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Five (#ulink_067a1ebb-2ec2-5778-a6b9-6fce4c90e085)
Victoria was tough, Charles would give her that.
Typically when people were introduced to members of the royal family, it was one or two at a time. Victoria was meeting King Phillip and Queen Hannah; Prince Ethan and his wife, Lizzy; and Princess Sophie and her fiancé, Alex, all at the same time.
Everyone was gathered in the sitting room of Hannah and Phillip’s suite, and they all rose from their seats when he and Victoria entered.
If she was nervous, it didn’t show. Her curtsy was flawless, and when she spoke her voice was clear and steady. It never failed to intrigue him how a woman so seemingly small and unassuming could dominate a room with sheer confidence. He could see that everyone was impressed. And though it was totally irrational, he felt proud of her. Hiring her had in no way been his idea. He had merely been following orders.
After the introductions and several minutes of polite small talk, an aide was called in to give Victoria a tour of the business offices and familiarize her with palace procedure.
“I like her,” Sophie said, the instant they were gone. It had been at her insistence that they had hired Victoria in the first place.
Charles nodded. “She’s very capable.”
“And attractive,” Ethan noted, which got him a playful elbow jab in the side from his very pregnant wife, Lizzy.
“Stunning,” Hannah added.
“Quite,” Charles agreed. “And she would have been an asset to the Royal Inn.”
“Would have been?” Phillip asked.
Sophie narrowed her eyes at Charles. “What did you do?”
“Nothing!” He held both hands up defensively. “I swear.”
He explained Victoria’s outburst and admitted to showing her the file on the Houghton sale. “She seems to think we see her as some sort of charity case. She has no idea her expertise. Nor does she have the slightest clue how valuable she is. Had it not been for her, I think the Houghton would have collapsed years ago.”
“Then it will be up to you to see that she learns her value,” Phillip said.
Easier said than done when she was suspicious of his every move. “She’s stubborn as hell. But I’m sure I can convince her.”
“Stubborn as hell,” Alex said, glancing over at Princess Sophie. “She’ll fit right in, won’t she?”
Now she narrowed her eyes at him. “Is it so wrong that I don’t want my wedding to be a spectacle? That I prefer small and intimate?”
“You have other news for us?” Phillip asked Charles, forestalling another potential wedding argument.
Yes, it was time they got to it. Charles took a seat on the couch beside Sophie, rubbing his palms together.
“I gather the news isn’t good,” Ethan said.
“The DNA test confirmed it. She’s the real deal,” Charles told them. “Melissa Thornsby is your illegitimate sister and heir to the throne.”
“We have a sister,” Sophie said, as though trying out the sound of it. Phillip and Hannah remained quietly concerned.
“And here I believed I had the distinction of being the only illegitimate heir to the throne,” Ethan quipped, even though he was the one who had taken the time to investigate their father’s notorious reputation with women, and the possibility of more illegitimate children. But who could have imagined that King Frederick would have been so bold as to not only have an affair with the former prime minister’s wife but to father a child with her? And he never told a soul. Had Ethan not stumbled across a file of newspaper clippings King Frederick had left hidden after his death, they might never have learned the truth.
“She’s older than Phillip?” Lizzy asked.
“Twenty-three days,” Charles said.
Everyone exchanged worried glances, but Hannah broached the subject no one else seemed willing to speak aloud. “Could she take the crown?”
This was the part Charles hadn’t been looking forward to. “Technically? Yes, she could. Half Royal or not, she’s the oldest.”
Hannah frowned. “But she wasn’t even raised here.”
“She was born here, though. She’s still considered a citizen.”
In an uncustomary show of emotion, Phillip cursed under his breath. Losing the crown for him wouldn’t be an issue of status or power. Phillip truly loved his country and had devoted his entire life in the preparation to become its leader. To lose that would devastate him. “We’ll fight it,” he said.
“I don’t think it will come to that,” Charles said. “She doesn’t seem the type to take on the role as the leader of a country. Despite a first-rate education, other than heading up a host of charities, she’s never had a career.”
“As a proper princess wouldn’t,” Phillip said, sounding cautiously optimistic. “Meaning she could very well fit right in.”
“Would she be the type to go after our money?” Sophie asked.
Charles shook his head. “I seriously doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Because she has almost as much money as you do. She inherited a considerable trust from her parents on her twenty-first birthday, and her aunt and uncle left her a fortune. She’s at the top of the food chain in New Orleans high society.”
“How did she take the news?” Hannah asked.
“According to the attorney, it was definitely a shock, but she’s eager to meet everyone. So much so that she’s dropping everything so that she can move here. Temporarily at first. Then she’ll decide if she wants to stay.”
“Her place is here with her family,” Sophie said.
“We can’t force her to stay,” Lizzy pointed out.
“True,” Hannah said, looking pointedly at Phillip. “But if we make her feel welcome she’ll be more inclined to.”
It was no secret that when Ethan joined the family, Phillip had been less than welcoming to his half brother. But in Phillip’s defense, Ethan had gone out of his way to be difficult. Since then, they had put their differences aside and now behaved like brothers. Not that they didn’t occasionally butt heads.
“When will she come?” Phillip asked.
“Saturday.”
“We’ll need to see that a suite is prepared,” Sophie said. “I suggest housing her in the guest suite at first, with restricted privileges to the residence.”
“I agree,” Phillip said. “Lizzy, can you please handle the details?”
Lizzy nodded eagerly. Going from full-time employment to royal status had been rough for her. And despite a somewhat trying pregnancy, she was always looking for tasks to keep her busy until the baby arrived. “I’ll take care of it immediately.”
