Invitation to the Prince's Palace (11 page)

A similar set of rites was being played out in this room between Rik and his father.

She turned the highest wattage smile she could muster towards King Georgio. ‘My history is humble, I suppose, but there’s nothing to be ashamed of in coming from everyday stock.’

‘If that “stock” has an appropriate history attached to it.’ Georgio’s eyes narrowed. ‘My son will run a check. I will see this report for myself.’

Like a police-record check or something?

No, Mel, it will be a lot more detailed even than that.

She tried not to bristle at the thought, and at the king’s emotionless declaration. As though he did this all the time and would have no hesitation in eliminating her like a blot from Rik’s radar screen if she didn’t come up to standard.

It didn’t actually matter whether Georgio liked her or approved of her or not, provided she could marry Rik so that Rik could carry out his plans.

I still don’t like it. My family history is my business. I don’t want it exposed to all and sundry.

‘Dominico already ran the check.’ Rik clipped the words off. ‘You may take Melanie at her word, Father. There is nothing in her history to justify the need for you to view the report.’

Mel stiffened inwardly for a second time.

Rik leaned close to her and said softly, ‘I’m sorry. It was necessary. Dominico gave me a very light summary of the report.’

Much of Mel’s agitation subsided. ‘I don’t have anything to hide. I just don’t like the idea…’

‘Of your privacy being invaded.’ The twist to his lips was ironic.

Somehow that irony helped Mel to let the matter go.

Georgio straightened slightly in his chair. ‘I could order a search of my own.’

A chill formed in the edges of Rik’s deep blue irises. ‘But I think you will agree there is no need.’

For a moment as father and son locked gazes the room filled with the powerful clash of two strong wills. It occurred to Mel then that there were matters within such families that were very different from ‘regular’ life. Yes, Rik had ordered a search of her life and history. No, she hadn’t liked hearing that. But if Rik hadn’t done the search, his father would have ordered it. At least this way Mel wasn’t exposed to Georgio reading the entire report.

A moment later Georgio glanced away. Rik had won that round, it was done and the conversation moved on to more general topics.

Rik raised the matter of the truffle harvest. Mel sat quietly listening, but she remained aware of Georgio’s examination.

No way would he have accepted a switch between her and her cousin. He was too observant.

So you’ve done the right thing, Mel, by agreeing to help Rik. And Georgio is a strong-willed man and very set in his attitudes. You’re helping Rik to avoid being pushed into a long-term loveless marriage for the wrong reasons, too.

* * *

‘You have done well this morning, Melanie. I’m proud of you.’ Rik spoke the words and then realised it perhaps wasn’t his place to feel such an emotion in the rather personal way that he did towards his fiancée right now. She wasn’t marrying him for real reasons. She was doing this to help him and she understood that it would all end a few months from now.

Tell her what the buy-off will be in exchange for her assistance.

The thought came, and Rik…pushed it aside once again, for later. He would take care of Melanie, would ensure that she got good assistance to start her on her way with her new life in Sydney when she returned to Australia. When the moment was right to bring the topic up, he would do so. He…felt that she would know inherently that he would…take care of her.

Rik used a key to unlock the door to a small room. ‘There will be a number of rings you can choose from for your engagement ring.’

‘From the family h-heirlooms?’ Mel’s footsteps faltered in the doorway.

For a moment Rik thought she might back out of the room, refuse to enter. ‘They are not all heirlooms,’ he said, ‘but yes.’

She drew a deep breath, threw her shoulders back and continued into the room. ‘It’s probably a good idea to use something from the family’s stock of jewellery. The ring can be given back when we’re finished, and it won’t have cost you anything. We need to find one that fits and doesn’t need adjusting, and that you wouldn’t choose if you were—’

Doing this for real.

The words echoed unspoken in the room.

The practicality of her determined attitude made Rik want to smile, and yet when they stepped fully into the room and he saw the spread of jewellery that Dominico had laid out for them, a strange feeling swept over him. His gaze shifted from piece to piece until he found a ring that he felt would suit Mel. A ring that he would have chosen for her if their circumstances had been different?

