The King's Convenient Bride / The Illegitimate Prince's Baby

“I see you’re back,” he said.

In lieu of a civilized greeting, she said, “You’re an idiot.”

Obviously she was in a snit over something. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, curious as to what he had done to provoke her this time, and sure he was about to find out.

“Your fiancée was barely here a day and you took off? To go hunting? That was harsh, even for you.”

He wasn’t even sure why she cared. And because he didn’t owe anyone an explanation, least of all her, he didn’t give her one.

“She must scare the hell out of you,” she said.

Instantly his hackles went up, and before he could stop himself, he warned her, “Don’t even go there.”

Leave it to Sophie to know exactly which of his buttons to push. From the moment she was born, she had made it her mission in life to torment him, as sisters often did.

“She’s the real deal. But you already know that, don’t you? That’s why you’re so determined to keep her at arm’s length.”

She couldn’t be more wrong. He was doing Hannah a favor. But Sophie would never understand that. “You’re in no position to give me relationship advice. Who did you run off with the other night, Sophie?”

Her smug smile was all the answer he needed.

“You’re coming to a family dinner tomorrow night,” she told him. “You and Hannah, at my residence.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

Though he was inclined to refuse, for no reason other than the fact that she demanded it, he realized it was probably a good idea. Were Hannah to befriend Sophie, she might be less unsettled in his absence. She had looked utterly crushed when he refused her dinner invitation. He liked Hannah, and he didn’t want her to be unhappy. But he couldn’t change the person he was.

“All right,” he told Sophie.

She looked surprised. “Really? And here I was all prepared to pull out the brass knuckles.”

He would have guessed as much. But, after the heated disagreement he’d just had with the prime minister, he simply wasn’t in the mood for another fight. “What time would you like us?”

“Seven o’clock. And bring a bottle of wine. In fact, bring a red and a white. I’m making roast leg of lamb.”

“You’re making it? Well, I’ll be sure to bring a bottle of antacid, too. And perhaps I should put the palace physician on high alert as well. Just in case.”

Pleased that she had gotten her way, she ignored the jab. Besides, she knew as well as he did that the insult was unfounded. She had trained at one of the most prestigious culinary academies in all of Europe, and was an accomplished, gifted chef. It was a passion that had been vehemently discouraged by their parents. But Sophie somehow always managed to get what she wanted.

It both annoyed and impressed him.

“I’ll see you both tomorrow then,” she said.

He kept his face bland. “I can hardly contain my excitement.”

She only smiled.

“Is that it?” he asked.

“I suppose you noticed Madeline on Monday.”

The mystery woman Hannah had asked him about. Of course he’d noticed her. She would have been hard to miss, staring at them the way she had been. “What about her?”

“It would seem she’s back to her old tricks.”

“Forgive me if don’t shudder with fear.” Madeline was of no consequence to him or Hannah, which was why he hadn’t felt the need to explain who she was. She was nobody.

“You know how she can be. Anything to get attention.”

“And confronting her would only feed that need. She’ll get bored and find someone else to antagonize.”

“She could do some damage in the meantime.”

He seriously doubted that. “Is there anything else you needed?”

Sophie shook her head, obviously exasperated with him. “Does your fiancée have the slightest clue how difficult you can be?”

He didn’t respond.

“So, I’ll see you both tomorrow evening?”

“We’ll be there.”

She flashed him one of those cryptic, I-know-something-you-don’t smiles. One that made him uneasy. Then she was gone.

Forget Madeline. Sophie was the one he should be worried about. This whole dinner scenario seemed a bit too…domestic for her taste. Why did he suspect that there was more to this than she was letting on?

Hannah had just finished a quiet dinner alone in her suite, a meal she’d had little appetite for, when Elizabeth knocked on the door.

“You should have left hours ago,” Hannah scolded her. She may have been a palace employee, but for heaven’s sake, she needed a life of her own outside of work. It seemed as though she was always there.

“I was just finishing up a few things,” Elizabeth told her. “I was on my way out when a call came in for you.”

“Who is it?” She was hoping maybe a friend from back home. God knows she could use a friendly voice right now.

“It’s your mother,” Elizabeth said, then added, “Again.”

