A Ring To Secure His Crown

‘She’s very pretty,’ Luis added, his tone almost defensive as though he expected his brother to deny the fact.

Was Luis serious? The woman was beautiful. She wasn’t his type, he had never leaned in the direction of cut-glass delicacy, but even he could recognise her natural beauty, the rare ‘get out of bed with her hair mussed and still look knockout gorgeous’ beauty, not that he would ever get the chance to prove his theory.

She was his brother’s.

The reminder slowed the heat rising inside him but did not stop its slow, inexorable progress.

What are you, Seb? Fifteen? Get a grip, man!

‘Are you asking me for an opinion?’ Sebastian struggled hard to tap into the sympathy he normally felt for his brother, who was the one expected to make a marriage of convenience, the one looking ahead to a life of being the acceptable public face of the crown.

‘No, yes? I suppose?’ His brother produced one of his genuine smiles, seeming to suddenly shrug off his mood with an ease that Sebastian envied.

‘Maybe you should go on a date.’

‘With Sabrina?’

‘Well, the dating ritual is kind of what people do before they get married, unless you have one of those “wake up in Vegas with a tattoo, a hangover and a wife” marriages. I can recommend the first two as a way of passing a weekend.’

Luis’s eyes slid from his brother’s as he sketched a smile. ‘I haven’t thanked you yet, for getting her out of that press scrum.’

‘Glad to be of help,’ Sebastian said, wondering about the change of subject and his brother’s unusually evasive attitude. Luis, he decided as he studied his brother’s face, looked positively shifty.

‘I’m sure she took it all in her stride.’

Sebastian clamped his jaw as he fought a compulsion to defend Sabrina from the criticism he could hear behind this faint praise. ‘You’d have preferred she’d have fallen apart?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Actually she was pretty shaken, but she came out fighting.’ He saw no point adding that the fight had been mostly directed, quite deservedly, at him.

Luis got to his feet. ‘She was lucky you were so close.’

‘She might not agree... I’d been drinking.’

Luis looked amused. ‘Fall asleep and snore, did you?’

Sebastian’s eyes fell. ‘Not exactly.’

* * *

Sabrina stubbornly refused to acknowledge the lump in her throat as she unpacked. The task didn’t take long. There wasn’t much, just a few pieces of clothing and personal items she had hastily crammed into a holdall.

They represented the majority of her things from the London flat she’d shared with a couple of girlfriends, or had up until two days ago.

The embassy staff hadn’t wanted her to return at all that day, but in the end she’d been given the begrudging go-ahead for half an hour with what they’d termed a discreet security presence, which had turned out to consist of a team of four large dark-suited men.

Sabrina had retained enough of her natural sense of irony—just—to wonder what non-discreet looked like, as two of the silent, unsmiling figures had stared straight ahead as she’d packed and written a note for her flatmates, who had both been sleeping after a long night shift. The other two minders had been, as they’d put it, securing the exits... She really didn’t want to know what that involved! Though the dawning realisation that soon this bizarre would be her normal had made her lose whatever humour she might have seen in the situation.

When it had come to making a goodbye visit to the research unit where she had worked for just over the last year she’d changed tack, not requesting permission, instead just announcing her intention the next morning. Wait, no, it had been this morning. Things were happening so fast it was a struggle to retain any sense of time in this speeded-up version of her own life. She had hidden her surprise when the tactic had worked. Perhaps in the future she should stop saying please and simply demand?

Being the future Queen had to have some benefits.

You’re getting ahead of yourself, Brina. You’re not even a princess yet.

Her ironic grin barely surfaced before it vanished, because soon she would be.

She supposed she didn’t really have the right to feel so shocked, it was hardly news, but in the past it had been a distant thing. Now it was all very real and there was no more pretending that her life was normal.

An expression of impatience drifted across her heart-shaped face, firming the lines of her delicate jaw and soft full lips as she cut off the self-pitying direction of her thoughts.

It is what it is, Brina, so get over it, she told herself sternly as she shook out the silky blouse she was clutching and put it on a hanger.

