Love Schemes

by Stacy Charasidis

  Love Schemes

  By Stacy Charasidis

  Silly Little Love Stories

  Love Schemes

  Text copyright © 2016 by Stacy Charasidis

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover by Cora Graphics

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my beloved

  Sister of the Egg, my other half,

  my twin Liz,

  who loved this story first.

  During our final edit she suggested calling

  Doran the “Golden Boil” or pustule…

  I’m still laughing.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 – Doran

  Chapter 2 – Seraphina

  Chapter 3 – Doran

  Chapter 4 – Seraphina

  Chapter 5 – Doran

  Chapter 6 – Seraphina

  Chapter 7 – Doran

  Chapter 8 – Seraphina

  Chapter 9 – Doran

  Chapter 10 – Seraphina

  Chapter 11 – Doran

  Chapter 12 – Seraphina

  Chapter 13 – Doran

  Chapter 14 – Seraphina

  Chapter 15 – Doran

  Chapter 16 – Seraphina

  Chapter 17 – Doran

  Chapter 18 – Seraphina

  Chapter 19 – Doran

  Chapter 20 – Seraphina

  Chapter 21 – Brody

  Chapter 22 – Doran

  Chapter 23 – Seraphina

  Chapter 24 – Pre-Party

  Chapter 25 – The Party

  Chapter 26 – Brody

  Chapter 27 – Doran and Seraphina

  Chapter 28 – Trevan and Murdock

  Chapter 29 – Doran and Seraphina

  Chapter 30 – Faith and Zuric

  Chapter 31 – Doran and Seraphina

  Chapter 32 – Brody and Ava

  Chapter 33 – Seraphina and King

  Chapter 34 – Brody and King Jo

  Chapter 35 – Brody and Murdock

  Chapter 36 – Meeting of the Minds

  Chapter 37 – Brody and Ava

  Chapter 38 – Doran and Seraphina

  Chapter 39 – Faith and Zuric

  Chapter 40 – Seraphina and Brody

  Chapter 41 – Faith and Seraphina

  Chapter 42 – The Day before the Wedding

  Chapter 43 – The Wedding Day

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  Also by Stacy Charasidis

  Prologue

  They met on a boat.

  No fanfare, no guards.

  Just a few trunks with ale, food, and woods gear.

  They wanted to fish, and talk.

  They were all disturbed in some way.

  It was their children.

  They were driving them mad.

  One’s lament: “My son…God, my son is such a big-hearted dummy. I need to help him.”

  Another’s comment: “I think my daughter prefers women. Or perhaps she is a praying mantis in a girl’s body…in any case, I am certain if she ever finds a mate she’d eat him.”

  The third’s reflection: “My son’s a bookworm, with two left feet. He can’t dance to save his life. How will he woo a wife? He’ll never marry and I’ll be stuck with him forever.”

  The last man admits: “My daughter is a bawd, a tart, a well-bred strumpet. How will she ever learn true happiness?”

  They all agreed. They needed to do something about these kids. It was time to stir up some dung.

  Chapter 1 – Doran

  She is so spoiled, Doran thought for the millionth time as he watched the princess flay another servant with her barbed tongue for doing something wrong, like existing. He rubbed his eyes. Only two years in this hellhole and he would be back at his own castle. At least the king was a reasonable man.

  When he was sober.

  Doran shook his head and sighed. He clutched the castle’s ledger books to him tightly. The Ranier’s finances were an utter mess, and the reason Doran had been sent here in the first place. His father, King Herrick Silversmith, had been best friends with King Phineas Ranier since they were boys, having fostered together at Silversmith Castle. Upon hearing of his friend’s struggles, Doran had been dispatched to help.

  Lucky him.

  He remembered the first time he had encountered Princess Seraphina. It was the moment he had arrived at the castle. Apparently he had ridden a bit too close to her, and in her pique, she’d slapped his horse so hard it had reared and nearly tossed him, causing panic and pandemonium in the small stone courtyard. He, of course, had been blamed and shouted at rather unfairly by the horse master. Thankfully, the king had seen everything and had sorted out the fraying tempers. From the top of his now calm horse, Doran could see the girl clearly, his annoyance obvious in the expression on his face.

