Her Highness, Princess Perry_Contemporary Reverse Harem

by Serena Akeroyd

  They didn’t like fuss, and they certainly wouldn’t like the rigmarole of a royal wedding. And, for as much as she considered herself different from them, in that, they’d raised her right.

  The whole parade wasn’t something she was looking forward to. A lot of girls would probably kill to be involved in a royal wedding. Not even as the bride, but just to be a part of the congregation! Not Perry.

  She was, quite frankly, dreading it.

  Not the marriage part, oddly enough.

  She wanted that. And having seen more reports than she cared to regarding the kidnapping plot, she wanted to be Edward’s wife with a ferocity that stunned her.

  “Do we have to?” Janice said eventually, and Perry realized she’d been quiet so long that she’d almost forgotten the question she’d posed to her mother.

  Because she couldn’t be offended when she herself didn’t feel like attending either, and it was her damn rigmarole, she murmured, “You kind of have to, Momma. Or there’ll be talk.”

  “Think I’d prefer the talk,” came the blunt response.

  Perry laughed. “You would because you wouldn’t hear it. I, on the other hand, would never hear the end of it.”

  She ruefully recognized that whether she’d like it or not, within the upcoming weeks, her men would have realized she hadn’t yet informed her parents so would have had no choice but to share her news… arrangements would have to be made, after all.

  “Perry, I’m not certain we can afford the getup we’d have to wear.”

  “I can afford it.”

  “I’m not letting your husband pay for our clothes,” Janice retorted, sounding both stiff and prideful at the same time.

  “You don’t have to let him pay for anything,” Perry snapped. “I can afford anything you need to wear. I’m not a pauper, Mom. I’ve done quite well for myself, thank you very much.”

  Sure, her apartment back in Boston wasn’t as big or as grand as George’s, but hell, nobody’s was. He lived in a freakin’ New England palace in comparison to the average apartment, and her place, though small and simple, was above average.

  “We don’t like charity. You know that,” Janice replied.

  “I know you don’t. But this isn’t charity, is it? It’s from me. We’ll have to make arrangements to get you guys over here, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll talk to Edward today and have him call Papa.” Perry coughed. “I’ll also try to call you more, keep you in the loop about what’s going on.”

  “I’m not sure I’ll be much help, Perry. What do I know about organizing something like that?”

  The simple lives her parents had always led, the simplicity of her own life before she’d met George, washed over her then.

  Nothing would be anything less than complicated from now on.

  A visit home wouldn’t constitute worries over whether she’d be able to take the paid time off without her boss getting mad, and there would never be fears about being able to pay for the tickets—although, that hadn’t happened since her student days. She wasn’t lying when she said she made a nice living from her career.

  But that was neither here nor there.

  From now on, her life would be a welter of complications, most of which she wasn’t and would never be prepared for.

  Going home would involve security protocol she couldn’t even begin to imagine, and just going out with her mother to buy the dress she’d wear to the wedding would undoubtedly require more bodyguards than Rihanna at Coachella.

  Perry pursed her lips as she contemplated the best way to answer her mother’s question. “You know as little about organizing this kind of thing as I do, Mom. So, you know what? We leave it to the pros.”

  A small laugh sounded down the line. “I knew my daughter was smart, I just didn’t realize how smart.”

  And Perry, taking that for what it was, beamed happily at the compliment.

  Chapter Four

  “Put it on speaker,” Xavier prompted.

  Edward pulled a face but complied, and the ringing tones on the other end of the cell suddenly echoed quite loudly in George’s office. The three of them shared glances, and George whispered, “Are you nervous?”

  “A bit.” The way he wriggled his shoulders told George his brother was lying. But that didn’t surprise him. Edward did, after all, have a way of stretching the truth.

  Before George could call him out and cry bullshit, the line connected.

  "Hello?"

  Part of him wanted to laugh at the voice of the woman on the other end of the line. It was an equal ratio of suspicious and accusatory. From what Perry had told him about her parents, both made sense. Neither her mother nor her father liked technology.

