This was turning into a nightmare!
“Maybe I can help,” said a low compelling male voice in English with only the slightest trace of accent.
CHAPTER TWO
KRISTIN turned her head in the direction of the door. The second her light blue eyes caught sight of the Prince, resplendent in ceremonial dress, she let out a surprised gasp and stood up.
His coloring was similar to Sonia’s, in that he had dark brown hair and eyes. Tall and powerfully built like his brother and father, he stood six feet two or three, and possessed an aristocratic bearing.
Dressed in dark blue with the wide royal red band crossing his broad chest from shoulder to hip, Kristin’s niece would be awestruck if she could see him.
While Kristin studied him, she discovered that he was studying her just as thoroughly.
His gaze wandered over her face and figure with unmistakable male interest. She swallowed hard before averting her eyes.
In the next instant he moved toward them and hunkered down next to Sonia who was sobbing harder than ever and refused to be comforted.
“I understand you’re called Sonia,” he began. “So you’re the girl who came all the way from America to meet my sister.”
His words produced another paroxysm of tears.
Kristin noticed the play of hard muscle beneath his suit jacket. She could tell he was striving to come up with a different approach to an impossible situation.
“My name is Eric. Do you think you could stop crying long enough to talk to me for a minute?”
She rubbed her knuckles against her wet eyes. “I—I don’t want to talk to a-anybody ’cept the P-princess.”
“I know exactly how you feel. When I was a little boy and very upset about something, I always ran to my sister to talk to her because she’s my best friend and the kindest person I know. Do you have a younger brother?”
“No.” Sonia hiccuped. “My m-mommy and daddy died before they could g-give me one.”
Kristin felt the Prince digest those words. She had the grace to feel sorry for the royal bachelor playboy who she figured had never been forced to deal with a crisis quite like this before.
“My sister asked me to come in her place because she couldn’t. I know you wanted to meet a real princess, but I am her brother.” He wiped some of the moisture off her cheeks. “Will a prince do for today?”
No woman young or old could be immune to that humble yet compelling male entreaty, not even Sonia, who finally lifted her tear-ravaged face to him.
“D-do you h-have your c-crown on?” she asked in a tremulous voice.
The Prince’s intelligent gaze swerved to Kristin’s in distinct puzzlement. At this point she realized everything had fallen apart before Mrs. Severeid had found the time to tell him about Sonia’s condition.
“My niece is blind,” Kristin tapped him on the shoulder and silently mouthed the words.
Their eyes held for endless moments while he absorbed the tragic revelation. As he continued to stare at Kristin, his expression underwent a dramatic transformation. Lines of incredulity darkened his features, making him appear older.
His dark brown eyes looked pained before they settled on Sonia once more. Strong masculine hands reached out to grasp her niece’s little fingers in his.
“I didn’t have time to put it on,” he said in a solemn tone.
“H-how come?” Sonia wanted to know. Small tremors shook her body, but miracle of miracles, her hysterics were subsiding.
“Because it’s in another town.”
“Where?”
“At a cathedral in Midgard with some other family crowns.”
“How come? If I had a crown, I’d put it in my room on the dresser.”
Kristin’s eyes closed tightly. The “how comes?” had started, and now there’d be no end to them.
“My crown’s too heavy to wear all the time, so I keep it locked up in the church where it will be safe.”
“Does it hurt your head?”
She sounded so concerned about that, the Prince flashed Kristin an intimate smile in spite of his shock that Sonia couldn’t see. Already he’d discovered her niece possessed a potent charm of her own. It was unbelievable to Kristin that her ex-fiancé Bruce hadn’t been affected by it.
Encouraged by the progress the Prince was making, Kristin couldn’t help but smile back.
“I get a headache when I have to wear it for a long time,” he said, still looking at Kristin as if he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
“Does the Princess’s c-crown hurt her too?”
His gaze eventually swerved back to Sonia. “No. It’s smaller and lighter.”
“Is her crown at that church?”
“No. I think she keeps it with her.”
“Do you live at the p-palace with the Princess?” Sonia asked before she hiccuped again.
“Not since I became a man.”
“When did that h-happen?”
Out of the mouths of babes.
Kristin struggled not to laugh at Sonia’s innocent question.
This time the Prince sent Kristin a slightly wicked smile before he concentrated on Sonia and murmured, “I’m not sure. When I turned twenty-three I decided to get my own place.”
“My Aunty Kristin’s twenty-three. How old are you?”
“I turned thirty on my last birthday.”
“My daddy was thirty when he died. Do you live in your own palace?”
“No. I live in an old sea captain’s house.”
“I thought you were a prince!”
His low laugh excited Kristin. “I am, but I love the sea. My house sits high on a hill where I can look down and watch all the boats.”
Sonia shivered. “I don’t like the water.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Cos I was on a sailboat with my mommy and daddy when they drowned. Now I live with my Aunty Kristin.”
At that news, the Prince subjected Kristin to another intense yet solemn appraisal before he said, “You’re a lucky little girl to have her.”
“That’s what Grandpa Elling says. Don’t you miss the Princess?”
