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Naturally the prince wouldn’t make a move without all his bets being covered. She shut the door in the bodyguard’s face and wheeled around. Her nemesis lounged against the doorjamb of Mr. Defore’s office with his strong arms folded, insolently at ease.
More infuriated than ever, she said, “Am I to assume you’re the lottery, as long as I provide certain services? Would it give you some kind of perverted rush to claim you slept with Kathryn Carlisle’s daughter?” An angry laugh escaped as she shook her head. “You must be hard up for new thrills to consider handing over twelve million dollars to me, but unlike my mother, my body’s not for sale at any price!”
Undaunted he said, “I’m glad to hear it. Lovely as your body is, I’m not asking for it. However, I am in need of something else you could give me that would solve the most serious problem of my life … and yours. Come back in and sit down while we talk about it. This could take a while.”
“I can’t imagine being able to offer anything that would solve your problem … whatever it is.”
“You’d be surprised,” came the cryptic comment. “Give me half an hour of your time.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I have to be at the airport later today and don’t have time to spare.”
He gazed at her intently. “Not even if the result of our meeting might mean clearing your mother’s debts once and for all? When I heard you cry out earlier that this was a matter of life and death, it sounded like you meant it.”
Alex studied him without averting her eyes. “I did.”
She heard his deep intake of breath. “What if I told you I have a situation that’s a matter of life and death for me, too. Would that make a difference to you?”
What was she supposed to say to such a question? Something in his tone led her to believe he might be telling the truth. Incredible how he’d turned things around so she felt guilty if she didn’t at least listen to what he had to say.
“I’ll give you five minutes.”
“Thank you. Come back inside the other room.”
Against her better judgment she did his bidding and retraced her steps. As she sat down, he spoke in Italian to someone on the phone before he took his place across from her. Then he typed something on the computer and printed it out.
Handing it to her, he said, “Your mother was married to royalty, did you know that?”
“Mother was married to four men with supposed titles, but in time those claims turned out to be false. Everything about her life was a sham.”
He eyed her narrowly. “Except that your father was the real thing.”
“You mean, a Las Vegas racketeer.”
“Rumors have a lot to answer for, particularly when they’re founded in jealousy and greed. Read what’s on the paper. You should find the information of the greatest interest.”
Alex looked down:
After the October Revolution of 1917 all classes of the Russian nobility were legally abolished. Many members of the Russian nobility who fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution played a significant role in the white emigré communities that settled in Europe, in North America and in other parts of the world.
In the 1920s and 1930s, several Russian nobility associations were established outside Russia, including groups in France, Belgium and the United States. By 1938, the Russian Nobility Association in New York was founded. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been a growing interest among Russians in the role the Russian nobility played in their historical and cultural development.
Membership is exclusively reserved to persons who are listed in the nobility archives. Those titled members are recorded below with their former titles, genealogies and photos available.
Alex scanned the list until her gaze fell on the name Grigory. She gasped softly when she saw the last name on the Grigory royal family tree. It read “Prince Oleg Rostokof Grigory, son of Prince Nicholas Grigory and Princess Vladmila Rostokof, born in New York, 1958, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada.”
Her heart clapped like thunder as she looked at a picture of her handsome, dark blond father, who couldn’t be more than eighteen in this picture. The strong physical resemblance between daughter and father at that age was uncanny.
As her head flew back, a security guard entered and brought them two sodas. After he left, the prince pushed one toward her and took a lengthy swallow from the other. When he put it down again, he said, “Where did you get the idea that your father was part of the underworld?”
“One of my nannies mentioned that she’d heard my father was involved with the Russian mafia. As I grew older and realized what that meant, I was ashamed and frightened by the possibility. I hid away in case one of them tried to find me and hurt me. My repulsion over my mother’s ghastly lack of judgment in marrying him was so severe I didn’t want to know anything more about him.
“By the time she’d gone through her sixth divorce, so many preposterous tales were circulating about her and her past husbands, I couldn’t handle it and tried to shut it out. To my horror the police came to my work and told me she’d died of what looked like too much alcohol mixed with drugs. At that point it was too late to ever ask her what the truth was. I’m not sure she would have told me anyway.” Her voice shook.
He finished the rest of his soda. “You’ve been through a great deal of pain in your life. Nothing can wipe that away, but the sooner her bills are paid, the sooner you can start to concentrate on other things.”
A fresh spurt of anger filled her system. She looked back at her father’s picture. “Are you saying I should do something as crass and ignoble as turn to my father’s family for the money? Is that what you’re suggesting? A modern-day Anastasia story with an ugly twist?” she said. Her shrill voice reverberated in the room’s confines.
