The Ordinary Princess

The Ordinary Princess
Liz Fielding

Laura could see that Crown Prince Alexander of Montorino needed a holiday - from being a prince! He was so stiff and formal; he needed to lighten up and have some fun. For just a few days he would be ordinary, like her. Go shopping, go to the park, wash up - and Laura would be his guide…. Alexander found Laura to be like a breath of fresh air.She didn't stand on ceremony, and she told him what to do, not the other way around! It was the perfect partnership, one that Alexander wanted to last forever - until he discovered Laura's secret….

It was extraordinary, she thought, watching him scrape dishes, load the dishwasher.

Yesterday he had seemed as distant as the stars. This evening she was totally at ease with him. Far from being the cold, arrogant prince that his photos suggested, he was intelligent, stimulating, amusing.

“You’re not making a bad job of that,” she said.

“For a man?”

“For a prince. I don’t imagine you’ve done it before.”

“No, but it is simply a question of applying logic and order to the task.”

She exploded into a fit of giggles as he closed the dishwasher door, looked at the settings, chose one that seemed appropriate and then switched it on.

“I’m afraid the champagne has gone to your head,” he said.

“No, honestly.” It was the fact that he hadn’t put any detergent in the machine that was so funny.

Welcome to

The lives and loves of the royal, rich and famous!

We’re inviting you to the most thrilling and exclusive weddings of the year!

Meet women who have always wanted the perfect wedding…but never dreamed that they might be walking up the aisle with a millionaire, an aristocrat, or even a prince!

But whether they were born into it, are faking it or are just plain lucky—these women are about to be whisked off around the world to the playground of princes and playboys!

Are their dreams about to come true? If so, they might just find that they are truly fit for a prince….

Look out for more HIGH SOCIETY BRIDES, coming soon in Harlequin Romance

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The Ordinary Princess

Liz Fielding

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ONE

‘FIRED? What do you mean, you’ve been fired?’

‘Sacked, dismissed, given the heave-ho. Released to explore alternative employment opportunities.’

Again.

‘I know what the word means, Laura. I was querying the reason.’

‘The usual reason, Jay. I have this total inability to concentrate on the task assigned. I’m too easily distracted. In short, my former employer decided that I was more of a liability than an asset.’ And with that Laura Varndell picked up her glass of wine and raised it in an ironical toast. ‘Here’s to the end of my career which today ran into reality and sank without a trace.’ And she emptied the glass.

It seemed an appropriate moment to fling it dramatically into the fireplace to underline the end of all her dreams, but since her great-aunt’s flat lacked this useful amenity, and flinging it at a radiator didn’t quite have the same appeal, she held it out for a refill instead.

Her great-aunt Jenny—known universally as Jay—obliged and, understanding the need for food at such moments, pushed a comfortingly large dish of pistachio nuts in her direction.

It said much for Laura’s state of mind that she wasn’t tempted.

‘All right, let’s have it. What did you do this time?’

Jay said this with the unspoken suggestion that, having gone out on a limb, used her contacts—more than once—to get her young niece’s stumbling feet on the path to her chosen career, she was not particularly amused that she’d messed up.

‘Nothing,’ Laura said. That, of course, was why she’d been directed to the exit by her boss. ‘Well, when I say nothing that’s not strictly true. I did do something.’

‘Just not what you were told to do, hmm?’

‘Just what anyone with an ounce of humanity would have done in my place,’ she replied, stung by the unspoken criticism.

‘I see.’ This said with a convince-me sigh. ‘Why don’t you start at the beginning.’ Jay refilled her own glass as if anticipating the need for fortification.

‘I was despatched to cover a demonstration by a senior citizens’ action group. The news editor—’

‘Trevor McCarthy? I knew him when he couldn’t spell the word “editor”,’ Jay said.

Laura had a momentary and deeply pleasing mental image of her fierce news editor as a junior reporter being chewed out by her great-aunt the way he’d chewed her out today. Before directing her to the exit. Then, ‘Yes, well, Trevor said that even I couldn’t get into trouble with a bunch of OAPs.’