A Royal Marriage Of Convenience

CHAPTER TEN

MORNING came too soon.

Or maybe it wasn’t morning. Rose stirred where she lay. She was still before the fire, which was now a pile of glowing embers in the grate. At some stage of the night Nick had thrown on another log, and fetched pillows and a vast down-filled duvet, so as the fire had died they’d stayed warm. She was still cradled against his body, the small of her back pressed gently into the curve of his chest. As if she belonged there.

There was a soft knock on the door. Maybe that was what had woken her. She lifted Nick’s wrist a little so she could see his watch-and she yelped.

But, instead of releasing her, Nick’s arms held her tighter. He nuzzled her ear and she felt rather than heard his low chuckle.

‘Going somewhere, wife?’

‘The door…Nick, it’s two in the afternoon.’

‘Golly,’ he said, and hugged her still tighter, and kissed the nape of her neck. She giggled and rolled sideways, sighed and reluctantly sat up. The sun was entering through the chinks in the drapes. Hoppy was sitting on the settee looking down at them with lop-sided concern.

The knock sounded again, gently insistent. The world wanted to come in. Whoever it was wasn’t going away.

Nick reached for his trousers. ‘Just roll away while I open the door,’ he told her.

‘Roll where?’

‘Somewhere.’ He smiled down at her. ‘You want to be found naked on the sitting-room floor?’

‘Hmm.’ She smiled back up at him. Last night someone had tried to kill her, yet right now she felt light and free and deliriously happy.

‘Roll,’ he told her, and he leaned over, bundled the duvet round her and pushed.

She chuckled, and rolled behind the settee, and then wiggled a bit so she was obediently out of sight. Nick walked to the door, bare-chested. Rose peeked out from behind the settee-and there were her panties right where she’d stepped out of them the night before. ‘Nick, wait…’

Too late. ‘Yes?’ Nick said, and opened the door.

It was a maid, one of the normally somber, uniformed staff who kept the wheels of domesticity turning. At the sight of Nick, naked from the waist up, she gasped.

‘Can we help you?’ Nick said politely.

‘If you please, sir,’ she said, but she ran out of words. She was gazing at his chest, then looking past him. Her mouth sagged open.

‘Yes?’ he said encouragingly, and she gasped again.

‘I…Monsieur Erhard has asked me to tell you…’

‘Mmm?’

She swallowed and made an Herculean effort to get things straight. ‘He wants to see you. He says…He says he’s sorry, but it’s urgent. We told him you hadn’t had breakfast, so he’s asked us to serve croissants and juice in the conservatory.’

‘I think we might have breakfast in our room,’ Nick said.

The girl had spotted the panties now. Her lips were pressed together. Hard. In disapproval?

‘I…No,’ she said, and pressed her lips closed again.

‘No?’

‘Monsieur Erhard says you have company,’ she said. Desperately. Clamping her lips tight together again.

‘Company?’

‘Monsieur Erhard himself. And the Princess Julianna, the Princess Rose-Anitra’s sister. And a lady I don’t know. She says she knows you and her name is Ruby.’

‘Ruby,’ Nick said blankly.

‘If you please, sir, they’re all in the conservatory, and Monsieur Erhard says maybe you could be down in half an hour, but if there was anything you needed before then…um…anything at all…’

‘I believe we have everything we need,’ Nick said, attempting to sound severe, and the girl’s tight-lipped expression finally cracked.

‘Yes, sir,’ she said, and she smiled. And then she giggled. ‘Yes, sir, I see that you do.’

‘You realise discipline in this castle is shot to pieces?’

‘Yes,’ said Rose, chuckling more than the girl had chuckled, and hugging Hoppy as she rolled back out from behind the settee. ‘I believe they’re my knickers you’re standing on, sir.’

He bent and picked them up. They were pink and white and lacy, with butterflies embroidered on them.

‘My God,’ he said with reverence. ‘And I stood on them. Why didn’t I notice these last night? Were these special for your wedding?’

‘Of course,’ she said, and then she giggled again. ‘Nope. I tell a lie. I wear knickers like this all the time.’

‘You’re kidding me.’ He held them to the light as one might hold up a piece of priceless art. ‘You wear these? As a country vet?’

‘I wear brown, grungy overalls and mud, and I smell like cattle,’ she said. ‘I have to be a girl some time.’

