Was it such a big lie? He could straighten everything out just by giving her what she wanted.

  But that wasn't really true. If he lied, he really wouldn't be giving her what she wanted. Because he didn't love her. He might be able to tell her that he loved her, but he'd never actually be able to love her. That one little manipulation of the truth would begin a lifetime of never really being honest with her.

  The words stuck in his throat. He couldn't tell a lie that was essentially a promise he couldn't keep. He couldn't say he loved her and then marry her, condemning her to a life that was empty and lonely.

  Suddenly he knew what he had to do, and he also felt everything he needed from this union slip from his fingers.

  Just as Princess Meredith wouldn't marry Prince Alec when she didn't love him, he couldn't marry Merry, when he didn't love her. The very fact that she believed Prince Alec deserved better proved that she also deserved better. Certainly better than marrying the likes of him. And he hoped some day she found it.

  "No. I don't love you."

  She drew a shuddering breath. "Thank you for your honesty. Now could you please go? I have lots of work to do."

  Chapter Nine

  Merry's encounter with Alexander proved she couldn't bear the tension of not knowing when she would zap into a crone, and the next morning she ran to Lissa's villa and asked her godmother to explain the extension. But Lissa couldn't tell Merry what parts of the curse had been delayed and what parts of the curse were in full force. "I'm afraid I wasn't very specific. I asked only that you have access to the 'things you would need' to make your final match."

  Leaving Lissa's villa, Merry logically assumed that everything she kept, like her physical appearance, must be necessary in one way or another to make her twenty-first match. And everything she lost, like muscle strength and strong joints, must be things not required for matchmaking.

  Still, she wasn't taking any chances. For the next week, she stayed in her villa during normal business hours, afraid that her nose would suddenly elongate in the middle of a meeting, and worked after hours. Sitting in her office, listening to the muted roar of the fountain in the resort lobby, she could forget her troubles and put herself into the matchmaking mindset.

  After reviewing the list of new arrivals each day, she would go out and mingle with the guests. Newcomers who had never seen her in the daylight wouldn't realize that her hair hadn't been gray the week before, her face had been without lines, or that the body that had once been trim and toned now sagged a little. All they saw was a friendly resort manager who paved the way for them to meet the cute guy at the bar or the gorgeous woman in the red bikini across the Oasis pool.

  Unfortunately, despite Merry's enthusiastic introductions, after over a week of trying, she hadn't found two people suitable enough to share dinner together, let alone marry.

  And she missed Alexander. By varying her schedule she had managed to avoid him, but that didn't dull the heaviness in her heart. The one man who needed someone to love and understand him more than any other would always be alone. By choice. He didn't believe in love and wouldn't allow himself to be vulnerable long enough for someone to prove tender mercies existed.

  Sitting at her desk, reading the list of the day's arrivals, Merry reminded herself she couldn't think about Alexander. She had five days to match another couple or she would be a crone for the rest of her life. Her cell phone again worked magic. Incantations came to her as easily as breathing. She'd even caused an unexpected wave to wash up on the dock, forcing Amelia Giffin to j
ump back, away from the rush of water and fall into the arms of Kyle Martinez. But when Amelia and Kyle created a scene in the Greenhouse Cafe, Merry decided she didn't have time to fool around with matches that looked good in the short-term but weren't permanent. Most of her magic didn't produce long-term results, and she was now concerned that those short-term relationships did more harm than good. The Phipps-Stovers were in the throes of a bitter divorce. More than that, though, in falling so hard and so fast for Alexander Rochelle, Merry realized that sometimes the pain of losing a short-term relationship could be every bit as intense as losing a longtime love.

  She refused to match some unsuspecting woman to a man who would put her through what Merry herself was going through right now. An ache in her heart, and not just for herself. No self-respecting woman could meet La Torchere's distinguished owner and not see the sadness in his eyes, hear the pain in his voice or recognize the emptiness in his soul. Yet, no smart woman could fail to see that Alexander wasn't trapped as much as he refused to come out of his self-made prison. Not even for her.

  Alexander wanted her, but his fear of love was so strong that he couldn't even lie to get them both out of their uncomfortable last meeting. He'd told the truth and lost his chance to step out on faith. Which broke her heart.

  So she would be very, very careful about whom she matched. No more Phipps-Stover mistakes. No more broken hearts.

  The names of three sisters, Madeline, Mimi and Sophia Grasselle, ages twenty-eight, twenty-six and twenty-four, suddenly jumped out at Merry from the list and her pulse leaped in anticipation. With five days remaining to break this curse, she wasn't yet worried about making her final match. But she also knew there was no time to waste. Having three single sisters arrive all on the same day increased her chances of making a match exponentially!

  She thanked her lucky stars Lissa had gotten her the extension that allowed her appearance to remain relatively untouched so she could still move among the guests as herself. She could go to the Oasis pool and scope out prospective grooms for these three lovely women without causing a stir.

  The phone on Merry's desk buzzed and she absently punched the button to put her caller on speaker. "Yes?"