The Prince She Never Forgot

‘I need to be next to her, Alex. You forget—I live in London. These rooms will be a penthouse compared to my flat. I need to see her, Alex. I need to see her in her own environment. I need to see how she functions. I need to see how she communicates with those around her. She’s three. I need to watch her in the place where she’s most comfortable. I’m not just here to assess whether she can actually speak or not. I need to assess her ability to understand—her cognitive abilities. I need to see how she interacts with those around her.’

She held out her arm across the immaculately kept room.

‘Is this Annabelle’s world?’

There was tinge of sadness to her words. As if to her the beautiful rooms were clearly lacking.

‘Where is she now?’

Professional Ruby. The one he’d never really experienced before. She wasn’t having wishful thoughts about him. She was concentrating on the job she was here to do.

He glanced at his watch. ‘She’s with her nanny. She goes to the local nursery for a few hours twice a week. Her nanny thought mixing with other children might be good for her. She’s due back any minute.’

Ruby nodded and smiled.

Alex continued. ‘This isn’t a big country. Annabelle will go to the local school with the other children, just like I did. My father always believed that to lead the people you had to be part of the people.’

‘He sounds like a very wise man.’ She turned and looked out over the sea. ‘Where is your father? Is he here?’

He hesitated. They kept details about King Leopold closely guarded. But this was Ruby. He trusted her with the details of his daughter—why not his father?

‘He’s not here. He’s in Switzerland.’

‘Switzerland?’

‘His stroke was severe. We have a hospital in Euronia, but we don’t have ICU facilities.’

She walked towards him, concern lacing her brow. Clearly no one had told her about the protocol of remaining ten steps away from the Prince. He was glad. He could see a tiny smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Had they been there before?

If asked, he would have said that every part of her face had been etched on his brain. But these were new. It was disconcerting. A part of Ruby he hadn’t kept in his head.

She put her hand on his chest. He could practically hear the alarms going off around the building.

‘Ten years on your father still needs ICU facilities?’

He was trying not to concentrate on her warm skin penetrating through his shirt. ‘Yes—and no. He did at first. His recovery was limited and slow. He was moved to a specialist rehab unit. But now he has frequent bouts of pneumonia and he needs assistance with breathing. He has to be kept near an ICU. Euronia doesn’t have those facilities.’

‘You could get them.’

Her voice was quiet. She knew exactly what she was saying. It was enough. The rest of the words didn’t have to be said out loud. No one else around him would do this.

‘I could,’ he said gently. ‘But my father wouldn’t want people to see him the way he is now. It would break his heart.’ His voice was strained. Even he could hear it.

It was so strange to have Ruby standing right here in front of him, in his daughter’s room. He’d imagined her in many different scenarios over the years, but this had never been one of them.

In his darkest moments, when everything had seemed insurmountable, he’d always been able to close his eyes and go back to Paris, the fireworks and Ruby.

A perfect night. With a disastrous end.

She’d suited her red coat and hat that cold night. And for the last ten years that was the way he’d remembered her.

Ruby—with the sparkle in her eyes, the flirtatious laugh and the easy chatter. Every time he thought of her there were fireworks in the background. Fireworks that matched her personality and her vitality.

But today, in the sun, the pale green chiffon complemented her dark brown curls and brown eyes. The dress covered every part of her it should, but he hadn’t expected her to look quite so elegant.

It was just the two of them. No palace staff. No interruptions.

‘I’ve met so many different people, Ruby. I see masks, façades, the whole time. I’ve never seen any of that with you. Ten years ago I saw someone who was devastated at not getting her dream job—someone who wasn’t afraid to say that to a stranger. All the people who have assessed Annabelle...’

He shook his head.

‘None of them have felt genuine to me. Oh, they might be professionals in their field. They might have letters after their names. But most of them only tell me what they think I want to hear. Others try and blind me with science. I don’t think any of them have ever wanted to find out who the real Annabelle is. They might be interested in the theory or psychology of why a three-year-old won’t talk...’

He put his hand on his chest, directly over hers. One set of fingers intertwined with another.

‘But none of them have cared in here about why she isn’t speaking.’

He could lean forward right now. He could lean forward and capture her lips the way he did ten years ago.

Ruby’s eyes were fixed on his. ‘Well, no wonder.’

‘No wonder what?’

‘No wonder you came looking for me.’

CHAPTER THREE

IT TOOK ANNABELLE four long days to acknowledge Ruby’s existence. At first she completely ignored her, preferring to communicate in her own way with her nanny.