“Not at all,” came his bland reply, exasperating her even more. “But it might be of some comfort to you to get acquainted with the extended family you’ve never met or known. Your grandparents are no longer alive, but your great-uncle Yuri Grigory, is still living and has an apartment here in New York. I met him a year ago at an embassy function. I can arrange for you two to get acquainted.”
Alex was so stunned by what he’d just told her she didn’t know what to say. Realizing she needed to get hold of herself, she drank half of her soda without taking a breath.
The news about her father’s lineage had come as a total shock. Mafia or not, it appeared he did descend from a royal background, otherwise the crown prince of Castelmare wouldn’t have been able to produce the evidence she held in her hand.
Puzzled and confused by this whole experience, she eyed him warily. “If you hoped this information would help give me a sense of identity, I … I appreciate it.” Her voice faltered. “However, I still fail to understand where this conversation is headed. What does any of this have to do with you?”
He sat forward, impaling her with his midnight-brown eyes. She’d thought at first they were black. “My life has been the opposite of yours. I was raised in a happy home with loving parents, a loving sister, a large extended family on all sides and good friends. Everything has been ideal except for one glaring obstacle that has driven a wedge between my father and me.”
“You mean, he wants you to give up your wicked, worldly bachelor ways and marry the princess he’s had picked out for you from birth.”
After a pause, “I can see you’ve heard this story before.”
“One of my nannies read Cinderella to me. I didn’t like it.”
He cocked his dark head. “Why not?”
“When Cinderella’s mother died, she had to be raised by a cruel stepmother. I thought it was an awful story, probably because I felt like my mother had died. In fact, it was much worse because I knew she was alive, but she never wanted to be with me.”
The glimmer of compassion in his eyes forced her to look away. Once more she was embarrassed to have been caught baring her soul to this man who was a perfect stranger to her. The prince of Castelmare no less. “I always hated fairy tales after that.”
“Then you and I have something in common,” he muttered in his deep-toned voice. “When my mother read Cinderella to my sister and me, I hated it, too, because I wasn’t a normal little boy who could grow up to do what I wanted. I was a prince, and my father was the king. Because I loved him, I knew that one day I’d have to do what he wanted and marry a princess who was ugly and mean and whom I’d despise.”
Once the words sank in, Alex burst into laughter. She couldn’t help it. What had started out as a strange, surreal conversation between the two of them had taken on something that went beneath the surface and resonated.
After her amusement faded there was an awkward silence before she said, “I’ve seen some of the princesses you’ve been with in the news and know for a fact they’re beautiful. Whether they’re mean or not, I have no idea, but none of the photos would convince me you despised them. Far from it,” she added pointedly.
He sat back in the swivel chair. “You’re right, of course. Several of my parents’ royal favorites are charming, lovely and I think genuinely kind. However, I have a little problem because I’ve never been attracted to them.”
“Just to the nonroyals.”
For a moment a bleakness entered his eyes tugging at her emotions, then it vanished as if it had never been. “What was it your George Washington said? I cannot tell a lie.” The prince had too much charm for his own good. “Have you ever had that problem with a man?” he asked, studying her features rather intently. “He has all the right qualities, but he doesn’t speak to your soul?”
All the time, Alex muttered inwardly. “Errol Flynn was the only man who became my fantasy. When I saw him in Robinhood, I asked my nanny to take me again and again. We saw it twenty-five times.”
It was his turn to laugh, the full-bodied male kind she felt to her toes. “I understand he still has a habit of speaking to every woman’s soul, even from beyond the grave.”
She nodded. “Some men are like that. Bigger than life.” Alex realized she was looking at one of them.
“Bigger than life,” his voice trailed. “A sort of chemistry of the body and spirit, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes,” she whispered. This was no shallow prince, let alone man.
“That’s what I’d hoped to find before now in the royal pickings, but it hasn’t happened.”
Alex had never given much thought to a problem like his until this minute. She was glad she wasn’t in his royal shoes because she knew herself too well and could never marry anyone for the sake of duty. Perish the thought of being tied to someone you didn’t love with your whole heart and soul.
Obviously, her mother hadn’t had the capacity to truly love anything or anyone except herself. Sometimes it frightened Alex to think that because she was her daughter, she might have inherited that same inability to be devoted to one man.
There’d been boyfriends, but Alex hadn’t yet suffered that grand passion her mother had managed to portray on the screen instead of real life. Maybe Alex never would. Aware something was expected of her, she said, “That could change in time. Some royal princess could come into your life you’ve overlooked. How old are you?”
“Thirty-four.”
Nine years older than herself.
“That’s still relatively young.”
“From my point of view I agree, but my parents had hoped I’d be married by twenty-five and a father by twenty-six. To quote my mother, ‘For you to be thirty-four and still single is positively indecent, Lucca. The whole country is waiting.’”
The way he imitated his parent made Alex chuckle. “At least your mother cares about you and loves you.”
