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He slid out a tray from the safe. ‘Let’s not talk about it now. The diamond drop necklace? This is the one that you wanted, is it not?’
The necklace was in a black velvet box. He flipped it open to reveal the ten-carat sparkling jewel set in yellow gold. Her hands shook as she lifted it from the case. ‘Yes, this is it. Thank you.’
Her breath caught in her throat. At the back of the safe, in two glass cases, sat two crowns. One for a Prince, with a heavy gold underlay and adorned with rubies, diamonds and emeralds, and one for a Princess, a more elegant version, mainly with diamonds.
Arun caught her glance. ‘Mr Hindermann is already discussing potential dates for the neighbouring Heads of State to attend the official ceremony.’
A little chill ran down her spine. She couldn’t hold off any longer. Her brother’s abdication had been announced as soon as they’d been able to contact her. The citizens of Mirinez would expect the official ceremony soon—any delay would raise questions.
She gave a little nod of her head. ‘That will be all, Arun. Thank you for this and thank you for tonight. I trust the arrangements are in place?’
Arun gave a quick nod.
She gave a nervous smile. ‘Good. I’ll let you know when I want to return the necklace to the safe.’
‘As you wish.’ He sealed the safe and disappeared discreetly. He would appear again soon. He said that Sullivan had discussed tonight’s arrangements with him.
Sullivan was standing outside her royal apartment, wearing a pair of black dress trousers and a white shirt. ‘I wondered where you were,’ he said as she walked down the corridor towards him. His gaze swept up and down her appreciatively, settling finally on the jewel at her throat. ‘Wow, you could take someone’s eye out with that.’
She burst out laughing. ‘Who taught you your manners?’
He laughed too. ‘Just calling it like I see it.’ Then he shook his head. ‘My father would be horrified if he heard that.’
Something passed across his face. It was a fleeting expression but one that she’d seen for a few seconds a couple of times before.
She reached up and touched his arm. ‘How long is it since you lost your father?’
It was almost as if she could see the shutters falling behind his eyes. ‘Three years.’ He waved his hand. ‘It’s been a while. Now, about dinner.’
She bit her tongue. It was clear he didn’t want to discuss this. It made her curious. What did he have to hide? For the most part Sullivan seemed like a straight-down-the-line kind of guy. But, in truth, he hadn’t revealed that much about himself. Their first two weeks together had been in part intense work and intense flirtation. The last couple of days had been chaotic. She hadn’t even had a chance to ask him what he thought of Mirinez, let alone fathom out where they were with each other.
She gave a conciliatory nod. ‘Okay, then what about dinner? It could be I’m all dressed up with nowhere to go.’
One of his eyebrows quirked upwards. It made her laugh. ‘I have plans,’ he said as he swept an arm around her waist and started along the corridor.
‘Where are we going?’ She was curious. It had been a few years since she’d visited any of the restaurants in Mirinez. She didn’t even know which ones still existed.
He took her down the main staircase. Arun was waiting at the front door with the car engine running. As they slid into the back Sullivan gave her a smile. ‘We’ve had to make special arrangements.’
‘What arrangements?’ She touched the necklace at her throat nervously. ‘Is this about the necklace?’
Sullivan laughed. ‘No, this is about the person wearing the necklace. You’re Head of State now, Princess Gabrielle. It means you get to book out a whole restaurant for yourself—or, at least, I do.’
She sat upright as the car moved along the palace driveway. ‘Really? I hadn’t thought of that.’ She frowned. ‘I can’t remember that happening with my parents.’
Sullivan gave her a careful look. ‘I think Arun might have re-evaluated some safety aspects of your current role.’
‘But I spent most of yesterday in the hospital, seeing patients. I have to be able to move around.’ She gave a simple answer, but her stomach gave a few flips. Arun had taken her request for complete privacy seriously.
Sullivan nodded. ‘I get that. But didn’t you notice how many black-suited men were in your vicinity yesterday?’
She sagged back against the comfortable leather seats. ‘Well, no. I didn’t even think about it.’ And she hadn’t. She been so busy thinking about other things.
Sullivan held up his hands. ‘That’s because you don’t have to. Arun does.’