This was the fourth call since Hannah left Seattle. Hadn’t her mother gotten the message that Hannah wasn’t ready to talk to her? She was still too bitter and angry. It was very possible, if Hannah talked to her in her current state of mind, she might say something she would later regret. Like she had the last time they spoke.

“Tell her I’ll call her back.”

“She said it was urgent.”

She would say just about anything to get Hannah’s attention. To get her to come to the phone.

“She sounded upset,” Elizabeth added.

Hannah felt a slight jerk of alarm. She remembered the last urgent call from her mother. She had been in the university library studying for exams, so engrossed she almost didn’t answer her phone, when it buzzed in her pocket. And when she heard her mother’s distraught voice, her heart sank.

Sweetheart, you need to come home. Daddy was in an accident….

But he was gone now, and she couldn’t imagine anything urgent enough to warrant a return call. “I’ll call her tomorrow.”

Elizabeth didn’t say a word, but she had this look. Not quite disapproval, because a palace employee would never be so bold as to disapprove of anything a royal did or said. It was more the lack of emotion that was giving her away. It was obvious she was trying very hard not to react. Or maybe it was Hannah’s own guilty conscience nagging at her. Either way, Hannah knew exactly what she was thinking.

And she was right, of course. “I know, that’s what I said yesterday. So technically, today is tomorrow. Right?”

“That is true,” Elizabeth agreed.

“You think I should call her, don’t you?”

“It’s not my place to pass judgment.”

Maybe not, but Hannah was pretty sure that’s what she was thinking. And the truth was, her mother wasn’t likely to stop calling. Not until Hannah gave her the opportunity to apologize for her inappropriate behavior these past few months.

Maybe it would be best, to ease her mother’s guilt and Hannah’s, if they cleared the air. And besides, it was what Daddy would have wanted. Hannah had always been more like him than her mother. So many times her father had told her, “Your mother isn’t like us, Hannah. She’s fragile. You just have to be patient.”

But sometimes her mother could be so insecure and vulnerable it had been difficult even for her. Not that she was a bad person. She needed constant reassurance that she was loved and appreciated. At times her neediness was utterly exhausting.

“My lady?” Elizabeth was watching her expectantly.

Hannah sighed, knowing what she had to do. Knowing that, for her father’s sake, she had to settle this. “I’ll talk to her.”

“She’s on line two,” Elizabeth said. Then, ever the proper assistant, nodded and slipped quietly from the room, shutting the door behind her.

Hannah walked over to the phone, hesitating a minute before she finally lifted it off the cradle and pressed the button for line two. “Hello, Mother.”

“Oh, Hannah, honey! It’s so good to hear your voice!”

Hannah wished she could say the same, but right now the sound of her mother’s voice, that syrupy sweetness, was just irritating. “How have you been?”

“Oh, fine. But I’ve missed you so much. I was afraid you wouldn’t come to the phone again.”

“You said it was urgent.”

“How have you been? How do you like it there?”

“Everything is fine here.” If she discounted the fact that her fiancé had taken off the minute she arrived. Or that he refused to share dinner with her.

“I’ve been very busy,” she told her mother.

“Is the palace beautiful? And is Phillip as gorgeous as I remember?”

She was stalling. Hannah wished she would just say what she had to say and get it over with. “The palace and Phillip are exactly the same as the last time you saw them. Now, I’d like you to tell me what was so urgent.”

“Can’t I have a pleasant conversation with my daughter?”

Sadly, no. She had shot any chance of that all to hell with her selfishness. “It’s late, and I’m tired.”

“Okay, okay.” She bubbled with phony laughter. “I’ll get to the point.”

Thank goodness. Just apologize and get it over with already.

“Now, Hannah, I don’t want you to get upset…”

Oh, this was not a good sign. That didn’t sound anything like an apology. “Upset about what?”

“I called because I have some good news.”

“Okay.” Spit it out already.

“Keep December thirtieth open on your calendar.”

Oh, no.

“Why?” she forced herself to ask, even though she already suspected what was coming next.

Dreaded it, in fact.

“Because I’m getting married!”

“Married?”

