by Ames, Ilsa
“Why American, may I ask?” She was rather forward, but I put that off to her culture and the fact that she was more than likely still stunned. A woman from my country wouldn’t have dared to ask me anything, they’d just follow my lead.
I stared down at her attire, a hoodie and a pair of jeans – her hair up in a bun was the only realistic part of my imaginings of a little old nanny coming to fill the position. The clothes hid most of her, but they couldn’t hide the swell of her breasts or the flare of her hips. A fine pair of hips, made for birth and sex. I’d almost forgotten her question by the time she cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at me.
“I visited there quite often in my youth, and English is a language much in demand. Livia can speak English but I want her to have a deeper understanding of the language as Americans speak it. You were qualified with your early childhood education and child development degrees, and your experience as a substitute teacher. You suited my requirements perfectly.”
“Ah. I see.” Her eyes said she still wasn’t quite sure how she’d ended up in a palace, but she’d get used to it.
“Livia is a strong-willed child, especially without her mother present. We divorced when Livia was only a baby, after all. You will find the princess intelligent, likable, but sometimes unruly. I hope your influence can calm some of that.”
“I can only try.” Her tongue came out to wet her dry lips, and I followed the slick tip across every centimeter of the plump flesh.
I knew damn well I shouldn’t have been so distracted by her, but the woman was beautiful and that tongue captivated me. I lost track of time as she fidgeted in her chair. She had high cheekbones, eyes that spoke of humor and intelligence, a beautiful face even without makeup, and a body that I knew would fit into mine perfectly. Even if she had hidden that body behind her clothes.
If only she wasn’t my daughter’s new au pair. And I didn’t have a dozen meetings to attend to.
“I’ll take you to meet her then. Someone will show you to your quarters later. For now, I’d like you to meet my daughter. She’s been anxiously waiting for your arrival since she got up this morning.”
“Does she like having an au pair?” She stood and followed behind me, and I slowed my pace to let her catch up.
“She is used to it now. She has tutors for her education, but you may need to help with her instruction from time to time. She also has guards, although they usually aren’t to be seen when she’s in the palace, only when she leaves her rooms.”
“Ah. Of course.” She nodded her head and kept pace with me. She wasn’t daunted, I decided, just tired and in shock. Good, perhaps my decision to hire her was correct then. She’d been vetted by the agency, who forwarded me all of the details to aid my decision. Not many had met my expectations but Cara had met all of them, exceeded them in some ways.
We arrived at the door to Livia’s quarters and I opened the solid oak stained a dark brown. The surface had been polished smooth by the hands of generations of children, nannies, and parents of my ancestors. I opened the door to reveal a room of white that was airy and light. Most of the furniture was white to match the walls and curtains with the only real spot of color the emerald green dress my daughter wore. It matched the green of her eyes, the same green as mine, traced with dark eyelashes that highlighted their almond shape.
Instead of my blond hair, however, my daughter had the light brown hair of my mother. Livia’s mother, Ivana, had black hair and brown eyes that’d always seemed cold, despite the warmth inherent in that color. Our marriage had been arranged by my father long before I was even able to stomach girls, much less think of marrying with one. We’d settled into our marriage and I’d hoped her eyes would warm, especially after Livia came along, but instead, they’d only gone colder.
She’d told me she’d done her duty, and wanted to be free. She meant free to sleep around on me with other men, but I’d squashed that idea with divorce papers. That had been sealed in our marriage contract. Any infidelity would end with divorce and no alimony. She hadn’t read the contract, obviously, when she’d admitted to an affair a year after the birth of our child.
The thing is, there’s so much that could’ve been forgiven too, if only she’d been there for our daughter. But she’d been a worse mother than she’d been a wife. On multiple occasions, my secret service had been forced to intervene when Ivana had almost walked out of stores with Livia still sitting in her stroller off by the dressing rooms. There’d been nights I’d come back to our quarters late after council meetings to find Livia screaming and hungry while Ivana watched television soap operas with headphones on.
