by Katie Dowe
She bowed automatically and looked at him in surprise when he took her by the hand and made her stand upright. “It is lovely to meet you, my dear,” he said softly as he pulled her into his arms. Amelia beamed at her and the staff smiled and welcomed her. She felt a sigh of relief as she turned to look at Alexander.
*****
“All of this could not possibly belong to you,” she said in amazement as she finished the tour of his suite.
“It is a little bigger than my suite in the states,” he reminded her.
“Am I allowed to take of my shoes and go barefoot?” She had already kicked off the expensive Romano shoes she had worn today.
“Absolutely,” he told her, grinning as she dug her toes into the rich burgundy carpet of the huge bedroom. “What do you think of the décor?”
“I love it!” The bed was on a raised dais and she swore it could hold more than a dozen people. “Good that it is so big,” she indicated the bed. “You snore.”
“And you burrow,” he returned, walking over to lift her into his arms. “We are required to dress up for dinner.’
“I kind of figured that out.” She clasped him around the neck. “I have tons of clothes that I am not going to finish wearing.”
“We are required to do a number of traveling and very soon you are going to meet the rest of the people who live here.”
“What about your uncle?” she asked him softly.
“He is locked up along with the traitors who went against my father,” he said grimly as he put her onto the bed. “He is getting what he deserves.”
*****
“Ah, my nephew! Prince Alexander himself coming to pay his old uncle a visit,” Alekseev said mockingly as he shifted on the bench. He had chains on his ankles, around his waist and his wrists, but he still managed to look as arrogant as he had been when he was ruling over Costa land with terror.
Prince Alexander nodded to the guards and they disappeared. “The color grey suits you,” he said with a caustic smile. “You were not fit to be king, Uncle, you are much too greedy and evil to be one.”
“I was once told that those were the requirements,” Alekseev said tonelessly as he looked at the imposing man before him. He had kept tabs on him when he was not there and had thought that he would send for him as soon as he got rid of his father. Too bad. “I hear rumors you are to wed. Who is the lucky bride?”
“None of your business. You took what belongs to my father. If I had my way you would be put to death but I guess that what’s makes my father such a great king. His compassion for maggots.”
His uncle’s chains rattled as he made a lunge at him. The guards came running but Alexander lifted his hand imperiously and stopped them while grabbing his uncle by the throat. “I wanted you to try it so badly, but my father said not to harm you.” He squeezed against the man’s windpipe and heard him sputter and gape and it took all of his will power to let go. “He is the king so I have to bow to his command. I have no idea how long.” He smiled as the man clutched his throat and saw the tears running from his eyes. “Goodbye, Uncle,” he said sardonically as he gestured for them to take him away.
*****
“You had no right to go there and behave like that!” his father shouted to his son as he faced him down.
“I wanted to kill him,” Alexander said in a soft implacable voice as he looked at his father. He had been summoned as soon as he had come from the prison.
“He is not your problem to deal with, Alexander, and I am forbidding you to go back there.” They were in the throne room and his father had vacated the throne to come down and talk to him.
“Don’t worry, I could not stomach going back there.” He waved impatiently at the man who hovered nearby.
“You are getting married in a week and you need to get a leash on your emotions.”
“How can you not want to kill him after what he put us through?” Alexander asked him impatiently as he poured wine for both of them.
“Because that would make me like him.” His father accepted the glass of wine and sniffed appreciatively. He looked at the towering man who was his son and realized that he had grown into quite a man to be proud of! “You are going to be king one day and you are going to have to learn how to deal with things like these in a manner befitting a king.”
“Not for a while yet.” He sipped his wine and looked at his father. He had put on weight and the ravages of the past eighteen years were barely showing. He had abandoned his royal garb for expensive faded denims and white sweater and looked relaxed. Amelia and Debbie had gone to visit some residents who were ill and were not expected back until later that evening. “You have fit right back in. How do you get over what happened to you for all those years?”
King Alexei put his goblet on the rosewood table and went to sit on the plump sofa in the room. “I thought about you and your mother.” He smiled slightly. “Where I was in hiding I was not treated badly so I could cope and plan and think a lot about where I went wrong. My brother had always been unstable and resentful. I should have picked up on his conversations when we were together but he is family and to me family means a lot. I should have noticed that he was stirring up trouble among my people.”
“You cannot know everything,” Alexander defended him.
“I am the king and it is my business to know these things.” He smiled at his son. “Now, son, I want to give you a gift before the wedding day.” He arose and went over to a small cabinet which he opened with a small golden key. He reached into it and took out box and handed it to his son. “This is the famous Costa sapphire,” Alexander said looking at him as he opened the box. The sapphire was like a living breathing thing that flashed blue fires in the room. It was magnificent and each stone bigger than the other.
“For your bride.”
“She is going to be afraid to wear it,” he said with a whimsical smile as he lifted it carefully and looked at it.
