A Royal Wedding(110)

“But, Julienne, that isn’t the point. It doesn’t matter what Alphonso is like. He’s a symbol.”

“I’m supposed to be satisfied marrying a symbol?” She threw out both hands. “That’s it? That’s my life?”

“You think I don’t understand what you’re going through? Am I not royal? “

“Yes, but you … you …”

“I have to abide by the rules and the responsibilities just like you do.”

She shook her head, looking at him rebelliously. “But it seems like you like it.”

His head jerked back as though she’d slapped him. “No, Julienne,” he said coldly. “I’ve had to deal with my own disappointments. Being royal gives us some incredible benefits. At the same time it means we aren’t allowed to live like others do.” He sighed and looked out at the midnight lake. “Sometimes it doesn’t seem fair. Sometimes it isn’t. But it remains our reality.”

She stared at him, wondering what had happened. From the haunted look in his deep blue eyes, she knew something had.

“Tell me,” she whispered. She reached out but she couldn’t quite touch him. “Tell me what happened to you.”

He gave her a scathing look and turned away. “Nothing happened to me.”

She didn’t believe that, but she could see he wasn’t going to tell her anything. “The thing about Alphonso is—”

He rose abruptly. “Enough. I don’t need to hear all these complaints about Alphonso. It’s your duty to marry him.”

Walking to the desk along the far wall, he sank into the chair and pulled out a stack of papers, beginning to sort through them. She watched for a moment, then rose herself and began to stroll around the room, looking at various pieces of art on the bookshelves, and at some of the books stacked there, too.

But, inevitably, she was drawn to the desk where he was working.

“So you’re missing a secretary?” she noted, looking over his shoulder at the letter he was reading.

“That I am,” he acknowledged, giving her a quick smile.

She bit her lip. A new idea suddenly occurred to her. At first thought it seemed a real winner, though she had a feeling he wasn’t going to agree. Still—nothing ventured, nothing gained. She might as well throw it out there and see what his reaction might be.

“Hey, I could be your secretary.”

He looked up in surprise, then a look of distaste swept over his handsome face. “No, you couldn’t.”

But the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. “Yes. Don’t you see? It would be perfect.”

He shook his head, dismissing it out of hand. “You’re a princess.”

She blinked at him. “Princesses can’t be secretaries?”

“No.” As far as he was concerned he’d said the final word on the subject, and he went back to sorting through his papers.

She knew it was probably a lost cause, but she wasn’t ready to abandon it just because he hated the idea. There were lots of things about it that appealed to her pretty strongly. And, anyway, anything was better than marrying Alphie.

“Wouldn’t it be fun, though?” she said, walking toward the window. “I mean, I’d be there all the time, and you could keep track of me and be sure I wasn’t getting into mischief. When you went to meetings I would be there with my laptop, typing away. Then we could go to lunch, maybe at a five star restaurant, and.”

“No.” He was watching her. How could he help it? And it was hard to keep the affectionate amusement he felt toward her transparent act from showing in his face.

She frowned at him, tapping her foot in frustration. “I think I’d make a much better secretary than I do a princess,” she pointed out. “You should want to encourage me to follow where my talents lie.”

“Your secretarial talents seem to tend toward early lunch in nice restaurants,” he noted wryly.

“I mentioned typing, didn’t I?”

“You mentioned it. But I’ve never seen any evidence of skill in that direction.”

“Maybe you should have read some of my letters,” she pointed out triumphantly.

He had to laugh. She had him there. But he sobered quickly, looking at her and shaking his head. “You don’t even know what is involved in being a princess,” he said. “You don’t have a clue. I’m just beginning to realize that no one has ever shown you what being royal is all about.”