It was almost like a heavy weight settling on her shoulders. If she thought about it hard enough, she could remember the security staff always being around—she’d just assumed they were there to help, it had been an all-hands-on-deck kind of day—she just hadn’t realised they had actually been there to guard her.
‘The world has changed since you were a child, Gabrielle. Arun has to take so many other factors into consideration now. Nothing is secret. One tweet and the world knows where you are.’
She gulped. Sullivan had been in the military. He was probably a lot more familiar with all the security stuff than she was.
But what about the privacy stuff? The press?
She looked out of the window at the darkening sky. It was almost as if Sullivan could sense the turmoil of thoughts racing through her brain and he slid his hand over hers and intertwined their fingers.
She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this before, experiencing a real connection with someone that she wanted to take further. She’d had teenage crushes and her heart had been broken a few times along the way, but for the last few years she’d been focused on her work. The couple of passing flings she’d had didn’t count. This was the first relationship that actually felt real. Actually felt as if it could go somewhere. But at a time like this was it even worth thinking about?
The car pulled up outside a glass-fronted restaurant that Gabrielle didn’t recognise. The street was in one of the most exclusive parts of Chabonnex. Sullivan got out of the car and greeted the maître d’ in Italian before holding his hand out towards her.
She’d hardly had a chance to even stop and think but right now everything was paling in comparison to the handsome guy before her. Did he realise how well he filled out those clothes? The white shirt was a blessing, defining all the muscles on his arms and chest.
Then she paused for a second—had Sullivan lost weight? He looked a little leaner than before. But the thought disappeared as the streetlamp next to them highlighted his tanned skin and the twinkle in his pale green eyes. The one thing that made her heart stop in her chest was his smile.
He was looking at her as if she was the only woman in the world and that smile was entirely for her.
Her heart gave a little flutter and she slid from the car, putting her hand into his. The restaurant was empty and the maître d’ led them upstairs to a starlit terrace. Arun and his security team positioned themselves as unobtrusively as possible.
Sullivan pulled out her chair and seated her then settled opposite her. ‘So, tonight, Princess, we’re having Italian.’ He held up the wine list. ‘What would you prefer?’
She waved her hand. The night air was mild and there was a heater burning next to them to ward off any unexpected chill. There was something nice about eating outside after the last few days of constantly being surrounded by walls. The soft music from the restaurant drifted out around them. ‘Since my last glass of wine came from the bar in Paris...’ she leaned forward and whispered ‘...where—don’t tell anyone—the wine was on tap. I’ll be happy with whatever you choose.’
He gave a nod and ordered from the maître d’.
A few minutes later their glasses were filled, their food order was taken and she sat back and relaxed.
Although the restaurant was empty, there were still people in the street below them. It was nice, watching the world go by.
‘Happy?’ Sullivan asked as he held up his glass towards her.
She clinked her glass against his. ‘You realise there’ll be a scandal if I’m caught doing this. I’m quite sure it will be considered unladylike and won’t be becoming for the Head of State.’
He shrugged. ‘It could be worse—it could be a bottle of beer. Anyway, I thought you would live by your own rules, not the ones you inherit.’
She opened her mouth to reply automatically, then stopped. Coming back here, suddenly everything felt so ingrained into her. Her childhood memories of her mother and father. Discussions about conduct and acceptable behaviour. Of course, she’d never felt the same pressure that her brother, Andreas, had been under—it had always been expected that he would fulfil his role. And she was quite sure that her lifestyle had never been as strict as some of her royal counterparts in other European countries.
But these rules were still deep inside her. Almost as if they ran through her veins. She sat her glass down carefully. ‘Being Head of State is a big responsibility.’
‘I didn’t say it wasn’t. You seem to be doing an admirable job already.’ Sullivan was so matter-of-fact, as if it was all entirely obvious. ‘But who is here to tell you how to live your life? Your brother certainly isn’t. You’re a good person, Gabrielle, and you’ll do your best to sort out the mess he’s left behind, but you don’t need to lose yourself in the process.’
She sucked in a breath to speak but changed her mind, picked her glass up again and took a hefty swallow.
She’d spent the last few years completely under the radar—not being a princess at all. If any one of her colleagues had started a conversation with her about not conforming to the rules of being a doctor, she would have happily had that discussion. She would have enjoyed the debate.
