Betrothed to the Prince

The entire incident was timely. She’d needed a little boost to her self-esteem to help her through the chore she’d set for herself here. She’d come to break her engagement to Garth Franz Josef Mikeavich Romano Roseanova, Prince of Nabotavia. She was going to have to be tough to make him understand that she was not going to marry him, no matter how many official proclamations of their betrothal he could pull out of the country’s archives.

Not in a million years.

The inner area of the estate was set off by a long arbor covered with winding sprays of climbing red roses, and she paused at the lovely gateway to gaze in at the spires and towers and balconies decorating the huge palatial mansion ahead, giving a little cough of amusement.

“Just like an East Nabotavian prince to build himself a little Rhineland castle in the middle of Arizona,” she thought to herself.

She was a West Nabotavian herself, one of a contingent of refugees who had fled the tiny Central European country twenty years before during a deadly revolution. Most had landed in the United States, living relatively good lives, working and waiting for their chance to rid their country of its oppressors. Now a miracle had happened and the rebels had been thrown off. Nabotavia wanted its monarchy back, and young people such as Tianna were preparing to return to a land they only knew in legends. But it was their home, their destiny. Anyway, it was supposed to be.

Tianna was having trouble reconciling her own plans with this new imperative. She didn’t know how Prince Garth felt about it, but she had no intention of going back. And that was one reason she meant to break their engagement off right away.

A scattering of raindrops made a pattern on the walkway and she looked up at the dark clouds gathering above her in the huge Arizona sky. Somewhere not too far off, thunder crackled. Good thing she wasn’t too far from the house.

A shout drew her attention. Some sort of a hullabaloo seemed to be going on in another area of the estate. She could hear some yelling, a man’s voice, then a woman’s higher shriek. Craning her neck, she spotted the location of the activity. Two large cows were munching contentedly in the vegetable garden while a number of people were dancing around them, yelling and waving hats and brooms and other implements of distraction. That solved the mystery of where the security guards must be.

Shrugging lightly, Tianna walked through the arbor and started toward the house, the sensible heels of her soft leather shoes making a pleasing tattoo on the flag-stone pavers. But another sound stopped her in her tracks. She turned, frowning, not sure what it was. The soft noise was coming from just beyond the primrose beds that lined the driveway. It seemed to be coming from a small bundle wrapped in a blanket and was certainly something alive. A kitten? A puppy? She moved forward hesitantly and lifted the edge of the little pink blanket.

Her heart stopped. A baby. Big blue eyes stared out at her and the sweet little mouth made a tiny o.

“A baby!” she said to no one in particular. “Oh, you precious little thing.”

She looked around quickly, sure that someone must be nearby who was in charge of this sweetheart. But there was no one in sight. Perhaps the nanny had stuck the baby here while she ran off to help with the cows. Another inept employee! What a strange place this was—and how glad she was that she wasn’t going to be marrying the prince and living here, even temporarily.

But the raindrops were coming harder all the time. Without any more hesitation, she shifted her overnight case to her other hand, reached down and scooped up the baby and headed for the house. She’d been aiming at the front door, but the side entry looked closer and the door there was open, so she changed her trajectory and made a beeline for that.

“Hello!” she called, stepping in out of the drizzle and into the huge kitchen, shaking the drops from her rich copper-colored hair and setting her overnight case by the door.

A teenage girl with a snub nose and a mop of bouncing curls came forward to greet her. “Oh, did you come for the pastry job, then? I think you’re a bit early.”

“The job?” Tianna looked at her blankly, pressing the little live bundle to her chest. “Oh, no, actually…” She shook her head and smiled at the girl. “No, I’ve come to see the prince.”

“The prince?” Her dark eyes widened. “Sorry. He’s not here.”

“Not here?” Tianna said with dismay. She’d had her family secretary call and check and they’d said he would be in all this week. Oh! She should have called herself, just to make sure. But she’d assumed the information would be good.

Still, she’d come here on the sly, so what did she expect? Her parents thought she was visiting an old school friend in Phoenix. Instead, she’d slipped over to Flagstaff in order to talk Prince Garth into joining her in annulling their betrothal.

They’d been engaged since they were small children, an arrangement set up in a case of influence swapping that had long since lost its importance, as far as she was concerned. And since he’d never shown the slightest interest in her—they had never even met—she had high hopes she was going to be able to pull it off and present it as a fait accompli to her father.

“Where has he gone?” she asked the maid.

The girl shrugged again. “I don’t know. I think maybe Texas.”

