She looked down at it and nodded. “Good point.” She turned around. “Laces first. The ends are tucked in at the bottom.”
I found the bottom of the opening, finally found the lacing and started undoing it.
“I’m starting to see why it takes women so long to get ready for these events.”
She nodded. “See. It takes like fifty years just to get into these dresses. Just consider yourself lucky that you’re taking it off, it takes twice as long to put on.”
I pulled her to me and she yelped in surprised. “That is not the only reason I consider myself lucky that I’m taking it off,” I said, my lips brushing her ear.
I felt her take a deep breath. “Then what are you waiting for?”
I huffed a laugh and kept at it. Once the dress was off, there was a petticoat to deal with as well. Which I left her to as I started to get undressed.
“Yeah,” Tati huffed, obviously seeing the look on my face. “Mood killer or what?”
I shook my head as I smiled at her. “I don’t think anything could kill the mood with you.”
“Naw. Not even when I’m in those stupid woollen outfits that make me look like a Lia clone?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You like that look?”
I shrugged. “I’m not particular about any look.”
“Then what about it could possibly excite you?” she laughed.
I shrugged coyly. “You have a tendency to open your mouth in any outfit.”
She paused in her wrestling with the petticoat and looked up at me. For a moment I couldn’t work out the look on her face. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or not.
“Everything about this is real, isn’t it?” she asked softly.
I had a feeling I knew what she meant. “I think so, yes. You don’t?”
She finally kicked the petticoat away and looked at me in nothing but her underwear. But she wasn’t self-conscious, she was confident in everything she was.
“No, I think so too. I just… Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself it’s all real. Stop just going along with it and thinking it’s a lovely ride, and just let myself enjoy that it’s actually happening.” She walked over to me and slid her arms around my neck. “That you found me and I found you and, sure it might not be the most ideal circumstances, but they’re our circumstances and I love them.”
“I love you,” I told her, feeling my chest swell.
“I love you.”
I picked her up, her legs going around my waist as though by instinct, and carried her to the bed. I laid her down gently and lay over her.
“This is much easier for making out,” I said softly, running my hand over her hip and up her side.
Her smile was as infectious as it was tantalising. “Almost naked? Yes. I think it’s generally a teenager’s go to.”
“I wouldn’t know, I’m very mature.”
“You know, Dmitri…” she said, furrowing her eyebrows. “I’m starting to doubt that.”
Before I could reply, she pulled me down to kiss me and it wasn’t long before the rest of our clothes lay discarded on my floor.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, we had a meeting with the king and queen. Thankfully though it was late morning and someone had had enough sense to send Tati’s maids to my room with a change of clothes.
I sat on one of the arm chairs while Samson arranged the breakfast things on the coffee table, giving Tati the privacy of my room to change in.
“How much extra work have I caused?” I asked him.
He looked at me for a moment as though he was going to pretend not to know what I meant. Then he smiled. “Not as much as you could have, sir. We already had a short list of secretaries. It is only a matter of choosing one to suit Lady Tatiana.”
“In the meantime?”
“Felicia will step in, sir.”
I frowned. “Felicia?”
“She works under Mr Mironov, sir.”
I nodded. “I remember her.”
“She will be arriving back tomorrow, sir.”
I nodded. “Excellent.”
“Good morning, Samson,” Tati said warmly and I turned to see her strolling out of my room.
I’d left her with her maids in one of my button up shirts that had doubled quite nicely as a makeshift nightgown for her. Now though she was wearing a skirt with stockings and heels, and a shirt underneath a pullover. Her hair was no longer a bird’s nest – her words when we’d woken – but was washed and style in a basic chignon.
“Good morning, my lady,” Samson replied with a bow.
I smiled at her and her return smile warmed me up. I nodded politely to her lady’s maids and they curtsied before one said, “We will see you later, my lady,” and they hurried out with Tati’s gown and shoes from the night before.
“Find everything you wanted?” I asked her as she dropped onto the chair opposite me and crossed her leg over her knee, her arms resting on the chair’s wide arms.
She nodded as she failed to stifle a yawn. “I did. Thanks.”
“Coffee, ma’am?” Samson asked her and I felt a small twinge of jealousy at the grateful smile she turned on him. But I knew how she felt about coffee.
“Yes. Please.”
“I was just telling his highness, you have their majesties and his grace at eleven, ma’am. Then luncheon.”
Tati nodded absently as she took hold of the cup he passed her. “Okay.”
“The rest of your schedule for the day will be discussed with their majesties,” Samson finished.
Tati pouted adorably at me. “The whole day?”
I cleared my throat to supress a smile and shook out the newspaper to cover my face. “So it seems, darling,” I answered.
She snorted. Something hit the other side of newspaper and fell in my lap. I lowered the newspaper to look at her and she only gave me a sassy shrug. I looked at my lap and saw a spoon. When I looked back at Tati she grinned as she took a sip of coffee.
Samson dutifully looked at anything but the two of us as he tried to get his laughter under control and I decided to let him have that one. It wasn’t every day you saw your usually stony employer have a spoon thrown at him by a lady.
