A Royal Proposition Read online

  ‘They’re hardly likely to toss me into the oubliette for insubordination.’

  ‘Have you been insubordinate?’

  ‘Only a little bit,’ she confessed with a rueful smile. ‘Not very much.’

  He groaned. ‘Well, don’t be now. Get in there and grovel, and only say nice things about your boss. That’s me. Remember?’ Penny-Rose had never been reluctant to give a bit of cheek, and Bert shook his head at her. ‘Know your place, girl, and, short of letting the prince have his wicked way with you, agree to anything. I can always back out later.’

  He meant he could always dismiss her, she thought, her laughter fading. If it was a choice of Penny-Rose or the team, it had to be the team.

  Maybe she had been too cheeky. Was the aristocracy so sensitive? Heavens, why didn’t she learn to keep her mouth shut? Still, if damage had been done, it was she who’d have to undo it.

  ‘If I’m not back in a week, demand entry to the dungeons,’ she said, more lightly than she felt. She looked down at her grimy self and thought of what she was facing. ‘You really mean go right now?’

  ‘I mean go right now,’ Bert said heavily. ‘That’s what the aristocracy wants, so that’s what the aristocracy gets.’

  They were waiting.

  Penny-Rose walked up through the terraced gardens toward the main castle entrance and found the head gardener waiting. They walked into the courtyard where a butler was waiting in turn. He gave her a wintry smile, turned and led her into the house.

  And what a house!

  The castle had been built in the twelfth century and maintained by fastidious owners ever since. Castaliae was one of the few countries in the world where the royal family had never deviated from direct succession. It had led to a certain simplicity-the family were the de Castaliaes, the estate was Castaliae and so was the country.

  It was confusing maybe, but it certainly must make ordering letterheads easier, Penny-Rose had decided when she’d first learned about the place. And now, looking around the ancestral home of the country’s rulers, she saw other advantages of continuous succession. The halls were filled with exquisite furniture, gathered over a thousand years, the walls were hung with fabulous tapestries and the whole place was filled with light and colour from a building designed far in advance of its time.

  Every south face had been used to effect-no one here had worried about window taxes-and sunlight streamed in everywhere.

  The Castaliae family had been known to sit on the fence for all the castle’s history, Penny-Rose knew. The independence of this tiny principality was a tribute to the political savvy of its royal family.

  Penny-Rose glanced about her with awe as she was led from room to room. For a twenty-six-year-old Australian, this was new and wonderful indeed. She almost forgot to be nervous.

  Almost. She remembered again the moment she entered the great hall.

  They were waiting for her.

  She knew them by sight. Marguerite, of course. The new prince’s elderly mother. She was the woman who’d spoken to her in the garden, and her smile was warm and welcoming.

  Then there was Belle. Although it wasn’t official, rumour had it that she was engaged to be married to the prince. She was a cold fish, the boys had decided, but it didn’t stop them admiring her good points. She might be a cold fish, but she was a very beautiful cold fish. Belle didn’t move from her seat now, and she certainly didn’t smile.

  And, of course, there was Alastair. Alastair de Castaliae… His Serene Highness, they said, if he could figure out the inheritance hiccups.

  And why shouldn’t he be the prince? she thought. He certainly had the look of it. He might be dressed for farmwork now, in an ancient pair of moleskins and a shirt that was grubby and frayed at the cuffs, but he was still drop-dead gorgeous, with a smile to die for.

  Mmm! He was smiling now-sort of-as he rose to greet her. It was a smile that stilled her nerves and caught her attention as nothing else could. What a smile. And what a…

  Well, what a man!

  Penny-Rose had never had time to play round with the opposite sex but a lack of time had never stopped her appreciating what was in front of her. And this one was worth appreciating! He was tall, lean and hard-muscled, with long, long legs, and…

  And she wasn’t a schoolgirl, she reminded herself sharply. She was twenty-six years old, and she had too many responsibilities to be distracted by any man, much less royalty!

  So, with an effort, she pulled her attention away from thoughts which were totally out of place. What on earth did they want?

