by Rose, Louise
“Details like the colour my bouquet should be?” I sarcastically ask.
“Well, if you want me to be the best man, you can forget about it,” Declan snaps. “You can’t expect Ivy to swap one controlling father for another. Grow some balls and stand up to your Dad for once. Oh, but you wouldn’t do that. Can’t risk losing Daddy’s money, can we?”
“You should talk,” Romy counters. “How many expensive guitars does one man need? And when are you going to realise, it doesn’t matter how many fast bikes you have, you’re not a good enough driver to ever win against me or Archer? But no. You have to get your father to shell out for a new one after every race you lose because you kid yourself that if you can just find the right vehicle, you’ll miraculously be able to ride it. Face it. You’re just jealous I got to Ivy first. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t have done exactly the same thing in my position.”
“I know I wouldn’t,” Archer shouts. There goes the chatter in the room again. “I’ve seen first-hand the way Ivy’s father treated her. She deserves better and if you cared about her the way you claim to, you’d have come up with some other way of making sure she is safe.”
“You can move in with me,” Declan offers me. “We’ve got a little guesthouse we save for visitors. It’s completely private, out of the way. Nobody would know you were there. You can move in this afternoon. My parents are never home, therefore no one would make you do anything.”
“That would be-”
“No, she can’t.” Romy interrupts before I could accept Declan’s offer. “Do I need to remind you guys about what Solomon Archaic did to Archer? What he is planning to do to us? He is willing to kill us if he needs, and he won’t lose any sleep over it. He’s happy to take this town into an out-and-out war. We just have to give him the slightest excuse and he’ll be there.” He pauses to catch his breath.
I look at him with my mouth agape. Snapping my jaw closed, I am about to say...something...anything when he continues.
“Ivy, I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it, but being engaged to me makes it less likely your father will try anything. He’s not going to take on House Navarre while his reputation is still recovering. You go and stay in an isolated house and he could snatch you back at any time. Tell me I’m wrong, Archer. Tell me you wouldn’t have been able to get to her if she is living alone in this town.”
“You’re not wrong,” Archer concedes reluctantly.
“So she doesn’t stay in the guesthouse,” Declan nods. “We’ll make room for her in the main house.”
“And your parents would be happy to do that, would they? Protect an Archaic without getting anything in return?” Archer asks. “They might not be there but they must check in with the staff. The staff are never going to keep that secret.”
“Well...” Declan’s voice trails off uncomfortably.
“Exactly. For all you know, they would have demanded something even worse from her. And there’s no way Archer’s family would look after her, not when there’s a feud between the two Houses. Ivy would be in even more danger staying with the Knights. No, I know it’s not ideal, but Ivy’s safest with me as my fiancé.”
“Fine, but I don’t fucking like it,” Declan growls. “And if you marry my girl, I will kill you.”
I shiver as I meet Declan’s eyes. I don’t doubt him, not one little bit.
Now that Romy has laid things out like that, I hate to admit he has a point. But that doesn’t mean I am going to go through with his father’s crazy plan. Let him think he’s won my heart for now. It seems like everyone is out for themselves in King Town. It’s about time I start playing them at their own game.
Romy had ordered food for everyone and the waitress brings over our breakfast not long after, looking terrified of us all. I try to smile at her but it only makes her look more nervous and the plates shake in her hands. The conversation lulls as we all focus on our food. Romy is right–the bacon is the best I’d ever had, and it really takes the edge off my hangover.
It isn’t until I begin eating that I realise I haven’t had anything since lunch yesterday and I’m starving. I wolf down my food, pushing my empty plate away long before any of the boys.
“So, what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” I ask. “Are the four of us going shopping? I can’t imagine you’d all enjoy sitting around changing rooms while I try on endless outfits.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Declan replies, a flirtatious smile playing about his lips. “I can see there being a certain charm about seeing you take your clothes off…”
“You don’t actually watch me change.” I roll my eyes, laughing. “But I’ve got a lot of Romy’s Dad’s money to spend and I intend to max out at least one of his credit cards. If I’m marrying into the family, I’ll make darned sure they pay for it.”
“Good for you.” Archer nods his approval with a classic bad boy smirk. “But much as I’d love to come along with you, I’ve got a few things I need to do. Maybe you could come over to my place when you’re free?”
“I don’t know.” I answer, glancing at Romy and see nothing but rage shimmering in his eyes. I imagine he thinks he is hiding it well. He isn’t. When an heir is angry, the whole of King Town can feel it. And me? I feel it in my heart. “Will my fiancé let me?”
“You’re not a prisoner,” he tells me. “You can go wherever you like, see whoever you want. But I would recommend you tell either me or my Dad where you are, just so we can make sure you’re properly protected. But don’t worry–the guards are very discrete. You won’t even know they’re there unless you need them.”
“That’s nice,” I say. However you dress it up, it still sounds to me like I am a prisoner in everything but name.
