His Majesty's Marriage

He slipped out the doors of the family chateau and climbed into the forest beyond the estate. He broke into a run as he left the gentler slopes and made his way through the pines clinging to the steeper hillsides overlooking the lake.

By the time he’d reached his destination, his breath was spent. He flung his body facedown into the bed of wild narcissus and gave way to his grief. Time had no meaning as pain continued to rack his body.

Much later, when he rose to his feet on unsteady legs, the stars had faded from their velvet backdrop.

As a pale yellow dawn filled the sky, he let himself back inside his apartment.

Gripping his cellphone with a hand still redolent of narcissus, he rang Philippe.

“Raoul-” he answered in a gravelly voice. “What time is it?”

“Five-thirty. Can you talk?”

“But of course,” his voice came back, much stronger than before. “You want me to come there?”

“No. Meet me at the pier. We’ll take a ride.”

“I’ll join you in ten minutes.”

A half-hour later Raoul cut the motor of the speedboat. They were far enough away from shore to ensure total privacy. Without preamble he told Philippe about the bombshell his father had just dropped on him.

“Mon Dieu- I thought it was several years away yet.” The two men faced each other. Philippe clamped a hand on Raoul’s shoulder. “You don’t have to go through with it.”

“That’s true,” Raoul muttered. “I can be the only Arillac who ever shrank from his responsibilities in five hundred years.”

“It isn’t fair that a man be born with that kind of a burden. Is it written in stone you must marry the Princess?” When there was no answer forthcoming, Philippe removed his hand. “Forget I said anything.”

Raoul’s eyes narrowed. “You think I haven’t asked myself that question at least once a day since my teens? I prayed that if I put things off long enough Sophie would experience a coup de foudre with someone else by now.”

Philippe grimaced. “Ever since I’ve known you, I’ve hoped you would fall for a woman you couldn’t live without. But it never happened. Probably because you knew what was expected of you and wouldn’t allow yourself to get too involved.”

Letting out the breath he’d been holding, Raoul said, “I don’t honestly know. The truth is, no woman has ever attracted me so much that I could feel my duty being tested.”

“Why couldn’t you have had an ambitious brother?”

They eyed each other soulfully. “It didn’t happen, Philippe.”

His friend shook his head. “How many times have you been with her in the last year, aside from your formal engagement?”

“That was it.”

“Unbelievable!” Philippe smacked his forehead. “And how many times before that?”

“You already know. Half a dozen maybe, since our teens.”

“And you were never alone with her! That’s no foundation for any kind of marriage.”

“By the sound of that, I assume you’ve decided to take my advice and go after Kellie.”

Philippe nodded. “I don’t see I have a choice. She’s become my whole world.”

Philippe had confessed to Raoul that last month he’d fallen hard for a woman staying at his parents’ estate near Paris. Raoul knew his best friend had been enamoured of several women in the past, but evidently this one, Kellie, was different.

“Do you have any idea how lucky you are to feel that kind of desire and know it’s reciprocated?” Raoul bit out fiercely. “If you have that going for you, you can make the rest work.”

“I’ve never wanted a woman so much in my life,” he admitted in a haunted whisper. “However, this conversation isn’t about me. Raoul- I have an idea. Why don’t you ask Sophie to join us in Zermatt?”

“What are you talking about?” he demanded incredulously.

“You two need time together away from your families and protocol. Ask her to come to your chalet. We’ll all take the cable car to Schwartzsee together. A two-hour hike to the Berghaus shouldn’t be too strenuous for her. We could do a less ambitious climb to the summit from the Hornli Ridge. If she doesn’t want to climb from there you cou-”

“What do you mean ‘if’?” Raoul cut in. “She’d be terrified at the thought.”

“That’s the whole point, Raoul. If she has any blood running through her veins, it should put the fear in her to consider marrying a total stranger whose passions she could never understand. The rest of us will go on to the top and leave you two alone. Reserve a double room at the hut. It should terrify her even more to discover that she’s marrying a man who’s not attracted to her in any way-who has no desire to bed her when given the opportunity. You follow me?

“Twelve hours of getting to know the real you will make her realize that neither of you has a damn thing in common. Let her see beneath the veneer to the flesh and blood man who will always be indifferent to her.”

Raoul had been listening to his friend. “Mon Dieu-if I thought for one moment I could get her to call off our betrothal…”

“Then you could marry the woman you want? If she came along?”

The question reverberated in his head. “I don’t know.” His voice shook. “But it’s worth finding out, mon ami.”

As Philippe’s suggestion took hold, the first ray of hope filled Raoul’s being with such powerful intensity he leaped to his feet in reaction, almost dumping them both in the calm blue water.

“Mademoiselle?”

While the six girls who boarded during the summer were impatiently waiting for her to finish passing out the afternoon mail, Lee Gresham looked over her shoulder at the maid. “Yes, Bianca?”

“The Princess Sophie de Ramblet is on the phone for you. It’s urgent. Madame Simoness said you could take the call in her private office.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Afraid she knew the reason why her best friend insisted she come to the phone, Lee told the girls they could go out on the grounds to relax, then hurried from the foyer of Pensionnat Beau Lac to the headmistress’s bureau.

Darting across the Aubusson rug, she reached for the receiver. Out of breath she asked softly, “Sophie?”

“Thank heaven you answered.” Her friend sounded beside herself.

“Your parents didn’t find out about Luciano, did they?”

“No- This is much worse.”

“What’s wrong? Are you alone? Can you talk?”

“Yes, but only for a minute,” she said in hushed tones. “Mother just left my room. She told me Daddy’s upset because I’m not married yet. Apparently he phoned Henri Mertier last night and the matter has been settled. My wedding to Raoul has been brought forward to two months from now!”

“What?” Lee was aghast. “Have you told Luciano?”

“No. Mother was still in here with me when Raoul phoned from Neuchatel. H-he asked me to join him at his chalet in Zermatt on Thursday so we could get better acquainted over the weekend.”

“Better acquainted-” Lee blurted. “Don’t you mean introduced?” Her cheeks went hot. “I’m sorry, Sophie, but this whole thing is so archaic, I can’t understand it.”

“Do you honestly think I feel any differently?”

Lee bit her lip. “No, of course not. When we boarded together here at Beau Lac years ago, it’s ridiculous to think how much I envied you for being a princess. Your betrothal to Raoul sounded like something right out of Sleeping Beauty. I just never dreamed the fairy tale would end up a nightmare.”

“That’s exactly what it is! I don’t dare tell Luciano until I can see him in person and explain what’s happened.”

“How are you going to arrange that? With your marriage imminent, you won’t have a moment to yourself.”

“This is where you come in, Lee. I’ve got a plan. I’ve already arranged for Madame Simoness to give you the time off…”

Naturally. Sophie’s parents donated a fortune to the prestigious boarding school in Nyon on Lake Geneva. They were wonderful people who treated Lee like family. Lee was eaten up by guilt because they had no idea how many times she’d helped Sophie and Luciano get together.