‘It’s a tragedy,’ he said, awed. ‘All that time they’ve been under brown overalls?’

‘Um…’ She choked back another giggle, then thought about what the girl had said and suddenly it was easy to stop laughing. ‘She said Julianna was here.’

‘And Ruby,’ Nick said, in a tone of deep foreboding.

‘Ruby?’

‘If it’s the Ruby I think it is, it’s my foster mother.’

‘Your foster mother.’ She gathered her duvet round her and rose awkwardly to her feet. ‘I didn’t…’ She frowned. ‘You didn’t ask her to the wedding?’

‘I sort of did. I told her she was welcome but it was a political move, business only, and there was no reason for her to come. Did you ask your in-laws?’ he retaliated.

‘As a matter of fact I did,’ she said. ‘Not only did they know why I was coming here, I told them the date of the wedding, and I told them they’d be welcome. Gladys slammed the phone down on me. So why does Ruby’s arrival make you sound scared?’

‘Because.’

She grinned. ‘You sound about ten years old. Because why?’

‘Because she’ll care.’

‘I see,’ she said cautiously. ‘And this would be a disaster?’

‘She’ll hate that it’s not a real marriage,’ he said. ‘She’ll hate that it’s a fraud.’

It was like a slap. Rose stilled.

‘A fraud,’ she whispered. ‘I…Oh, yes. Sorry.’

‘She’s always wanted her boys to marry,’ he said, not seeing her dismay as he concentrated on the possible consequences of Ruby’s arrival. ‘She married for love, and it’s her ambition to see us fall in love just like her. She’d never understand why we did this. But Ruby knows I go my own road. Why she’s here now…’

‘And Julianna,’ Rose whispered, pushing aside Nick’s troubles in the face of her own. ‘Why would she be here? She was invited to the wedding, but she didn’t come either. I haven’t seen her since that awful night.’

‘And they’re all waiting for us in the conservatory,’ Nick said morosely. ‘You think we ought to knot sheets and escape through the window?’

‘It’s hardly dangerous,’ she said.

‘If Ruby’s mad at me it might be.’

‘If Ruby’s mad at you then you deserve something dire.’

‘Hey, you’re on my side.’

‘Says who? Can I have my panties, please?’

‘Are you going to put them on?’

‘I think bluebirds today,’ she said with dignity. ‘Can I remind you-sir-that this is my bedroom, and all my clothes are here, and everything you own is in your bedroom down the hall? Therefore you should leave.’

‘Right,’ he said. Dazed. ‘Bluebirds.’ He almost visibly swallowed. ‘But Rose?’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ll wait for you at the head of the stairs,’ he told her. ‘I think we should go down together.’

‘There’s safety in numbers?’

‘I hope there is,’ he said.

Nick returned to his bedroom. The domestic staff had been before him. All evidence of the night’s intrusion had disappeared. He showered and dressed as fast as he could, then returned to the head of the stairs.

Rose was already waiting for him. ‘How the…?’

‘You obviously take longer putting on your make-up than I do,’ she told him, and smirked and started down the stairs.

She was wearing ancient jeans, an oversized sweatshirt and shabby sneakers. She’d tugged her hair back into a simple ponytail. Her face was scrubbed clean of all make-up. Anyone further from the elegant bride of yesterday he couldn’t imagine.

But somewhere under those jeans were bluebirds. He stood at the top of the stairs and forgot to move, so she had to stop at the first landing and turn to him, exasperated.

‘Coming?’

‘Sure,’ he said uncertainly, and she grinned.

‘I couldn’t find the bluebirds. It’s bumblebees.’

He nearly tripped and fell all the way to the bottom. Somehow he kept his feet and managed to follow her through the maze of corridors to the conservatory. Bumblebees. They passed three of the domestic staff on their way, and each had a smile as wide as a house plastered on their faces.

This wasn’t a house shocked to the core by news of an assassination attempt, he thought. Their movements since the intrusion had obviously been noted and were giving pleasure. Maybe news of the butterflies was winging its way round the castle right now.

But not the bumblebees. He was feeling decidedly proprietary about those bumblebees.

His mind was having trouble focusing on anything it should be focusing on, and it was almost a relief when they reached the conservatory and Rose pushed open the door. This was an orangery, a conservatory planned in the days when oranges had been an inconceivable luxury in a climate too cold for them. There were orange trees in beautifully ordered lines under the magnificent glass-roof. A truly royal tiled floor-a coat of arms in tiles-was magnificent enough to take the breath away.

