Lady Andrea, Camille and Teresa hovered in the background as the artist sketched. Every now and then Camille or Teresa would move forward to smooth a strand of hair, or apply a dab of powder to Hannah’s brow or nose.
But Hannah never moved, or complained, her gaze fixed on a distant point.
Her calm was an act. Beneath her cool, half smile, she felt wild.
What if Emmeline was deliberately delaying her flight to Raguva so she could spend more time with her boyfriend? What if Emmeline’s goal all along was to have a long romantic break with this Alejandro?
Hannah’s hands clenched in her lap. Please don’t let that be the case. Emmeline couldn’t be so selfish—
“Maybe a break?” The artist suggested, setting down his paintbrush. “Her Highness looks unhappy. Perhaps it’s time for a little stretch?”
Hannah nodded, and hurried to her room to try to call Emmeline again. This time she got through.
“I couldn’t understand your message,” Emmeline said, answering immediately. “The reception wasn’t good and the message was broken up—”
“Are you with Alejandro?” Hannah demanded sharply.
“What?”
“You know, your Argentine boyfriend, a member of the polo team.”
Emmeline exhaled hard. “How do you know?” “Zale. He’s not happy. You have to come now. Today. You have to sort this out before it’s too late.” “You know I’m trying—”
“No, Emmeline, I don’t know you’re trying. I actually don’t think you’re trying very hard at all, because things are falling apart here—”
“Things are falling apart here, too!”
“Zale wants to end the engagement. He doesn’t think you’re compatible.”
“How can he say that? He’s never spent time with me!”
“Precisely. If you want to save the marriage, you have to get here quickly, because he’s giving us—well, you—just four days to prove to him that you’re the right one.”
“Even at the soonest, I won’t be able to get there before morning, so it’s up to you to convince him for the next twenty-four hours that he does want to marry me.”
“But, Emmeline, I’m not you!”
“So be yourself. Smooth things over. I know you can.” “Why should I? What have you ever done for me?”
“What do you want me to do?”
Good question. What did Hannah want? She already had the great job and good friends. She liked herself. Liked what she’d accomplished in life. All she really wanted now was to fall in love, but she wasn’t going to find her Mr. Right if she was with another woman’s man. “I just want you to come here and get me out of this. This is your relationship. Your engagement.”
“I know!” Emmeline’s voice suddenly broke. “Hannah, I know. But I’m in trouble. And I can’t see my way clear yet.”
“Do you even want to marry King Patek?”
“Yes,” Emmeline said quickly then paused. “No. No, I don’t. But I have to. It’s what our families want. Zale’s father and mine. They worked out an arrangement that essentially forces me into the marriage. If I don’t marry Zale, it will cost my father five million euros. If I fail to fulfill my obligations in any way, my family pays.”
“So you can’t end the engagement.”
“No. Not without disgracing my family.”
“And what if King Patek breaks off the engagement?”
“If he breaks the engagement without cause, he pays my family two and a half million euros. But if he breaks it off with cause, my family still has to pay him five million.”
“Why does he only have to pay half of what your family pays?”
“He’s a king. I’m just a princess.”
Just a princess, Hannah silently repeated, overwhelmed by this world of nobility, wealth and power.
“So you see why I need you,” Emmeline said wearily. “I need you to convince Zale I am right for him and once I get there, I will make it work. I will walk down the aisle, and say my vows, and make him happy.”
“Can’t you talk to your family about this? Can’t you go to your father—”
“No. My father would never understand. Or forgive me. My … parents … they aren’t like me. They’re very strict. Very old-fashioned. I know they mean well but they already disapprove of me, already view me as if I’m … tainted.”
“Tainted? How?”
“Not truly noble.” “But why?”
Silence stretched across the line and it took Hannah a moment to realize that Emmeline was crying.