“Yes,” he whispered, “but she has a husband and pretty soon she’s going to have a baby boy. They need their own place.”
“Do you live all alone?” Her voice trembled.
“No. I have a dog.”
Her expression brightened. “Is he big?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his name?”
“Thor.”
“That means thunder!”
The Prince chuckled softly, but Kristin felt it resonate deep inside of her. “That’s right.”
“Is he mean?”
“He’s as sweet as my sister.”
“We couldn’t keep a dog at our apartment.”
“That’s too bad. Every little girl should have one. How would you like to meet mine?”
What? Kristin’s heart thudded.
“Could I?” Sonia cried in delight.
When the Prince turned to Kristin, she shook her head. “Please—that’s not necessary,” she whispered, but by then the Prince had plucked Sonia from the chair and held her in his strong arms.
“I tell you what. Let’s go out in front of the shop so the photographer can take our picture with the Severeids. Then we’ll walk across the square to Santa’s post office. After that we’ll visit Thor.”
Sonia threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She’d never done that with Bruce in the whole time Kristin had known him.
The Prince reciprocated with a spontaneous hug that looked so genuine to Kristin, he could have been Sonia’s daddy loving her.
“Hold on to my hand and don’t let go,” he said after putting her down.
“I won’t. Come on, Aunty Kristin.”
The Princess had been forgotten for the moment, but Kristin feared a new problem had arisen, one that might be much more difficult to fix by the time this experience was over.
“I’m right behind you, sweetheart.”
Kristin had a hard time crediting that any of this was happening. The moment was surreal.
With Sonia in her native dress and the handsome Prince looking as if he’d just stepped from the pages of a fairy tale. Kristin had to admit that the two of them entranced the eye.
Everyone, including the security guards, must have thought so too judging by the hush that fell over the crowd of locals and television people. They’d congregated around the Chocolate Barn’s sixteen foot high chocolate Santa waiting for the Prince to join the owners.
“Your Highness,” Mrs. Severeid spoke up, “we are honored that a member of the royal family could be here today to meet the winner of our contest, Sonia Anderssen from Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.
“She’s a true daughter of Frijia and we are proud for her picture to appear on every can and packet of hot chocolate, the Chocolate Barn’s newest product to the world.
“Out of the fifteen hundred children’s photographs sent in by Frijians from all over the globe for our contest, Sonia’s picture captured our attention and our hearts.”
Fifteen hundred? Kristin had no idea the competition had been so fierce.
Mrs. Severeid bent down to put the microphone in front of Sonia. “Will you tell everyone about the dress with the Varland lace you have on, Sonia?”
“My great-grandma wore this when she came to America from Frijia a long time ago with her mommy and daddy.”
“You look lovely in it. Can you tell the people watching how it happened that your photograph was sent in?”
Uh-oh. Sonia was a precocious child. Kristin held her breath, half afraid of what was going to come out next.
“Grandpa Elling sent it because he loves me.”
“Did you know he’d entered you in our contest?”
Sonia shook her head. “No. Not till Aunty Kristin told me I was going to meet the Princess. But she has to rest cos she’s going to have a baby boy any minute.”
No, Sonia—
“So she asked her brother to come. They’re best friends. He couldn’t wear his crown cos it’s in a church and gives him a headache, but he’s going to let me meet his dog who lives at the Captain’s House. Thor’s not mean. Prince Eric says he’s as sweet as the Princess.”
Stop—
The press was going to seize on all those private juicy tidbits, especially the fact that the Princess was expecting a son, another royal heir to the throne. Kristin was sure the gender of the princess’s unborn child wasn’t supposed to be common knowledge yet!
While Kristin hid her face in her hands, excitement and laughter rippled through the mesmerized onlookers as video cameras rolled and flashes popped by the dozens.
When she peeked through her fingers, she saw that the Prince had gathered Sonia in his arms once more. To Kristin’s shock, he was smiling at her with his eyes as well as his mouth. If he was upset, it didn’t show.
“As you can see, it was my lucky day Princess Maren asked me to represent her on this delightful occasion. I’m sure the whole world is as charmed by Sonia as I am.
“I think it only fitting that everyone meets the woman who made it possible for Sonia to be here.” His gaze sought Kristin’s in the crowd. “If you’d come up here, please—”
With a royal summons like that Kristin had no choice but to join them, yet her legs felt like rubber. She prayed she wouldn’t embarrass herself by stumbling on her way up to the mike.
“Sonia?” the Prince said. “Will you introduce your aunt?”
“She’s my Aunty Kristin and I love her cos she takes care of me and brought me to Frijia. I love Grandpa Elling too.”
The Prince’s eyes leveled on Kristin in such a personal way it made it impossible for her to look away, let alone breathe. His gaze traveled over her features and seemed to rest on her mouth.
“This is a great day for Frijian-American relations. Don’t you agree?” he asked in a deep, drawling tone.
Kristin nodded like a tongue-tied school girl before getting control of herself. “This experience is something Sonia will treasure all her life. I speak for my father, Elling Remmen, when I say thank you to the Severeids and Your Highness for this once-in-a lifetime opportunity.”