“You are in love with her,” his father said with a smile.
“More than my own life.” He looked at his dad. “Thanks.”
“You are welcome.” He inclined his head. “I am happy for you.”
*****
“I am not wearing it,” Debbie said stubbornly as they sat on the bed after having supper with his parents.
“You are or you will insult my father.” He put the necklace around her neck before she could stop him. She twisted and looked at it in the full length mirror, gasping as the necklace flashed and glittered.
“It belongs around your neck,” he murmured as he knelt behind her and stared at her reflection.
“It’s too much.”
“Not for you.” He lifted her thick hair to get the full effect.
She started to take off the clothes she had worn for the day as she twisted out of his arms.
“What are doing?”
“I figured we could make love with me wearing only this,” she said with an impish smile.
His eyes darkened and a smile played around his mouth. “Perfect plan,” he said as he took off his clothes and reached for her!
Chapter 10
“This place is unbelievable!” Deloris exclaimed as she stared around at the high arches and the strong beams of the architecture. It was three days to the wedding and they had started arriving starting with her family.
“She has grown since I last saw her!” Debbie exclaimed as she took her niece into her arms. She could not wait to start having children of her own. Her mother and brother were looking around nervously as if they were expected to be reprimanded by one of the many staff that came through with their luggage. They had been placed in two suites; Deloris was staying with their mother and Maia and Derek were together along with their daughter. Maia had gotten bigger overnight and she looked happy.
“She has.” Deloris jumped onto the soft bed. “How on earth do you get accustomed to this?”
“I have only been here a week, remember?” Debbie reminded her as she bounced the baby on
her hip. They were all gathered in the suit Debbie shared with Alexander. He had gone touring with his father after greeting her family and telling them to be at home.
“You look like a princess,” Derek told her gruffly as he stared at the soft blue and white dress she was wearing. It was the middle of the afternoon and yet her hair was caught up into a neat and elegant chignon and she looked as she had stepped from the pages of a magazine.
“Why thank you, Derek,” she said with an impish smile. “I went on tour with Amelia several days and the residents are already referring to me as Princess Debbie. Sometimes I look around to see if they are talking to someone else.”
“It’s a small place so I guess everyone knows everyone else,” her mother commented as she sat stiffly on one of the padded silk stools.
“They do.” Debbie came to sit next to her with her niece on her lap. Five-year-old Melanie ran over to sit next to her aunt and cousin. “Hey, honey! How do you like the place?”
“It is like a fairytale castle, Auntie Debbie!” she said, her large dark brown eyes shining. “Like the ones in my stories.”
“Isn’t it?” Debbie said, pulling on her braid. “You and Darcy will get to spend summer holidays here.”
“We do?” Her eyes went wide as she looked at her parents.
“I am not passing that up, sweetie,” Maia said with a grin.
*****
“It’s the school where the needs of the children with mental and physical challenges are kept.” King Alexei walked through the wrecked rooms with a grim look on his handsome face. His brother had turned the school into his headquarters and had put the children in the regular schools. Now extensive repairs will have to be done.
“He deserves to be put to death,” Special Advisor and trusted employee for years said coldly. “Pardon me, your majesty.”
“You sound like my son,” King Alexei said without being offended. “We have a reinstating ceremony along with the biggest day in my son’s life and I will not allow anything to mar it. My brother is a troubled soul and needs help.”
“I wish I could be so forgiving.” Alexander had come up behind them, his brows furrowed as he looked around the ruins. “When do we start rebuilding?”
“That’s the spirit.” His father clasped him on the back. “We start now.”
*****
There was a flurry of excitement when the rest of the guests arrived a day before the wedding. There was going to be a huge pre-wedding feast tonight and the entire country was involved.
“What is this feast all about?” Debbie asked him as he fed her freshly picked strawberries and grapes from a bowl in the center of their sitting room. Tomorrow was her wedding day and she was feeling the jitters.
“It is a tradition.” He leaned forward and licked the juice of the fruits from the corner of her mouth and caused her to shiver. They made love every chance they got. He would be in the middle of some assignment and he would call her and told her he needed her. He would then come and get her and they would find some privacy nook and he would make love to her there. One afternoon last week they had been on a tour of the museum when he had pulled her out of the crowd and had taken her into an empty office where he had proceeded to pull down the pants she had on and take her from behind. He had clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle the scream that had been ripped from her throat. They had rejoined the group with none of the persons being the wiser. “It is also a chance for the members of the various communities to be a part of the celebration because the actual wedding itself is close members of families only.”
“How do I dress?” She was distracted by his bare muscled chest and could feel the heat inside her.
“I have asked Leone to pick something out for you.”
“I already told you I do not need a personal maid, Alexander,” she told him impatiently.
