Hand-Me-Down Princess (5 page)

“Like I said, it’s not the most wedding-y gift, but I hope you’ll get some use out of them. Both meet with the palace’s security team’s approval for safety. If you already have a phone number you’d like transferred, the tech gurus can do that.”

Jessabelle shook her head. Prince Malachi came to stand right next to her, invading her personal space. Did he know how uncomfortable it made her? She struggled to take a deep breath with the corset still confining her.

“I’ll tell you about them later and show you some of the handier features. I thought you might want to make notes about furniture and stuff while we walk around the apartment.”

Right. Time to pick out bedroom furniture with a man she barely knew. Fabulous.

* * *

Malachi wondered if his wife would ever be comfortable around him. The tour of the apartment had been accomplished in near-silence. Jessabelle spoke only when he asked her a question. There hadn’t been much debating, but she agreed to whatever he suggested. He was about to throw out the idea of painting purple alien ships on the ceiling of their bedroom just to see what she’d say.

She perched on the edge of the couch in the living area while he made himself comfortable in one of the chairs he’d uncovered. “Now, we have a choice to make. We’re supposed to stay here at the palace. There are three honeymoon suites. One each in the two largest apartments. One is for the monarch and one for the Crown Prince. William is moving into the vacant apartment soon. There’s another suite for everyone else. We could stay there tonight or we could go for a drive so I can show you around the rest of the property and forget to come back here.”

“Where would we go?”

“The mountain residence a day early. No breakfast with my parents tomorrow. No awkward conversations. What do you think?”

She nodded. “I think I’d like that.”

“I thought you might. I talked to my security team earlier to let them know it was a possibility. They know how difficult my parents can be.”

Should he tell her about the security teams? How they worked? How she’d always have at least one and usually two or more people with her when she left the palace? Or should he give her a few more days of oblivion?

No need to tell her now, he supposed. “Why don’t we get a few things together that we need for tonight? We won’t want to take a suitcase with us but do you have a big purse that could double? You could put some pajamas in it. There are toothbrushes and all that at the residence, so unless you have something specific or medications that you need, that’s all we want to take. They’ll bring the rest tomorrow.”

“I have a bag.” He had to strain to hear her.

“All right, then. If you want to go get your things together, I’ll talk to security, and we can get going.” He already had clothes at the residence, left there so he wouldn’t have to take things when he went on a spur of the moment trip.

Five minutes later, he showed her the way to the small elevator that took them down to the motor pool level. He grinned at the guard manning the area. “I’m going to take my bride for a drive around the property.”

The guard, one Malachi knew by sight but not by name, smiled back. “Of course, sir. Your car?”

“You know it.” He winked at Jessabelle who blushed. The guard walked off and drove up a minute later in Malachi’s favorite thing, a sleek, black Lamborghini. He left the engine purring while Malachi opened the door for his wife. The guard held Malachi’s door open as he thanked the man. “We’ll be back later.”

“Of course, sir.”

The garage door lifted in front of the car, and Malachi eased out. He waved to the guards at the gate, silently thanking his security team for paving the way.

“How far is it?” Jessabelle stared out the window as he maneuvered his way through Erres.

“It’ll take us about an hour to get there. Usually it wouldn’t take so long, but I don’t think the roads are completely clear yet.” A black sedan with heavily tinted windows pulled out in front of them. “And there’s our escort.”

“Escort?”

So much for not mentioning it. “My security team. There’s not much of a threat to the family, but we always have security with us.” Traffic was light as they went through the city, likely familiar to her as she’d grown up there. “So tell me about yourself, Jessabelle. That’s an unusual name. Does it have history or did your parents just like it?”

She fiddled with her engagement ring. “It’s my grandmother’s names mashed together. Jessica and Isabelle.”

“Have you ever gone by a nickname? Like Jessa or Belle?”

A quick shake of her head he could see out of the corner of his eye was his answer. “What’s your middle name?”

“Grace.”

He’d known that. He’d have to think about it. Come up with a nickname for her that only he used. “How old are you, Jessabelle Grace?”

“Nineteen.” Right. She’d told him that earlier.

“You’ve been out of school almost a year or almost two?”

“Two.”

“Have you been attending university?”

Another shake of her head. “I’ve been helping my father.”

“Did you want to attend university?”

This time he got a shrug.

“What did you want to be when you grew up? If you couldn’t be a princess?”

She seemed to turn that over in her mind for a minute. “I’m not really sure. Something behind the scenes somewhere. I don’t like being in front of people.”

“Is there something you’re especially good at?”

“Not particularly.”

Malachi didn’t believe that. There had to be
something
she excelled at, even if she wasn’t sure what it could be. So he moved on. “You have no brothers and sisters?”

“No. Only child.”

“Your mother died when you were how old?”

“Eight.”

“What did she die of?”

“A car accident caused by a man who had a stroke.”

“That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

“Your parents were at her funeral. My father always said that’s how he knew the king still appreciated what he did when they were younger.”

“What exactly happened? I’ve never heard.”

“Our fathers had gone to the same school since they were quite young. They were swimming with a group of friends in Lake Mevendia when they were about eighteen. I’m not quite sure what happened, but your father was hit in the head by something. An oar from the boat they were in perhaps. An accident. My father swam to shore with him because no one was strong enough to pull him back into the boat without tipping it.”