We finished up our breakfast and Samson walked us down to the meeting with our parents.
When we walked into the drawing room, Mother, Father, Max, Alaina, and all respective aides and secretaires were present and waiting for us. Tati gave our parents each a hug.
“Sit down, dears,” Mother said, indicating the sofa across from her and Father. Once we were seated, Max and Alaina also sat.
“Now. We were thinking late Summer, early Autumn,” Mother started. “Personally, I like the idea of October. However, September will mean that October is not quite so busy.”
“September is also less busy in terms of booking,” Alaina said.
“Surely they’d make an exception?” Father asked.
Alaina rearranged her ever-present tablet and clipboard in her lap and nodded slowly. “I’m sure we could muscle it, sir. But I think it would be better if we worked with them on it.”
Father seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. You’re right.”
“You’ll look into available dates then?” Mother asked and Alaina nodded. Mother then turned to us expectantly.
“Sorry. What’s this for?” Tati asked and I had a sinking feeling.
“The wedding, dear.” Mother beamed and I felt Tati tense beside me.
“I had hoped we’d have some time before we started planning, Mamma,” I said slowly.
Max’s face was unreadable, but my parents were clearly confused.
“Time for what?” Father asked.
In the background, the aides and secretaries were making the necessary notes, and I knew Alaina well enough that she would have a meticulous set of notes of her own.
<
br /> “Well.” I paused. “Put simply, I thought we could just…date.”
“Date?” Father asked as though the concept was foreign to him. Though I supposed in many ways it probably was
I nodded and shared a look with a rather startled Tati. “Yes. Date. Go to dinners, the theatre, holidays, spend time together.”
Father laughed and Mother smiled.
“Son, you’re engaged. The country expects a wedding. There will be time for all that as well.”
“Father–”
“Max, tell him.”
We all turned to Max, who looked more uncomfortable than usual. He looked at his daughter almost apologetically.
“Dad?” Tati reached a hand out to him.
He took it as he leant forwards slowly. “I’m torn, kiddo.”
Tati nodded. “I get that.”
Max looked pleasantly surprised. “You do?”
She nodded again and looked around the room. “I know I’m new to this. We all know I’m new to this. And quite frankly, the fact I managed not to trip over or break anything last night was a miracle. But,” she took my hand and squeezed it, “I knew what I was signing on for.”
“Tati,” I leant forward, encasing her body with mine. “We don’t have to decide anything today.”
She nodded. “I know. But… How’s this? We discuss the expectations and see where and what we can bend? Compromise?”
Father was almost failing to hold back a proud smile and Mother wasn’t even bothering to try to hide hers. But all Max did was nod.
“Very well,” he said. Despite the very professional face he wore, his voice gave him away.
“Okay. So a date needs to be set?” Tati asked, looking to my mother.
“Yes.” She nodded.
“Is there a decree outside public expectation on timeframes? Either on when it must be set or when it must be set for?”
Mother smirked. “No.”
“So we can discuss it privately and get back to you,” I said hastily.
Father nodded. “You may.”
I looked to Alaina. “Is it possible to get a feel for which dates are free while we come up with a date?”
She nodded. “Obviously the more specific, the easier it will be. But I can get a rough idea.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“Hang on,” Tati laid a hand on my arm and I looked at her in question. “How can Alaina look up dates when we haven’t worked out where…?” She petered to a stop and looked around. “Ah. This is like the Windsors marrying in Westminster, isn’t it?”
“Well, they don’t have to marry there. People just seem to associate it with royal weddings,” Max said.
“The royal family of Gallyr have married in Aeston Chapel for centuries,” I told her, not sure how apologetic to be about that.
She nodded. “Nope. Okay. That’s… All good.”
“Was there… Was there somewhere else you were thinking of, kiddo?” Max asked.
Tati shook her head, then shrugged. “Not really. I think maybe I sort of always thought the Saints’ chapel. But I wasn’t set on it or anything. It was probably just somewhere that meant something to me. No.” She shook her head again. “No. Aeston Chapel will be lovely, I’m sure.”
I noticed she had her hands joined in her lap and was close to wringing them, so I reached over and took one.
“It won’t be anywhere near as big an affair as anything the Brits put on,” Father said and I shot him a surreptitious glare. Which he thankfully saw based on his next words. “I mean, it will be lovely. Yes.”
Tati nodded. “Of course it will.”
That sorted, Mother moved on. “Mitya will have Kostin and Nico, of course. And Tati will have Natalia and who else, dear?”
Tati looked confused again.
“Jenn and Bea, Mamma,” I said.
Mother looked at me. “Three?”
I nodded. “Yes. It will have to be three.”
“But then you will have to…”
I nodded. “Yes. It will be all right, though.”
Father frowned and he seemed unsure if he wanted to like the situation or not. “It’s certainly unheard of.”
“It is,” I agreed. “But I cannot ask Tati to choose.”
“Bridal party!” Tati laughed awkwardly. “Right. Of course.”