“Now, honey, I know what you’re thinking—”

“Daddy has been gone barely a year!”

“Hannah, please, you’re not being fair.”

“Fair?”

“A year is a long time when you’re alone.”

It was the same song and dance she’d fed Hannah three months after his death, when she’d gone out on her first date. I’m lonely, she’d told Hannah. What she didn’t seem to get is that she had just lost her husband, therefore she was supposed to be lonely. She was supposed to mourn his death, not take the first opportunity to run out and find a replacement.

“Please don’t be angry, Hannah.”

“Who is he?”

“No one you know. He owns a small law firm outside of Seattle. But you’ll love him, honey.”

No, she wouldn’t. No one could replace her father. Ever. And if her mother honestly believed someone could, she was more oblivious than Hannah could have imagined.

“I was thinking, I could bring him to your wedding. So you could meet him.”

She didn’t want to meet him. “For security reasons, that won’t be possible.”

“Please give him a chance. He’s such a sweet, generous man. And he loves me.”

Hannah was sure that what he probably loved was the substantial estate her father had left behind. “You say that like Daddy didn’t love you. Or is it that you didn’t love him?”

“That’s unfair. You know that I loved your father very much.” There was a quiver in her voice that said she was on the verge of tears. No big surprise there. She often used tears to win sympathy. But Hannah wasn’t buying it this time.

“Then why are you so eager to replace him?”

“You’ve gone on with your life. I should be allowed to go on with my life, too.”

It wasn’t the same thing and she knew it. Besides, Hannah wasn’t out trying to find a new father, was she? “And so you have, Mom. You don’t need my permission.”

“No, but I would like your blessing.”

“I really need to go now.”

“Hannah, please—”

“We’ll talk about this when you’re here next week,” she said.

“I love you, honey.”

“Goodbye, Mom.” She could hear her mother still talking as she set the phone back in the cradle. But if she stayed on the line any longer, she would have wound up saying something she regretted.

There was nothing she could do or say to change her mother’s mind. She had obviously made her decision. And since Hannah had no control over the situation, there was no point in wasting her time worrying about it.

She had other things to keep her occupied. Wedding plans and redecorating, and hours of reading to do. She didn’t need her mother anymore.

She sat on the sofa, surrounded with binders full of information to read, color swatches and wallpaper samples to choose from, last-minute wedding plans to tie up. But she couldn’t seem to work up the enthusiasm for any of it.

She felt too…edgy.

Hannah decided a long, hot bath with her lavender bath gel might relax her. Afterward she towel-dried her hair and changed into her most comfortable cotton pajamas. She curled up in bed to watch television, browsing past the gazillion channels available, but there wasn’t a thing on that held her interest.

She snapped the television off and tossed the remote on the coverlet. She was bored silly, yet she didn’t feel like doing anything.

Hannah glanced over at the closet door, where Phillip’s jacket hung. She had planned to give it back to him tomorrow. But what if he’d forgotten he’d lent it to her, and was wondering where he’d left it.

Yeah right. She just wanted an excuse to see him. Which in itself was silly because he was her fiancé. She shouldn’t need an excuse to see him. Right? If she wanted to see him, she should just…see him. Shouldn’t she?

Yes, she decided. She should.

Before she lost her nerve, she rolled out of bed and grabbed her robe, shoving her arms in the sleeves and belting it securely at her waist. She stuck her feet in her slippers, grabbed Phillip’s jacket, and headed out into the hall.

His suite was all the way down the main hall at the opposite end of the east wing. She had never actually been there, but it had been part of the tour Elizabeth took her on earlier in the week.

When she reached his door, she lifted her hand to knock, then hesitated, drawing it back.

What was she doing? Begging for his attention? Was she really so pathetic? Had she so little pride? Wasn’t she stronger than that?

She turned to walk back the way she came from, but hesitated again.

On second thought, why shouldn’t she stop by to give him his jacket? He was her fiancé, wasn’t he? And damn it, she had worked hard to prepare herself for her role as his wife. Didn’t she deserve a little something in return? Was a little bit of his time really all that much to ask for?

No, she decided, it definitely was not.

She turned back, and before she could talk herself out of it again, rapped hard on the door.

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