  Seraphina had just stared at him haughtily as if it were completely within her rights to cause such a commotion without suffering any consequences. Around his age of twenty or so, the girl was a rare beauty with long, curling auburn hair and green eyes. Not too tall, but slender. Her face had good bone structure and her expression showed that she was obviously a spoiled brat. Looking into that face, Doran had been certain that his time at the castle would be worse than torture.

  Maybe he should consider taking up drinking.

  Chapter 2 – Seraphina

  “I swear to God, stay out of this, Ava,” Seraphina hissed at her cousin. The girls were in the courtyard arguing quietly. Ava was swinging her duster around in a circle. “You are already in enough trouble from your past stupidities,” she continued. “Look at you! Reduced to being a servant! Isn’t this horrible punishment teaching you anything?”

  “I like cleaning,” Ava said, prodding her cousin with a jaunty laugh. “It gets me into many bedrooms.”

  Seraphina’s jaw dropped open in shock. “Are you serious? I can’t always be around to protect you anymore, Ava. I have my own problems now! My own plans!” Her voice had been steadily rising in frustration as she shouted at her cousin in the middle of the courtyard. Ava was now looking at her balefully.

  Seraphina looked up and noticed Doran watching her with his usual puckered look of disapproval. She ignored him with a haughty look. He had no idea what she was going through, or what she had to put up with in this insane castle. Imagine if he had a wild cousin to manage. He’d yell too if he had just caught said cousin half dressed in the stable with one of the young guards. Why, he’d probably cry like a baby if, on top of everything else, he only had until the summer solstice to figure out how to squeeze out of an arranged marriage before the groom arrived to claim his bride. No doubt he’d react just like her. Pompous, pinch-faced donkey!

  She remembered when Doran first arrived at the castle a week ago. In her terror, she had been convinced that her betrothed had arrived early and unannounced. Doran’s regal carriage and handsome appearance had made her breath catch in her throat before sanity returned and squashed the silly, girlish reaction. Instead of playing the gracious hostess, in her frustrated fury, she had slapped the young man’s horse soundly and stingingly on the rump, causing it to rear in outrage. Surely no sane man would marry a mad princess who slapped strange men’s horses knowing the outcome of being tossed could be injury or even death. How stupid would that be?

  She had leapt to the wrong conclusion, of course. It hadn’t been her intended, his highness Prince Broderick Bertram Bartholomew Larwick of Oakmoor Castle, but Prince Doran Silversmith, the son of her father’s best friend. He had looked down at her with disapproval in his eyes, once calm had been restored, and was surprisingly stoic about the unfair tongue lashing he’d received from the castle’s horse master. She’d hid her shame and embar
rassment at her mistake through cold composure. The look didn’t work on her warm and jovial father, unfortunately, but it had the right impact on Doran.

  When he had finally hopped off his horse (once the horse master had stopped yelling at him), and her father had turned the angry mob back into a courtyard full of normal servants, she had noted that Doran wasn’t a big man. He was tall and slender with straight brown hair to his shoulders that framed a thin, handsome face. Spectacles hid soft grey eyes, and his mouth was wide, even while creased in a disapproving scowl. He was cute, in a bookish, geeky kind of way. She already hated him.

  The young man had turned his back on her to greet her father, King Ranier. His bow was graceful and his manner confident and respectful. Her father, on the other hand, was not big on ceremony. He swept the young man’s hand away and grabbed him in a bear hug instead. She heard a small “urk” come from the prince, along with some bones cracking, and actually felt a bit sorry for him for a brief second.

  Seraphina looked up and saw her nanny, Belle, staring at her worriedly from the second floor balcony that ringed the courtyard. She had come from Seraphina’s room to investigate the commotion. Seraphina gave her a brief nod and a quick thumbs up to indicate all was well. Belle sighed in relief and disappeared back into Seraphina’s bedroom. Everyone in the castle was worried. The king’s decision to arrange a marriage for Princess Seraphina had not gone over well. No one wanted her to be forced into marriage. She was their light, their beloved princess, and they didn’t want her to be unhappy.