The affair might have been the final straw in my rather doomed from the start marriage, but really, it was concern for my darling daughter’s safety and well-being that pushed us over the line.
“Hello, mala princeza.” Cara surprised me with her use of the Ikrosovnian language. Livia’s eyes went bright, though, and she spoke before I could.
“Hello, Cara.” My daughter’s beautiful little eyes looked up with a smile as Cara came near her.
“How did you know my name?” Cara asked, her eyes studying my daughter as if noting her intelligence.
“Well, your shirt has the name of an American football team on it.” Livia said, her little fingers pointed at Cara’s shirt. “And I’m waiting on my new au pair. You are a stranger; she is a stranger from America, so I have to assume that’s you, right?”
“Not bad for a five-year-old. Wow, very good observation, Livia.”
“There’s also your accent.” Livia went on to point out. “I don’t know many Americans here.”
“Oh, I didn’t think it was noticeable.”
“Barely, but it is.” Livia took Cara’s hand and led her to a white velvet couch. “Come and sit with me, tell me how you know my language.”
I could tell that Cara was already in Livia’s thrall, so I quietly left the two to get to know each other. Livia had spoken with the foreign woman as she would me or one of my siblings, not with her usual shy reserve, so I knew she would be fine. The tutor would be along to claim Livia anyway, my daughter’s lunch break would soon be over and Cara would be able to go about settling into her quarters.
My personal assistant joined me as I neared the hall where we held meetings. I had started to take over most of my father, the king’s, duties a year ago and was now a very busy man. That didn’t leave me a lot of time to spend with Livia, despite the fact that my intelligent little girl was my favorite person. I just hoped that Cara would keep her busy and maybe help redirect some of that energy she expended on mischief.
“You have a 10:30 meeting with the head of the defense ministry, another at 13:00 hours with the head of the health and safety ministry, and another one at 14:00 hours with the head of the teacher’s union. In between those, I’ve set up a few that should only take a few moments of your time. If the other meetings should run long, I’ll reschedule as usual.”
“Thank you, Viktor, I’ll call you if I need you. Please show the defense minister in when he arrives.” I didn’t even look at Viktor; I was already in beast mode. I didn’t have time for niceties with my PA, but then, he knew that.
I couldn’t show weakness, ever, to anybody, least of all the defense minister. My country, and one-day-kingdom, was a small place, almost as small as Monaco, and that meant we always had to be on the lookout for takeover attempts. We were not a part of the European Union and many heads of state would’ve jumped at the opportunity to annex my country for our natural gas and coal deposits.
My countrymen were not poor, we all benefited from the fruits of our soil, and a lot of people outside of our small country resented that. They wanted our wealth for themselves, and it was my job to make sure that didn’t happen. My father, Zarko, wasn’t growing feeble, but he tired easily now. At seventy-one, he had suddenly become old, and more and more, he relied on me to fulfill his duties.
I went over the stack of papers Viktor left for me on the
long dark-stained table in the wide, open room. Petitions for new oil fields in the lake district, which I would decline because I didn’t want to spoil our lakes and rivers, a request from my accountants to pay last month’s bills, which I’d go over later on my own time, a new law about divorce that would allow women to return to their maiden names, and a lot more that would have to be dealt with later.
I tried to concentrate on the summary of the points for the conference I was about to have with the general, but found a pair of blue eyes distracting me. Only a memory, of course. The owner of those eyes was busy with my daughter now. She had such a calm demeanor, and her presence soothed me. Yet, it also inflamed me, because she immediately brought out a need in me to protect. Something about her quiet poise had caught me off-guard. And those lips.
Dammit.
I flicked the paper away and leaned back in the antique walnut chair at the head of the table. I gripped the armrests and heard a soft sigh pass my lips as I thought about the plump expanse of her smile. Sweet and innocent. Totally without guile, opposite of Ivana in every way.