But Nick scarcely saw it. There was a table in the bow window at the end of the long, glass-panelled conservatory. There were three people sitting at it.

Erhard. Julianna.

Ruby.

Uh-oh.

Maybe he shouldn’t have told her, he thought nervously. But she’d have found out anyway. Ruby was a diminutive white-haired lady. She was dressed in her customary pastel twin-set, tweed skirt and sensible shoes. A string of pearls her foster sons had given her for her sixtieth birthday showed she’d considered this day worth dressing up for, but there was little of the celebration about her small person now. She looked very, very hostile.

She rose, and Nick had the same urge to run that he’d had when he’d been ten years old and she’d discovered him ‘making lollies’-rolling dollops of butter in brown sugar and eating them with delicious abandonment. Half a pound of butter had disappeared before she’d found him.

‘Nikolai Jean Louis de Montez,’ she said now, in exactly the same voice as she’d used then. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

He had an almost irresistible urge to hold Rose in front of him like a shield. Only the knowledge that Rose was staring at Julianna like she was seeing a ghost stopped him.

‘I did say I’d fly you over if you wanted to come,’ he said weakly, and Ruby stalked towards him with such determined anger that for an awful moment he was afraid she’d box his ears.

When had she ever, though? Even after ‘the butter incident’ she’d simply made him walk the two miles to the nearest dairy to buy some more, and then go without butter on his toast for a week.

But she was angry. Boy, was she angry.

‘You told me,’ she said icily, ‘that you were marrying a European princess in name only so she could claim the throne. You said it wasn’t a real marriage. A contract only, if I’m not mistaken. Two signatures on a piece of paper. Why would I want to come and watch that?’

‘It was only supposed to be…’ He shook his head, not knowing where to go from here. ‘How did you get here?’ he tried instead.

‘Never you mind,’ she snapped. ‘Sam said I was never to tell anyone. Such nice soldiers. They had me here before breakfast.’

He might have known. Ruby had her own means of getting where she wanted, when she wanted. And he wasn’t off the hook yet.

‘I would have come before,’ she said, darkly glowering. ‘But I was babysitting Pierce’s children. There I was, stuck with four kiddies, when I opened this week’s Woman’s Journal-it has the best macramé patterns-and there you were! And there was Rose, bending over a whole litter of piglets, and I knew the moment I saw her that this wasn’t a paper contract. Then I had to wait for Pierce to get home and for Sam to organise transport before I could come. And I missed it.’

She fixed him with a look that said, ‘stay right there; I’ll deal with you later’. And she turned to Rose.

But Rose was facing her own demons. Julianna.

It was Julianna, but she was barely recognisable.

This wasn’t the elegant young woman Nick had met the first night they’d been in the country. Julianna was dressed in quality trousers and blouse, as she had been that night, but that was as far as the elegance went. A savage bruise marred her left eye. Something had hit her hard. Her hair, twisted into an elegant chignon the last time Nick had seen her, was now a riot of unmanaged curls. Her face was blotched from weeping, and rivulets of mascara had edged down her cheeks. She looked much older than Rose, he thought. Drawn. Haggard.

‘Rose, I never meant…’ she was saying, while Rose kept staring at her like she was seeing a ghost.

‘Never meant what?’ she whispered.

‘Last night. I swear, I didn’t know. I thought…’

‘What are you talking about?’ Rose asked, and Julianna choked on a sob, reached for her sister’s hands, but then seemed to think better of it. She retreated, backing against the table, holding to the table edge for support.

‘I thought Jacques had given up,’ she whispered. ‘He said we’d go to Paris-he said we’d skimmed all we needed and the panel was never going to come down on our side. Rose, I married Jacques when I was seventeen. I know that’s no excuse, and I could have left him, but I kept hoping things would be better. I thought I loved him. I never-’

‘You wanted to rule,’ Rose said bluntly, and Julianna blenched even further.

‘From the time I was little our father told me it was my right. He said I was the one. He made it sound so wonderful, and I always felt the chosen one. But of course there was always Keifer and Konrad, and ruling seemed impossible. Only now it turns out Jacques knew Konrad would die young. Because-’

She faltered, then took a deep breath and continued, forcing every word out as if she could scarcely bear it. ‘I swear I didn’t know, but maybe our father knew. I think now that’s why Jacques married me.’