  Seraphina looked around and decided that now was a good time to disappear, which is the exact moment her father finally noticed her. “Seraphina, my sweet!” he boomed loudly. “Come and meet Herrick’s handsome son, Doran. He’s going to help us get the castle in order!”

  Doran had turned to look at Seraphina and any trace of irritation had disappeared. His face was a mask of courtesy as he bent forward to kiss her hand and murmur, “my lady.” She had responded with the barest of curtsies and a murmured “my lord” with a precise nod. She had looked into his face, and as her eyes met his, warmth had tingled through her, so she had snatched her hand back in confusion. She thought she saw Doran’s mouth quirk up in the corner in reaction. Was he laughing at her?

  Seraphina didn’t have time to analyze the feeling because her father swept both of them into his burly arms and practically carried the two of them into the castle.

  So much for first impressions, or dignity.

  Chapter 3 – Doran

  The king had given Doran a few days to settle in and take some time to look around the castle grounds before he took over his duties as the Steward and Custodian of the Gold. The country around the castle was all rolling hills surrounded by a dark dense forest. It certainly was lovely, arable land. The weather was sunny and warm, very different from the cool windy crags he had lived in his whole life.

  Today was the day he got down to business and took over his new duties. The faster he could organize the castle, the faster he could go home. After breakfasting in the dining hall, Doran met the king in his private study. It was a beautiful round room nestled in the west turret, the stone made warm with carpets, and the room made cozy with a fire in the hearth. Tapestries covered the walls—scenes of wild hunts and, well, other wild passions—decorated the room. Doran flushed a little and turned to the king who was smiling slightly as he stared out one of the arched windows carved out of the stone. “My wife’s tapestries. A gift from her people at our wedding. They are very valuable and rare, and quite stunning to look at. I never tire of them.”

  Doran thought back. The king’s wife had died a few years earlier. She would have been running the castle, which explained its disorganized state.

  The king sighed and tore his gaze away from the outdoors. “I appreciate you coming, my boy,” the king said heartily, pointing to his desk. “This is probably the best place to start. The ledgers for the past few years are all here. So are the invoices due, purchases to be approved, you know, the usual stuff,” he said offhandedly, waving his hand dismissively. “Your father said that you were a master at running his castle. Do you think you can sort it out?” Without waiting for an answer, the king clapped Doran on the shoulder and headed for the door. “I have a new, young stallion to break in, so I’ll see you later.”

  Doran stood there in shock. The desk looked like it had been under siege for a century. Books teetered in huge piles. Papers surrounded the floor, and it looked as if a half gnawed chicken bone rested on top of it all.

  Doran turned toward the departing royal. “Er…your majesty—”

  “Just call me King,” he said as he opened the door.

  “Okay, um, King. What kind of…where do I…uh…”

  Steely blue eyes turned to Doran, and Doran’s panicked mind took a moment to realize that Seraphina must have gotten her green eyes from her mother. “Young man, you are in charge. The servants have been instructed to follow your orders. Buy anything you need. This study is now yours to do with as you wish. Your only challenge in this castle will be Seraphina. She’s rather temperamental, the red hair you know, but I have no doubt the two of you will get along famously.”

  “Your majesty!”

  But King was gone.

  Doran looked around in bafflement. He didn’t even know where to start. So grabbing a notebook, he backed away and headed out to find the one person who probably knew everything about the castle. He went to the kitchen to see the cook.

  Cook was a round lady in every sense, body and cheeks. She was bossy and threatening, and waved her wooden spoon around like a sword, but she answered his questions with a smile. “Eh? Finally some brains around here. With the mistress gone (she sniffed and wiped a tear) the place has slowly been going to the dogs.”

  At which point a dog ran through the kitchen and out the back door. “See!” she screeched, pointing her wooden spoon at the disappearing animal. “Dogs! In my clean kitchen!”