“Do we need to organise this all now?” I asked, looking around the room.
I knew full well that I should have known better. I should have known that once the engagement was announced – to whomever it was announced – then the planning for the wedding would begin as matter of course. Before Tati, I’d probably discounted it as being irrelevant because I wouldn’t have cared, it was a mere formality and obligation. But now it was Tati I was marrying, I cared very much how this went down. I just needed to work out how to compromise the way Tati would have been able to organise her wedding with the way my family expected it to be organised.
“It was only announced yesterday,” I continued. “Surely the people can wait before we give them any news?”
“From our point of view, yes,” Alaina answered. “But you have a lot of interviews scheduled this week and every one of those reporters will ask you for details.”
“Can’t we just tell them we haven’t worked it out yet?” Tati asked.
Alaina nodded noncommittally. “That will only get you so far. But you can.”
“What are we to say to people?” I asked.
Thankfully Alaina seemed to understand my meaning. “What do you want to tell them? We can go with a grand secret romance. We can go whirlwind. We can go surprise. It’s completely up to you.”
“What has been said so far?”
Alaina crossed her arms over her clipboard. “Very little, to be honest. Questions have been answered with the two of you met when Lady Tatiana arrived, you fell in love, and you have presented her with the family ring.” As professional as Alaina was, her unspoken question was still obvious.
I smiled. “Yes. We did fall in love,” I told her.
She gave us a small smile in return. “Well it just makes keeping the story straight that much easier, then.”
“When… Ah, when is the first interview?” Tati asked.
“This afternoon.” She looked down at her schedule. “With Elaine Snider.”
“From Channel Eight?” Tati clarified and I remembered she was the reporter who had done the piece after Tati’s involvement in Nico and my…adventure.
“The same.”
Tati let out a relieved laugh and leant back against me. “Okay. I can handle that.” Suddenly she sat up. “Do we have to talk to Gunter and Annelise?”
Alaina opened her mouth, closed it again, then looked down at her board. “Uh… I believe so…” She pointed. “Yes. Tomorrow morning. Live.”
“Live?” Tati breathed and Alaina nodded.
“Yes. PR thought it would be good to round off Crown Princess Watch.”
“I would personally like to see their faces after all their high talk of Miss Schuller,” Father muttered and we all turned to look at him.
“It’s a bit addictive. Isn’t it, your highness?” Tati giggled and my father grinned back at her like a he’d been caught stealing from the biscuit tin.
“I only turned it on once. Promised myself I wouldn’t watch such drivel!”
“Yes,” Mother added wryly. “And that was almost three years ago. Now, where are we on planning. Alaina, what have we covered?”
“Dates, ceremony venue, and bridal party.”
Mother nodded. “Flowers–”
“Mamma,” I interjected quickly, then softened as she turned a hard look on me. “Mamma. Can Tati and I have a few days to talk it over, please? Give us until next Friday and we’ll have something more for you. Yes?”
Mother sighed heavily, but I could see the teasing in her eyes. “All right. For now. Then there is the matter of Tati’s suite.”
/>
Oh, for the love of God. I’d completely forgotten about the suite.
“My what?” Tati asked.
“Your suite, dear. Now you are betrothed, we need to prepare your suite.”
I sat back in defeat.
Mother at least was quite clearly intent on getting every little detail sorted that day. I knew it as a sign that she approved of my fiancée, was excited, and wanted to make everything perfect. But all I wanted to do was go back to my room, lock ourselves in, and spend some quality time with the aforementioned fiancée.
“But…my room…?” Tati looked around the room and it was Max who decided to fill her in.
“The Crown Princess, which you will become upon your marriage to Dmitri, has her own set of rooms in the palace, kiddo. Hilde has her own, Rex’s mother had her own, his grandfather had his own.”
“Speaking of your mother, dear…” Mother started, putting a hand on my father’s arm and stoically ignoring my frantic gestures to quit while she was ahead.
“No one was speaking of my mother,” Father said sullenly.
Mother looked at me. “Mitya…”
I sighed. “I will write to her.”
Tati leant into me in what I took to be a comforting gesture. She would have known the story of my paternal grandmother as well as I did. It was difficult to find a version that didn’t paint Grandmother as a touch crazed.
“Is she still ‘Eat, Pray, Love’-ing her way around Europe?” Tati asked.
Mother and I nodded.
“She’s acting like some sort of…hippie,” Father grumbled.
Max laughed. “She was a hippie, Rex. The very literal definition of hippie during the whole movement.”
I watched Father roll his eyes and smiled. “I’ll write to her,” I promised again.
Max’s sigh of annoyance gave Father’s a run for his money.
“What?” Tati asked.
Then, by the way they looked at each other, they’d obviously come to the same realisation.
“Do I have to?” Tati whined. “Can’t you?”
Max shook his head, his smile becoming more of a malicious smirk. “Nope. That’s all you, kiddo.”
“What is it?” I asked her.
Royally Unprepared: Prince of Pout (Part 1) (Royal Misadventures Book 5) Page 6