Commander's Little Surprise

“Rolande Bernard?” Victoria’s head swam, a hollow feeling grew in her middle. “He’s much older than I am, Papa. I scarcely know him. Why would he wish to marry me?”

Her father frowned. “Bernard is a smart man. He recognizes your worth and your position in the family. We both agreed that the marriage will be an asset to our country and to him in his new position as our ambassador to the United States.”

Victoria’s mother, Clara, generally too docile for Victoria’s own peace of mind, spoke up. Clad in a blue velvet cocktail suit for the upcoming wedding rehearsal, she put an arm around her daughter and frowned at her husband.

“As usual, Basil, you are being obtuse and thinking as a man. Our daughter wishes to know if Rolande cares for her, not that she will be an asset to him.”

“Of course he does, or he wouldn’t have asked for her hand in marriage,” her father huffed. “Furthermore, the reason he wishes to marry immediately is that he is about to present his credentials to the United States State Department. He will become Baronovia’s first ambassador to the United States in a matter of weeks.” He turned his annoyed gaze on Victoria. “Rolande feels, as I do, that at his side, you will make a fine showing for our country. I would remind you that it is your duty, Victoria.”

Victoria nodded faintly. She’d always known that she would eventually marry the man of her father’s choice. It had been that knowledge as well as the romantic wedding of her cousin to her American naval officer that had prompted her to accept her phantom lover last night. But now? Just when she’d tasted love, her world was about to fall apart.

“I would like to have time to think about this, Papa,” she murmured.

Her mother patted her on her shoulder. “Not too long, my dear, your father wishes to make the announcement soon. All will be well, you’ll see. Rolande Bernard may seem to be a little too old for you, but he is a fine man with a bright future. I’m sure you will be happy.”

When Victoria managed a weak smile, her mother went on as if everything was settled. “You will enjoy living in the United States. And just think! Your cousin May will be living nearby.”

Evading her father’s frown, her dream of finding her phantom lover in ashes, Victoria excused herself and made her way back to her suite. Her heart broken, Victoria wanted to hide from the world. May’s wedding rehearsal, the following dinner and the wedding would have to go on without her.

Chapter Two

Eighteen Months Later

Victoria Esterhazy Bernard stood on the balcony overlooking the gardens of the new Baronovian embassy in Washington, D.C. Dusk had fallen; the bright lights around the perimeter of the embassy grounds had yet to come on. The scene, reminding her of the palace gardens in Baronovia, only added to her uneasiness.

Newly arrived in D.C. after a year spent with her husband in his diplomatic post in England, she was filled with pain, longing and loneliness at his unexpected demise in an automobile accident. The time in London hadn’t brought her the happiness in her marriage she had hoped for. The only bright light in her life was her baby daughter, Caroline.

She glanced at the card inviting her to her cousin’s housewarming one more time. If ever there was an invitation to disaster, this had to be it, she thought sadly. What if she accepted the invitation and ran into the man with whom she’d shared that forbidden night in the garden almost two years ago? Even now she knew nothing about him other than that he’d been an American and a friend of the groom.

What she did know was that as the widow of Baronovia’s ambassador to the United States and her appointment to the position herself, she couldn’t afford to be involved in a scandal. Especially when the suspicious circumstance surrounding her husband’s death remained unexplained. She sighed and handed the card to her long-time friend and companion, Lydia Monsour.

Lydia read the engraved invitation. “At last,” she said slowly. “If your cousin’s American friends are invited, you will be able to solve the mystery that has plagued you. You might find Caroline’s father.”

Victoria wandered around the room, listlessly picking up and discarding her hairbrush, her comb. “What good would it do? I’m a widow now with a diplomatic position to uphold.”

“At least you would know the man’s name.”

Victoria shook her head. “It would only cause more heartache. Rolande was my husband and therefore my baby’s father.”

Lydia clucked sympathetically as she handed back the invitation. “You’ve been hiding in the embassy since we arrived here. Go. Your cousin May will be unhappy if you don’t show up.”

“I hesitate to go to the party so soon after Rolande’s death.”

Lydia paused and peered over her glasses. “If you keep a low profile, everything should be fine. Unless you’ve forgotten your phantom. Have you?”