  Doran was twisting a finger in his ear, hoping to get his hearing back. “I see. A dog infestation. I’ll make a note. What did the Queen die of, may I ask?”

  “Die? Oh, yes…well, er, women’s things. You know,” she said very vaguely.

  He didn’t, but he didn’t press. “So, what is your most pressing need at this point, other than the dog problem?”

  “Many of the kitchen bills haven’t been paid. The miller has been by many times asking for his due, and has threatened to cut off my flour and oats! I’ll be making bread out of hay soon. Only news of your arrival has kept us supplied. I promised him I would ask you to pay him first.”

  “Your servant,” Doran said with a small bow, making a note in his book. That got her dimples to show in her chubby cheeks. They spoke for a bit longer, but she had work to do, so she shoved him out of her kitchen with a warm bread roll that smelled heavenly.

  Unfortunately, the roll went flying out of his hand as he stepped out of the kitchen into the path of a galloping horse and rider who passed just an inch from where he stood on the stoop. He looked up in shock to see a glare and a mane of red hair as Seraphina rode by, oblivious of her recklessness and obviously in the throes of another one of her temper tantrums.

  Furious, Doran reached down to pick up his bun, but with a pink flash and a small “oink,” a little pig snatched it and ran away with it. His jaw dropped.

  Cook trundled out and laughed at the look on Doran’s face as she handed him a new bun. “Honestly, I’ve never seen the child ride this close to the kitchen door.”

  “I think she’s trying to kill me,” Doran said incredulously.

  Chapter 4 – Seraphina

  Good Lord, that man just gets in everyone’s way, Seraphina thought angrily as she rode past the kitchen on her way to the road and the visiting party that was headed to the castle. Her cousin, Faith, was finally arriving for her visit.

  Faith would stay until the wedding. Seraphina had pleaded with her to come keep her sane and help get her out of thi
s mess. Faith had gotten them out of trouble many times in the past. Her sweet manner and blond angelic looks, along with her devious mind, had charmed their fathers many, many times. Seraphina needed Faith more than ever now. She had no intention of getting married, and with Faith’s help, was certain this nightmare would finally end.

  She rode out to meet the lumbering party. Faith had come with a large entourage—three ladies in waiting and ten guards. One of the guards was a knight with silver chainmail that glinted in the sun. He rode beside Faith and they appeared to be conversing.

  She knew the knight had spotted her when his hand casually moved to rest on the sword stored on the right side of his horse. “Lady Faith!” Seraphina cried as she galloped toward them.

  “Seraphina!” Faith responded gaily, waving. The knight’s hand moved back to the pommel of his saddle.

  “My dear cousin! Welcome, welcome!” Seraphina yelled gaily as their horses came upon each other. As the girls hugged, Seraphina burst into tears. “I’m so glad you’re finally here,” she said, sobbing hysterically.

  The knight’s posture showed awkwardness, even through the metal suit.

  “Oh, dear,” was all Faith said as she stroked her cousin’s fiery red tresses.

  Chapter 5 – Doran

  By the following week, Doran had finished visiting all the servants in charge of the different areas of the castle to assess their needs. According to the master horseman, the smith needed to be paid for horseshoes, nails, and tackle, among other things. The head housekeeper needed new linens and brooms. The guards needed equipment and armour fixed, and in some cases, replaced. The list went on. The issue wasn’t that the king didn’t have the money to pay his bills; it was that he needed a person to get the gold and actually pay them. That person had been missing until Doran arrived.

  Taking the gold room key and a money sack, Doran headed down to the vault, grumbling. “First week on the job and another fifteen people in the castle for the next two months…linens, feed, food, amusement,” he listed mentally as he walked. Everyone’s demands had grown. The castle’s staff had started affectionately calling him “the golden boy,” as he seemed to spend his day pulling gold out of his pockets to grant their wishes. In the short time he’d been there, Doran had shown such integrity and determination in his duties that he had completely won their hearts. Well, except for Seraphina’s. Apparently, she was calling him “the golden dork” behind his back. He didn’t even know what a dork was.