The Christmas Princess (33 page)

Her smile deepened. It was going to be an interesting life.

“Oh, my God, it’s the hunk from State, isn’t it?” Without waiting for an answer, Zoe narrowed her eyes and propped her hands on her hips. “I knew adventure would suit you.”

She laughed. “It has. But I’m ready to get back to work, and bring Brussels sprouts to the world. I have so many great recipe ideas to share. Did you know they are part of the Bariavakian royal family’s traditional Christmas dinner?”

No one answered. They were all gaping at something behind her.

She spun around, already smiling.

Hunter didn’t look at her, but said in his best official voice, “Ms. Holland, the Department of State would appreciate your employee’s assistance for the rest of the day to deal with an emergency.”

Zoe’s mouth formed an “oh” for ten seconds before any words followed. “Sure. Absolutely.”

He had her out the door before she could say, “Hunter, really? I know from your face it’s not anything awful, but—”

“The emergency is I received a text saying we’d received a belated Christmas present from Maurice and Etienne of four nights in a certain suite in a hotel overlooking Lafayette Park.”

She laughed. “Now that’s my kind of emergency.”

“There’s also a stack of real estate listings so we can find someplace to live that will take two dogs. But first, there’s a bed.”

ASHTON, WISCONSIN

As befitted an impulse purchase, the magazine sat at the top of the grocery bag. The pages had flipped in the breeze from the car window that wouldn’t close all the way, fluttering their temptation all the way home.

But Katie Davis put the chicken, ice cream, and spinach in the freezer before she let herself sit at the metal-legged kitchen table and look at the cover.

They’d been right.

All the people who’d told her all day that the woman on this week’s cover of People magazine could be her sister.

She found the article and read it through quickly.

She felt oddly numb when she finished, yet her heart stuttered to a faster tempo the way her old car did sometimes when she shifted into fourth gear.

She studied the photographs accompanying the article. The young woman who looked so like her, smiling, between the strong-jawed man with his arm around her and the distinguished elderly man, who ruled a country but had lost a granddaughter.

The story was amazing. The magazine said the king had been struck by the resemblance of this young woman to his daughter at the same age. They had formed a bond and shared the holidays together. Now the king was going to walk the commoner down the aisle when she married.

A happy ending for all concerned, the article-writer had said, then added a final paragraph.

Or is it? King Jozef still searches for his lost granddaughter. And somewhere out there could be a young woman who doesn’t know she has a grandfather and a kingdom.

Katie closed the magazine, resting her crossed hands on the sleek cover.

She had automatically placed her right hand on top, but now she reversed them, looking at the elongated little finger on her left hand. The family mark, her mother had called it.

Yet neither her mother nor father had had the trait. Skipped a generation, was the explanation.

There’d been other things her mother had never explained. At least not beyond cryptic utterances in her characteristic blend of her native language and English.

She’d always written them off as her mother’s longing for drama in a life entirely devoid of it.

…Or maybe she hadn’t completely written them off, she acknowledged an hour later as she moved yet another box in the attic looking for the battered old suitcase her father had spanked her so hard for daring to open that once.

Why she had thought of it now, and why she was digging through all this to find it, she couldn’t say.

She swiped away cobwebs and pushed aside a box labeled “Baby Cloths” — her mother never had gotten the difference between cloths and clothes. And there was the suitcase.

Without ceremony, she flipped open the latches. Then she realized a rope was tied around it to keep it closed. That took some more doing to loose, but she succeeded just before she thought she’d need to take the whole thing downstairs to cut it.

The top sprang up.

Find out how Paul and Bette started the getting-married trend among their friends in ..

Prelude to a Wedding

Paul and Bette request the pleasure of your company at their wedding

While they play matchmakers to Michael and Tris in ..

Wedding Party

Then find out how the third of these college friends finds love in …

Grady’s Wedding

Or read all the books for one great price in the boxed set

The Wedding Series Boxed Set (3 books in 1)

If you particularly enjoy connected books – as I do! – be sure to check out:

USA Today bestselling author Patricia McLinn’s novels -- cited by reviewers for warmth, wit and vivid characterization – have won numerous regional and national awards and been on national bestseller lists.

In addition to her romance and women’s fiction books, Patricia is the author of the “Caught Dead in Wyoming” mystery series, which adds a touch of humor and romance to figuring out whodunit.

Patricia received BA and MSJ degrees from Northwestern University. She was a sports writer (Rockford, Ill.), assistant sports editor (Charlotte, N.C.) and -- for 20-plus years -- an editor at the Washington Post. She has spoken about writing from Honolulu to Washington, D.C., including being a guest-speaker at the Smithsonian Institute.

She is now living in Northern Kentucky, and writing full-time. Patricia loves to hear from readers through her website, Facebook and Twitter.