Waking Up in Vegas (16 page)

Phoenix rolled her eyes. “What is it with the people of Westerwald and their belief in destiny?” And their faith in Happy Ever Afters.

She’d never believed in the former and she’d given up on the latter. She wouldn’t be at all surprised if Destiny gave her a great big kick in the ass for screwing this one up.

“Things always seem to work out for the best. Like with the Arch Duke.” The woman leaned closer, dropping her voice. “I know I probably shouldn’t say this but I’m so glad it’s Maximilian taking over from his father rather than Prince Fredrik.”

“Why’s that?” Phoenix asked.

“Fredrik seems like a decent enough guy but he’s so stiff and formal. We’re an easy-going people and we’ve had enough of stiff and formal. We need a bit of fun and lightness. Fresh blood, so to speak.” The woman’s brow wrinkled. “Though of course it’s the old blood, because that was what the fuss was all about, but you know what I mean.”

Phoenix nodded.

“And maybe we’ll have another royal wedding soon and we can forget all the unpleasantness of the past. I wonder if we’ll see her? She must be inside there somewhere.”

Fear froze Phoenix’s heart. “Who?”

“The waitress Maximilian’s been dating. But if you haven’t been here long, maybe you haven’t heard?”

“Princes don’t marry waitresses.”

The child in her arms laughed. She was getting heavier by the moment, but it was a pleasant kind of weight. A pleasant kind of responsibility.

“Why not? Legend has it that the story of Cinderella originated right here in Waldburg. Why shouldn’t it happen again?”

Because … Phoenix paused. She’d had a hundred and one reasons why not when she’d fled from Waldburg. None of them really seemed to matter. They’d all been excuses, really, not reasons.

“Thanks for holding her.” The mother reached out her hands for her daughter. With a toothless smile that wrenched Phoenix’s already overworked heart, the baby looked up at her mother, arms outstretched.

“It was my pleasure. What’s her name?”

“Georgiana.” Misunderstanding the look on Phoenix’s face, she added defensively, “It’s a very popular name here in Westerwald. It was the name of a legendary sorceress who cast a magic spell on the royal family some three hundred years ago.”

“I’ve heard the story,” Phoenix said, her voice dry. Max had clearly left out some of the more interesting details.

The woman held out her hand. “I’m Katherine.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Phoenix smiled as she shook Katherine’s hand. “You won’t believe this, but my name’s Georgiana too. I was named after my grandmother.”

The grandmother who’d kicked her mother out when she’d fallen pregnant out of wedlock. Her mother had always said Phoenix was the baby born out of the ashes of her old life.

She wiped away another tear. What was it with these tears? It was almost as if once they got started, they wouldn’t stop.

They watched as the coronation ceremony played out on the big screens like a silent movie. Phoenix wondered how Max was feeling. He certainly didn’t look like someone with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Nor did he look like a man grieving for his wayward wife. He looked … determined.

The impulsive young man she’d married in Vegas was gone. In his place stood a finer man. If she’d loved him in Vegas, it had nothing on this feeling swelling inside her now.

My husband
. The words no longer sounded alien.

The archbishop placed the crown on Max’s bowed head, and they all cheered their support, as Markus popped open a bottle of champagne.

“Would you like some?” He offered Phoenix a plastic picnic cup full of bubbling gold.

She laughed. “Why not?” She’d already done the worst she could do and married then lost the love of her life. What harm could a few sips of champagne do?

Max stepped out of the cathedral into the brilliant sunshine and looked out over the crowd, thousands of faces turned expectantly toward him. The gem-encrusted crown weighed heavy on his head and he had to lift his chin high to keep it balanced.

In the wake of the pealing cathedral bells, the hush that fell over the square was eerie. Even eerier was the incomprehensible feeling that Phoenix was out there in the crowd.

Smiling for the cameras, he drew in a deep breath and stepped up to the microphone placed ready on the broad top step.

“I think it’s fair to say that none of us ever expected it to be me standing here in front of you today. Least of all me.” The crowd tittered, a little embarrassed. “I was raised on the idea that a certain destiny awaited me. If there’s anything I’ve learned these past few months it’s that nothing is certain, not even destiny. But these last few months have also taught me the importance of faith.”

“In this magnificent setting we are reminded of the traditions of our past. But today isn’t about looking back. It’s about looking forward. For too many centuries, we in Westerwald have lived in fear, afraid of a return to civil war and anarchy, afraid of rocking the boat. And as a result, we’ve gone from a once mighty nation to a little country hardly known beyond our own borders. We are a nation that rewards mediocrity and those who want greatness leave our country to seek their fortunes elsewhere.”

He paused. The crowd’s attention was riveted on him but he felt their uncertainty as they wondered where he was going with this. He lifted his chin.

“It is time for us to let go of our past fears and to move forward. I have faith in our future. I believe Westerwald will again be a great nation, a leader among nations, a country to be proud to claim as ours.

“Inside this cathedral today I made the same vows that my ancestors have made to the government of Westerwald for generations. But now I want to make another vow, a vow between me and you, the people of this nation: I vow to do everything in my power to make this country great again.”

He had them now. At his rousing call, their support rolled over him in a wave. He waited for the cheers to subside. “But I cannot do this alone. I need you with me.” He prayed that his words were reaching the one pair of ears that most needed to hear them.

“What makes a nation truly great is not its economic wealth, or its power over other nations, or its military force, but its people. It is our unity and our diversity that makes us strong. Together, we can achieve anything.”

The crowd roared its approval, the cheers and applause bouncing off the walls that surrounded the plaza. He waited until the clamour had dropped enough that he could be sure his next words would be heard. “I cannot do this alone. I need a partner at my side who will support me, love me and have faith in me. Phoenix, if you’re out there, I want you to know that person is you. I love you and I need you here with me.”

