The woman exited the room without a glance back, her erect, unyielding spine giving one last stab at her authority. Ryan nudged his sister. “I think that went well, how about you?”
“Wonderful! I get snow and you get Megan. Mum is having a good day.”
Megan turned and walked to a window. Ryan moved in next to her. “It did go well. I think she likes you.”
“How would you know that? She barely acknowledged me and the dig about outgoing charisma – I hope you are entertaining other women for the position because you weren’t talking about me. I’m an introvert who sneaks out of the shadows on occasion to encourage a man trapped in his grief. Getting swept along in his fantasy was not part of my plan.”
“Deviating from the set-plan is my latest conquest,” Ryan said. “I picture you differently – an introvert, yes, but one with purpose and strength of character. Perhaps you’ve locked yourself a prison tower of your own making.”
Suzanne joined them at the window. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I’ve been telling her to loosen up for years. Family problems – in case she didn’t tell you.” Megan cast her friend a glare and she backed off. “I think that’s our cue to leave, James. How about we go to town and purchase snow for the holidays?”
James looked at Ryan who nodded. “Enjoy your free time. I do not expect you to ask approval every time you make a move while our guests are here and Legislature is shut down.”
He bowed his head slightly. “We shall return with the snow later this evening.”
The couple skipped from the room and Ryan turned back to face Megan. “Tea is at four.”
“Are you coming?”
“I wasn’t invited. I’m afraid it may be a drill session but please, just be yourself, respectful but don’t let her bully you. I want her to see the giftings that I’ve grown to love and appreciate in you.”
“You throw the word love around far too casually. It holds a much deeper commitment for me and…” he lifted her chin with one finger and wiped traces of a tear with his other finger.
“My nature is not casual. I know the depths of which I speak and its importance to you. But I will not stand down or be put off by your fears. I love you, Megan Fairchild, from first contact when I caught you peering at me through your binoculars.” Megan gasped. “Yes, caught in the act, my dear, but you will find me a willing prisoner. So, despite our short acquaintance, I am smitten, and will continue to beg for your hand until you surrender or choose to leave on your own accord.”
Megan bit her lip as his gaze searched her soul, deep where rejection and the twisted love her father had shown her over the last two years lay in decay. “I wonder if you have the key to my prison tower, Ryan Edstrom,” she whispered.
Ryan pushed Megan gently into an alcove while the room buzzed with activity. There he claimed her trembling lips. When he pulled away, he said, “I have the keys to this entire country, fair maiden. Surely one will fit your tower.”
Ryan squeezed her hand at the entrance to the parlor door where his mother entertained business ventures and a few friendships privately. This was her space to wage war or build bridges. “I will pray she is kind and offers grace to my desires.”
He knocked and she called out, “Enter.” Megan squared her shoulders. She’d faced lions in her lifetime and she’d not back down to even a well-meaning tyrant. Queen Ursula moved out from behind a mahogany desk. “Just finishing up some correspondence.” She grabbed a bell and rang it. Almost immediately a side door opened and a trolley was wheeled in. A silver tea set sat in the middle with two cups and saucers. “Please sit, Miss Fairchild, while tea is served.”
No one spoke while the maid passed napkins, tea cups filled to the brim, and a side plate of fruit pastry, adorned with a tear-shaped swirl of whipped cream. Megan felt grateful there’d be no chance to mess up her face with gooey dessert while in the Queen’s parlor. When the door closed and her hostess took the first sip, Megan joined in the tea party.
“My son tells me you saved his life so I must assume he hid his grief from me. Death plays havoc on a family’s unity.”
“He cares for your well being and did not want to increase your burden,” said Megan. “I am sorry for your loss. My mother is deceased and Father has estranged himself from me, so I can relate to disunity and the ripples death creates on the home-front. But I hope that changes in the near future. My father appears to need more adjustment than your well-discipled son.”
“Yes, Prince Ryannaus has been schooled well in his responsibilities. He is next in line for the throne.” She peered at Megan over the rim of her cup.
“He told me that.”
“And that fact does not scare you?”
“Of course, it does. Any commoner in her right mind – especially an American visitor – would be in awe at a Prince taking notice of her. But I cared for him when he was merely Ryan, before he dropped the bombshell of his true identity.”
“All well and good to say, but you’ve admitted an American is a worse choice than even a commoner within his own country. Surely you see that such a relationship would never survive.”
Megan boiled on the inside at the twist made on her words but chose not to contradict the Queen Mother. “I’m curious; has history proven that the heart cannot make as good a choice as third parties who train lifelong
