LITMIR.BIZ

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Besides, Nick was with their mother when she died, and he promised to take care of them. He just didn’t realize that would mean adopting them—but he is a man of his word.”

      Easton noticed Nicholas and Amelia exchange a glance. Nicholas ought to be grateful a member of the royal family was pleading his case. But he didn’t look particularly grateful. In fact, Easton felt a distinct tension between these two.

      “I’m not here to debate Mr. Standish’s character,” Easton said. “I only want to know the answer to one question. I’ve asked it before, of Amelia, but she was decidedly unforthcoming. Perhaps you can shed some light on the matter, Nicholas. The Ministry of Family charges that your marriage was a sham from the beginning, that you never intended to live together as husband and wife. Is this the case?”

      Amelia looked everywhere but at the king. She seemed to find the wallpaper border fascinating. Nicholas was a bit more direct.

      “‘Sham’ isn’t the right word,” he objected. “I won’t pretend that it was a love match. But I thought Melanie—Amelia—was as committed to the children as I was, and I assumed she would be returning to Korosol with me.”

      “Melanie?”

      “The identity I used when working for the ICF,” Amelia said.

      “Of course, of course.” He’d only recently learned of his granddaughter’s alarming activities. Her philanthropic tendencies were to be applauded, but trotting off to war zones was completely unacceptable. He had put a stop to that, posthaste.

      “At the time,” Nicholas continued, “I thought of the marriage as a temporary solution to a critical problem. Of course, I didn’t realize then that my new wife was Princess Amelia. She chose not to reveal that fact to me.”

      “For security reasons,” Amelia added.

      “You didn’t tell your own husband who you were?” Easton asked, amazed. He was learning a lot about his granddaughters on this trip to America, a great deal of it not very pleasant.

      “He wasn’t really my husband.”

      “So the marriage was a sham.”

      Amelia answered slowly, carefully choosing each word. “I believe Nicholas and I had somewhat different expectations concerning the marriage. In retrospect, I see that I should have handled things differently.”

      “To say the least,” Easton murmured, giving Amelia a hard look. He hoped she would show better judgment when she was queen.

      “But it’s not fair for Nick to be penalized for my oversight. I’m sure the Ministry of Family is just doing its job, but if their primary concern is for the children, they shouldn’t jerk them away from the stable and loving home they’ve been in for the past year.”

      “And how, exactly, do you know so much about this stable and loving home?” Easton asked. “Have you been there? Did you observe it firsthand?” Easton knew very well the answer to that question. Neither Amelia nor her sisters had set foot in Korosol in more than twenty years, despite his many invitations. His daughter-in-law, Lady Charlotte, had forbidden it, and because they were American citizens, he had no authority to enforce demands. She somehow held him responsible for the hardships she endured running her family’s shipping business after his son Drake’s untimely death almost twenty years ago. Fortunately, his current visit had done much to soften Charlotte’s attitude toward him.

      “I can tell that the children have been happy with Nicholas because of what I see now,” Amelia answered. “A year ago these children were malnourished and practically dressed in rags, not to mention terrified. As you can see now, they’re both clean, healthy and well dressed. And they adore Nicholas.”

      Easton could see the little boy worshiped his adoptive father. He had crawled into Nicholas’s lap and was playing peekaboo using Nicholas’s tie. The fact that Nicholas didn’t participate in the game didn’t faze the boy.

      The girl, though, worried him. “You, ma petite,” he said, pointing to the older child, whose name he still couldn’t recall. “How do you like living with Mr. Standish?”

      “Uncle Nick is wonderful,” she replied solemnly. “He brought us to live in a pretty house in a nice village. We have all the food we want, and I have a pet lamb that Nick says we never have to eat, and we have as many blankets on the bed as we need. He takes me to school every day and he’s teaching me French.”

      “Indeed.” Easton was charmed despite himself. The delicate little girl reminded him of his sister Magdalene when she’d been that age, God rest her soul. “And what about the Princess Amelia?” Easton asked. “What do you think of her?”

      The child looked taken aback by the question, but Easton was merely trying to get the child away from her rehearsed speech.

      “Princess Amelia is very pretty,” the little girl said. “I didn’t know she was a princess till Uncle Nick read about her in the newspaper.”

      “Really?” Easton asked. “What happened then?”

      “He got real mad,” the girl said matter-of-factly. “He said some words. I think they might have been bad words, but they were in French so I didn’t understand them. And he threw a couple of things.” She looked over at Nicholas and, seeing his expression of dismay, quickly added, “Oh, but Uncle Nick hardly ever says bad words. And he mostly threw things that didn’t break, and he didn’t throw them at anyone.”

      Easton chuckled at the child’s sober sincerity, then quickly sobered himself. This situation put him into quite a sticky wicket, though it wasn’t the stability of Nick’s home or the quality of his guardianship that concerned him. Eleanor had told Easton everything he needed to know about her brother’s dependability.

      “What is it you want from me?” he asked Nicholas point-blank.

      “Intervention,” Nicholas answered quickly, decisively. “You’re the king. One phone call from you and the dragon-lady social workers from the Ministry of Family will drop their case against me and leave me in peace.”

      “Dragon ladies,” Jakob repeated, then giggled.

      Easton found nothing to laugh about. This was serious business. He rose from his chair and paced. “I don’t think you fully understand what you’re asking me to do. Korosol is a constitutional monarchy, not a dictatorship. I’ve successfully ruled the country for fifty-something years precisely because I don’t throw my weight around. The Parliament makes rules, the police and courts enforce them. And I don’t go meddling in affairs that aren’t my responsibility, no matter what my personal feelings.”

      “If you don’t meddle, and you don’t make or enforce laws, what do you do?” Nicholas asked with a trifle too much arrogance, Easton thought. But he chose to overlook the breach of protocol.

      “I do many of the same things the American president does,” Easton explained patiently. “I’m commander in chief of the Korosol Armed Forces. I’m the head of state, and I undertake a number of diplomatic duties. I act as an adviser to Parliament. But I don’t run around giving orders. Maybe that’s what kings did a hundred years ago in Korosol, but not now.”

      “So you won’t help us?” Amelia asked, incredulous. “Help Nick, I mean. You wouldn’t have to issue an order. You could…advise the Ministry of Family, couldn’t you? I’m sure they would listen.”

      “My dear girl, to make requests such as you suggest would open a Pandora’s box. Pretty soon everyone would be asking me for personal favors, and many would be as persuasive as you, with causes just as righteous, just as urgent.”

      “But I’m—” Amelia objected, then stopped herself. He deduced she’d been about to remind him of her newly special status as his successor—as if he needed to be reminded. “I’m your granddaughter,” she continued. “A member of the royal family.”

      “And to alter my standards and ethics just because you’re royalty and not

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