I exhaled and tried to regain control of my body. What was it about the waif of a girl that distracted me so?
Ivana and I were young when we married, far too young in many parts of the world at twenty-two and twenty-one, but it was our fate. We’d had our youthful indiscretions; it wasn’t like we weren’t allowed to live our teenage years as other people did. She’d traveled the world, had her affairs, the same as I had. I didn’t begrudge her those exploits, at all. I wasn’t a total jerk; I knew she had to have a life of her own. A year before we married, we began to see each other, and I thought we’d built up a rapport. I’d even thought I’d loved her. Or at least, I’d told myself I did, perhaps to make the arranged aspect of it more palatable.
Our marriage bed was…cold, though, to say the least. She’d never seemed to actually want me, not really, and I honestly hadn’t wanted her when it came down to it.
I’d tried to woo her. I’d done everything she asked of me, but she’d never wanted to go with me on the state trips I took, or to perform her duties as my princess. She’d rather spend my money, or go out with her friends. She’d bought an entire house and a vineyard one time just to use the cellar and the grounds for a party she threw for one of our country’s enemies. She claimed she only wanted to build bridges with the man, but I’d smelled his cologne on her, and I didn’t need to go find her scent on him to know why she’d really bought the house to begin with.
That was after Livia came along. Before that, she’d disappear for days on end, wouldn’t tell anyone where she was. Then there were the other problems, alcohol and drugs. She almost died when she was pregnant with Livia, from alcohol poisoning. For the longest time I worried over Livia’s health because of Ivana’s substance issues.
So, that was that. I’d sent her packing, I’d obviously kept Livia myself, and for all I knew, Ivana was happy off with her drug dealer boyfriend and her carefree lifestyle. She never came to visit Livia, never called to ask about her, and the only time I really heard from her was when she wanted more money.
Good fucking riddance.
The general came in then and distracted me from thoughts of both Cara and Ivana. It wasn’t so hard to drive thoughts of my ex-wife away, but I did find myself lost in thought more than once over Cara’s lips. They were so full, made for kisses, and far more pleasurable activities. Maybe, but no. I cut the thought off. She was Livia’s au pair; I couldn’t do anything that might make her run away. Livia deserved to have a stable woman in her life, and from what she’d shown me in only a few moments, I knew Cara might be that woman. For Livia’s sake, I’d control myself.
Besides, women threw themselves at me all the time. Someone would surely come along to take my mind off the delightful little American mouse who had shown up at my door. A rather adorable mouse who intrigued me, I had to admit. I almost wish I’d met her in another life – me just an anonymous foreigner in her country. How nice would it have been to meet her on a level playing field. I knew some women only wanted me for my title, or my wealth, or my face and body, but something told me that wouldn’t be the case with Cara. She was too down-to-earth for that nonsense.
I almost had to laugh at myself. God, I didn’t even know her.
But I was going to.
Ah, but back to my meeting, I thought, refocusing on the general once again. Time to get back to my real life, and endless round of meetings.
Chapter 3
Cara
“And this is my desk, where I do my work.” The little girl with light brown hair and intelligent green eyes smiled a smile that revealed two missing front teeth, both on the bottom. “Do you know children lose their teeth in the same order in which they appeared, generally?”
I blinked down at the little girl, lost for a moment. “You were looking at my teeth.”
She laughed, a full, hearty laugh that held no self-consciousness.
“How do you know that?” In all of my years with elementary-school aged children I’d never heard that.
“My doctor told my father that when I lost my first tooth last month. Papa was worried I was too young to be losing my teeth already, but the doctor says it’s normal.”
“I did not know that.” I sat down in the chair beside her at the large white table that served as her desk. I saw coloring pencils and crayons, safety scissors, paints, glue, and even a very expensive calligraphy pen. “So what have learned so far, Princess?”