“Oh no.” Tianna couldn’t believe she’d come all this way for nothing. “Do you have any idea when he’ll be back?”

“No, Miss. I’m sorry. He doesn’t come here much lately.”

The baby squirmed and made a tiny sound, more like a kitten than a child and Tianna gave it a com forting pat.

The young maid looked confused. “Is that a baby?”

“Oh, yes.” Tianna held it out where it could be seen. “Someone left this baby outside in the rain. I thought I’d better bring her in.”

The maid blinked. “Outside in the rain?” she echoed blankly.

“Exactly,” Tianna said. “It must belong to some one here.”

“No, Miss.” She was shaking her head quite emphatically. “There’s no baby living here. I would know if there was a baby here.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Tianna murmured, looking down into the precious face and feeling a pang of sympathy for the poor little thing. All alone, with no one to claim her. Something tugged at her heart as she remembered another little girl lost from her own past. Wincing, she hugged the baby to her heart and murmured a comforting sound.

“Cook’s not here,” the little maid went on.

“They’re all out chasing the cows. They got out again and went straight for the vegetable garden, like they do every time.” She gestured toward a chair. “Please sit and wait, Miss. Cook will be back in no time. I’ll go fetch her and tell her you are here for the pastry job.”

The girl bobbed her head and before Tianna could correct her again, she disappeared down a dark passageway.

“Oh!” Tianna looked down at the tiny life in her arms and her annoyance melted. “You are so beautiful,” she whispered, kissing the downy head. “But what am I going to do with you?”

She looked around the room for a place to put the baby down, but though the huge kitchen managed to have a homey ambience, with copper-bottomed pans displayed over a central island and swags of herbs hanging in a window, its shining stainless steel counters and appliances didn’t seem to have a niche for a baby to sleep in.

Someone was coming down the hall toward the kitchen and she turned, hoping to find an adult who could be talked to instead of the witless little maid. There was a muted groan before the newcomer appeared, a hand held to his head, his eyes barely slit open enough to make his way.

Tianna gasped. It was the reprobate who’d been lolling about in the gazebo. She stood where she was, paralyzed. A woman who prided herself on her levelheaded attitude toward life, she was not one to be bowled over by a handsome hunk, but this was, without a doubt, the most stunning man she’d ever seen, and now that he was upright, he looked even better than he had a few minutes earlier.

Her trained photographer’s eye told her she was looking at a masterpiece. His physical beauty shone through despite the fact that his golden hair needed cutting and he’d changed his clothes into something more casual. Dressed in a pair of snug jeans and a cotton shirt left carelessly open to display that breathtakingly muscular chest, he was absolutely spectacular in a young-god-straddling-the-universe sort of way. She might have taken him for the prince himself if she hadn’t already heard the prince was gone.

But no. The few princes she’d met over the years had mostly been effete and purposeless, dried husks of the men of power they might once have been. This man was too earthy, too vital, to be a prince. He looked more like a warrior. A warrior who’d had too much to drink recently.

“Haven’t we met somewhere?” he asked, gazing at her through narrowed eyes, as though the room was too bright for him.

“You might say that,” she said crisply, determined he wouldn’t know how attractive she found him. “You could be having trouble remembering, since you were lying down at the time.”

“Oh yes. The girl of my dreams.” His crooked smile was a knock-out, but it was fleeting. In seconds he was putting his hand to his head again and wincing. “Sorry to present myself in such a state of disrepair,” he added. “I’m recovering from a rather late night.”

“So I see.”

“Ouch. Your tone has the definite sting of disapproval.” He raised a sardonic eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever had a hangover, have you, Red Riding Hood?”

“Never.”

“No. I didn’t think so. You’re one of the wise ones. It’s written all over you.” He sighed. “I think I’ve finally learned that lesson myself. I know I’m never going to touch alcohol again.” He looked around the kitchen as though he’d lost something. “What do you know about making Bloody Marys?” he added hopefully.

“Nothing.”

She made her tone as scornful as possible, but she knew she wasn’t fooling anyone. If she’d known a magic potion to make him feel better, she’d have conjured it up in a flash. As it was she just stood there, watching him, holding the baby to her chest. She’d always known pure beauty could be fascinating, but she’d never experienced it in the form of a man before.

He nodded, accepting fate for what it was, and rummaged in a cabinet, finding a remedy for himself. Tearing open a package, he poured the contents into a glass and filled it with water from the faucet in the huge stainless steel sink, then downed most of it, making a face as he set the glass back down on the counter.