  The prince, gorgeous as he was, was looking at her like he wasn’t seeing her. Belle was watching her with a calculating expression Penny-Rose didn’t like. It was only Marguerite who was smiling as if she meant it.

  ‘Penny-Rose. How lovely. Will you sit down?’

  Sit? Good grief! She looked at the plush cream settee and fought a desire to giggle.

  ‘Um…I’m afraid I’d leave a signature,’ she said, and received a swift appraising look from Alastair for her pains. ‘If it’s all right with you, ma’am, I’m just as happy standing. If you’d just tell me what you want, I’ll be off before I spread dirt everywhere.’

  ‘But we need to get to know you,’ Alastair said, in a voice that sounded as if he didn’t believe what he was saying.

  Penny-Rose shook her head. She’d hauled off her cap before she’d come inside so her curls bounced around her shoulders and dust floated free. ‘You don’t need to get to know me, and I’m not dressed for socialising.’ OK, she was being blunt but she was at a disadvantage and she didn’t like it. Belle was looking at her like she was some sort of interesting insect, and kowtowing to those higher up the aristocratic ladder had never come naturally to Penny-Rose.

  ‘Just for a minute.’ Alastair’s voice was strained to breaking point, and she cast him an unsure glance. What was wrong with the man?

  ‘My boss can tell you about me,’ she said discouragingly. ‘Or are you intending to get to know the whole team better?’ That made an interesting plan, but it didn’t make her smile. She felt more and more like an insect brought in as part of a collection, and she didn’t like the feeling one bit.

  ‘No, but-’ Marguerite started.

  ‘Let’s just tell her what we want,’ Alastair said heavily. ‘Don’t confuse her any further.’ His eyes hadn’t left Penny-Rose’s face, and they didn’t leave it now.

  He seemed nice, Penny-Rose thought inconsequentially. He also seemed exhausted, strained to the limit, but still very, very nice. His voice was deep and grave and soft, and he sounded as if he was concerned for her.

  His English was excellent-well, it would be, as his mother was English. It was only his words that were troubled.

  ‘I’ll come to the point,’ he told her, speaking slowly as if measuring each word.

  ‘What my mother wishes to know-what we all wish to know-is whether or not you can be persuaded to marry me.’

  For a long, long moment nothing stirred. She stared at them in turn, taking in each of their faces. All of them looked…for heaven’s sake, they looked as if they were serious!

  ‘You have to be joking,’ she said at last, and it was as much as she could do to find her voice. Her words came out a sort of high-pitched squeak. She coughed and tried again. ‘I mean…you are joking, right?’

  ‘I’m not joking.’ The look of strain on his face intensified. ‘Would I joke about something so serious?’

  ‘Yeah, right.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Did you say marry?’

  ‘I said marry.’

  ‘Then you’re either having a laugh at my expense or you’re all about in the head,’ she said bluntly. ‘Either way, I don’t think I should stay.’ She gave them a last wild look. ‘I…I’ll see myself out, shall I?’

  She didn’t wait for an answer. She took herself out of the door and out of the castle, without a backward glance.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE prince found Penny-Rose an hour later,
when she’d been persuaded, against her better judgement, to go back to work. She was sorting stones and Alastair came up behind her so suddenly that she missed a couple of heartbeats.

  As before, his voice was deep and soft and calm-as if nothing lay between them at all.

  ‘Why do they call you Penny-Rose? Why not just Penelope or Penny? Or even Rose?’

  As a question it was harmless enough, but the situation was ludicrous. She caught her breath, regretted her missed heartbeats-while this man was around she needed all the heartbeats she could get-sat back on her heels and glared.

  The fact that his shirt was open at the throat and the sun was shining on the wispy curls on his chest didn’t help at all…

  Good grief! Cut it out, she told herself. Put your hormones on the back burner!

  ‘Bert says I’m not to fraternise with the upper classes any more,’ she said frankly. ‘You’ve had your joke. If you want something else, ask Bert. Go away.’ Already she could see her boss rising from where he’d been working. He’d been disbelieving when she’d told him what had happened, and then he’d been furious.