“You may call me Livia, Cara. We will spend a lot of time together and being called princess all the time gets so boring.” She kind of melted in her chair for a moment before she sat back up with a gimlet smile. “Papa is handsome, is he not?”
“He is, indeed. Now, about those subjects you’ve studied?” I’d noticed her distraction attempt and called her on it. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, but then she smiled. It was normal for her to test her boundaries; I just had to make sure she knew there were some, princess or not.
“I’ve studied maths, sciences, both earth science and biology, as well as French and Latin this year. I’ll start on German next year my tutor says.”
“Very good, Livia.” I knew children of the wealthy were offered some very unique educational opportunities, but to be learning languages so early amazed me.
“Obviously, I’ve already learned English, Papa insisted I be raised with both, but it’s a more British version of English than your American. I like your accent.”
“Thank you. It’s the only one I have, so I’m afraid I can’t sound any other way,” I said with a smile.
“You know some Ikrosovnian, though, you said.” Livia picked up a marker and a coloring page of tree leaves with their proper names beneath and began to color.
“Yes, my mother was Ikrosovnian. I can barely remember it now.”
“Why?” she asked, her efforts to color an oak leaf blue stalled.
“My mother, well, she died when I was young, around your age.”
“That’s terrible!” Her little eyebrows puckered together and her mouth turned down into a pout. “My puppy Stefan died last year. It’s not nice, this death we all must face.”
I knew then I would live in a state of shock around this child. Such wisdom for one so young.
“No, it isn’t nice, and sometimes it comes for us far too early. What’s this leaf called in Ikrosovnian?” I did not want to darken the girl’s day so I used her own trick and changed the subject. She told me the name of the leaf and then the ones for the others before her tutor came in. An aide came in to direct me to my own quarters, and I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking my bags and getting to know my rooms.
Not far from Livia’s, my quarters consisted of a private bathroom, kitchen, living room, and a bedroom. I also had a small office with a computer provided by the palace. In the living room I found a modest-sized flat-screen television, a radio, game consoles, and DVD players. My bathroom was spacious enough with both a bat
htub and a shower stall, and there were even heated towel racks. Outside, I knew there would be a personal car, for my own use as that was part of my contract, and that I would be able to use it on my days off. Those days were left up to me to decide, and I’d decided that Sundays and Mondays would be my days off. I would also have American and Ikrosovnian holidays to myself, if I chose, also a stipulation of my contract.
I looked around the bedroom as I put a final sweatshirt away. It was furnished with a recliner, a rocking chair, a closet, dresser, and nightstand all made from olive wood, with a thick white duvet on the queen-sized bed. It was all very nicely appointed, with a large window but it was not overly expensive furniture. Just right for my position, I decided. I flicked on the TV opposite the foot of the bed and settled in to check out Ikrosovnian television. That’s when I discovered I had British, German, French, and Ikrosovnian channels on the television. A mixture of all of them.
I found a show and set my phone alarm to go off in an hour, since Livia would be finished with her classes by then. I fell asleep with a smile on my face. She was a little rascal and he, uh, yeah. Her dad was a wonder to behold with that silky blond hair and those devilish green eyes, and I’m pretty sure it’s that face that was filling my head as I fell asleep. The long trip and jet lag had finally caught up with me. I’d have preferred to wait a couple of days before I started my duties, but didn’t mind that I’d been thrown to the little wolf already. She would be a handful, but she was an utter delight. My last thought, though, was of her father, just before the world disappeared.
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I spent the next couple of weeks with Livia and her tutor Alexa. We would often go on outings to teach Livia about earth science, or to museums to show her about the history of a country that she may very well one-day rule. She was her father’s heir, so it was a possibility. That surprised me, and daunted me for a day or two. I had to care for the future ruler of a country, and let me tell you, it wasn’t the same as when you thought the kid you taught to count might someday be president. Oh no. When you know you are a part of the childhood of a future royal, it changes your outlook.