‘Oh, Jules.’

‘What did your father know?’ Erhard asked, but she shook her head. Whatever had to be said must be said in her own time.

‘I knew by the time Konrad died that Jacques didn’t love me,’ she said, and she tilted her chin in a gesture that mirrored Rose’s. ‘I’ve been so miserable, I just stopped…seeing. When Erhard came to see me after Konrad was killed, I told him that Jacques could do what he wanted with the country. I didn’t care.’

They were all focused on her now. Ruby had turned from Nick and was looking at Julianna with a look Nick recognised. Ruby had raised seven foster-sons. When a new boy had arrived at her home, this was the look she’d used.

Here was a chick that needed a mother hen, her look said. But Julianna was in her late twenties.

‘You sound like you have that depression thing,’ Ruby said sympathetically. ‘I had it after my husband died. It was like I was in a fog, and the fog was too thick to push through.’

‘I did,’ Julianna said, choking on a sob. ‘I do. Last week, after that awful time with the crowd, we went to Paris. But then yesterday Jacques said we had to come back. He said we weren’t coming to the wedding, but we had to be near.’

‘Why?’ Erhard asked, and she put her hands to her face again as if she couldn’t bear to go on.

‘He didn’t tell me,’ she whispered. ‘He’s stopped telling me anything. I think he’s even stopped thinking I can hear. It’s my stupid fault. It’s just been easier to agree, to do what he says, to be left alone.’

‘Only last night…’ Erhard prodded.

‘He was excited,’ Julianna whispered. ‘We were staying in one of the palace hunting-lodges, which was weird, all on its own. But I wasn’t thinking. Or maybe I was thinking-of you, Rose, and your wedding, and how you were my sister and you were being married and I wasn’t there.’

‘You weren’t either?’ Ruby said, and sniffed her disgust. ‘I might have known.’

‘I went to bed,’ Julianna said, too miserable to be deflected. ‘But I heard him downstairs, pacing, pacing. And then I started thinking. The fog lifted a little. I heard him on the phone saying we were only twenty miles away and we could be at the palace in an hour. And of course there’d be suspicions, but the money transfer was impossible to trace and there was no proof. And hadn’t he succeeded with Konrad? A car crash with a drunk driver, he said, and he sounded really pleased with himself. No proof at all. And then Erhard…’

She looked wildly at Erhard, as if she couldn’t believe he could be here. ‘He said to whoever it was, “But you should have done better with Fritz. The old man turned up today. You were meant to hit him so hard he’d never stick his nose into what’s not his business again.” He had you bashed. He…’

‘He didn’t,’ Erhard said gently, reluctantly. ‘His thugs came to my home two weeks ago. My wife’s poodle raised the alarm. They killed our Chloe, but Hilda and I managed to escape.’ He closed his eyes, remembering the terror, but then he looked directly at Rose and then at Nick.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I should have told you. I thought with all the publicity he’d never try to hurt you two. I so wanted this wedding to go ahead. I took Hilda out of the country because she was terrified. I reassured her. But I didn’t think he’d try…I misjudged.’

‘We all misjudged,’ Julianna whispered. ‘I never thought he would, but he did. Jacques did. “We’ll get away with them both,” he told the guy on the end of the phone. I knew what he was saying. He’d killed Konrad and he was going to kill Rose and Nick.’

There was an appalled silence. Julianna was staring blindly at Rose. ‘You’re my sister, Rose,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t get away from that. When I thought of what he was planning…’

She swallowed, fighting for the energy to go on. ‘Finally I went downstairs and asked him,’ she managed. ‘Even then I couldn’t believe he’d go that far. But he just looked at me as if I was stupid, as if I was nothing. And then he hit me.’

‘Oh, my dear,’ Ruby whispered.

‘He pulled me back up to the bedroom and locked me in,’ Julianna said dully. ‘He ripped out my phone extension. He said I was in it up to my neck, and if I said a word I’d go down first. And I couldn’t get out. I tried and I yelled, but he laughed and told me to take a tranquillizer. Take five, he yelled. And then the phone rang downstairs. I heard Jacques say one word: “Well?” That’s all. Then silence.’