The buzz began as a low sound, rising as people twisted to search in their midst for her. Max held up his hands, demanding the quiet he needed for his final words. “Georgiana Phoenix Montgomery, will you marry me?”

He wasn’t seriously doing this! This wasn’t the speech they’d laboured over together. This was…insane.

Phoenix’s tears flowed freely now, running down her cheeks in hot rivulets that she had no control over. Katherine looked at her oddly.

“Champagne always does this to me,” Phoenix muttered, wiping her eyes.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

Oh God, no. Not here. Not with all these people watching. She opened her mouth to deny it, but Katherine took the plastic cup from her hand and nudged her. “You have to go to him.”

Phoenix’s eyes widened as she looked out over the sea of people. “Don’t be crazy. How am I going to get through that crowd?”

The teenage daughter handed her a tissue and she blotted her face.

“The old fashioned way,” Markus said, grinning. He placed his fingers in his mouth and whistled. “Future princess coming through,” he shouted.

The people in front of them turned to look. Phoenix shrunk back but Markus took her arm and led her forward. “You heard the man. Together, we can do anything. Let’s go.”

This was insane. It must be the champagne. She was going to wake up tomorrow with a mighty headache to find this was all a dream. Or a nightmare, she couldn’t quite decide which way this was headed yet.

Markus was tall and broad-shouldered and he ploughed into the crowd, carving a path for Phoenix. Katherine squeezed her hand, then Phoenix followed, holding her head high and hoping the tears hadn’t left marks on her face or run her mascara. She’d never tested the waterproof claims of her make-up before.

As the word spread through the crowd, people moved aside, clearing a path right across the plaza, straight to the steps leading up to the cathedral doors.

In the periphery of her vision, Phoenix saw the view on the massive screens at the front of the crowd shift to take in the plaza, zooming in on the shifting crowd, searching for her.

She couldn’t bear to look.

She followed Markus, staying close, trying hard to keep a smile in place and her head high under the thousands of curious gazes. Her cheeks ached from the effort.

They reached the bottom of the great stone steps. Her blood pounded. She struggled to breath.

Then Markus stepped aside and she looked up, straight into a pair of cool, amused, blue eyes. Something shifted inside her. The panic and fear were gone. A warm, delicious calm filled her.

Their audience melted away as she climbed the stairs towards him. The crowd was insignificant. Only one thing mattered, and that was the man standing before her with stars in his eyes.

“You idiot,” she said, keeping her voice low and just for him. “You know we’re already married.”

“It seems like I have to keep reminding you. So what do you say?” He held out his hand. She felt rather than heard as the crowd at her back held its breath.

“Do you promise we’ll still get to travel and see the world?”

“Of course.”

“And we don’t have to start a family right away?”

“Not until we’re ready.”

“And no-one’s going to tell me how to dress or what to do?”

He frowned. “Enough already. Do I have to remind you that I don’t believe in divorce and bigamy is illegal in Westerwald, so you’re going to have to go through with a big, white wedding in full view of the TV cameras whether you want to or not?”

She laughed and took his hand. “Well, when you put it like that…I do.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her hard against him, and tilted her chin for a kiss. The crowd erupted.

“Damn crown. I can’t kiss you properly!” He pulled away.

“If I remember correctly, your schedule allows you a thirty minute break before the garden party. That should be more than enough time.” She melted against him. “For more than just a kiss.”

They stood on the stone ramparts of the castle, looking down over the town towards the river where brightly lit barges lay against the dark water. From their decks, fireworks shot up, a kaleidoscope of colour and patterns bursting into the sky.

Max squeezed Phoenix’s hand. That half hour in his suite hadn’t been enough but now the garden cocktail party was over, the gala dinner was over and they were alone at last.

He trailed the fingers of his free hand down the soft curve of her cheek and she turned her face into his palm.

“I love you,” he whispered, his heart pulling tight at the words. He really hadn’t told her enough. He planned to tell her every day for the rest of their lives.

She lifted her dark, burning gaze to his. “I love you too.”

She let go his hand and reached up to unclasp the chain from around her neck. “The first time you gave me this you told me it was a sign that I was no longer alone. That I had a family to belong to and a home.”

His eyes widened in shock. “You remember?”

She nodded, eyes bright with tears. “I remember everything.” She wiped her eyes. “And I seem to have turned into a waterworks too.”

She slipped the ring off the chain and held it out to him. He took it with fingers that shook almost as much as they’d done the first time he’d done this. Then he slid the ring onto her finger. Not the ring finger of her left hand, but her right hand. “It’s an old Westerwald custom that during the engagement the bride wears the ring on her right hand. When we marry publicly, I’ll move it to your left hand.”

He folded her fingers in his and she smiled, the private, sexy smile she kept just for him.

“There’s only one thing I don’t remember. I still have no idea why you married me.”

“Then let me remind you.” He cupped her face with his hands and leaned close to kiss her and the fireworks above them were nothing on the fireworks inside.

Romy Sommer

I’ve always written stories for myself but didn’t even think of being an author until I realised that being over thirty and living in a fantasy world was a little odd. Writing those same stories for other people makes it a lot more acceptable!

By day I dress in cargo pants and boots for my not-so-glamorous job of making movies but at night I come home to my two little Princesses, in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I live, and I get to write Happy Ever Afters. Since I believe every girl is a princess, and every princess deserves a happy ending, what could be more perfect?

HarperImpulse is an exciting new range of romance fiction brought to you from the women’s fiction team at HarperCollins. Our aim is to break new talent from debut authors and import the hottest trends from the US, bringing you the very best in romance. Whether that is through short reads for your mobile phone or epic sagas that span the generations we want to proudly publish romance fiction that gets everybody talking.

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