The nanny, Brigette, was thankfully a dedicated and sensible woman. She’d spent all her life in Euronia and had been with the family since Annabelle’s arrival. The little girl trusted her completely, but once Brigette realised Ruby was here to stay and help with Annabelle it was clear she was glad of the assistance. She loved the little girl but felt frustrated that she wasn’t able to help more.

Ruby was patient. But Alex was hovering around her constantly, asking her questions, destroying her concentration and patience. Any time he appeared her senses went into overdrive. The timbre of his voice, the accent, could make her legs turn to mush.

She had to drive a little bit of her anger back into her head. Her anger that she was here for Annabelle—not for Alex. It didn’t matter that it might be irrational. It was the only thing currently keeping her sane.

He appeared at her shoulder, his scent drifting around her. She didn’t even turn around.

‘Alex, you need to leave me to get on with the job. That’s what I’m here to do.’

Annabelle was playing quietly in her room. Flitting between colouring at the table and drawing chalk pictures on her board. There was a television in her room, which she rarely watched, and a tablet on the chair next to her.

She was definitely an interesting study. She was a creative little girl. The drawers at her desk were filled with cardboard, paint, ribbon, glitter and glue. She was never happier than when she was covered in the stuff. But the life of a royal princess meant that she was continually being cleaned, tidied and paraded elsewhere.

The only time she showed interest in the tablet—which she could use easily—was when she watched clips of singing and dancing from films. Annie, The Sound of Music and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers seemed to be the favourites.

There was a mixture of melancholy and frustration that emanated from Alex when he watched Annabelle.

‘But I’m her parent. Aren’t you supposed to talk to me and give me a report?’

Ruby nodded and gave a little sigh. ‘I suppose... But I haven’t finished my full assessment of Annabelle yet. I can only give you my first impressions.’

She turned around to face him, conscious of the fact that she’d be subjected to his killer blue eyes.

‘This will take longer than I thought. I have to wait until Annabelle is ready to communicate with me—to work with me. I’m not going to force myself on her. She’s not that type of kid.’

The smile that spread across his face was one of complete relief. He put his warm hands on her shoulders. ‘That’s why you’re here, Ruby. You’re the first person who’s assessed Annabelle that has said that to me. You don’t care about the time span. You care about the child.’

Because you’re paying me to.

It was an uncomfortable thought racing around in her brain. She was used to working for the health service. She’d never seen private patients before. Every child she’d assessed had been given the best possible assessment. But the health services were pushed for time and it sometimes frustrated her. Here she didn’t have those worries.

Everything about this was a whole new experience. Staying in a palace. Knowing that after ten years she might bump into Alex at any second. The you’re paying me to thought had a tiny bit of self-preservation about it. It kept things in perspective. It kept her grounded. It reminded her why she was actually here.

Alex was still touching her shoulders. She was wearing a sundress and his fingers were in direct contact with her skin. The sensations that were currently running like little pulses down her arms were conflicting with all her previous thoughts.

‘Why don’t we do this somewhere else?

‘What?’

Do what somewhere else? She felt panic rush through her. How exactly had she been looking at him?

He lifted his hand from her shoulder and waved it towards the window. ‘I’ve not been a very good host. Let me show you a little of Euronia.’ He looked down at her sandals. ‘How do you feel about a walk?’

Her sandals were pretty, but flat and comfortable. Her curiosity had definitely flared. ‘I feel fine about a walk.’

‘Then let’s go.’

‘Don’t you need to let your security team know first, Alex?’

He smiled again and shook his head. ‘You know, you’re the only person that actually calls me that.’

‘What?’

‘Alex. No one else calls me that.’

She shook her head in disbelief. ‘What on earth do they call you?’

He shrugged. ‘Prince Regent or Your Majesty. If it’s someone I’ve known a long time they might call me Alexander.’

A different world.

She stepped right up to him, her nose only inches away from his. ‘But I know you as Alex. Always have. Always will.’

He smiled and gestured for her to follow him, and led her down a huge array of corridors and out through one of the back doors of the castle.

The gardens were beautiful—colourful and perfectly groomed. She recognised the marble fountain from an old black and white picture she had seen of Alex and his future wife as children.

They walked across the immaculate expanse of green lawn towards the city. It was officially the smallest city in the world—not much bigger than an average town. But it had grown exponentially as the economy of Euronia had grown.

‘Did you play in these gardens when you were a child?’

He nodded. ‘Yes. There’s a secret maze in the forest over there. And my father ordered a tree house to be built and it took the carpenter nearly a whole year.’ He gave a little sigh. ‘Annabelle is still a little young to play in it. I don’t even think she’ll like it.’

‘Haven’t you ever shown it to her?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ve been too focused on other things when it comes to Annabelle. We haven’t got around to anything like that.’

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