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A faraway look came over Easton’s face. “I had such fears for Drake, but after he met Charlotte they were all for naught. He gave up his inappropriate playboy lifestyle and settled down. He became the perfect father and businessman. Just look at what he did with DeLacey Shipping.”
Easton placed his arms across his chest and leaned back farther in his chair. “I feel Lucia will be the same way. All she needs is guidance and direction. Like Drake, she’s the youngest child. I’ve found that the baby of the family often becomes spoiled. Since no one really bothers them much, they often do whatever they want. Maybe it’s because by that point parents are too tired from fighting with the older ones, or in this case, one parent died when the children were young. Regardless, my youngest granddaughter has become quite successful in her own right. Her jewelry is lovely, just look at the brooch she gave CeCe and the pendant she gave Amelia.”
“They were beautiful,” Harrison agreed. Here at least was a neutral topic, one that didn’t spark emotions he shouldn’t feel. “And she did provide the most exquisite pieces for that woman who just won the Golden Globe for Best Actress. What was her name? Kimberly something?”
“Exactly.” Easton nodded. “Lucia has so much undeveloped potential. She moves easily amongst celebrities, the upper crust of society, and even what we’d refer to as the common man. With a little guidance, and if she has no secrets, I believe that she could make a perfect queen for Korosol.”
Harrison nodded his agreement, unnaturally wishing to shorten the meeting. Normally, once their business was concluded, he and Easton would talk on miscellaneous topics, sometimes for hours. “I will step up the investigation immediately.”
“Good. When I first came to America in February I made it quite clear to the Carradignes that one of them would be my heir. Now it’s April and I’ve wasted enough time. Lucia knows her two sisters were my first choices. Now that they’ve declined, obviously Lucia knows she’s next. So, I’ve requested her to come to the embassy tomorrow at three.”
“Tomorrow,” Harrison echoed. He’d see her tomorrow. His mask slipped. “So soon.”
“Is that a problem?”
Harrison blinked and focused. He’d spoken the words aloud, which was totally uncharacteristic of him. “Tomorrow is fine.”
“Good. I don’t have any more time to waste.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” Harrison replied. Tomorrow he would see her again. He stiffened. He had a job to do, and he knew he must remember that. Lucia Carradigne was only a job; that was all. Harrison again focused on Easton. Instead of dismissing him, Easton was still speaking. Harrison tried to pay attention.
“Do yourself one favor,” Easton said. “Be honest with Lucia about what you are doing. Tell her you are investigating her. Tell her that if I name her, you will help school her in Korosolan etiquette and customs. Our culture is different from her American upbringing. If I choose her, I don’t want her changing her mind. Tell her anything she needs to know to be a suitable queen.”
The words came out automatically, although in his mouth they tasted like sandpaper. “I can do that,” Harrison replied. I hope.
Easton broke into a wide grin, as if for the first time in a while he’d heard good news. “Excellent. Besides, this will be the perfect time for you to get to know Lucia. If my plan works as I desire, I’ll get my heir to the throne and you’ll have a daughter-in-law.”
Harrison felt as if someone had punched him in the solar plexus. Ever since CeCe’s wedding over a month ago, it had been apparent to everyone that Easton was playing matchmaker. However, until now, he had never actually voiced the words that he wanted Lucia married to Harrison’s son.
Harrison swallowed and somehow managed to answer without revealing how unsettling the thought of Lucia being with Devon was. “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Perfect. Report back to me tomorrow on how the first interview went. I want to know everything. Now, call Ellie in here. I’m feeling rather tired, and I believe I’ll go back to Charlotte’s apartment and rest.”
“You are feeling—”
“Fine.” Easton abruptly cut off Harrison’s statement of concern. “I have a few years left in me, and I refuse to believe that whatever this disease I’ve contracted is incurable like the doctors maintain. Now, fetch Ellie for me, and I’ll speak with you tomorrow.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Harrison rose and executed another perfect bow before turning and leaving Easton’s office.
Upon seeing Harrison, Ellie rose and immediately went into the office. Harrison stepped into the embassy’s private elevators and pushed the button. He was staying in the staff apartments on the fifth floor, and the light glowed ominously, as if sealing his fate.
He’d known this “investigation” was inherent, and for once, he’d put it off. Easton had had to ask twice. Although the monarch didn’t seem to mind, Harrison had procrastinated. He never hesitated. He always took the initiative, even finishing tasks early. But not this time.
His reasoning was simple. He couldn’t tell Easton everything. He couldn’t tell him the truth. For how could he tell his king, his boss, his friend, that he’d already compromised his position? It had happened over a month ago, the very moment he had first set eyes on Lucia Carradigne at her sister’s wedding reception.
CECE’S WEDDING.