Victoria shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but inwardly she knew she still cared for the man. How could she forget the man who had taught her what it meant to be a woman? To fall in love.

How could she forget the bittersweet memories of the man who had changed her life forever?

“Go, my dear,” Lydia said quietly. “You will never know peace until you do.”

Victoria reached for the large quilted bag that had become part of her wardrobe. “He didn’t try to find me in Baronovia, why would he care to see me now? Besides,” she said with a shiver, “what if he doesn’t want to remember me? What if our night together never meant anything to him?”

“He didn’t find you because once your father told you he’d arranged your marriage, you didn’t want to be found,” Lydia reminded her. “Once you see the man again, you can close the book on the past.”

“I can’t, Lydia. It would only break my heart.”

“So you still care for this man?”

Victoria smiled sadly. “More than you’ll ever know,” she said softly, as if to herself. “But the fact remains, that whoever he was then, or whoever he is now, he is forever out of my reach.”

WHEN Lieutenant Commander Dan O’Hara entered the headquarters of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps, it was abuzz with excitement over a newspaper account of the upcoming party that had been pinned to the office bulletin board. It wasn’t every day a member of the JAG corps married a European duchess, he heard someone say. Or that he had brought her home to set up housekeeping in the United States.

Dan stopped to glance at the newspaper clipping. He had received an engraved invitation for the party. Wade and May Stevens had also invited the JAG and his staff to celebrate the purchase of their first home in the United States.

Lieutenant Lester Howard whistled as he glanced over O’Hara’s shoulder. “To tell you the truth, sir, I wouldn’t have bet a nickel the commander’s marriage would have lasted this long. After all, his wife is a duchess and Stevens was her bodyguard.”

The comment, uttered into a sudden silence, quickly drew an audience. To his dismay, a dozen pairs of eyes focused on Dan.

Dan shrugged. The Stevenses’ courtship had had its ups and downs in the early stages when Wade had been the duchess’s bodyguard. But judging from the look on their faces, things have never looked better. “Why not?”

“Heck, his wife is a duchess, that’s why. How’s she going to settle for living like the rest of us?”

“Maybe because Stevens saved her life,” Dan said dryly as he turned to go to his office.

“It’s just like a fairy tale,” Lieutenant Linda Kimball, the junior officer in charge of administrative affairs, said enviously. “You were the best man at their wedding, weren’t you, sir?”

“Right.” Dan took a last look at the invitation and headed for his office. Just remembering his stay in Baronovia and the woman he’d met at the Stevens wedding made his body warm and his heart ache. He might have come up empty when he’d tried to find her before he left, but forget her? Never.

“Wait up a minute, sir,” Howard called after him. “So what’s a real palace like?”

A barrage of questions filled the air.

Dan tried to focus on Howard’s question. He thought of the ornate guest room with its lush wine-colored velvet drapes, upholstered furniture to match and the lace curtains at the windows. There had been a bed large enough for a family of four to sleep in. And a portrait of a dour Baron ancestor that had looked down on him from over the large fireplace where a fire smoldered. As luxurious as the setting had been, he hadn’t been able to sleep.

A glance out the window had taken him outside to a woman he would never, in this lifetime, forget.

“Nice, but formal and a little intimidating,” he finally answered. “I couldn’t wait to get home where I can put my feet up and have a cold beer.”

“What’s the duchess like?” Linda Kimball asked wistfully. “Is she as beautiful as they say?”

“Let’s just say she’s not like the girl next door,” Dan said wryly. He waved off any more questions and backed into his office.

What continued to surprise him after all this time was that eighteen months later he still thought about the ethereal woman he’d encountered in the Baronovia palace gardens. He’d wondered on and off why he hadn’t been able to find her the next morning. Maybe, he thought as he stared into his blank computer screen, she had been just a dream.

A burst of laughter outside Dan’s open door distracted him. He glanced up in time to see a female junior officer being kissed under a giant spring of mistletoe left hanging after the recent office Christmas and New Year’s parties.

Cheered on by laughing bystanders, the kiss was lasting longer than Dan thought necessary. To make him really uncomfortable in his nostalgic state of mind, the kiss served to remind him of a night that, by all logic, he should have forgotten long ago.