As the minutes ticked by and there was still no sign of her father, Lucy started to worry that this little meeting was exactly that.
She’d honestly been hoping for more time. If for nothing else than to postpone the inevitable.
Finally, the door at the other end of the office opened, and her father stepped into the room, his advisor just behind him.
Michael Smithe looked like what his son might if he were thirty years older. And not so bald. It was almost comical how Jeffrey’s hairline had receded as the years had gone by, but Michael’s looked to be coming in thicker and thicker. Albeit, Michael’s hair was more gray than his son’s, but gray hair was better than no hair at all if Jeffrey was any indication.
Lucy’s father approached her, taking her hand and kissing it in the affectionate way he had. It relaxed her somewhat. Perhaps this meeting wouldn’t be as bad as she’d previously thought. He took a seat on the other side of the desk. Michael went back to stand with Jeffrey.
“What’s this I hear about you having a boyfriend?” her father asked, his voice booming out in the silence.
Lucy’s heart sank as her fears were confirmed. “Um. Well…”
“Damn well about time, I’d say,” the king continued. “I was starting to think you’d never find someone you liked.”
Lucy’s jaw dropped, but she closed it just as quickly. No reason to give Jeffrey any ammunition to use against her.
“Your Majesty,” Jeffrey started. He stopped immediately before her father even had time to look at him. “Never mind, my apologies.”
That was interesting. Usually nothing short of one of her father’s empty threats to fire him and his entire family could get Jeffrey to shut up when he had something to say. Lucy wasn’t going to complain if it meant that she didn’t have to deal with whatever horrible-ness would come out of his mouth.
“A…uh, commoner, is he?” her father continued.
She nodded. “Yes. He works for a delivery service.”
“Ah. Well. I’m sure that means he’s never late for your dates.” He chuckled, which prompted both of the Smithes to laugh as well. It sounded like a couple of geese honking in the doorway behind them.
Lucy cracked a smile. She was pretty sure no other father in the kingdom could force others to laugh at their dad jokes. Nope, just Mark Pagett, King of Justana.
“Just be aware, Lucy—and—keep the law in mind. It’s alright to have fun, but remember your duty to your nation.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. She wasn’t going to bring up the subject now when everything was going so smoothly. Her father was taking this well. The Smithes were quiet. Lucy knew better than to rock the boat when the sea was calm.
“And Lucy? Be discreet. No one has seen you yet. Let’s keep it that way.”
“If no one saw, then how did you know?” Lucy turned to look at Jessica. She wasn’t aware that it was any responsibility of Jessica’s to disclose her whereabouts, but Lucy wasn’t a stranger to unpleasant surprises. Her guard shook her head minutely in response to the question she hadn’t really been asked.
“When neither Jessica nor I can escort you, there is an alternate security detail who reports back to me,” Jeffrey informed her. “And I must say, Your Highness, it is increasingly troubling to me that you would go into a stranger’s home unattended. Terrible things happen to women who do that. Women who do not have the luxury of round-the-clock surveillance. AND another thing—”
“That’s enough, Jeffrey,” her father barked. “She’s safe. And I’m sure Jessica wouldn’t have sanctioned the date if Mr. Walder had looked like a man who would take advantage of the princess.”
“You’re correct, Your Majesty,” Jessica chimed in. “Walder is a stand-up citizen. He volunteers in his free time. What little of it he has.”
Lucy swelled with pride and nearly cackled with glee as she heard Jeffrey’s quiet sputtering behind her.
“Good, good. Now that that’s settled? I believe that’s all I needed from you, my dear.” King Mark looked fondly at his daughter, standing when she did. “I have to meet with the Smithes in preparation for our guests who will be arriving next week, and there’s no need for you to stay if you’d rather be elsewhere.”
Lucy had nearly forgotten about their upcoming guests. Both of the Etrian princes were scheduled to come for a visit. She was supposed to accompany them to the opera. She wasn’t really looking forward to it, and she loved the opera. Prince Kent was nice to look at, but he was awfully boring. As for Prince Luke, he had barely said two words to her in all her life, and she’d known him for most of it.
“I’ll see you at dinner, Papa?” she asked brightly, leaning up to wrap her arms around him for a quick hug.
“Of course, dearest.”
She could hear Jeffrey’s argument against her relationship the second the door shut behind them. Lucy sighed and chose to ignore it, walking down the hall towards her room and failing to notice that Jessica wasn’t with her. Had she been paying attention, she’d have noticed her bodyguard with her ear pressed to the door, determined to hear the entirety of the conversation behind it. Instead, lost in her own thoughts, Lucy retreated to her bedroom to text Dylan.
————
“Your MAJESTY, I must interject. There is no way that this is a good idea. I don’t trust the boy. Not as far as I can throw him,” Jeffrey insisted.
“And that isn’t far,” King Mark quipped.
Jeffrey shot his father a pointed look, as if thrown by the fact that the older man wasn’t weighing in.
“Come now, Jeffrey. My daughter knows how to get what she wants and if Lucy wants to have her fun with the boy, let her have it. If push comes to shove, we can always give him a title, attach some land onto it if things get serious.” King Mark waved his hand again. “We can make him a…duke or something, hopefully before his commoner status is revealed. That would certainly gum up the works a bit.” He sucked his teeth a few times, shaking his head. “But, it’s not something we need to worry about right now. I told Lucille to be discreet. This whole thing could blow over by next week and then you’d look the fool for wasting so much energy on it. You know how fickle young people can be.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Michael said with a false grandness in his tone that only Jeffrey seemed to pick up on. “If it becomes apparent that the princess is falling for him, I’m sure that some land can change hands. Titles can be shifted. Not to worry.”
