Crowned: Gowns & Crowns, Book 4

by Jennifer Chance

But Lauren kept talking. “Any scoop on when wedding bells are going to ring in the royal palace?” she asked. “I know the queen needs to get it set up with all her friends and it’s a slightly tricky political topic, but inquiring minds want to know.”

  “I can’t pretend to know what the queen has planned,” Ari said gravely. “But I do know she wants to wait a respectable time.” He couldn’t stop the quirk of his lips as Lauren groaned.

  “You’re as bad as Dimitri with his non-answers. He said he would be happy to stage our wedding if I couldn’t wait, which wasn’t a proposal mind you, just him being an ass.”

  Fran and Emmaline pivoted so sharply to Lauren that Fran’s new emerald earrings spun, catching the light. “Did he seriously say that?” Emmaline asked.

  “Dimitri?” Fran followed up.

  “It was a joke—a joke, you guys.” Lauren kept protesting as Nicki joined in the fray, and Ari took the opportunity to extend a hand to Francesca, urging her out of her chaise. She stood willingly, tossing a final comment about being upstaged by Lauren once again that set off another round of ribbing with the friends. Then she turned to him, her eyes dancing as they stepped over the ribbon barrier and walked down to the sea.

  “Do you think he could be serious?” she asked when they were far enough away from Lauren that the breeze would carry any comment far away. “Because Ari—I think she would say yes, if he would ask her. I truly do.”

  “I think Dimitri would move heaven and earth for Lauren, but he would never want her to be caged again,” Ari said. “He told me about what she’d suffered from her former boyfriend. The fear she lived with for so many years. Now, all he wants her to do is fly.”

  “Well that’s great,” Francesca said, and he chuckled at the irritation in her voice. “But that also could mean that he wants her to fly away from him. And pretty much no woman wants to hear that.”

  Ari laughed, then sobered as quickly as he could to calm her fears. “Dimitri would be Lauren’s shadow if she would say the word,” he assured her. “I’ve never seen the man in love like this before, and I know for honest fact that I never will again. It’s not in his nature to choose twice.”

  “Well good, that’s better,” Fran nodded. She pointed to where a man was hauling a board out of the water, and Ari recognized Stefan. “You know I’m asking about him next.”

  “Stefan is his own man, and I do not know him as well,” Ari protested. “I can only say I’ve never seen him smile so much. Or, really, at all. So that is a relationship I’m afraid we’ll simply have to watch closely.”

  “Plan on it.” Francesca hesitated, then tightened her grip on his arm. “I sent an email to George Washington today, asking about my final requirements. I could be graduated in another six months if I push it.”

  Relief flowed through Ari, though why he was concerned about Francesca leaving him for any length of time, he couldn’t say. It was foolish, and the months would fly by. He knew that. But he didn’t say that—he couldn’t.

  So instead, he said: “Push it,” and was rewarded by Francesca’s face lighting up with a joy that filled his heart.

  “And you should know Edeena paid me a visit early this morning—she somehow had already heard about Silas.”

  “It’s one of her gifts,” Ari said with a grimace.

  “Yes, well, she also mentioned her trip to the States with her sisters. She’s more eager to leave than ever, it would seem.” Francesca glanced up at him. “Do you think it’s safe?”

  “For her to spend the rest of her summer in South Carolina?” Ari asked. He lifted his hands. “It’s your country. How would I know?”

  “She’s going to hire bodyguards, she said, once she gets there. I get the feeling she wants to leave everything in Garronia behind, and never look back.” Her mouth twisted into a smile. “I know the feeling of wanting to run away from your past. I hope she’ll be okay. That curse her family laid on her is like something out of Hogwarts Standard Book of Spells.”

  “She’s a daughter of Garronia,” Ari said, stopping Francesca shy of the water, and turning her to face him. “And though it may take you a little while to realize it, my beautiful Francesca, Garronia guards her children with a watchful eye. She brought you into my life when I thought I was nothing and nobody, and made me the happiest man on her shores. I have a feeling she will bring love and laughter to Edeena and her sisters, too, no matter how far they travel.”

  “I guess…”

  “You worry too much, sweetheart,” Ari said. “For once, the worry is unfounded. If there’s ever a woman fit to break a curse, it’s Edeena Saleri.” Then he drew Francesca close to brush her lips with his.

  “Just like if there was ever a woman fit to be queen of a fairytale kingdom, it’s you, my beautiful Francesca Frannie Lambert Simmons,” he whispered. “It’s you.”

  Cursed

  When the prince she was supposed to marry falls for someone else, Edeena Saleri is done with Garronia’s courts, crowns, and family curses. She grabs her sisters and escapes to the nobility-free coast of South Carolina, USA.

  Refuge isn’t anything like it’s supposed to be, however. The family’s island vacation home now borders a singles’ retreat, which Edeena’s sisters embrace all too eagerly. Worse, the private protection firm Edeena has hired is run by the most infuriating man she’s ever met—a rough-hewn, dark-eyed, charismatic charmer named, of course, Prince. He’s not a royal and he’s nowhere near noble, so he can’t help Edeena break the family curse. But though she tries everything she can not to lose her heart, this Prince won’t take no for an answer… even if he has to track Edeena back to her glittering court to prove his point.

  Sometimes love in Garronia can be magic. And sometimes you’re just Cursed.

  About Jennifer Chance

  Jennifer Chance is the award-winning author of the contemporary romance Rule Breakers and Gowns & Crowns series. A lover of books, romance, and happily-ever-afters, she lives and writes in Ohio. She’s also urban fantasy author Jenn Stark, whose Immortal Vegas series is now available; and YA author Jennifer McGowan, whose Elizabethan spy series Maids of Honor is also available. She really, truly, loves to write.

  When she’s not at work on her newest book, you can find her online at http://www.jenniferchance.com/, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/authorJenniferChance and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Jenn_Chance.