Phillip turned to Sophie, who handled media relations. “We’ll have to issue a press release immediately. I don’t want to see a story in the tabloids before we make a formal announcement.”
Sophie nodded. “I’ll see that it’s done today.”
“Speaking of the tabloids,” Alex said, “you know they’re going to be all over this. And all over her.” Having recently been a target of the media himself when his ex-wife fed them false information about his relationship with the princess, he knew how vicious they could be.
“She’ll be instructed on exactly what she should and shouldn’t say,” Charles assured him. “Although given her position in society, I don’t think handling the press will be an issue.”
“I’d like to keep this low-key,” Phillip said, then he rose from his seat, signaling the end of the meeting. “Keep us posted.”
Hannah tugged on his sleeve. “Are you forgetting something, Your Highness?”
He looked down at his wife and smiled. “You’re sure you want to do this now?”
She nodded.
He touched her cheek affectionately, then announced, with distinct happiness and pride, “Hannah is pregnant.”
Everyone seemed as stunned as they were excited.
Sophie laughed and said, “My gosh! You two certainly didn’t waste any time. Frederick is barely three months old!”
Hannah blushed. “It wasn’t planned, and I only just found out this morning. We’d like to keep it quiet until closer to the end of my first trimester. But I was too excited not to tell the family.”
“I think it’s wonderful,” Lizzy said, a hand on her own rounded belly. She shot Sophie a meaningful glance. “At this rate we’ll have the palace filled with children in no time.”
Sophie emphatically shook her head. “Not from me you won’t. Alex and I have already discussed it and decided to wait until he’s not traveling back and forth to the States so much.”
“You say that now,” Lizzy teased. “Things have a way of not working out as you plan.”
She would know. Her pregnancy had been an unplanned surprise. She’d gone from palace employee to royal family member with one hasty but genuinely happy I do.
“What about Charles?” Sophie said, flashing him a wry grin. “He’s not even married yet. Why not pick on him?”
“When it comes to marriage,” Phillip said, sounding only slightly exasperated, “yet is not a word in Charles’s vocabulary.”
Phillip was absolutely right. And this was not a conversation Charles cared to have any part of. The last thing he needed was the entire family meddling in his love life.
“Wow,” he said, glancing down at his watch. “Would you look at the time. I should be going.”
“What’s the matter, Charles?” Sophie asked. “Have you got a hot date?”
In fact he did. Even though the “date” in question didn’t know it yet.
Phillip just grinned. “If you hear anything else from Melissa or her attorney, you’ll let us know?”
“Of course.” He said the obligatory goodbyes, then made a hasty retreat out into the hall. Before he could escape the residence, Ethan called after him.
“Charles, hold up a minute.” He wore a concerned expression, which was enough to cause Charles concern himself. Ethan was one of the most easygoing people he knew.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
Ethan paused for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. “I guess there’s really no tactful way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. The family is asking, as a personal favor, that you not have an affair with Victoria.”
For an instant, Charles was too stunned to speak. Then all he could manage was “I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me.”
Yes, he had. But he must have been mistaken. He’d devoted his life to his family, true, but that didn’t give them the right to dictate who he could or couldn’t sleep with. “What are you suggesting, Ethan?”
Ethan lowered his voice. “I don’t have to suggest anything. It’s common knowledge that the employees you sleep with don’t last. Normally that isn’t a problem because they’re your personal employees, and how you run your firm is your own business. But Victoria is an employee of the royal family, as are you, and as such, policy states there can be no personal relationship. If we can convince her to stay, her expertise will be a great asset to the Royal Inn. That isn’t likely to happen if you and she become…intimately involved.”
“That’s a little hypocritical coming from you,” Charles said. “Seeing as how you knocked up a palace employee.”
It was a cheap shot, but the arrow hit its mark.
Ethan’s expression darkened. “Make no mistake Charles, this is something the entire family is asking. Not just me.”
And what if Charles said no? What if he slept with her and she refused to stay? Would he be ousted as the family attorney? “This sounds a bit like a threat to me.”
“It’s nothing more than a request.”
Though only a cousin, Charles had always been an integral part of the royal family. For the first time in his life he felt like an outsider.
And he didn’t like it.
“Do whatever it takes to make her stay,” Ethan said, and there was a finality to his words that set Charles even deeper on edge.
“I need to go fetch my assistant,” Charles told him, then he turned and left before he said something he might later regret.
He found Victoria in the main business office with one of the secretaries. For the life of him he couldn’t remember her name. She was explaining the phone and security system to Victoria. As he approached they both looked up at him.
“Finished already?” Victoria asked.
Charles nodded. “Ready to go?”
“Sure.” She thanked the secretary, whose name still escaped him, grabbed her purse, and followed Charles out. She practically had to jog to keep up with his brisk, longer stride. He led her out the back way this time, where she would come and go should the position ever call for her coming back to the palace.
“Meeting not go well?” she asked from behind him, as they passed the kitchen.
“What makes you think that?”
“You’re awfully quiet. And you seem to be in a terrible rush to leave,” she said, sounding a touch winded.
He made an effort to slow his pace. It wasn’t the meeting itself that was troubling him. That had gone rather well, all things considered. “It was fine,” he said.
The car was waiting for them when they stepped out of the back entrance. They got in, and he almost directed the driver to take them back to the office, but then he remembered that he was treating Victoria to dinner.
Instead he told him, “The Royal Inn.”
“Why are we going to the Royal Inn?” she asked.
