His Majesty's Marriage

again, I promise. I’m not Serena, pining for another man.’

He gave a shaky laugh. ‘Am I that transparent?’

‘Just a little.’

‘I thought you were all mine. If I discovered that you weren’t, my life would be dark again. And that would be hard to bear when you’ve shown me the light.’

‘I am all yours,’ she promised. ‘I’ve been over Toby for years. It was just a shock to read about his death like that. I don’t dream of him. I dream of you.’

He relaxed in her arms and allowed himself to be reassured. Instead of taking him straight to bed Lizzie ordered a light meal and they sat and talked about nothing very much. It was being together that mattered, and when she could feel that he was calmer and happier, then she took him to bed and loved him tenderly.

As they lay together afterwards he said, ‘If I’d known I was going to fall in love with you, I’d have run for my life.’

‘Love?’ she asked in a soft murmur. ‘Is this love?’

‘Don’t you feel that it is?’

‘Yes, I do.’ She buried her face against him, whispering, ‘And I’m so happy now.’

Next morning he had to leave her earlier than usual for a meeting with his Prime Minister. Before going he said, ‘Tonight will be special. I have a surprise for you.’

‘A surprise? Oh, tell me now,’ she begged eagerly.

‘Then it wouldn’t be a surprise. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s something that will mean a lot to you.’ He sighed, kissed her tenderly, and then again. ‘If I don’t leave you now I won’t be able to. Goodbye, my darling, until tonight.’

When he’d gone she had a bracing shower. As she was drying herself her phone rang. She answered eagerly, expecting to hear Daniel’s voice. But it was a stranger, and as she listened her smile faded.

She dressed quickly and called Daniel. ‘I have to leave, right now,’ she said.

‘You can’t leave me,’ he said, becoming imperious in a moment. ‘I won’t let you go, ever. Wait there.’ He hung up before she could reply.

He was with her in a moment. ‘What is this nonsense about leaving?’

‘I’ll come back when I can, but I have a sick friend who needs me. It’s Bess. I told you about her. She’s had a heart attack and the hospital sent for me. I’m all she has.’

‘Forgive me,’ he said at once. ‘I was being selfish. It’s so hard to part with you when I’ve only just discovered you. But you must go at once. My own plane will take you-’

‘No need, darling. There’s a flight in an hour, and if I go now I might just catch it.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll call the airport. It won’t leave without you.’

She gave a shaky smile. ‘What it is to be a king.’

‘It’s only valuable to me if I can use it to make your life a little easier. But before you go there’s something I want to say-you must understand-’

She waited, but after hesitating for a long moment he sighed and said, ‘Never mind. This isn’t the moment. But remember that I love you whatever-whatever happens.’

‘Darling, whatever’s the matter?’

He put his arms about her. ‘Promise me that you’ll return. You won’t just abandon me.’

‘How could I do that when I love you so much? I’ll be thinking about you.’

‘And I,’ he said, ‘will start to think about you the moment we say goodbye. Wherever you are, whatever you do, my thoughts will be with you every moment until you return.’

Felix, Sandor and Elsa came down with her to the palace car that Daniel had commanded to take her to the airport. As it drove away she looked back to see them waving, their faces anxious. Raising her eyes a little, she could see Daniel motionless at an upstairs window.

Lizzie’s return to Voltavia was in stark contrast to her departure. Three days later she arrived without warning, stormed into her apartment and snatched up the telephone to call Daniel. The phone was answered by Frederick.

‘Kindly tell His Majesty that I want to see him.’

Frederick’s gasp was audible down the line. He knew, as everyone did, that Lizzie was privileged, but even she couldn’t command the King with the snap of her fingers. He tried to explain this diplomatically, but she steamrollered over him.

‘Tell him I’ve got what he wants,’ she said sulphurously. ‘That’ll bring him.’

She hung up. At the other end of the line Frederick mopped his brow.

For the next few minutes Lizzie prowled her apartment like an angry lioness, wondering how her happiness could have turned to dust so quickly. Her visit to England had been marked by two discoveries, one of which had filled her with joy and wonder. The other had filled her with such profound bitterness that she wondered how she could bear to see Daniel again, ever.

But she would see him, one last time. She would give him the thing for which he had schemed and betrayed. Perhaps she would even manage to tell him what she thought of him, although it would be hard to put the depth of her misery into words. Then she would leave Voltavia and try to forget that Daniel existed.

She looked up sharply as the door opened. There he was, smiling as though nothing pleased him so much as the sight of her, although she had rudely summoned him in a way that would once have earned his displeasure. He came towards her, hands outstretched, eyes warm. Lizzie clenched her own hands, forcing herself to remember that this man had deceived her cruelly. Otherwise she might have thought he was regarding her with love.

‘You came back quickly,’ he said, ‘just as you promised. But whatever did you say to poor Frederick to put him in such a fret?’ She stared at him, bleak-eyed, and his smile died. ‘What is it, my darling?’

‘Don’t call me that,’ she said harshly. ‘You can stop the pretence. I know the truth now.’

‘Whatever do you mean?’

‘Did you think I wouldn’t find out that you had my house burgled?’

If she’d had any doubts his sharp intake of breath dispelled them. He was pale and startled, but he knew what she was taking about.

‘It’s true, then,’ she said bitterly. ‘You did it. You ordered it. And all the time you- Dear God!’ The last words were a cry of anguish.

‘Lizzie, please listen to me. It’s not as you think.’

She rounded on him. ‘Of course it is. It’s exactly as I think. I was a fool, but I’m not a fool any more, so don’t insult my intelligence.’

The sudden silence was harsh and ugly, unlike the sweet, companionable silences that had fallen between them so often.

‘How did you know?’ he asked at last, in a voice that seemed to come from a great distance.

‘Your operatives were very good, but not quite good enough. A few things were out of place. I noticed because I tend to keep things as my great-aunt left them. I didn’t believe it at first, but when I questioned my neighbours I learned a lot. Like that they entered by the front door. That’s why nobody was alarmed. They looked so respectable.’

Her eyes were very cold as she said, ‘I wondered how they got a key to my house. And then I remembered the ball, and how you danced me along the terrace, taking both my hands so that I had to leave my purse behind. You did the “heady passion” bit very well, I’ll give you that. And you judged the time so well. Just long enough for someone to open my purse and take a wax impression of the key.’

She waited to see if he would answer, but he stood silent, looking at her with eyes full of pain.

‘But why?’ she said at last. ‘You could have asked me for those letters when we first met in London. You thought I was negotiating. So why not come right out with it there and then? Why invite me here at all?

‘That was the question I should have asked myself a long time ago, but I wasn’t thinking straight. And why? Because of all that romantic claptrap you showered on me. There wasn’t a word of truth in it. You just wanted me in a daze so that I didn’t know whether I was coming or going, because that way you could keep me here as long as it suited you. And I fell for it. Me, who prides herself on her cool, logical mind. I could laugh when I remember how I actually lectured you about the lessons of history, but I forgot the most important one, didn’t I? Put not your trust in princes!

‘And all the time I was here your people were going through my house. You didn’t want to buy, you wanted to