  That apparently included landline telephones, if Janice’s tone was anything to go by.

  He couldn’t say they hadn’t been warned. When Perry had asked Edward to contact her father, she’d told him her parents were a little unusual.

  Considering they’d created her, that seemed about right, he thought with an amused twitch of his lips.

  Edward cleared his throat — only “a bit” nervous, his ass. “Mrs. Taylor? This is Edward DeSauvier speaking. I believe your daughter, Perry, has spoken with you today and has informed you of our nuptials…”

  George gaped at his cousin, who gaped right back. Shooting a glower at his older brother, one Edward missed because he was too busy scowling down at his desk, George shook his head. There was being formal, and then there was being 1820’s formal.

  Janice cleared her throat too — seemed she was nervous as well. “Mr. DeSauvier, is that what I call you? Or Your Highness?”

  “That isn’t necessary, Mrs.… may I call you Janice?”

  “Please, do.”

  “Before anything, I’ll be your daughter’s husband. It’s only right that you call me Edward.”

  “I appreciate your clarifying the situation for me,” Janice said. Quite formally too, George thought. Although this entire conversation looked set to be more conservative than a morning spent in Parliament.

  “Perry expressed your wishes to me, and I’m ashamed that I had to be prompted. There was no disrespect intended in my oversight.” Edward reached up and rubbed at his temples. “I hope you can believe that.”

  “We’re an old-fashioned family, Edward. I know such customs are dying out, so there’s nothing to forgive. But I’m grateful for your calling. Would you like to speak to my husband?”

  Edward’s tone was grave. “I’d like that very much.”

  A pleased hum sounded down the line. “I look forward to meeting you, Edward.”

  “The feeling is mutual, Janice. Do you have a pen?”

  “A pen?” There was the sound of rummaging around in the background. Then, the telltale click as a retractable ballpoint pen was discovered. “Yes, I do now.”

  Edward recited the private number to his office. “Janice, that’s a number very few people have. You can call me anytime of the day or night, whether you’re concerned about the wedding, or about Perry’s safety, or whatever. I’m here. I intend on being a very good son-in-law.”

  George could sense Janice didn’t really know how to answer that. Her silence was heavy and long, then she murmured in a soft voice, “I appreciate your saying that, Edward.” She coughed. “I’ll get my husband now.”

  The landline was placed on the counter, then shuffling steps sounded in the near distance. Xavier leapt on Janice’s absence to grumble, “You sound like you belong in a Dickens novel.”

  Edward frowned at him. “Perry said they’re old-fashioned.”

  “Janice didn’t sound like she disapproved,” George pointed out quietly, surprised too.

  “You’re going to marry into the family, not be their king,” was all Xavier said next. “Are you going to be the same with her father?”

  “If it isn’t broken,” Edward murmured, shrugging.

  “Still not nervous?” George mocked, having watched Edward’s shoulders wriggl
e more in the past five minutes than in the past five days.

  His elder brother shot him a disgruntled look. “Shut up.”

  A clicking noise sounded on the speaker, and the three of them sat upright like damn meerkats who knew they were in a hunter’s sight.

  “Sir?” Edward asked carefully.

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  He shot George and Xavier a wide-eyed look, then after blowing out a breath, murmured, “I’m Edward DeSauvier.”

  “My wife said you wanted to speak with me?”

  “Yes. It’s about Perry.”

  “My daughter?”

  George covered his mouth to hide his laugh.

  “Yes. Your daughter.”

  “What’s she done now?”

  “Well, nothing, sir. I’m her partner.”

  “Her partner,” came the stunted reply. “Like in business? At that fool laboratory of hers? You a scientist too?” The man’s tone was suddenly loaded down with suspicion. “What are you calling me for? She in trouble? If she’s blown up that lab of hers again, I can’t be held responsible for it.”

  Edward’s mouth gaped. Hell, he wasn’t the only one. George felt flabbergasted too. Perry had blown up a lab before?