Was it actually worth the effort of unpacking?

The rate at which things were moving now would mean this wouldn’t be her home for much longer. They were talking June wedding. Weeks away, not months or years. Once more she stubbornly ignored the flurry in her belly, less butterflies and more a buzzard’s wings flapping this time in the pit of her stomach.

Her determined composure wobbled, as did her lower lip, as she pulled out the last item. The outline of the white lab coat she held up blurred as her dark eyes filled with hot tears.

She dashed a hand impatiently across the dampness on her cheeks and blinked hard as her thoughts were inexorably dragged back to when the colleagues she had worked beside for the past year had given her an impromptu leaving party. Some party poppers left from New Year had been pulled from a drawer and dutifully popped, exciting a mild overreaction from the security men, one of whom had flung her to the floor.

Someone whose name she didn’t even know was willing to put himself between her and a bullet. She could see the surreal realisation hit her friends almost as hard as it did her.

In the subsequent dampened party atmosphere someone had handed around sausage rolls hastily bought from the twenty-four-hour mini-mart on the corner, and then they had presented her with the lab coat, a crown emblem sewn onto the breast pocket.

She had struggled to smile at the joke while accepting the leaving present and hugs of colleagues, who’d all said how much they were going to miss her, while she had tried hard not to think about how much she would miss them. She’d miss, too, the challenge of her work—unlike the challenges that lay ahead, this one had been of her own choosing.

Despite the hugs she’d been able to see they were looking at her differently, thinking about her differently. The realisation had saddened but not surprised her. Experience had taught her to expect no less. It was why once she’d had a choice in such things she had never advertised her title or background. She’d wanted to be accepted for who she was with no preconceptions.

She would always treasure her time at university, both as a medical student and then staff member at the prestigious research unit. Dr Summerville was a title she had earned and was proud of. Lady Sabrina, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of East Vela, was simply an accident of birth, the same accident that would see her promotion to Princess and one day Queen of the soon-to-be-reunified island kingdom.

She had relished the opportunity to be judged for her ability and not who her parents were. She had liked that when people had asked her where she was from, East Vela had drawn a puzzled frown and an inevitable, where is that? Or, don’t you mean Vela Main?

There were big advantages for someone who did not like attention of being a royal from somewhere so obscure, the main one being that a third-division royal did not rate heavy security—one of those things she was learning that you did not fully appreciate until it vanished.

For the last few years Velatian politics had seemed a long way away, and she had kept it there, enjoying her freedom, her taste of real life. Sure, she’d been able to hear the clock ticking down, and the knowledge of what lay ahead had never vanished, but she had always known that her parents would make sure she was eased gently into her future role.

But there had been no gentle easing, more like a total immersion. A sink-or-swim introduction of what it meant to be Queen-in-waiting.

One day she had gone to bed as Dr Summerville, an invisible white coat in a laboratory, and had walked out into the street the next morning to calls of, ‘Lady Sabrina, when is the wedding?’

Her eyes clouded with memories as she rubbed her arm where the imprint of his fingers was beginning to turn from black to a more mellow yellow. She squeezed her eyes shut but couldn’t block out his face...or her guilt, or the feeling in the pit of her stomach when she remembered how his mouth had felt against hers, his taste, the raw sexual energy he exuded.

She lifted both hands to her head and yelled, ‘Go away!’

‘Why? What have I done?’ Sabrina’s eyes flew open as her sister walked into the room and flung herself face down on the bed.

‘There’s a wasp...do you mind?’ Sabrina said, pretending a crossness she didn’t feel because she was glad to see her sister. She eased a dress out from under Chloe’s prone form. ‘I am wearing this tonight.’

Chloe propped her chin on her steepled fingers and scanned the garment that Sabrina hung on a coat hanger and hooked over her wardrobe door.

Chloe gave her verdict. ‘Nice, love the fifties vibe, but you could show a bit more cleavage.’

Sabrina raised a brow.

‘You did ask,’ her sister said.

‘No, actually I didn’t.’

‘Well, you should. Have you any idea how many people read my fashion blog? I am considered a fashion guru.’