“And we’ve still got a song to finish,” Declan reminds me. “Unless you’ve dropped out of the Academy?”
“Dad wants her to finish her education,” Romy says before I have a chance to answer. “He’s already spoken to Pilkington. She can come back to the Academy and it’s her choice whether she repeats a year or has extra tutoring to stay in our year.”
“What if I don’t want to go back at all?”
“Not an option,” Romy says, shrugging apologetically. “Like I said, Dad wants you to finish your studies. He says it’s important that the mother of the next generation of Navarres has brains as well as beauty.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll take the tutors,” I say. “I’m not spending a day longer at that place than I have to.”
“Which means we have to finish our song,” Declan says, not giving up. And I don’t want him to. “You should come over to mine and we can work on it together. I did try to finish it without you, but it wouldn’t come together. It really needs your brilliance to make it work. Maybe you could come over tomorrow?”
“I’d love to,” I say.
“Okay, well if you’ve finished making plans to see everyone except me, maybe we can get on with our shopping.” Romy all but snaps.
I place my hand on his under the table without thinking about it.
Romy is used to clicking his fingers and having girls flocking to him and I imagine he doesn’t know what to do with me, but I still don’t want to see him hurt. I just can’t.
I’m born and bred for King Town, for an heir, and I have three to choose from.
But what happens if I just can’t choose?
Will I start a war?
Chapter Thirty-Six
After we say our goodbyes, Archer and Declan leave me and Romy to our shopping. He takes me back to the same place Isabella had taken me to, and I had a lot of fun taking outfits I had no intention of buying into the changing rooms, just because I wanted to make Romy sit around waiting for me.
To his credit, he is very patient and even when I deliberately put on clothes I knew would look awful; he is wonderfully complimentary, finding something nice to say about everything.
Much as I wanted to spend his father’s money, when it came to actually buying anything, I really strugg
led. Having grown up bouncing from one foster home to another, it felt wrong to spend money for the sake of it, so in the end I found myself picking out a few things I really needed without going overboard and putting the rest back.
However, when it comes to finding a ring, Romy insists on making sure I have something special.
“Everyone needs to look at you and know you’re engaged to a Navarre,” he tells me. “This ring symbolises our two Houses coming together for a brighter future.”
“Not to mention you want everyone to know I belong to you, right?”
“You look at Archer and Declan like they are yours and they look at you like you are theirs. I don’t want to share you,” Romy says unapologetically, making my cheeks redden. “I want you to know I’m not going to forbid you from seeing them. We’re all heirs, and it’s important to maintain ties between the Houses. But you’re my fiancée and they need to respect that. A ring sends out a signal to everyone that you’re off the market. Besides, my father will expect you to have something which shows off the Navarre fortune. He’d be very disappointed if you didn’t come home with something appropriately impressive on your ring finger.”
I try not to wince when I see the price tags on the engagement rings Romy picks out for me to choose from. Reminding myself that this is an investment in my escape plan, I decide to go for a cluster of diamonds around a black sapphire. Set in a platinum band, it will surely broadcast to the world I am an engaged woman.
After he paid for it, Romy insists on placing it on my hand and it all feels so wrong.
“What–you’re not going to propose to me in some romantic set up to make it all official?” I jokingly ask.
“Do you want me to?” Romy looks surprised.
“Believe it or not, I always thought the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with would care enough to plan a beautiful proposal,” I honestly say. I didn’t spend all my childhood thinking about it, but a good amount of my childhood I pretended to be a bride and dreamed of my fairy-tale ending. I dreamed of princes and kings. Knights and jokers. And somehow the joker of the bunch is the one I’m engaged to.
Even though he is the joker of the story, he is so much more than it seems. “Even if it is just taking me out to dinner and bringing the ring out with dessert, I figured he’d take the time to make me feel wanted.”
“Why Ivy Archaic. I do believe you’re quite the romantic at heart,” Romy teases, but honestly looks surprised. “I had no idea.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” I remind him. “Maybe if you knew me better, you wouldn’t be so keen to rush me down the aisle.”
“I don’t think there’s anything I could learn about you that would put me off marrying you,” Romy tells me. “In fact, I’m looking forward to a lifetime of learning all about you. You strike me as the kind of woman who’s always going to surprise me, and that sounds like the perfect recipe for a successful marriage if you ask me.”
“Hmm.” Part of me hoped Romy would see this marriage as being as much of a game as I did, but by the sound of it he is actually taking it seriously. I’ll have to tread carefully over the coming months while I figure out how to get myself out of this mess. I might not be in love with Romy, but I like him a lot. The last thing I want to do is hurt him.
I fiddle with the ring on my finger, which feels like it shouldn’t be there.
“All right. Take it off,” Romy says.
“What?”
“Take it off,” he insists. “You want a romantic proposal, you’re going to get one. You’re right. If this is going to work, we need to start as we mean to go on. I’m going to spend the rest of my life treating you like the queen you are, which means a proper proposal.”