“It comes with the territory, I am afraid,” he told her drolly. “You are going to be involved in a lot of things here and you are not going to have time to pick out the appropriate clothing. You are going to be a princess, baby, and you are going to be photographed a dozen times a day. You are not going to want to be seen in the same clothes twice.”
“Thanks for easing off the pressure,” she said dryly.
“You are welcome,” he said with a grin.
“When were you going to tell me that you visited your uncle in prison?” The question threw him and he looked at her sharply before getting to his feet.
“There was nothing to tell.” He went over to the window and looked down. It had snowed earlier and the place was covered with the fine powdery substance. He could see members of staff scurrying around to get their chores done. He was home and he loved it. He hoped that Debbie would come to love it the way he did!
“You are angry.” She had come up behind him and slid her hands around his waist. “I am going to want you to share with me. I require nothing less.”
He stood still for a moment and then turned to face her. She was so petite and packed such a wallop, he thought whimsically as he brushed the hair from her face. The people already loved her and were calling her Princess Debbie. “I will give you nothing else,” he assured her softly. “I want to spare you from all the issues surrounding this beautiful country of ours.”
“I am going to be this country’s princess so I am going to have to take the good with the bad, Alexander,” she reminded him. “I am in love with the prince so everything comes with it.”
His fingers dug into her hair. “You never said that to me before!” he said huskily.
“Why else would I uproot and come thousands of miles to a strange place?” she asked him mildly with a smile playing around her lips.
“Baby.” His head bent to rest on hers as he breathed in. “You are the most contrary woman I have ever met.”
“And I aim to remain the only woman in your life, Alexander,” she warned him. “I have seen the natives looking at you as if they tasted something good and want to taste again.” Her fingers dug into his waist and caused him to wince. “No looking or touching or tasting, Alexander, or I will forget that I am supposed to be a genteel princess and claim my territory.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He could not help but grin at the look on her exquisite face. “I have everything I want right here.” He lifted her and took her back to bed.
“Alexander, we have-”
“It can wait,” he murmured as he removed the robe she was wearing. “Until after this.”
*****
The wives and their husbands and children had all come along with several other members of the Elite Club. The two hotels that the country boasted were filled to capacity. Amelia had made special provisions for the wives and husbands to stay at the palace along with their families and the place was crawling with people keeping the kitchen staff really busy. There were smiles wreathed on the faces of the palace staff as they hurried about attending to the guests.
Her dress was new and was long and flowing and silver in color. It had tiny pearls inlaid at the snug fitting bodice and around the waist. The emerald earrings and bracelets had been given to her only this morning by Amelia. “Another heirloom,” the woman had told her with a hug.
Her hair had been done by the professional stylist that had come over with Leesa and the crew. She stared at herself in the mirror hardly able to believe that this was her. She looked totally different and she was beginning to think that she was. Alexander had gone downstairs to speak with his father and would be coming back so they could go down together.
“You look lovely,” her mother’s quiet voice sounded behind her. She turned to face the woman who had given her so much hell because of the bitterness of her husband leaving her and the fact that Debbie had always told her what needed to be said.
“Thanks, Mom.” She walked over as swiftly as the close fitting dress would allow. Delia Williams had on a plum colored dress with three quarter sleeves and a modest hemline but the dress flattered her slightly plump figure and m
ade her looked different. Her thick natural hair peppered with grey was brushed back into an elegant bun at the back of her head. “You look very nice.” She lifted the woman’s hands and twirled her around.
“Girl, stop,” she said with a small smile on her mouth. “You were always made for greater things than we could ever offer you. I guess that’s why I was so hard on you. I envied you your free spirit and the ability to talk your mind. Now you are on your way to becoming a princess and I am so proud.”
“Thanks, Mom,” she said warmly, finding it hard to believe that her mother had admitted to being envious of her. “Why don’t you come and live here?”
“I want to stay and help Deloris with Darcy, but I promise as soon as you start having kids I will fly right over.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Debbie said softly and on impulse she leaned over and kissed her cheek, surprising the older woman.
*****
“Duke and Duchess of Montgomery!” the solemn voice intoned as the guests made their way into the large ballroom glittering with lights.
“Prince Alexander and his fiancée Lady Debbie!”
“Lady Debbie?” She looked up at him as they made their way to the table where his parents were seated.
“Yes.” He smiled down at her admiring the way the dress fitted her. He was so proud to have her on his arm that he wanted to dance with the pleasure of it. “Automatically you have the title since you are engaged to me.”
“I see.” She looked around the packed room especially at the women sitting there in their gorgeous attires. “I had no idea so many people were going to be here.”
“It’s two of the biggest events of the year, possibly the century so they all came out to support us.”
She made a curtsey as soon as the king and queen got to their feet. “Sit please, my dear,” the king said beaming at her. “You look stunning.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“You are going to have to drop that ‘Your Majesty’ crap, my dear. You are family now.”
She laughed at the use of the word coming from him.