She swallowed, and Nick could see the horrors of the night were still with her. ‘I was sick,’ she whispered. ‘I thought it was over.’ She took a jagged breath and looked at Rose as if she still couldn’t believe her sister could still be alive. ‘Then the front door slammed and I heard his car. The lodge-keeper came by this morning and let me out, but Jacques was gone. I rang here and they said you were safe, but I had to see. The lodge-keeper brought me here.’ She shook her head as if trying to shake away a nightmare. ‘Rose, I swear I didn’t know what he intended. I’d never…I’d never…’

‘I know you wouldn’t,’ Rose said softly. Ruby moved aside-as Ruby would; the woman had the most finely tuned intuition Nick had ever known-and Rose took Julianna’s hands.

‘Even last night, when Nick said it had to be Jacques, I still knew it couldn’t be you,’ Rose said softly. ‘You’re my sister.’

‘Oh God,’ Julianna said, and she pulled back and put her face in her hands. ‘What must you all think of me? I don’t want this. I hate it. I want to be out. I want to be ordinary. I want to go somewhere, breed horses, take in washing, anything but this. I don’t want to be royal.’

‘Taking in washing’s a bit extreme,’ Rose said, and Julianna choked on something between laughter and a sob.

‘I don’t care. But how can I do anything? Jacques will never let me.’

‘No one owns you,’ Rose said. ‘I’m just figuring that out. You need to do what you need to do. As for the royal bit-can’t you resign?’

‘You can’t just resign.’

‘Edward did,’ Rose said. ‘Back in England. With Mrs Simpson. Isn’t that right? He was supposed to be king, but he signed something that said he was giving up his rights to the throne. Erhard, can’t Julianna resign?’

‘I don’t know.’ The old man looked grey. He groped blindly for a chair, and Nick pulled one forward for him.

There was too much emotion here, Nick thought. If he wasn’t careful Erhard would collapse. He strode out through the conservatory doors to the sitting room beyond. There were decanters on the sideboard. He poured a generous brandy for the old man and carried it back.

Erhard hardly registered when he placed it in his fingers. ‘I should have warned you of the dangers,’ he whispered. ‘I wanted this wedding to go ahead so much.’

‘Drink a little,’ Nick urged. ‘And don’t look like you’ve just confessed murder. We have our assassin from last night under lock and key, and everything else palls into insignificance.’ He shook his head. ‘And you’ve lost your dog. I suspect Rose will say there’s nothing so dreadful.’

Erhard looked up at him, and Nick smiled. He put a hand on the old man’s shoulder and squeezed.

‘We’re here now. We’re alive. We’ll find Jacques.’

‘And you’ll tell me the truth,’ Ruby said. Nick’s foster mother had been quiet for a whole five minutes now-almost a course record-but it seemed she’d been talking aside to Rose urgently. ‘Rose tells me this wedding is a fraud. A marriage of convenience.’

‘Rose?’ he said helplessly, and Rose shrugged and tried to smile.

‘Why not be honest? It is a fraud.’

‘But…’

‘That’s what you called it this morning,’ she said.

He had. But last night…Over and over the image played in his head. Rose standing in her bare feet and chemise, aiming her gun with her eyes filled with terror.

Rose against the world. Rose with bumblebees.

Rose in his arms.

But Rose was moving on. ‘If Julianna is resigning, then I could too,’ she said, attempting to sound brisk and businesslike. ‘I’ve just thought-if neither Julianna or I will take the crown, then Nick is Crown Prince. Which makes sense. My father wasn’t really royal, and you want it, don’t you, Nick?’

Did he want it? Suddenly they were all looking at him, and the question hung.

Of course he did. This had started as something that seemed exciting, almost as a Boy’s Own adventure. But somewhere in there…

‘My mother was a princess here,’ he said slowly. ‘She was so homesick. She’d want me to take it on…’

‘There you go, then,’ Rose said. ‘You can do it.’

‘But together,’ Ruby said urgently, sensing trouble. ‘Because you’re married.’

‘No.’ Nick took a deep breath. ‘Maybe it’s time for Rose not to be married.’

Ruby sighed. She put her hands on her hips and surveyed him with care.

‘Right,’ she said at last. ‘You know, I’m getting really muddled here. Didn’t you just get married yesterday?’

‘Yes, but Rose didn’t want to get married,’ he explained. ‘She did it out of obligation. Rose has had too many obligations for too long. Like Julianna, she needs to be free. If Julianna’s prepared to renounce her succession too, then it leaves Rose free to do what she likes. We can have the marriage annulled and she can renounce her succession too, if she wishes.’