There
were
no different circumstances possible, either now or in his future. Yet to Rik in this moment—

He lifted a ring with a platinum band. The three diamonds were Asscher cut to reflect light off the many facets. The stones were perfectly round, and set with the larger of the three diamonds raised higher than the two to its left and right. Because the ring was simple and the setting not as high as some, the size of the diamonds did not leap out as it might have.

The platinum band would suit Melanie’s colouring; the setting would look beautiful on her finger. It was a ring he could enjoy seeing on her for decades.

Well, it would do for the time being. He lifted the ring. ‘This was not an engagement ring, but a dress ring of my grandmother that she had fashioned for her later in her life. Her fingers were small and delicate as yours are. I do not know if she ever even wore it. She was rather indulgent when it came to such creations. I…feel the ring may suit you.’

‘Oh.’ Melanie didn’t even glance at the remaining jewellery. And when Rik took her hand gently in his and slipped the ring onto her finger, she caught her breath. Her gaze flew to his. ‘It—it fits perfectly. Just as though—’

‘Just as though,’ he murmured, and there, in the quiet of a small room filled with valuable jewellery that Melanie had been hesitant to go anywhere near, Rik lifted her hand and kissed the finger upon which his engagement ring now rested.

‘Just as though we were a real engaged couple, I was going to say.’ She whispered the words and glanced down at the ring. ‘I didn’t expect it to look—’

Right. She hadn’t expected it to look right. Rik didn’t need her to finish the sentence to know that was what she’d meant to say. He hadn’t expected it either. Nor had he expected the sudden sense of well-being and destiny that swept over him when he placed the ring on her finger.

Was he getting in over his head with her somehow despite his determination to treat this as a business transaction? Had he allowed some attitudes and thoughts to slide in wrong directions because, if he hadn’t, then how had he ended up with such unexpected feelings in the first place?

Rik should have been sorting out the answers to those questions. Instead he leaned towards her and somehow his arm was around her, drawing her close.

This time when he kissed her it was he who lost himself in a moment that should not have been, lost himself in the taste and texture and the giving of Melanie’s lips as he kissed her until he had to break away or—

It would all feel far too real?

You cannot let it become that way, Rikardo. Melanie is a sweet girl, but she never will be more than a means to an end. You will never marry permanently, not for real and not for love, and not to lock yourself for ever into a loveless marriage.

He would never trust such an emotion as ‘love’ within that institution. Not when his parents hadn’t managed even to love their sons let alone each other.

‘I have something else that I wish to show you this morning.’ Rik escorted her from the room, Away from a room full of the beauty that should go with emotion and dreams and the love of a lifetime, but had it ever existed within his family? There was that old legend, but…

Rik increased his pace.

‘Th-thank you for the beautiful choice of ring, Rik,’ Mel said softly as they stepped out of doors and started along an outside pathway that led between vast stretches of snow-covered grounds.

On her finger, the ring felt light and comfortable. It fitted perfectly and maybe that was what disturbed Mel so much. That and the fact that
Rik
had chosen it out of a dazzling array of royal jewellery. Rik had wanted her to wear
this
ring, and then he’d kissed her. It was the second time they’d sealed their agreement with a kiss, and each time became more difficult to treat as just a meeting of lips against lips.

What kind of state would she be in by the time he kissed her on the wedding day?

‘I should not have kissed you like that.’ His glance meshed momentarily with hers.

Had he read her mind? Considering the messy confused state of the thoughts in there, she hoped not!

Rik went on. ‘Our arrangement is not for…that kind of purpose and I should have remembered.’

‘Well, it was probably because we’d just been with your father and working so hard to make sure that all went well.’ She gave a laugh that sounded just a bit forced. ‘We got a little too carried away in our roles but it was only for a moment. It probably barely left an impression, really.’

Her words were just making this worse! She bit her lip. Mel glanced about them and her gaze fell on a small piece of machinery ahead. ‘That’s an interesting-looking vehicle.’

