A Royal Wedding(114)

Yeah, what a cause. He was heartsick when he thought of it. He had to make her marry another man in order to save his beloved country from war. Great. And what did that leave him? Not a hell of a lot.

But it had to be done. The country had to be his highest priority.

Thinking about Giselle, Julienne was developing a lump in her throat. “I would help her anyway!” she insisted. “In fact, I’m an adult now. It’s time for me to have a living of my own. I’ll help her. I will!”

“Really?” He felt almost cruel doing this, but it had to be done. “How can you help her if you aren’t a princess anymore?”

She drew her breath in, knowing he thought he’d trapped her. Well, let him think so. She would find a way.

“I haven’t been to see her for a few years, but Rolfo got word to her that we were coming. She’ll be expecting us.”

“And why, exactly, are you taking me to see her?”

He turned to look at her, hoping she understood his basic motive was to make things easier for her, every time. “I think you’ve figured that out for yourself. I want you to see her and the conditions she’s living under since she gave up being a princess.”

“A cautionary tale, is it?”

“Pretty much.”

She was quiet as they rode through the villages, going higher and higher into the mountains. Of course she knew what he was doing. He planned to show her that choosing poverty over royal life was fraught with peril and ugliness and heartbreak. And he was probably right. But what choice did she have? Life with Alphonso promised to be much the same.

They pulled off the main road about an hour later, so that Andre could show her a meadow back in the interior—a place where he’d camped as a boy. Red and yellow wildflowers littered the valley floor, leading up to a waterfall with a huge drop, making for a magical view. They stood beside the parked bike and took it all in.

“Gorgeous,” Julienne said. “I’ve never seen anything more special.”

He smiled and looked at her, thinking she was pretty special herself. It was amazing how happy it made him just to have her appreciate something that he loved. But then, it was amazing how happy it made him just to be with her.

But any chance of that would soon be over. In just a few days she would be married to Alphonso—come hell or high water. It had to be.

The meadow was so beautiful they found they didn’t want to leave it, and they walked down the path until they found a small stream. Sitting beside it, each on their own flat rock, they talked and teased each other, and just generally made the day last a little longer than they had planned.

And finally Andre got down to business.

“All right, Julienne, since you have all this worked out, tell me what you think you’re going to do with your life. If you get your wish and don’t have to marry Alphonso, what will your life be like?”

Suddenly she was nervous. She hadn’t told him her plans and she knew he wouldn’t approve. “Well, I’d rather not go back to the convent,” she said, stalling for time. “I think I’m ready to move beyond that.”

“Agreed.” He looked at her levelly. “But you are rejecting life as a princess, rejecting poor old Alphonso, and I want to know what you see for yourself instead. What is it that you have your heart set on? What is it that you would most like to do?”

Could she tell him? She glanced his way and decided against it. He would never understand.

“For a start, I want to learn how to drive,” she said, avoiding the issue altogether.

“Didn’t anyone teach you that?” No mobile phone, no driver’s license—what sort of modern woman was this?

“No. You know very well there are no cars at the convent. Except Popov’s, of course. And even if there were, they wouldn’t teach me. They were too afraid I’d run off as soon as I had a way to do it.”

He waved that away. He really didn’t want to delve into it. “Okay, you want to learn to drive. That’s easy enough. I could teach you in an afternoon.” His look was penetrating. “Then what?”

She avoided his gaze. “What do you mean?” she said evasively.

“I mean, what is it that you want to do, Julienne? What passion calls to you?”

Should she tell him? She looked at him sideways and scrunched up her face, ready to do the dirty deed. She knew he would never look at her the same way again once she’d admitted her passion to him.