‘I have a feeling the people in this country are going to get very confused,’ Ruby said darkly. ‘If I’m anything to go by, they’ll be very confused indeed.’

‘Maybe they’ll kick Nick out,’ Rose said. The group seemed to be reviving now. Just a little. Rose’s words contained just a trace of her old perkiness.

He loved that about her. He loved her to distraction. How could he let her go?

He could let her go, because he loved her.

‘You know, they might,’ Julianna said, breaking back into the conversation. She was suddenly tremulously hopeful. She’d faced the nightmare and come out the other side. ‘The riot when we put you under house-arrest was frightening. I’ve never seen anything like it. Until then I hadn’t realised…Maybe I still don’t realise what power the throne has.’

‘I can’t see Nick taking on the throne alone,’ Erhard said.

Ruby had been concentrating really, really hard. She still looked confused, but she wasn’t prepared to be relegated to the role of mere onlooker yet.

‘Nick will do whatever needs doing,’ she declared. ‘He’s a very responsible boy.’

‘Yeah?’ That was Rose. She’d been hugging Julianna, but her attention was caught by that. Her eyes flew to Nick’s. ‘Responsible-is he just? Well, well. I’d never have thought it.’

And suddenly she smiled, then gave him a measured look which was suddenly all about who’d remembered the condom last night. It was like the sun had come out. After all this emotion, after all this fear, she was suddenly teasing him.

He’d never realised he could blush.

‘Why don’t you want the throne?’ Julianna asked Rose.

‘I suspect no one’s asked Rose what she’s wanted for a very long time,’ Ruby said, putting her oar in again. ‘Did you know her mother-and father-in-law were trying to make her have babies with her dead husband’s sperm?’

No one knew what to say to that. Especially Nick. He stared at Ruby. Then he stared at Rose. Appalled. ‘Is this true?’

Rose nodded, her eyes suspiciously bright. ‘Yes, but how Ruby found out…’

‘I found out exactly the same way as Monsieur Fritz found out about Nick,’ Ruby said with asperity. ‘My friend Eloise at my macramé club told me she’d been talking to someone who was asking about you, Nick. So I did the same. I have a friend who lives in your district in Yorkshire, Rose, and I got an in-depth report of what you’ve been going through. You’ve been bullied into taking over your poor husband’s life, and now you’ve been bullied into taking over this one. Enough.’

‘I chose.’ Rose ventured.

‘The worst of two alternatives,’ Nick said slowly, watching her. And suddenly things were clear. Or as clear as they could be in the circumstances. She should never have been asked to do this, he thought. In all of this, that she’d been asked to take on more responsibility…

‘Why did you ask Rose?’ he said to Erhard, and there was something in his voice that made them all turn to him. ‘Rose’s father thought Rose wasn’t royal. You’ve inferred Julianna wasn’t Eric’s legitimate child either. You’ve said the DNA thing isn’t an issue, but maybe it could be. You didn’t go down that path. Why not? Shouldn’t I have been the one to take responsibility?’

‘But I didn’t know you,’ Erhard said bluntly.

‘You didn’t know Rose.’

‘I did.’ Erhard was still clutching his brandy glass as if he needed it, but a little colour had crept back. ‘Rose was here until she was fifteen. She was always the reliable one. Her mother was ill. Her father was a drunk. The old Prince was failing. She took everything on her shoulders, worrying about everything. When I enquired about her, it seemed she’d kept right on doing that in Yorkshire. She was responsible, and that was what I wanted.’

‘You wanted Rose to keep on taking the burden.’

‘I didn’t think.’

‘No,’ Nick said gently. ‘We couldn’t expect you to be thinking of Rose’s welfare. You were frightened for your country and you wanted what was best. Rose is the best. We all know that. But it’s time someone looked out for her interests. That time is now, and that someone is me.’

Rose was looking confused. He reached out and tugged her against him, feeling almost compelled to hold her close. But he wouldn’t hold her. He mustn’t.

He loved her too much.

‘So here’s the plan,’ he said softly, feeling Rose mould to his body, loving the feel of her, but knowing he had to offer her freedom. ‘Julianna, you abdicate. We’ll do our best to find Jacques and put him in jail, but maybe for the time being you could go home with Ruby.’