Rik followed Melanie’s gaze.

She was wise to change the topic. He was more than happy to work with her in that respect, though his glance did drop again to her hand where the ring sat as though it belonged there, and then to her soft lips, which had yielded so beautifully beneath his just moments ago. He wanted to kiss her again. Kiss and so much more.

Not happening, Rik.

And yet his instincts told him that the kisses they’d shared had been far more than instantly forgettable to her.

To him, too, if he were honest.

‘This is an all-weather buggy.’ He explained that Winnow had taken the vehicle out of storage and made sure it was in working order. ‘In first gear it doesn’t drive any faster than a person can walk. It’s easy to handle. All you need to do is steer and make it stop and start. It will drive on snow and it can handle rough terrain but there are plenty of paths here to drive it on. Our appointment with the wedding planner is not for another hour. I thought I might show you how to work this while we wait.’

Her gaze flew to his. ‘You want me to drive it?’

‘I thought it might be a good way for you to start to be able to get around more while you’re here.’ In truth there were a dozen ways he could ensure that Melanie could move around the area, and for the most part Rik expected to be with her anyway. Even so…

‘I don’t drive cars.’ She said it quickly, and then tipped her head to the side and looked at the buggy, and back at Rik. ‘I’ve never really had any interest in learning.’

‘This is not a car.’ He watched her face, and took a gamble. ‘But if you don’t feel that you can try it—’

Her chin went up. ‘Of course I’ll try it. That would be like saying I didn’t want to try riding a skateboard or making some new dish in the kitchen.’

She was a plucky girl, his Melanie, Rik thought. Before he could pull himself up on the possessive manner of wording that thought, Melanie stepped forward and did an at least passable job of feigning delight at the idea of learning all about the buggy.

‘First I will demonstrate.’ Rik sat in the driving seat with Melanie beside him and showed her the controls. They were on castle grounds in an area where the worst that could happen was they ended up off the path. He got the buggy moving, explaining as he drove, and then, when he felt Mel was ready, Rik simply got out of the seat and started walking beside her. ‘Slide into the driver’s seat.’

Mel slid over and gripped the wheel. A moment later she was steering the buggy grimly.

He guided her along, helping her to master steering around corners and stopping and starting. After a few minutes Mel didn’t need his help, and even asked if he would get back in with her so she could increase speed to a higher gear.

Finally her hands unclenched and she gave the first hint of a smile before she stopped the buggy and turned to look at him.

‘Well done,’ he praised. ‘I am glad you have been able to do this, Mel.’

‘It was fun. It’s such a long time since I’ve completely enjoyed anything that resembled vehicle travel. All the way back to when my parents used to take me every Sunday and we’d go…’ Her expression sobered and she frowned as though trying to remember something.

Though she tried to conceal it, sadness touched her face. She climbed out of the buggy. ‘I don’t remember what we used to do. They…died in a car crash.’

His hand wrapped around her fingers, enclosing her. He wished he could warm her heart from that chill. He wanted to do that for her so much. ‘I am sorry—’

‘It’s all right. It was a long time ago.’ Her words relegated her pain to the past. But her fingers wrapped around his…

A member of the palace staff approached to let Rik know that the wedding planner had arrived. The moment ended, but the tenderness Rik felt for Melanie grew inside him.

Duty. He had to attend to his duty.

Rik dipped his head. ‘Please tell the planner we will be with her shortly.’

‘Yes, Prince Rikardo.’ The man walked away.

Melanie turned her gaze towards Rik and drew a deep breath. ‘This is the next phase, isn’t it? We have to convince this planner that we’re doing this for real, even if we do want a simple, quick, trouble-free arrangement.’ She seemed to think about what she’d just said, and a thoughtful expression came over her face. ‘You must have chosen a great planner, if the woman believes she can achieve that, in a month, for a royal wedding of any description.’

Rik drew a slow breath as his gaze examined her face, flushed with the success of learning to drive the buggy, and her expressive eyes that had clouded when the topic of her parents had come up.