LITMIR.BIZ

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sits as an implacable obstacle. The panel will decide in Julianna’s favour, unless they’re given an alternative.’

      He hesitated. He looked as if he didn’t want to continue—but it had to be said, and they all knew it. ‘Rose, if there are questions about your parentage there are also questions about Julianna’s,’ he said softly. ‘Regardless of DNA testing, the panel acknowledge that. Your parents’ marriage was hardly happy. You remain the oldest. And behind you both there’s Nikolai, whose mother was definitely royal. I’ve thought and thought of this. The only way forward is for the two of you to present as one. Together you must outweigh Julianna’s claim. A married couple—the questioned first and the definite third in line—taking on the throne together.’

      Whatever Erhard had said in his letter, Rose must have been forewarned, Nick thought, as she was showing no shock. The idea had stunned him, but she was reacting as if it was almost reasonable. She sat and stared at the bubbles in her glass for a while, letting things settle. She wasn’t a woman who needed to talk, he thought. The silence was almost comfortable.

      ‘A marriage of convenience,’ she said at last, as if the thing was worthy of consideration.

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘That’s what I thought you meant after I read the letter. I guess it’s why I came. It seemed that this way I might be able to help. But…’ She smiled up at Walter as he delivered their meals, and she nodded absolute affirmation when he offered her wine. ‘Are you sure Julianna and Jacques won’t make good rulers?’

      ‘I’m sure they won’t,’ Erhard said.

      ‘Don’t you know your sister?’ Nick asked, curious.

      ‘We were friends when we were little,’ she said, sounding suddenly forlorn. ‘Julianna was pretty and blonde and cute, and I was carrot-headed and pudgy. But despite that the old Prince liked me. He indulged me. He’d call me his little princess, and Julianna hated it. So did my father. It got so that I hated it too, and when it all blew up I was glad to go. I got to stay with my mother, my great-aunt and six crazy cats in London, while Julianna got to be a princess.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘So she got what she wanted. But she never answered my letters or returned my calls. It was like she and my father just wiped us. You say she’s married?’

      ‘Yes,’ Erhard said. ‘To Jacques, who wants control of the throne.’

      ‘I see.’ She gave herself an irritated shake. ‘I guess I expected no less. But how can I believe what you say of her intentions?’

      ‘I can verify them,’ Nick told her, feeling it was time he helped out. Erhard was looking so strained he looked like he might collapse. ‘I’ve spent the last week researching the place. Alp de Montez is in serious trouble, and it will take a sovereign to help. There’s never been the slightest interest in ruling the country properly from either Jacques, the presiding council, or from Julianna herself. Corruption is everywhere.’

      ‘Oh,’ Rose said in a small voice. She swallowed, and then suddenly seemed to make a conscious effort to shake off dreariness. ‘This food is wonderful.’

      It was wonderful. Nick had chosen steak, and somewhat to his surprise Rose had too. He was accustomed to women ordering something like grilled fish with a salad—or just a salad—and then not eating most of it, but there was none of the dainty eater about Rose. She tucked into her steak with enjoyment. There was a bowl of roast potatoes to share, fragrant with rosemary, and she reached for the last one before he did.

      ‘Ladies first,’ she said, and she smiled at him again, and the odd warmth he was feeling intensified.

      Erhard, who had been the one to settle on grilled fish, chuckled quietly at the pair of them. ‘This could be some match,’ he said.

      Hey, hold on. Nick jerked back to the issue at hand. He needed to put his hormones to one side and concentrate. ‘We’re far from deciding here,’ he retorted. ‘The thing seems a fairy tale.’

      ‘None of us believe it’s impossible, or we wouldn’t be sitting here,’ Erhard said smoothly. ‘Rose thinks so too.’

      ‘Rose isn’t committing herself,’ Rose retorted. ‘I only said I’d meet him.’

      ‘And you have met him, and he makes you smile.’

      ‘Just because I beat him to the last potato. That’s hardly a basis for a marriage.’

      ‘Shared intelligence is a basis of a marriage,’ Erhard said calmly. ‘And shared compassion. Now I’ve met you both, I believe the thing might be possible.’

      ‘Is there really no other way?’ Nick said cautiously. But he wasn’t feeling cautious. Ever since Erhard had walked into his office, a bubble of excitement had been growing inside him that refused to be suppressed. At first it had been the idea of having some say in turning around the fate of a nation. But now…

      He’d never thought of marriage. Why should it be suddenly immensely appealing?

      ‘Let’s get this straight,’ he said. ‘Why not just Rose?’

      Erhard nodded. He’d obviously prepared his responses very carefully.

      ‘On the upside she’s first in line, and once upon a time the people loved her,’ he said. ‘The downside is that as soon as the old Prince was unable to react Eric shouted from the rooftops that Rose wasn’t his. Rose and her mother left the country fifteen years ago and never looked back.’

      ‘Why not just Julianna, then?’

      ‘On the upside, Julianna lives in the country and the people know her. But they don’t like her. Or they don’t like her husband, and Julianna does what her husband says. The inference that Rose isn’t royal must also taint Julianna’s claim. There’s no proof. And Rose is older.’

      ‘Why not just Nick, then?’ Rose demanded.

      ‘He’s an unknown,’ Erhard said flatly. ‘I didn’t know him myself until a week ago. He’s been to the country as a tourist, but nothing else. The people will never accept him.’

      ‘Maybe I could support Rose’s claim without marriage,’ Nick heard himself say, albeit reluctantly. There was a crazy voice in the back of his head saying ‘take her and run’. He suppressed it with an effort. He had to be sensible. ‘As someone in line myself, even if further away and the child of a royal daughter and not a son, I can surely add weight to Rose’s position?’

      ‘So can the President of our Council,’ Erhard said bluntly. ‘He supports Julianna. Julianna is a citizen of Alp de Montez, and she’s married to another citizen. Rose was a people’s favourite in the past. The press loved her, portraying her as a natural, friendly kid who always had a stray animal attached. But that knowledge of Rose has faded, and her father’s vitriolic denunciation of her stands in her way. It will take a huge factor to swing the thing in Rose’s favour. The only thing that will do it is your marriage.’

      ‘And you?’ Nick said, turning to Rose, puzzled. There was so much about this woman he didn’t understand. ‘You’d seriously consider marriage to gain a throne?’

      She froze at that. She’d been smiling, but now her face stilled.

      ‘Whoa,’ she said. ‘Let’s not paint me a gold-digger.’

      ‘I never said…’

      ‘Yes, you did,’ she said bluntly. ‘So let’s get things clear. Erhard’s letter made me think. I’m not the least bit interested in playing the Crown Princess—-that was always Julianna’s preferred option—but there’s not so many times in your life that you’re presented with an option that just might be for the greater good.’

      Then she smiled up at Walter, who was clearing the plates from the main course. ‘Do your puddings match your mains?’

      ‘They certainly do, miss,’ Walter said, and he beamed.

      ‘I’d

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