The next question probably required finesse. Malachi had to ask anyway. “Did you always know you were to marry a prince?”

Chapter 5

“My father told me about the statement your father made several days after the incident. That one of my father’s daughters would marry one of your father’s sons. I never put much faith in it.” She looked at the ring she’d been twisting around her finger. “The last two years, I didn’t think he would survive long enough to see it come to pass, even if he wanted it to. In fact, I’m surprised he didn’t start pressing your father for the marriage contract as soon as I turned sixteen.”

She glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be thinking about her comment. “I believe he may have. I overheard part of a conversation with William a few years ago. My father said something about a marriage contract. William said he wasn’t interested in one yet. I didn’t think there was anyone specific in mind, but perhaps there was. He would have been...” She could see the wheels turning in Prince Malachi’s head. “...about twenty, perhaps? He’s mentioned in passing to me that he is in no rush to get married, without mentioning a potential partner.” He put his hand on hers as they took one of the roads leading out of town. “I don’t know that it had anything to do with you in particular. At least that’s always been my feeling. In fact, I didn’t know my father had approached him about the contract until a few weeks ago when he told me he’d negotiated this one. I’m not sure William really knew about it either.”

That was a small comfort. Perhaps Prince William hadn’t been rejecting
her
but rather the idea of marriage for now.

She saw a grin on Malachi’s handsome face. “Since royalty can get married as long as both people are over seventeen, you could have married William two years ago. You wouldn’t have been able to have champagne at your own wedding.” A wink followed.

Jessabelle turned that over in her head. She’d forgotten royals could marry that young, not that she was much older.

“At least we’re not in the States. I went to a friend’s wedding there not too long ago. You have to be twenty-one. I’ve only been old enough to have a glass of wine there for a few weeks.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m glad we can have a toast tonight if we want to, though.” She didn’t say anything and he went on. “So we’ve determined you’re a couple years younger than I am, your mother passed a long time ago, you’re not sure what you’d like to be when you grow up, and that your father saved my father’s life. What else should I know about you?”

What was with the twenty questions? And why did his hand still cover hers? She really wanted to know why she liked it so much. Instead, she just gave him a quick shrug. “I have no idea what else there is to tell.” She really didn’t think there was much.

“Do you have any questions for me?” At least he offered to turn it around. But Jessabelle simply shook her head. She’d done her research and learned far more about the royal family than she cared to know. “All right. Then why don’t you pull out the tablet and phone? Some of it I’ll have to show you, but you can play around with them while I drive.”

She reached into her bag to pull out the electronic devices. Prince Malachi walked her through turning them both on and how to set a password. Only the tech security folks could override her personal password, and she wasn’t required to share it with anyone, not even him. Jessabelle thought for a moment before choosing a ten digit code she’d remember.

Prince Malachi talked her through how to access her palace email account and change the password. He sheepishly admitted to needing to change his far too often when he couldn’t remember what it was. The floor plan for the palace had its own icon on the main screen of the tablet. She pulled it up as he told her it would always have a “you are here” dot. She could either tell it where she wanted to go, and it would plan a route, or she could select a location with a tap so it could do the same.

“That way, you won’t get lost,” he went on. “And if you’re ever not sure where you are or where on the map our apartment is, you can always click the home button and it’ll take you straight back to our floor.”

“And the whole floor on that side of the building is ours?” she clarified.

“Yep. The top two floors on the front of the palace are my parents’. That’s where we all grew up. The top two floors on the opposite side, above the cliff face and overlooking Erres, belong to William, though he’s not moved in just yet. My sister will take either the apartment below ours or the one below William’s. When William’s heir comes of age, as long as William is already king, he or she will move into what is currently my parents’ apartment unless William and his wife choose to. Basically, the two floor apartments belong to the monarch and the Crown Prince or Princess, but it’s not specific to either one.”

“Got it.” Maybe.

“If there’s a location that needs a security code and you’re not certain if you’re allowed in the area, punch in the passcode you’ll set. If the door opens, you’re welcome. If not, it’s an area that’s off limits for some reason. And if you ever don’t have your phone or tablet with you, you can use the touch pad to call the security office, and they’ll either direct you to where you need to go or send someone for you. I grew up there, often exploring the unoccupied apartments and the offices and so on, and sometimes I still need to think a minute about where I need to go. It will take you some time to figure it out, and anyone will be happy to help you.”

She ran her fingers over the sleek screen. “So if I wanted to visit with your great-grandmother, how would I do that?” He walked her setting a starting point since they weren’t at the palace, then through finding the correct name, and the app gave her three options. One took her outside since the shortest way was to cut across the courtyard and the other two took her through different sections of the palace.

By the time he finished showing her as much as he could while driving, they were in the mountains. Jessabelle could practically feel the tension radiating off of him as they wound up the partially ice-covered road.

“This road’s a lot more fun when I can open it up a bit. We’ll come back in the summer sometime when the roads are clear, and we can go faster.”

Jessabelle simply nodded. She wasn’t sure she’d like taking the hairpin curves at a much higher rate of speed. She watched the landscape pass until they rolled to a stop behind the sedan as it waited for the wrought iron gates to open. The long tree-lined drive gave way to a view of an enormous rock house, a mini-castle, Jessabelle supposed. Much smaller than the palace, but definitely very castle-like.

“What do you think?” Prince Malachi leaned towards her, grinning as he pulled to a stop at the front.