  “No. Nothing like that. I’m not a scientist. I’m a… well, I’m her partner, as in, we’re in a relationship.”

  “A personal relationship?”

  “Yes.” Edward frowned, rubbed his forehead. “We’ve been seeing each other for quite some time.”

  “You have?” Nathaniel sounded doubtful. “Since when?”

  Edward widened his eyes, and George held up two hands. Nodding, Edward mumbled, “Eight months.”

  “That’s a long time. Has to be the longest she’s kept a man. Never did understand why she didn’t take up with Abe Grantham. He’d have put up with that fool science of hers.”

  George barely withheld a snicker. Casting Xavier a look, George saw his cousin was equally as amused. Only Edward looked bewildered.

  “Well, I’m a very lucky man. She makes me happy, sir.”

  “That’s good, that’s good. There a reason you’re calling, Edward?”

  “Well, I’d like to marry her, sir. And I’d like to ask you for her hand.”

  Silence fell, then came, “You know she’s in her thirties, don’t you, son?” came the kindly retort. “I love my daughter, but she’s a willful girl. Not exactly the marrying sort. She won’t wash your dishes, and if you ask her to do your laundry, she’s the type who’ll put a red sweater in to discourage you from asking her again.”

  George couldn’t help it. He laughed aloud. Edward wafted a disgruntled hand at him, but even he had amusement firing up his eyes.

  Perry would be mortified if she’d heard this call. Though he found it funny, George knew full well she wouldn’t. Relieved she wasn’t here to hear this, he watched as Edward struggled to find a response.

  “Well, I can afford to have someone else clean my dishes and do my laundry.”

  George shot him a thumbs up, and Edward looked relieved to have fielded it.

  “And I’m forty-one, sir. Perry’s a lot younger than me.”

  “Still, a man can have children at any age.”

  “I want her for more than just her ovaries,” Edward said stiffly.

  “Nathaniel, what are you trying to do? Discourage the man? He’s my one shot at grandbabies. You shut your trap.” The discontented grumble sounded loud and clear: Janice, apparently, wasn’t happy with her husband.

  “I’m just being honest, Janice. Heck, I don’t want Perry getting a divorce just because she’s not the most house proud of women.”

  “Like that matters anymore. I told you. Edward’s important,” came her hissed retort.

  “My wife says you’re important, son. That true?”

  “Yes, sir. Relatively speaking, anyway.”

  “Who are you then?”

  “Well, I’m Edward DeSauvier.”

  “He’s a prince,” Janice whispered, but her tone was quite audible down the line.

  “A prince?” For the first time, Nathaniel sounded truly surprised. “Which country?”

  “Veronia, sir.”

  Silence fell.

  “Are you all right, sir?”

  Nathaniel cleared his throat. “Do I have to call you anything special?”

  “Just Edward will do.”

  “Then I suppose you’d better call me Nathaniel.” The older man hummed a little. “Well, I wouldn’t say Perry is princess material, but she’ll certainly keep you grounded, son.”

  Edward laughed a little, for the first time sounding a touch more relaxed than usual. “That’s for sure, Nathaniel. She’s already doing that. She makes me very happy.”

  “Even though she wasn’t reared for that kind of life?”

  “I don’t know what you know of my past, but I’ve been married to someone who was reared for this life. She didn’t make me happy. She made me miserable. I know the difference. Perry’s a breath of fresh air, and it would be my honor to serve as her husband.”

  A gust of air sounded. “Well, it’s good of you to ask. Not many would. Folk are so rude nowadays.”

  George and Xavier grimaced, but Edward winced—he hadn’t acted without prompt. Perry had had to ask him to call. “That they are, Nathaniel. Your opinion is important to me. I’m sorry to be doing this over the phone, but Perry says you’re a man who understands responsibilities, so you’ll appreciate why I can’t leave my post here on a whim.”

  “I’d say our ideas of responsibilities are two entirely different things. A whole country isn’t about to fall apart if I wake up late and don’t milk the cows on time,” Nathaniel said gruffly.

