Playing the Royal Game

Playing the Royal Game
CAROL MARINELLI

The Santina-Jackson Royal Fairytale: Fact or Fiction? Falling in love with a prince might be every girl’s dream, but is Allegra Jackson’s royal fairy-tale really all it seems? Allegra’s headline-grabbing family have hardly prepared her for a life of public duty and sinfully delicious Prince Alessandro of Santina has always seemed virtually allergic to the idea of settling down – changing women so fast the paparazzi can barely keep up!So why, out of all the beautiful socialites his name’s been linked with, did the heir to the throne pick ordinary Allegra? The royal rumour-mill is in overdrive, asking if this shock engagement really is a love-match…or a desperate arrangement with scandalous consequences.

‘Do you want to be my fiancée?’

‘Alex…’ Allegra said. ‘Why, when I didn’t even want to have a drink with you, do you think I’d even entertain…?’

‘A million pounds.’

She laughed, because these things didn’t happen, and he had to be joking and when he pulled out a cheque book, she laughed even more, because it was crazy. Except when he handed it to her, his hand was completely steady and he wasn’t laughing.

‘So what are you paying me for?’

‘I can’t just invent someone—you might have to join me in Santina at some point. All you would have to do is smile and hang onto my every word.’

‘Until?’

‘Until the people dictate otherwise…’ He gave a shrug. ‘It might be days, it might be weeks.’ He looked to the cheque and so too did Allegra, and she thought about it, hell, she really thought about it. He wasn’t asking for her to sleep with him, just to smile and hold his hand. And what she could do with the money—she could get a flat, a job, actually she could do what she really wanted…

THE

SANTINA CROWN

Royalty has never been so scandalous!

STOP PRESS—Crown Prince in shock marriage

The tabloid headlines…

When HRH Crown Prince Alessandro of Santina

proposes to paparazzi favourite Allegra Jackson it

promises to be the social event of the decade

—outrageous headlines guaranteed!

The salacious gossip…

Mills & Boon invites you to rub shoulders with

royalty, sheikhs and glamorous socialites.

Step into the decadent playground of the

world’s rich and famous…

THE SANTINA CROWN

THE PRICE OF ROYAL DUTY – Penny Jordan

THE SHEIKH’S HEIR – Sharon Kendrick

THE SCANDALOUS PRINCESS – Kate Hewitt

THE MAN BEHIND THE SCARS – Caitlin Crews

DEFYING THE PRINCE – Sarah Morgan

PRINCESS FROM THE SHADOWS – Maisey Yates

THE GIRL NOBODY WANTED – Lynn Raye Harris

PLAYING THE ROYAL GAME – Carol Marinelli

About the Author

CAROL MARINELLI recently filled in a form where she was asked for her job title and was thrilled, after all these years, to be able to put down her answer as ‘writer’.

Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation and, after chewing her pen for a moment, Carol put down the truth—’writing’. The third question asked, ‘What are your hobbies?’ Well, not wanting to look obsessed or, worse still, boring, she crossed the fingers on her free hand and answered ‘swimming and tennis’. But, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights, and the closest she’s got to a tennis racket in the last couple of years is watching the Australian Open, I’m sure you can guess the real answer!

The

Santina Crown

Playing The Royal Game

Carol Marinelli

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CHAPTER ONE

SHE was better off without the job, Allegra told herself.

No one should have to put up with that.

Except that walking in the rain along grey London streets, taking the underground to various employment agencies, the anger that her boss could make such a blatant a pass at her and then fire her for not succumbing started to be replaced with something that felt close to fear.

She needed that job.

Needed it.

Her savings had been obliterated by the bottomless pit that was her family’s excess spending. At times it felt as if her lowly publishing wage supported half the Jackson family. Yes, she was the boring reliable one, but they didn’t mind her dependability when their erratic ways found them in trouble. Just last week she had lent her stepmother, Chantelle, close to five thousand pounds in cash for credit card debts that her father didn’t know about. It was laughable to think that she might now have to have her family support her.

It was a miserable day, with no sign that it was spring; instead it was cold and wet, and Allegra dug her hands deeper into her trench coat pockets, her fingers curling around a fifty-pound note she had pulled out of the ATM. If her boss refused to put her pay in tomorrow it was all she had before being completely broke.

No!