“She does, but there’s more to it than that. My father’s not well and needs to step down. It’s within my power to lengthen his days by becoming king, thus relieving him of all responsibilities, but I can’t become his successor without first taking a wife. Those are the rules.
“As a way of playing on my guilt, my mother and sister continually remind me I’m the only son and the only one who can perform this duty to save the day.”
And Alex had thought she’d lived with a burden all these years.
She smoothed an errant curl away from her forehead. “What’s wrong with your father?”
“He’s had lung cancer.”
“I’m sorry. How cruel to him and hard for all of you.”
“It has been,” the prince conceded, causing her to feel an empathy for him she didn’t want to feel. “Part of his right lung was removed, leaving him in a weakened condition. Though he’s in remission, the doctor says this disease is tenacious and it’s only a matter of time before it comes back. The best medicine for him would be to give up the throne and relax.”
Alex cleared her throat. “Since you love him so much, it seems you don’t have a choice. Is there someone from the royal pickings you believe cares for you enough that you could see yourself married to her?”
“I can’t answer that question since I haven’t given them much of a chance to get to know me. The thought of marriage to any of them is something I can’t abide.”
Well, Alex. Ask a foolish question …
There was one princess Lucca had known for several years. Neither he nor Sofia were romantically involved, but they’d become good friends. Both sets of parents expected them to marry, but she wanted to abdicate her title and serve a humanitarian cause, thus allowing her younger sister to be the next in line. Sofia was waiting for Lucca to marry before she made the secret known to her family.
Out of loyalty to her and her wishes, he’d remained silent. Suddenly restless, he got up from the chair. “I need to choose someone who understands the situation for exactly what it is. No lies. No self-deception or pretense.”
“You mean, someone who has no expectation of love. Is there such a woman?”
“Among my parents’ short list? No.” Except for Sofia. Sofia who devoted her life to charity work in Africa and had a missionary zeal to help people.
He came to sit on the corner of the desk so his legs brushed hers. “But an extraordinary thing happened to me today. I’ve met someone who would be the perfect consort to come to my rescue in this emergency situation. At the same time I could help her in ways no one else can. She’s of royal blood yet is under no illusions about life or me. Better yet, she’s single and uninvolved with a man at present.”
As the portent of his words sank in, Alex’s eyes widened in disbelief. What he’d just intimated was so outrageous, an odd sound escaped her lips. She slid out of the chair to put distance between them.
“You are out of your mind and can’t possibly mean what you’re saying.”
He rose to his intimidating height. “I never say what I don’t mean,” came the words of steel. “When you get to know me better, you’ll realize I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”
She shook her head. “So you’ll pay my mother’s debts if I agree to marry you. Then you’ll become king and two strangers will live unhappily ever after in a loveless marriage with no hope of producing an heir and both of us sneaking behind the scenes looking for fulfillment elsewhere.”
He gave a careless shrug of his elegant shoulders. “If that’s what you want.”
Alex hugged her arms to her waist. “What I want doesn’t come into it. This conversation is utterly absurd! Don’t you know that old movie script has been done and redone ad nauseum?”
One dark brow quirked. “But not to the tune of twelve million dollars. That will be my wedding present to you. In return, you’ll play the loving wife in front of other people, be it my family or the public.”
“I will not!”
“I’ve spent time with your great-uncle,” he continued talking, unfazed by her outburst. “Do you know you have the same regal bearing? I noticed it immediately. The perfect plum from the royal Grigory tree.”
She let out a strangled cry that was probably heard by everyone inside the House of Savoy.
“I meant that as a compliment, Alexandra.”
The way he said her name just now with his slight Italian accent made her body tremble. That angered her further.
“However tarnished the sordid legacy from my mother, I’m not a piece of fruit to be plucked!”
His expression grew solemn. “No. Like a gift from the gods you’ve fallen into my hands at the providential moment to save us both from a hideous fate.”
Hideous was the word, all right. The thought of going back to Los Angeles to face her mother’s creditors, to face poor Manny, let alone live with the smear tactics the media would always use against her caused bile to rise in her throat.
“I’m not asking that this arrangement last forever,” he added in a velvety tone.
“Of course not. Just a lifetime,” she blurted on a note of sarcasm.
One dark eyebrow dipped. “Who knows? Neither of us can see that far ahead into the future.”
She bit her lip. “How inconvenient for you.”
“You have no idea,” his voice grated, conveying some deep-seated emotion that caught her on the raw.
“When is your wedding supposed to take place?”
“Preferably yesterday.”
“Obviously.” She tried to hide her smile but lost the struggle.
“To answer your question, my parents have planned it for a month from today. The wedding ceremony will follow my coronation in the cathedral.”
Only four weeks? “I’m sure a royal wedding takes a great deal more time than that to organize.”