As usual, work had come before pleasure. Thus, Sir Harrison Montcalm had missed all the glitz and glitter of the society event of the season—the wedding of CeCe Carradigne and Shane O’Connell. He hadn’t minded. He loved his job.
Therefore, he had been at the embassy checking to see if there were any rumors from Korosol or within the local Korosolan community about Markus’s activities. Harrison relished this job. Deep in his gut Harrison never had liked the king’s grandson. Harrison’s dislike ran so deep that he suspected Markus was responsible for his parents’ deaths over a year ago, a suspicion brought to him and Easton by some of Byrum and Sarah’s friends who had been on the safari at the same time. It was an awful suspicion to have, but Harrison knew how much Prince Markus wanted the throne. But had the king’s grandson stooped to murder? Harrison was determined to find out.
So duty had come before pleasure and Harrison had arrived at the wedding reception after it was already in full swing, long after the dinner plates of the multiple courses had been whisked away. He’d arrived just in time to watch Devon get rid of the very uninvited Krissy Katwell.
And then he’d seen her.
Whoever she was, she was beautiful.
He’d never been partial to blondes, but her dark blond hair perfected her radiant skin tone. The silken strands hung in loose ringlets around her face.
Her smile was wide and wonderful, and just seeing her direct it at someone else had the power to stop Harrison’s heart.
Her ball gown’s color challenged angels in its brilliance. The striped, form-fitting gown in the Korosolan colors of royal blue and silver only accented her radiance. What little makeup she wore only enhanced her natural beauty.
Even from where he stood on the edge of the dance floor, he could see that her eyes were green. How he could see her eyes from ten feet away was incomprehensible, but somehow Harrison could see, and he just knew.
From afar he basked in her glow, feasting on her beauty like a thirsty man seeing water. For a moment time seemed to stop, and frozen there he knew he’d never felt this way before.
She seemed to sense his scrutiny, for she turned her head and ran her gaze quickly over him. He felt the electric shock from just her look. Then the waltz turned her graceful body away from him.
As the connection broke, Harrison shook himself. Way too young, he told himself simply. Whoever she was, from the way she moved and looked he guessed her to be not more than twenty-six. He had a son older than that.
“Excuse me.”
Harrison started as a soft, feminine voice floated over to him. He turned slightly, and there she was. In heels she stood just about eye to eye with his six-foot figure. Up close, her willowy grace was pure beauty, and he blinked just to see if she was truly real or simply the vision of a lonely man.
She touched his sleeve, her fingertips light as feathers. “Would you care to dance?”
Would he? He shouldn’t. Excuses rose to his lips. “I…”
“Please,” she said softly, her voice a mere silken whisper. “From your uniform I know you’re Korosolan, and I would be so grateful. See that man coming this way?” She gestured a manicured finger toward a man headed in their direction. His bright red hair offset his freckles and contrasted with his ill-fitting tuxedo. “That’s Larry Zimmer, and no matter how many times I say no, he can’t get the picture. Would you perform the duty of helping a lady in distress?”
“I would be honored to,” Harrison said. Under the guise of duty, he took the arm she offered. A frisson of desire shot through him as he guided her to the dance floor.
She linked her hands to his. “Thank you,” she said as another waltz began.
Harrison struggled to make light of the moment as he led her around the dance floor. “So you would rather dance with an old man to escape a young one?”
As if she found his comment funny, her smile widened. “What old man? You mean my grandfather? We danced earlier.”
Harrison returned her smile with one of his own. “I meant…”
“I know what you meant,” she said simply. Her green-eyed gaze held his. “But I figured you needed an excuse. If not, you may never have asked me.”
He wouldn’t have, either. “You’re right,” he admitted.
“I know,” she replied. “So I helped you along.”
Was this woman magic? She’d somehow seen right through him.
“I’m glad you did,” he said. And he was. For holding her felt as if he was holding a slice of heaven.
As the music shifted pace, he drew her a little closer. She smelled like roses, and her skin felt like the softest silk. There, during the moments on the dance floor, Harrison found himself feeling younger, feeling more alive than he’d been in years.
His fingers once grazed the small of her back, and an electric tremor shot through him as her eyes darkened to jade.
“You’re a wonderful dancer,” she said.
Speak again, Harrison thought, for to my ears your words are like the purest music.
“As are you,” he replied instead.
She simply acknowledged his return compliment with a slight inclination of her head.
Time never stops for love, Harrison thought as the musical number drew to an end.
“I believe he’s gone,” he whispered as he guided her off the dance floor.
“He is, but I’d still like to dance with you,” she said. “Perhaps this next number?”
“There you are!”
Harrison turned as King Easton came up to him. Being the same height, and after working with the king for such a long time, Harrison wondered why he hadn’t noticed the particular color of Easton’s eyes before. They reminded him of…
“I see you’ve met Lucia.”