‘And what do you think Dad is going to consider about that?’

Sabrina angled a nod in the direction of the micro miniskirt her sister was wearing in neon green.

‘He won’t see it,’ Chloe said with a grin as she rolled over and pulled herself into a sitting position, her long legs tucked under her.

It was then Sabrina saw what her sister was wearing on top.

Chloe gave another million-voltage smile and held her arms wide to proudly show off the T-shirt. Sabrina had seen identical ones in the tourist shops in the capital of Vela Main, where the iconic image was reproduced on everything from tea towels to mugs. It was of the Venetian Prince who had fought for, and gained, independence for Vela.

‘You like? I’m showing my hands-across-the-border solidarity. They say his eyes follow you round the room.’

‘They do,’ Sabrina said shortly. She had seen the original on the wall of the great hall in the royal palace.

‘Don’t you think their Pirate Prince looks like the bad brother? I can’t see how anyone could have thought he was a bastard,’ Chloe added, pulling the fabric outwards to look at the face of the Venetian Prince famous for being the man who had fought dirty to secure Vela Main’s independence from Venice. That, and his career as a successful pirate.

It was Luis who had pointed out the similarity during a day trip her family had made the previous year to take lunch with the royal family at Vela Main.

‘His eyes really do follow you around the room,’ she had said, staring at the original of the much-reproduced image.

‘Sebastian has the same trick,’ Luis had said.

‘He was very handsome. Him,’ she’d added, pointing at the portrait and adding hastily, ‘Not your brother.’

Luis had laughed at her embarrassment. ‘You might change your mind when you two finally meet. I’d like to say Seb got the looks and I got the brains, but...’

‘I think you’re very smart, modest and good-looking.’

Whenever doubts had crept in Sabrina had reminded herself that Luis couldn’t have been more unlike his hateful brother if he’d tried.

They were day and night, Sebastian definitely being night, even though his eyes had made her think of the brightest, most blindingly blue summer sky when he’d bent his head and fitted his cool, firm lips to hers.

She felt the guilty heat rise through her body as she reminded herself that she could have stopped it from happening!

Belatedly aware that Chloe was staring at her, she shook her head.

‘A bit,’ she conceded before changing the subject. ‘God, you look like an advert for something healthy...or toothpaste?’

‘And you, sweetie, look like you were doorstepped by the national media.’ She held out her arms. ‘Hug?’

‘Yes, please.’

Sisterly hug exchanged, they sat down on the window seat side by side.

‘I’m quite jealous of the number of hits you got...did you watch it?’

Sabrina did not pretend not to understand; she had heard she had gone viral. ‘No, I was there.’

‘Don’t look so gloomy. I know many women who would pay to get chucked into the back seat by Sebastian Zorzi, and you were wearing nice undies.’

Sabrina’s eyes widened. ‘You couldn’t...?’

Chloe chuckled at the shocked reaction. ‘No, just a lot of leg.’ Her expression sobered. ‘Seriously, though...?’

Sabrina angled an enquiring look at her sister’s face.

The grin re-emerged. ‘He is seriously gorgeous! How about a double wedding? I’m up for it if you are!’

‘What, and share my day in the spotlight?’ Sabrina said, struggling to reply in kind because the image of her sister, dressed in white, standing beside a tall, lean, handsome figure made her feel a little queasy.

‘Because we all know how much you love that.’ Chloe’s smile vanished. ‘Brina, are you all right? I’m just trying to lighten the mood, you know. Are you really going to do it?’

‘Do what?’

‘Go through with this crazy medieval marriage of convenience? You can’t let yourself be used this way, Brina. It’s so wrong.’

‘I don’t have a choice.’

‘There is always a choice, Brina.’

Sabrina shook her head and veiled her eyes with her lashes. It was true, but now the time was here she wished she believed it. ‘I want to marry Luis. He’s a nice guy.’

Chloe’s expression grew serious as she took her sister’s hands in hers and said gravely, ‘Don’t you think you deserve better than nice? A husband who thinks you are more important than anything?’