Oddly, my heart beats hard in my chest, and I find myself smiling. “What are you going to do?”
Romy taps the side of his nose. “That would be telling. Leave it with me. I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.”
* * *
“Master Romy, Miss Ivy. Mr Navarre wishes to see you in his study immediately,” Johnson says, coming out to greet us as we arrive back at Romy’s house. I refuse to think of it as my home, even temporarily. I’m not planning on spending a second more here than I have to.
“I’ll just take my bags up to my room, then I’ll go see him,” I say.
“No need, Miss Ivy. I’ll have them brought up for you,” Johnson kindly tells me. “Mr Navarre is most insistent you were to go see him without delay.”
“Fine. Thank you,” I sigh.
Romy takes my hand as we walk along the long corridor that led to Ben Navarre’s study. My instinct is to pull away, but I don’t, knowing I am going to have to keep up this charade for a while yet.
Romy gives my hand a reassuring squeeze before knocking on his father’s door.
“Come!”Ben looks up from his computer, smiling as he sees us coming towards him.“There’s my favourite young couple,” he says. “I trust you now have a wardrobe suitable for a Navarre bride?”
“I’ve got what I need,” I say.
“Excellent.” Ben nods his approval. “Make sure you wear something suitably striking when you go to dinner with your father this evening.”
“Dinner? With my father? This evening?” My blood runs cold and my stomach lurches at the thought of being in the same room as that man, let alone having dinner with him.
“Yes. While I can appreciate you may not wish to see your father at this moment in time, it is important he sees that you’re healthy and being taken care of. He cares about you, Ivy.”
“Ha!” I choke back a laugh. “That man cares about no one but himself.”
“He may not have a conventional way of showing affection, but trust me. You are very important to him.”
Yeah, as a bargaining chip in the sick games people play in this town.
“Plus, of course, if he doesn’t see that you are here of your own free will and happily engaged to Romy, your father would be perfectly entitled to see your residency as an act of aggression and take appropriate retaliatory action.”
“What?”
“Your dad could take revenge on us in the name of rescuing you,” Romy translates.
“Yes, I understood that, thanks. But my father lost any rights over me the moment he made me prisoner in his house and attacked R-”
Romy squeezes my hand, warning me to keep my mouth shut.
“It’s all about appearances in this town,” he reminds me, his eyes drifting to his son. “As long as everything looks okay, it is, regardless of what’s really going on.”
“You’ll be heartened to hear that Romy sought your father’s approval before agreeing to marry you,” Ben says. “As soon as we discovered your whereabouts, we put everything in place for you to enjoy Navarre protection. Remember–you owe us for putting a roof over your head. Once you have met with your father, you won’t ever have to see him again unless you choose to. You have my word.”
“So if I meet him tonight, that’s it?” I want to be sure before I say yes.
“That’s it,” Ben nods.
“Okay. But I’m not going to his house. I’m not risking him doing anything. We go for dinner in a crowded restaurant and I want Romy with me.”
“I will book two tables, one for you and one for Romy,” Ben partly agrees. “Your father is very clear that he wanted time alone with you, but he cannot complain if Romy happens to choose to eat in the same place. In addition, I’ll have guards stationed about the place, so if your father does try something foolish, he’ll regret it. We’re here to protect you, Ivy. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
I am sure Ben means what he says, but my father is bad to the bone. Wherever he goes, trouble follows.
“Now, what type of food would you like? Italian? Chinese? Mexican?”
“Surprise me.” Something told me I won’t have much of an appetite if I am dining with my father.
* * *
I spend the rest of the day a nervou
s mess, dreading the confrontation with my father after escaping his mansion. I have a bath to relax, but it’s impossible. With nothing to do but lie in the water, my mind is free to run through countless scenarios of what might happen tonight, none of them good.
Going through my new purchases a little later, I am glad I’d listened to Romy when he suggested I buy a couple of power suits for House business meetings. As Romy’s fiancée and representative of House Archaic, it is expected for me to be involved in plans and discussions about the future of the town and how we would work together as we move forward.
Now it seems the most sensible thing to wear to send out a signal to my father I am not to be messed with.
I decide to put on a black trouser suit with a white blouse. The cut of the jacket emphasized my waist, flattering my figure without being revealing. Romy had thought of everything during our trip, including a brand-new pair of high-heeled Jimmy Choos to go with the suit, the extra height making me feel strong and powerful.
Putting the finishing touches to my makeup, the bright red lipstick I’d selected made me look like I was out for blood. My father isn’t going to know what hit him.
The intercom buzzed with a message from Romy asking if I’m ready yet.
“I’ll be right down.”I take one final look at myself in the mirror.
Not bad, Ivy. Not bad.
As I strut out to Romy’s Mercedes, he wolf whistles and makes me smile.“Wow, Ivy. I loved that on you when you tried it on, but the way you’ve put it all together.” He shakes his head admiringly. “I’m one lucky guy.”