  “No, but a man’s land is his own personal kingdom.”

  “That’s very true,” came the bright response. “And I do understand why you can’t be here, though I do wish I could meet you first.”

  “Don’t be difficult, Nathaniel,” Janice grumbled.

  “But yes, of course, you have my permission to ask my daughter to marry you,” Nathaniel said quickly, and George could easily imagine that Janice, who seemed like an older version of Perry, had given her husband the stink-eye until he’d conceded.

  Edward blew out a relieved breath. “I can’t tell you how much that pleases me, sir.”

  “Less of the “sir.” Nathaniel, remember?”

  “You’re right. Of course. I promise, I’ll do right by your daughter, Nathaniel.”

  “Just love her and care for her. Nothing more a man can ask for his only baby girl.”

  “I have no intention of waiting a long time to wed Perry if she says yes. So, I’ll be in touch with the arrangements for the wedding. You’ll walk her down the aisle, won’t you?”

  More silence. “I’ll assume this won’t be a small affair?”

  “No, sir. It will be taking place in Yorke Abbey.”

  “On the TV?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Jesus wept.” A long breath gusted down the line. “We’re simple folk, Edward. Not used to that kind of thing.”

  “No, but if it’s any consolation, I am used to that kind of thing, and I’m nervous.”

  “Not sure if that makes me feel better or worse,” the older man grumbled.

  “Hush now, Nathaniel. You’ll walk Perry down the aisle, make no mistake. If she says yes, that is,” Janice said with a huff.

  “My wife apparently has no worries about me making a damn fool of myself in front of the cameras. Considering she’ll undoubtedly be waiting in the wings while I’m the one on show.”

  “Technically, Perry’s on show.”

  Nathaniel chortled. “You know she trips a lot, don’t you?”

  George covered his mouth to hide his laughter.

  “Yes, sir. It hasn’t escaped my attention.” Edward chuckled a little.

  “Well, if you know that and want to marry her anyway, who am I to put a spanner in the works? I’ll prepare myself for the madn
ess, Edward. Don’t be a stranger, will you? And have Perry call us if she says yes.”

  “I surely will,” Edward replied. “It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, Nathaniel.”

  “Likewise. Be good to her, son. You might be a prince, but you’ll be her husband first and foremost,” Nathaniel murmured, his words mimicking Edward’s earlier ones.

  “We’re on the same page there. You don’t have to fear that.”

  “A man always fears for his baby girl. You sound like good people, and I’m too American to be afraid of your title. If you hurt her, being a prince won’t stop me from hunting you down with my shotgun,” he said cheerfully.

  So cheerfully it was impossible to take offense.

  “Consider me warned,” Edward joked with a laugh.

  “Good. Best of luck with Perry. I’ll be rooting for you.”

  “Thank you, Nathaniel. Good day.”

  When the men cut the call, George let out a whistle. “Perry’s just like them, isn’t she?”

  “Guess we shouldn’t be too surprised,” Xavier replied, but his grin was wide. “I like them. I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

  Edward rubbed his chin. “Same here. Let’s not mention any of what he said though, eh?”

  George snorted. “She’d be mortified.”

  “Exactly. He didn’t sell her in a nice light, did he?” Edward mumbled.

  “Nope. Like father, like daughter,” Xavier said, and the three of them shared a glance, then burst out laughing.

  “You do realize this is bullshit, don’t you?”

  George’s nostrils flared with amusement—it was the only way he could hide his need to laugh. “Stop bitching,” he said gruffly.

  “You can’t reprimand someone while simultaneously trying to stop yourself from laughing,” Perry retorted as he zipped up the back of her dress. “It’s like, the law or something.”

  “I’ve never heard of a law like that.”

  “It’s a parenting law, dummy,” she retorted, wriggling and wiggling as she tried to settle the dress more comfortably on her torso.

  He watched with great interest as she slipped her hands inside the neckline of the dress, cupped her breasts, then jiggled them around while watching her reflection in the mirror.