After a shocked moment Sabrina brought her lashes down in a protective sweep as she swallowed the emotional lump in her throat. Chloe had voiced the thoughts she didn’t dare even allow herself to think.

‘Since when did you become a paid-up member of the soppy romantic club?’

Chloe’s smile was back as she jumped to her feet. ‘I hide it well. So how about I do wear this tonight?’ She moved her hand down the tiny skirt she wore. ‘And flirt with the sexy Sebastian?’

Sabrina struggled to respond to her sister’s teasing smile, managing some sickly approximation of an answering smile despite the tight feeling of rejection in her stomach.

‘Chloe, be careful. Sebastian Zorzi, he isn’t the sort of man you play with.’

She thought of eyes so blue they took your breath away and felt a little shiver trace a sinuous path down her spine as the memory surfaced, both terrifying and seductive. She didn’t want Chloe to be exposed to the danger he represented.

Or maybe you don’t want her to be kissed.

‘He’s dangerous.’

Chloe laughed. ‘He sounds better and better. Now how about a glass of wine to get us in the mood, or to at least prepare me for the undoubted cold shower that awaits me when I go to my room? Perhaps when you’ve sold your body for the good of the country we can get the plumbing fixed?’ She grinned and produced a bottle from the capacious handbag she had dumped by the door. ‘Glasses?’

CHAPTER THREE

HER MOTHER ENTERED her bedroom with dramatic abruptness just as Sabrina was fitting the last hair in the smooth twist she had wound her hair into.

‘There has been a disaster with the meal. Don’t ask!’

Sabrina didn’t but the harassed Duchess told her anyway. ‘I found out an hour ago that the Queen is gluten and lactose intolerant. Half the menu had to be revised. The chef is not happy.’

‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ Sabrina soothed, getting to her feet. Focusing on her mother’s panic made it somehow easier to deal with her own nerves. ‘Just breathe, Mum.’ She laid a hand on her parent’s arm.

The Duchess took a deep breath. ‘Yes, I’m sure you’re right, but I’m running terribly late. I haven’t even started getting ready, not that it really matters. The Queen—’ she lowered her voice and glanced over her shoulder, as though someone might be listening, before adding in a note of mingled envy and despair ‘—always makes me feel inadequate. I swear the woman gets younger every year!’

‘Mum, you always look lovely!’ Sabrina protested.

Her mother smiled. ‘You’re a good girl, Brina. And you’re right, of course, at my age it’s silly to worry about what I look like.’

‘I didn’t say that,’ Sabrina protested. ‘There’s plenty of time for you to go and get ready.’

‘I can’t. I promised Walter that I’d run through the final details with him and speak to the staff.’

‘Leave it to me,’ Sabrina said, pretty sure she would regret the offer. The major-domo, Walter, always made her feel as though she were ten again and he’d just caught her trying to glue together a piece of porcelain she had broken. ‘You go and get ready.’

‘Really?’

Sabrina nodded.

The Duchess gave her daughter a gentle hug. ‘You’re an angel. I really don’t know what I’ll do without you when you’re married.’

‘Pretty much what you’ve been doing for the past seven years while I’ve been living in London, except from now on I’ll be closer.

‘Of course. You’re such a sensible girl. You’ve never given us a moment’s worry, unlike your sister! Speaking of Chloe, I’m going to check what she’s wearing.’ Reaching the door, she stopped and turned back. ‘You look very beautiful tonight.’

Sabrina grinned and smoothed the full skirt of the calf-length fifties-style pale blue silk dress she wore. ‘Oh, this old thing?’

‘And you’re wearing your grandmother’s pearls,’ the Duchess said, an emotional crack in her voice, as Sabrina touched the string of antique pearls wound around her slender neck. ‘You do know we are both very proud of you, don’t you? I wish there was another way. That you could—’

‘Nobody is forcing me to do anything. Luis is a lovely guy and I plan on being very happy.’ She took her mother by the shoulders and propelled her out of the door. It was only when the door had closed again that her forced smile faded. Happiness, she reminded herself, was not a right; in her case it was more a hope.

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