More flashes went off, then Kristin turned to shake the owners’ hands.
With a happy smile, Mr. Severeid took over the mike. “For the next year we’ll be sending Sonia a chocolate treat from our store every month so she won’t forget us.
“In her honor, we’ve had a mold made of Sonia and will now present her with a chocolate figure of herself she can hang on her Christmas tree at home in Chicago.”
That was a surprise the Severeids hadn’t said anything about until now. It warmed Kristin’s heart. She knew her father would be overjoyed to see his darling granddaughter honored this way. She was his pride and joy.
Everyone clapped and cheered as the owner handed Sonia the five inch high chocolate ornament covered in a transparent wrapper with the blue, red and gold ribbon made expressly for the Chocolate Barn.
Sonia clutched it in her hand.
“Say thank you,” Kristin whispered to her niece.
“Thank you everybody. Can I eat it after Christmas?”
“You can do whatever you want.” The older man knew about Sonia’s blindness. By now his compassionate eyes had filled to the brim with tears.
“I’ll put your ornament in my purse for safekeeping,” Kristin whispered to her niece.
When that was accomplished she started to take Sonia from the Prince, but he held her closer to him as if to say he wasn’t about to relinquish her yet.
“Shall we go to Santa’s post office now?”
CHAPTER THREE
ONE of the salespeople helped Sonia on with her coat before the Prince carried her to the entrance. Surrounded by security men, they made their way out of the Chocolate Barn to be confronted by a vast throng that had gathered because word had spread the Prince was in the marketplace.
Kristin walked alongside them, trying to hear the running dialogue between him and Sonia. It was difficult because her niece was in his arms and their faces were close together.
With her adrenaline working overtime, Kristin didn’t feel the cold even though the temperature which, according to the post office’s exterior thermometer, indicated it was only a few degrees above zero.
A traffic sign bordered in red with a rotund figure packing a big bag stood in front of a darling three-tiered wooden Christmas house with balconies and a peaked roof.
Kristin had already been told by the tour guide who’d brought them to Brobak that this shop had been designated by the Frijian Foreign Ministry as the official post office for Santa Claus.
The inside looked like storyland, and was filled with doll houses and toys and baskets of handmade nisses, the Frijian Santa Claus. While Kristin suffered to think Sonia couldn’t see anything, the Prince was busy describing everything in sight to her niece, making it come alive for her.
Every once in a while his penetrating gaze flicked to Kristin, sending her a private message that said he was loving this.
So was Kristin.
So was her niece!
Sonia’s brown eyes shone while she listened in rapt attention to his vibrant male voice as he pointed out items to her in his inimitable way. In the process he’d seduced Kristin as well as the mesmerized child in his arms.
This was a side of Prince Eric the paparazzi had never shown to the world, a remarkable nurturing side the tabloids had failed to capture. He was turning this day into a magical experience for Sonia. Kristin loved him for it, but she wished her heart wouldn’t race so fast whenever he looked at her.
He moved to the counter where he could help Sonia make her wish list to send to Santa.
“What is it you want more than anything in the world?”
At this point Sonia had discovered the epaulets on his shoulders and was fingering them. “A Seeing Eye dog. They’re n
ot mean.”
Kristin bit her lip. She hadn’t known anything about Sonia’s secret desire. Someone at the hospital must have talked to her about it out of Kristin’s hearing.
“You’re right. A wonderful dog like that will be your best friend for life,” he said in a husky voice. “I’ll write that down for you.”
An employee behind the counter rushed to hand him paper and a pen.
“Do you think Santa will bring me one? My teacher says they’re spensif.”
It sounded as if kindergarten was the place Sonia had heard about a Seeing Eye dog.
“Why don’t you let Santa’s elves worry about that?” he said with another kiss to her forehead. “Here you are.” He handed her the envelope with the letter inside. “Go ahead and drop it in the mailbox.”
Sonia squeezed her eyelids shut, then let it fall.
“Now it’s on the way to the North Pole,” he told her.
She let out a happy squeal. “You have to make a wish too.”
“I plan on making several.” He wrote something on another sheet of paper and put it in an envelope. “Do you want to mail this one too?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Let it go.”
When that was accomplished he said, “Why don’t we pick out a present for you.”
No, Kristin cried inwardly, shaking her head. This was all too much. The Prince only smiled benignly at Kristin, then moved toward a display of toys to delight any child’s heart.
“Do you like mice?”
“I love fat ones like in Cinderella.”
“So do I.” He chuckled. “Right now I’m looking at a collection of the cutest stuffed mice you ever saw. There’s a baker, a candle maker, a chimney sweep, a nurse and a grandma with knitting needles.”
“Can I have the grandma, please? Grandma Astrid died last year. I want to give it to Grandpa Elling so he’ll feel better.”
Again the Prince turned to Kristin, visibly touched by Sonia’s sweetness. Then she heard him say something in Frijian to the saleslady, but it was too low and fast for her to make out words.
The woman put the mouse in a box with the same kind of striped ribbon on Sonia’s ornament and handed it to her with a smile.
12 Stocking Stuffers Page 95