I do.’ But his contact with them was over. He stayed aboard, unhappily disappearing into the background as they emerged onto Alp de Montez soil.
They weren’t sure what to expect when they arrived. After Erhard’s silence, Nick had been contacted by someone calling himself the palace Chief of Staff, telling them he was taking care of the arrangements for their arrival. ‘There’ll be some form of official reception,’ he’d told them, and when they stepped off the jet that was exactly what happened.
There were a couple of dozen military officers standing to stiff attention, and a middle-aged man in hugely decorated dress-regalia stepped forward to greet them.
‘Good afternoon,’ the man said in stiff English. ‘Welcome to Alp de Montez, Your Royal Highnesses. Do you wish to inspect the guard now?’
‘No,’ Nick said before Rose could open her mouth. Then he looked at Rose. ‘We don’t want to inspect the guard, do we, sweetheart?’
Sweetheart?
Rose blinked. And then she got the message. What Griswold had said on the plane was that these people were expecting a marriage of convenience, a marriage designed to fleece the country. Somehow they had to change that image.
She swallowed, then grabbed Nick’s hand and held tightly. ‘We might,’ she said. Then, ‘I can’t tell you how pleased we are to be here,’ she said, in a voice that carried across the tarmac to the assembled troops, speaking in the Italian-French mix that was the country’s own dialect. ‘I loved this country as a child,’ she said. ‘I needed to leave with my mother when I was fifteen-you know my parents were separated?-and Nick was orphaned early. That’s left us ignorant of what we should know of our heritage. So you’ll need to excuse us as we find our feet. You’ll have to teach us, but we’re here to learn.’
Then she smiled sweetly at the greeting official, who was looking stunned, and just a little bit horrified. ‘Thank you so much for meeting us,’ she said, and before he knew what she was about she’d handed Hoppy over to him, then kissed the astounded man on both cheeks. ‘I was sure we’d be welcome,’ she said. ‘You’re truly kind.’
Then, before the official could say a word, while Nick stood on the tarmac with the warm evening breeze adding to his sense of unreality-even though it was late spring it had been freezing back at Heathrow-Rose grabbed his hand and towed him over to the assembled troops. She smiled at the first soldier and asked his name. Before Nick knew it, they were working their way down the line, greeting every soldier individually, taking their hands and shaking them. Forcing them to lower their guns as they did. And Rose was giving each of them her very nicest smile.
By the time they’d finished Nick was feeling gobsmacked. Maybe they all were. The line didn’t look nearly as formal, and the stiff, unsmiling faces were, well, trying not to smile, but smiling for all that.
‘So who do we meet next?’ she asked, still beaming, returning to the official and Hoppy. She took Hoppy back from the stunned officer, thanking him with a smile.
‘Your limousine’s waiting to take you to the palace,’ the man said stiffly.
‘I don’t know your name,’ Rose said.
‘I’m Chief of Staff,’ the man said.
‘But a name?’ Rose said gently, smiling some more, and the man stared at her like she was speaking gobbledegook. ‘I’m Rose,’ she said, giving him an easy example. ‘This is Nick.’
‘Sir. Madam.’
‘Yes, but we have names too,’ she said, fixing him with a smile that took Nick aback even further. This wasn’t some wilting violet. This was a woman determined to make her point. A woman starting her adventuring.
‘Jean Dupeaux,’ the man muttered, and she smiled some more.
‘It’s lovely to meet you, Jean. If you’re our Chief of Staff, then I guess we’ll see lots of you. This is my dog, Hoppy. Are you coming with us in the limousine?’
‘I…No.’
‘That’s a shame,’ she said brightly. ‘I guess we’ll see you at the palace, then. Does the driver know where to go?’
‘Of course.’ He seemed offended.
‘I’m so sorry. Of course he does. You’ll have to forgive us a lot as we learn our way round,’ she told him. ‘I have so much to remember. But don’t worry. We’re here for the long haul, and we’ll get it right in the end.’
They didn’t speak for the first couple of minutes in the limousine. It was as if both needed to catch their breath. Certainly Nick did. What had just happened seemed extraordinary. A salute of arms to start with, and then Rose’s performance.
‘Griswold was right,’ she said at last, staring out the window at the passing scenery. They were less than a mile from the airport, travelling towards the nearby city, but the towering, snow-capped mountains were breathtaking. In the fields beside the road the farmers were gathering in the hay, forming bales in the way farmers had done for a thousand years.
‘It seems we’ve been made enemies before we even arrived,’ she said slowly. ‘How did that happen?’
‘Maybe we should have expected it,’ he said.
What else should they have expected? The looks they’d been given by the troops before Rose’s impromptu greeting session had been aloof and disdainful. This was a tiny segment of the army, and the army must be powerful. Where did the army come into this?
Rose was looking as thoughtful as he was. And there was a trace of fear behind her eyes.
Hoppy was on her knee. He wriggled off, crossed the gap in the seat between them and put a paw tentatively on Nick’s knee.
‘He thinks you need a hug,’ Rose said.
‘I don’t need a hug,’ he said, stunned.
‘I might,’ she said diffidently.
‘I’m not sure that’s wise.’
‘Right,’ she said, and lifted Hoppy back into her arms and hugged him. ‘Sorry.’
Why couldn’t he have hugged her? Why did she have him so off-balance? They were in trouble together. It made sense to be able to give each other comfort.
But if he hugged her now…
‘We need to do some fast footwork,’ he said, trying desperately to move forward. Past the emotional. ‘Rose, we know nothing. Where the hell is Erhard?’
‘I was sure he’d meet us,’ she said.
His legal mind was trying to sort things. Things other than how close Rose was sitting to him. Important stuff.
Only he was having a huge amount of trouble persuading his mind to think past her. She was messing with his equilibrium in a way he didn’t understand.
Back in London this succession had seemed reasonable-even sensible. Now it seemed fraught. Two people in a strange land, threatening those in power.
‘Maybe we need to bail out for a bit and rethink,’ he said dubiously. ‘Damn, I didn’t foresee this. I had my people-’
‘My people?’
‘My colleagues. I’m not an international lawyer for nothing. They checked this place. There’s never been armed insurrection in any of the Alp countries. There didn’t seem a threat. But now…’
‘I’m not going home,’ Rose said.
‘We might have to.’
‘I’m not going home,’ she said again, and hugged Hoppy tighter. Hoppy gave a doleful canine sigh-he was obviously accustomed to being an emotional squeeze-bag. ‘I might be persuaded to treat Hawaiian animals, or something similar, but no more in Yorkshire.’
‘What’s wrong with Yorkshire?’
‘Too much family,’ she muttered. ‘Alright if you want a career as a battery hen. And, by the way, that includes you,’ she said, glaring as he gazed at her in astonishment. ‘I don’t think I said, but you try and protect me and I