  ‘It’s their idea of a sick joke,’ he’d said. ‘It’s too bad we’re not back in England where I can have a word with the union.’

  But they weren’t back in England. They were in this tiny principality where normal rules didn’t apply, and if Bert wanted to keep his team employed he had to bite his tongue and tell her to get on with stone-walling as if nothing had happened.

  ‘They’re paying excellent rates, lass,’ he’d told her. ‘The best. And we’ve gone to a lot of expense to get over here. We put up with it if we can, for the good of the team, but you’re not to go near them again. Just keep working and forget it.’

  So she’d agreed. It had been a big thing for Bert to take on a female apprentice, and she wanted to make it as trouble-free for him as possible. But now this creep wouldn’t leave her alone.

  ‘Go away,’ she said again, and turned back to her stones. She concentrated fiercely on fitting a neat wedge between two blocks and refused to look at him.

  Thankfully she heard Bert’s heavy footsteps, and then her boss’s Yorkshire accent. ‘I’d be grateful if you could speak through me if you have anything to say to the workers, sir.’ Bert’s words were deferential enough, but his tone was pure bulldog.

  She risked a glance up, and to her surprise she saw Alastair raking his fingers through his ruffled black hair. It was a gesture that made him seem almost as bewildered as she was.

  And it was gesture that suddenly made him seem much less of a prince-and much more human.

  And much more…hormone-confusing?

  Get back to work, she told herself fiercely, turning back to her ill-fitting stone. Forget your stupid hormones. And don’t look again!

  ‘I need to speak to Penny-’

  ‘Penny-Rose isn’t speaking to you. She’s heard what you have to say and it doesn’t make sense. So leave the lass be.’

  ‘I’m not offering her any indecent proposals.’

  ‘If you were, I’d take my team and walk off your land right now,’ Bert told him. ‘Money or no money. Penny-Rose is a good lass and a damned fine worker, and I won’t have her badgered.’

  Wow! Under her cap, she felt her ears go pink with pleasure. Praise from Bert was hard to earn, and valued for what it was. She’d worked hard to get this far.

  And for Bert to offer to withdraw his team on her behalf… Goodness!

  But Alastair was still trying to speak. ‘I don’t-’

  ‘Look, what is it you want?’ Bert said, exasperated. ‘You’ve upset the lass, you’ve upset me. If you have anything reasonable to say, then say it. Now. In front of Penny-Rose. Clear the air, like. And then we can say no and get on with our work.’

  ‘I hope you won’t say no.’

  Bert was getting angrier by the minute.

  ‘Well, what is it?’

  ‘As I said, I want to marry Penny-Rose,’ Alastair told him, putting his hands up as if to deflect the storm of protest he knew Bert was capable of. ‘I want to marry her for a year. As a business proposition. Nothing more.’

  The silence went on for several moments. Penny-Rose stayed crouched by her stones. She wouldn’t look up but her fingers had ceased even trying to fit her rocks together.

  This was crazy.

  She left the answering to Bert, because she couldn’t think of a thing to say. Even the normally voluble Bert was having trouble.

  ‘Where I’m from,’ Bert said at last, in a voice that sounded as if he’d been winded, ‘people don’t take brides as business propositions. They take brides for life.’ His belligerent jaw jutted forward. ‘And just the one of them at that. The locals say you’re engaged to some woman up in the house. Well, then. You hang onto her and leave our Penny-Rose alone. Bigamy is something I don’t hold with and never shall, and if you so much as come near our lass-’

  ‘This isn’t bigamy.’

  ‘Look, I don’t know what your rules are-’

  ‘I imagine my rules are exactly the same as yours,’ Alastair said wearily, and once again his fingers raked his hair. He looked like he was finding this impossible. ‘I’m not intending to marry twice. Or…not at once.’

  This was getting crazier and crazier.

  ‘What we want here,’ Bert said conversationally, and speaking to the world in general, ‘is a strait-jacket. Anyone got one?’

  Amazingly, it was Penny-Rose who came to the prince’s defence. That last gesture of his had got to her. For some reason this didn’t seem like someone making indecent propositions. This seemed like a man at the end of his tether.