Harrison turned to see whom Easton was referring to.
“Hello again, Grandfather,” Lucia replied. She kept her fingers lightly on Harrison’s arm. “Are you enjoying the reception?”
“Absolutely,” Easton replied. He gestured, and Harrison watched as his son, Devon, came forward. “Here she is, Devon. She was dancing with your father. Now take her out on the dance floor. Lucia’s too young to spend her time with all us elderly types.”
Harrison grimaced. How old that made him sound!
Lucia gently removed her fingers. “Thank you for the dance,” she said politely.
Devon gave her a low bow. “May I have this dance, Princess Lucia?”
“You may, Sir Montcalm,” she said as she took his arm.
Harrison watched her go. She glanced back over at him, and then as if remembering her role, she slid into a neutral facade and followed Devon’s lead.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?” King Easton asked. “While I’m partial to CeCe’s beauty because she’s so much like my beloved Cassandra,” Easton mentioned his deceased wife, “one has to admit that Lucia has an innate beauty that is all her own.”
“Indeed,” Harrison somehow managed to agree noncommittally. The woman he had been dancing with was Princess Lucia!
“They make such a perfect couple.” Easton nodded with a contented smile. “Don’t you agree?”
Harrison looked at where his son held Lucia. She’d bowed her head, and was listening to something he said. A pang of jealousy shot through him. He tamped it down. His duty was, as always, to his king. “They make a good couple,” he stated, although his heart wasn’t anywhere near the words.
“I think so,” Easton said, obviously pleased that Lucia and Devon were beginning their second dance. “Ah, there’s Charlotte. Please excuse me, Harrison.”
Harrison bowed as the king moved away. Then he turned and took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. He’d had nothing to drink all evening, for Harrison never drank while in any type of royal capacity, but for tonight he’d make an exception with one glass.
After all, when the woman of your dreams is designated for your son, a little champagne can’t hurt.
“Shall we dance again?”
He tensed. He’d know her voice anywhere; already it had imbedded itself into his consciousness and into his soul.
“That wouldn’t be proper, Princess Lucia,” he replied, his tone deliberately cool.
“Proper?” Lucia frowned. Then a small tight smile came over her face. “Ah, Sir Harrison Mont-calm, man of duty, is back in full armor.” She saw his surprise. “Your son spent most of his time talking about you, and your many accomplishments.” She lifted a glass of champagne from a waiter and drained it in two gulps.
“Well, Sir Harrison Montcalm, I’m sure someone will fill you in that I’m not always proper. In fact, my date is that rock musician over there. I only brought him because it would annoy my mother, and keep her from playing matchmaker.”
With a thump, Lucia placed her empty champagne flute on a nearby table. Harrison winced for the flute.
“While I know all the correct etiquette, I find most of it boring and plain dull,” Lucia said.
She stepped toward him, her voice lowered for emphasis. “For some reason I thought you were different. I felt a connection between us, something I can’t exactly explain. I wanted to explore it, for whatever it was, I thought it was special.”
How her words hurt. Harrison so wanted to tell her that yes, he had felt it too. But duty came first. It always did.
Doing his duty meant he couldn’t tell her he’d felt it. He couldn’t even be with her. She was a princess.
As much as he wanted to tell her, to explain his reasoning, he kept silent.
For a brief second Lucia looked hurt, and Harrison’s stomach churned as her chin rose stubbornly.
“I could order you to dance, couldn’t I?” she asked, her gaze never leaving his.
“That you could, Princess.”
Lucia nodded, her look now bitterly disappointed. He hated hurting her. “I thought so. Good night, Sir Montcalm.”
And with that, she strode off toward her date, a man whose hair was longer than Lucia’s.
Harrison set his full flute of champagne down, the bubbly golden liquid untouched. Dancing with her had been a touch of heaven, but Harrison had learned long ago that heaven was not his to have.
He, retired general, Sir Harrison Montcalm, was one, too old for her, and two, not of her social circle. He could not ever have a relationship with a princess, especially the granddaughter of his king, his friend. With a heavy heart, he had turned away.
Chapter Two
The next day Lucia Carradigne was late for her interview.
Harrison paced the plush office allotted him during his stay at Korosol’s American embassy. Knowing he’d be seeing her again, he’d dressed even more impeccably than usual for the meeting. He wore a navy blue suit, a tie with the Korosolan crest and a white starched shirt.
Ellie had joked that morning that she’d never seen Harrison looking that put together. He’d run across Markus that morning as well, who since his return from Europe had been lurking around the embassy more than ever. Markus, of course, never missed an opportunity to dig at Harrison. He’d told Harrison he looked like a pallbearer.