He smiled at Ruby. ‘I know. You’re annoyed with me, but I’m asking for your help, and when have you ever refused it? Ruby lives in Dolphin Bay, which is the best place in the world to recuperate. Maybe, Erhard, you could go too. You’re looking ill. There are two wonderful doctors at Dolphin Bay.’ He grinned. ‘And there are all sorts of weird and wonderful dogs. If you take your wife, I’ll guarantee you come home with a new puppy.’

‘And Rose?’ Ruby asked, sounding wary. Not hostile to his plan, though, just thoughtful.

‘I think Rose should go too,’ he said.

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Rose said, stiffening.

‘You must.’

‘Oh, sure. And leave you here to get yourself killed?’

‘Well, that won’t happen,’ Ruby said, still sounding thoughtful. ‘I’ve organised that.’

‘You have?’ Nick blinked.

‘You’re not the only one who can organise,’ Ruby retorted. ‘This is a mess. People going round at midnight shooting other people…I brought my boys up to be responsible citizens, which is why they’re all flying in tonight.’

‘All?’

‘Pierce will be a bit longer because he’s coming from Australia,’ she said. ‘Sam couldn’t go back to fetch him. But when I got here this morning and found out about the shooting I said enough, I need all my boys. So they’ll be here. Sam’s taking security over right now-Monsieur Fritz has set it up for him, and Sam swears we’ll have this Jacques person locked up by lunchtime. Blake’s got the legal mind. Darcy can sort out the army. Between them they’ll have this place sorted, and then it’ll be time for Rose to decide whether she wants to come back again.’

‘I don’t…’ Rose tried, but Nick smiled and shook his head.

‘You’re trying to argue with Ruby?’

‘I’m not leaving you,’ she said.

‘You don’t need to worry,’ Ruby said. ‘I realise Nick is a very good-looking boy, and he has a very nice smile, but he’s got to give you time to think. Don’t worry about him being lonely-his brothers will be here.’

‘But I can’t afford-’

‘You can afford,’ Nick said, feeling gutted, but knowing he had to let her go. ‘I’ve looked into the royal exchequer this week. For all the poverty in the country, the royal fortune is practically obscene. I want to plough some of that into capital works to get the economy going, but there’s more than enough to let you and Julianna spend the rest of your lives in comfort. You can take that trip around Australia you wanted to do. You can do anything you want. You have no responsibilities, Rose. Not one.’

There was a moment’s stunned pause.

‘So I’m free,’ Rose said. ‘When I said I could resign…’ She swallowed. ‘I didn’t think. And I couldn’t take Hoppy-or not straight away.’

‘Who’s Hoppy?’ Ruby asked, and Rose motioned to the little dog who’d been standing in the background looking innocuous. As well he might. He’d come via the kitchens where he’d been given a rather large ham-bone leftover from the festivities of the day before. He was paying attention to the goings on-but only just.

‘There’s quarantine regulations in Australia,’ Rose said. ‘I can’t leave my dog. So…’ She took a deep breath. ‘I do have a responsibility.’

‘Nick will look after your dog,’ Ruby said.

‘Nick’s not very responsible,’ Rose retorted.

‘You should know,’ Nick said, and smiled. ‘You’re my wife.’

‘You said it was a sham marriage,’ Ruby said sharply, looking from one to the other.

‘That was Nick,’ Rose said.

‘Do you want it to be?’ Nick asked. ‘Sham, that is?’

‘I haven’t learned to swim yet,’ she said, and she was smiling tremulously, as if she was about to take a very large step and wasn’t quite sure if it was in the right direction.

‘So it’s not sham?’ Ruby said.

‘Ask Nick what I have on my knickers,’ Rose whispered.

‘Bumblebees,’ Nick said promptly.

‘And my wedding knickers?’

‘Butterflies.’

‘There you go, then,’ Rose said. ‘How sham is that?’

There was a loaded silence. No one said a word.

‘You know,’ Ruby said finally, looking vaguely into middle distance, yet not looking at anyone at all. ‘I could really use a brandy. It was very inconsiderate of Nick to bring one for Erhard and not for me. I’m a frail old lady and I need my sustenance. Julianna. Erhard. If you were to take an arm each, I might just be able to stagger feebly forth and find my own brandy.’

‘You’re sure they’re safe to leave alone?’ Erhard asked, but he was smiling.

‘They’re talking bumblebees and butterflies,’ Ruby said. ‘Unless you’re interested in botany, I have a feeling this conversation is going to get really, really boring.’