“Good, good.” King Mark nodded. “You know how I love my daughter. I want her to be happy. So if this…bicycle courier…makes her happy, I’m willing to give up some of my own land rights to make it happen.”
“You are a wonderful father, Your Majesty,” Michael said.
“But what about Prince Kent?” asked Jeffrey. “We’d thought that he and the princess might make a good match. Didn’t we?”
King Mark made a face. “Lucille doesn’t care for the prince. And I have it on good authority that King Adam of Etria won’t marry his heir to the ruler of another country. Etrians don’t like to split the ruler’s focus. King Adam might consider betrothing Luke, however. There was talk of that for a while.”
Michael tilted his head in acknowledgment. The king stared off wistfully before continuing, “But, I’m not as old fashioned as all that. I had rather hoped Lucy would find a nice lord’s son while she was away at college so I wouldn’t have to arrange anything. As it stands…” The king’s face lit up jovially. “I think I might like to meet this Walder fellow. There must be something about him if my daughter has taken a shine to him!”
If the Smithes were taken aback by his enthusiasm, they knew better than to show it. “Quite right, Sir, I’m sure something can be arranged, “Michael said with a nod. “Come, Jeffrey. Let us leave the king to his work.”
Jeffrey found himself being rushed from the study, more protests fresh on his lips. They spluttered out like a backfiring car instead of landing on ears that would take heed.
“Kindly lower your voice,” Michael said to his son. “You heard the king, there must be something about this courier if the princess is so infatuated with him.”
Anger crossed Jeffrey’s face. The courier wasn’t anyone important! The courier wasn’t in a position to expand the Smithe’s influence from Justana to Etria. The most they could hope for at this point was a discount on international shipping prices. This wasn’t exactly the political influence he’d been positioning himself to wield.
He couldn’t believe his father. Or the ease with which he let all their plans slip and fall to pieces. For years, they’d schemed to have a foot in each nation. Justana was powerful, true, even after the financial crisis, the treasury was still well stocked due to increased wartime taxes. But with the addition of Etria? Etria had armies. Etria was feared. The Smithes had the Justanian king and the Council in the palms of their hands. Marrying the princess into the Etrian royal family would open up MANY more doors. King Adam was no slouch, but Prince Kent, the heir to the Etrian throne? He was a brainless drone just waiting to be controlled.
Jeffrey glanced angrily in his father’s direction.
Why had they pushed for an alliance between Justana and Etria if they were just going to abandon the plan now? Why had they insisted the king spend all that money building the damned luxury liner in honor of King Adam’s wife? The Sofia had nearly bankrupted the country. To what end could they POSSIBLY justify their actions now?
He started to argue that the king should be told about how they had literally paid that miserable waste of space off for hitting him with the royal limousine and that now he was running around sullying the princess for her true husband.
Jeffrey and Michael had kept other suitors away for the past four years with well-timed bribes, all in the hopes of marrying Princess Lucille off to Prince Kent and solidifying the union between the two nations that they so desired. They could certainly do it again with this one.
A nearly imperceptible tilt of Michael’s head had Jeffrey clamping his mouth shut, however. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a shadow. But when he blinked, it was gone. Perhaps it was only a trick of the light. Whatever it was, it reminded Jeffrey that they should really be in the privacy of their own suite of rooms before discussing anything out in the open.
Jeffrey rounded on his father as soon as the door to their apartments shut. “Why are you undermining me? I thought the plan was to marry her off to the Etrian prince!”
“You heard the king. Kent is the heir to the throne of Etria. His father will never agree to this union. Etrians don’t like to share power.”
“But the courier,” Jeffrey hissed. “She can’t marry the courier!”
Michael made a noise of disgust. “Of course not.”
“Then what was all of that nonsense about making him a duke?”
He rolled his eyes. “He won’t become a duke. You heard the king. If it goes public and the princess is outed as having a tryst with a commoner? There will be no way to smooth it over and give him a title. She’ll have to end it.”
“But did you hear the king? You’ve heard me complain about Princess Lucille, but never that she is stupid! The princess is exceedingly clever and resourceful. She will figure out a way to get what she wants. And what she wants isn’t an Etrian prince. All of this is going down the shitter and there’s nothing we can do—”
“My dear son.” Michael clucked his tongue. “The princess might be clever, but we are more cunning by far. If she doesn’t drop the ball, we’ll drop it for her. And as for our dreams of Etria. Well…” He chuckled. “There is more than one Etrian prince.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Not to worry! Lucy and Dylan will return in my upcoming novella:
UNSUITABLE
(Part Two of the Royal Affair Series)
By
Amelia Rockwell
Available Soon on Amazon!
I’d like to take this opportunity to give a special thanks to Myranda Bolstad for her support and guidance while writing this novella.
About the Author
Amelia Rockwell grew up in the Southeastern United States, where she still resides. She is a mother of three and has been married for seven years to her very own Prince Charming. She spends her free time dreaming up new and exciting story lines for her romantic fiction. She enjoys writing believable romances with relatable, snarky heroines and lovably flawed heroes. She hopes that you will fall in love with her characters just as she has.
Connect with Amelia:
Follow @ameliarockwell on Twitter
Follow ameliarockwell on Tumblr
Like Amelia Rockwell on Facebook
Subscribe to my newsletter
Check out my website
Unavoidable (Royal Affair #1) Page 6