The Unlawfully Wedded Princess

He’d taken the kids to a fast-food place and bought them chocolate shakes to give him some time to think, though the previous two days of thinking hadn’t yielded good results.

There was a courtesy phone right across from the restaurant where they’d gotten the shakes. Nick could answer the page and still keep watch over the kids.

“Be right back,” he said. Moments later he was talking to an operator.

“Yes, Mr. Standish. Your wife would like you to meet her at the Canadian Airways ticket counter.”

“My wife?” Not Ellie, then. Couldn’t be anyone but Amelia. His heart beat double time at the implications her words conjured up. What was the princess up to this time? And how the hell had she figured out he was thinking about Canada? “Thank you.”

Though he’d studiously avoided returning her calls, there was no way he could ignore Amelia’s summons.

He gathered up the kids and luggage—thankfully they’d traveled light, having planned for only a weekend—and headed for the rendezvous point, walking so fast that Josie had to trot to keep up with him.

He saw Amelia before she saw him. Though she’d hidden her magnificent gold hair under a hat and wore huge dark glasses, he was intimately familiar with her body language. She sat in a chair with one knee drawn up under the skirt of her flowery dress. He tried to summon some anger against her for the torture she’d caused him, but right now she looked so worried he realized she carried some burdens of her own.

“Auntie Mellie!” Jakob squirmed from Nick’s arms and ran toward Amelia, whose face lit up with joy at the sight of him—at all of them. She rose and welcomed Jakob into a hug. Whether the boy remembered Amelia from Palemeir, he’d certainly taken a shine to her here in New York.

“What’s she doing here?” Josie asked, instantly suspicious.

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”

Amelia had a smile for Josie, too, but when she looked up at Nick, the smile faded and she looked almost…afraid. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I found you. I was taking a stab in the dark with that page, but you weren’t on the Air France flight to Korosol, and I was so worried you’d run off to Canada or someplace—I’m babbling, aren’t I?”

Nick nodded. Yes, he’d thought about fleeing. He’d even talked to an expert document forger about false passports and birth certificates for him and the kids. But that would be a last resort. Becoming a fugitive would mean no more contact with Eleanor, and that would be tough—not to mention what it might do to the kids.

“Is there a problem?” Nick asked. “Something wrong with my sister?”

“No, nothing like that. You missed your plane. Why?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was hoping I’d come up with a plan for changing King Easton’s mind, but…”

“We don’t have to change his mind,” Amelia said with quiet determination. “I’ve got a plan of my own. Now, it might not be ideal, but I believe it will get the social workers off your back.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

Amelia suddenly clammed up, looking uneasy.

“What plan?” Josie prompted, proving she’d been paying close attention to the conversation.

“This is a little awkward,” Amelia said, glancing at first one child, then the other. “Maybe you and I should discuss it in private first.”

Josie rolled her eyes. “C’mon, Jakob, they’re going to talk about grown-up things.” She took her little brother’s hand and led him to the far end of the row of chairs, taking her brightly colored rolling suitcase with her. As soon as Nick was sure the children were safely absorbed with a toy, he turned his attention back to Amelia, his curiosity overflowing.

“Just tell me.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Well, see, if the Ministry of Family objects to the fact our marriage was a sham, we need to prove to them it wasn’t. We’ll tell them we intended to make it real, but my family objected and ordered me back home—”

“I tried that already.”

“I’m not finished. Words obviously won’t convince them. Only actions. I’m suggesting, Nick, that we get married again—nice and legal this time.”

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