  ‘Give him a break, Bert.’ She rose and shrugged off some dirt. Then she stood back so there was distance-and Bert-between them, but her eyes met Alastair’s and held.

  And her chin tilted. This was the look she used when she was meeting trouble head on, and she had a feeling she was meeting it now.

  This man’s trouble.

  ‘Let him say what he wants,’ she told her boss. ‘He isn’t making sense, but we might as well listen.’

  The silence stretched out under the afternoon sun, and in the stillness Penny-Rose was aware that Alastair’s gaze never left hers. Their eyes were locked, and it was as if there were questions being asked-and answered-without words being spoken.

  And whatever the questions were, her answers must have satisfied him because he gave a slight nod, as if he’d come to a final decision. Some of the confusion left his face.

  ‘It could work.’

  ‘What could work?’ Bert asked belligerently, and Penny-Rose laid a hand on her boss’s arm.

  ‘Let him say.’

  And he did. ‘I’m serious,’ he said at last, his eyes still fixed on hers. ‘I don’t have a choice. If I don’t marry a lady of unimpeachable virtue, this entire estate will be split.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Bert told him.

  ‘It’s the terms of the old prince’s will,’ Alastair said wearily. ‘If I don’t make such a marriage then the estate will be sold and, no matter how I look at it, there’s no way I can buy it. God knows, I’ve tried every way over the past couple of months, but the thing’s impossible. I’d assume the castle itself will go to the government and be opened to the public as a tourist venue, but the acreage around here will be split up.’

  Bert frowned, but he wasn’t too surprised. He’d heard the rumours. ‘And the village?’

  ‘That’s the hard part,’ Alastair told him. ‘It’s the reason I’m considering such a marriage. There are over a hundred families living around the estate. All of those homes will have to be sold, and the cousins who stand to inherit stipulate that they’ll be sold on the open market.’ He paused and gazed around him, over the river banks to the village beyond. ‘I guess you’ve realised by now how desirable this place is?’

  It was. The Castaliae estate contained a fairy-tale village built on the cliffs of one of the most picturesque rivers in the world.
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  But it still wasn’t making sense. Bert was still confused.

  ‘So?’ Bert demanded.

  ‘So they’ll be sold for a fortune,’ Alastair said simply. ‘We know that. It’s already happened to villages like ours that haven’t been protected by one landlord. The locals are well enough off, but they’re not so wealthy that they can match the prices of city dwellers and overseas interests.’

  He sighed, his gaze returning from the far-off village to the girl before him. Now he was talking directly to her. ‘If I can’t save it, the village will be deserted in winter and filled with wealthy tourists and designer shops in the summer. The locals will have to move away. They can’t bear it, and I can’t bear it. So I’m asking you, Penny-Rose, to marry me. If you’ll have me.’

  More silence.

  Penny-Rose’s gaze didn’t waver. She took him in. Not just his amazing good looks, but the grubbiness of his clothes-he wasn’t nearly as dirty as she was, but he obviously hadn’t had time to change since he’d been out working with his farm manager this morning-the tension of his stance and the dark shadows under his eyes. He looked like a man close to breaking point.

  Then, finally, she allowed herself to look around, at the land he was talking of.

  This estate went on for ever. The castle itself was built into the cliff overlooking the river, and at the base of the cliff was a tiny village. Penny-Rose was boarding with a family there, and they thought of this man as their landlord.

  But this was indeed a fairy-tale village, with its soft sandstone buildings set into the cliffs on the gently flowing river. Alastair was right. Tourists would outbid any villagers for their homes. And if he couldn’t bear to have the villagers evicted, she could understand why not.

  ‘It’s a stupid clause,’ she said at last, and Alastair nodded.

  ‘It is. My uncle put it in place because my cousin was…wild. What it did was to stop Louis marrying at all, and then Louis died just three months after his father.’

  ‘So why don’t you just do what Louis did? Not marry?’ It seemed a reasonable solution. Surely the gorgeous Belle could be talked into being a mistress only-with so much money at stake!