AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘You said yourself that you have no meetings.’
‘I don’t, but the speculation if I’m not seen even from the distance could be damaging this close to the ratification. I didn’t go anywhere for a couple of weeks when I had flu last year and according to the tabloids I was having a facelift, had joined a cult and eloped with a soldier. I know it’s silly and I shouldn’t care but it’s not just that I don’t want any rumours circulating at home—eventually the press would find me and then they’d start wondering whoyouare and that’s the last thing you need. It’s safest for you if we’re not seen together, Clem.’
‘Ifthey find you. After all, why would they look for you here?’ But Clem knew all too well that Arrosa was always tracked down eventually. Once Arrosa had turned eighteen the press had turned their lenses on her and she had become a front-page staple. There weren’t many beautiful, young single princesses around and what she wore and ate, who she spoke to and where she went were all put under intense scrutiny.
But no one in Cornwall had ever realised that the child and teenager who spent so many holidays with the Beaumonts was the Asturian Princess. In fact, some of Clem’s friends and neighbours still asked after her cousin. People saw what they expected to see, and nobody expected to see a European princess eating ice cream on a Cornish beach. And look at her! Worryingly pale and thin. She obviously needed a proper holiday. One here in the Cornish air. Time away from politics and diplomacy and Court. Time to decide if marrying someone because he had done her a good turn and understood her world was really what she wanted.
Maybe there was a way to make it happen.
‘I could go back to Asturia in your place,’ Clem said slowly, trying the words on for size.
Arrosa started to laugh but the sound died away as her eyes grew big with shock. ‘You’re serious? Clem, no one would ever think you were me.’
‘Up close, no, but in the back of a car, hair all neat like you, in your clothes, with those big sunglasses you wear... Why wouldn’t they? People see what they expect to see.’ She repeated the words she’d just thought, the truth of them becoming clearer with every second. ‘We’re the same build and height, the same colouring. And I’m an actress, I can walk like you, hold myself like you. You could have the summer here and I’ll spend it in Asturia making sure the press get enough glimpses to think you’re busy preparing for the ratification, leaving you free to get some serious relaxation. I talk about my cousin all the time. No one here will think anything of it if we say I’ve got a job and you’re cat-sitting. The only unbelievable part will be that I’ve been cast in anything. I’ll have to claim I ended up on the cutting-room floor.’
‘That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. We’d never get away with it.’
A tendril of hope in Arrosa’s voice made Clem push away her own doubts.
‘If you lived in the main castle or had dozens of servants then I agree, it would be impossible...’
‘But I have my own cottage in the grounds of the Palais d’Artega,’ Arrosa said slowly. ‘I make my own meals when I’m there, people do come in to clean but not when I’m around. Only Marie is there regularly, but of course she and Henri would need to know if there was any chance of this succeeding... But it would be lonely, Clem. You’d have to be careful that no maids, no gardeners, no staff at all saw you. Some are new but some have been at the palais since I was a baby. What would you do with yourself?’
Lonely. That was a state Clem had got all too used to over the last year and a half. ‘I’ll make sure the press see Henri drive me around, dressed as you, of course, but in between I’ll wear my own clothes, let my hair go back to natural wildness and explore Asturia incognito. I’ve always wanted to go but somehow I never have.’ She’d always hoped that Zorien would find a way to invite her over, but of course he had always said it was too risky. ‘It would be a chance for me to see our father too. It’d be easier for him to spend time with me if I’m living at yours. No one would question him visiting you.’ She tried to keep the bitterness from her voice. She knew Zorien was a distant father to Arrosa in many ways too, but at least they had a real relationship, not just an awkward meeting every few years. She was grateful for the cottage and for the money he’d settled on her but would gladly swap both for a real father.
‘But what’s the point of me being here if you aren’t?’
‘Well, Gus needs feeding, for a start.’ Clem pointed at the slim black cat occupying the window seat. ‘The sea needs swimming in, scones need eating, beaches need walking on and you need time to be you, not the Crown Princess and future Queen. This gives you that time. And I need a change of scene too. I’ve been putting off making plans for my future, just existing for too long. Maybe some time away will give me some much-needed perspective. You’d be doing me a favour.’
‘Sure,I’dbe doingyouthe favour.’ Arrosa shook her head affectionately at Clem.
‘We’ll do each other a favour. We both need some time away from our lives, so why not swap for a while? Your mother’s not at home, is she?’ She knew that Iara Artega rarely spent much time in the Artega country estate, preferring to spend her time socialising in the small capital or journeying abroad.
‘No, she’s spending the summer on Ischia on a retreat.’
‘Then we’re safe.’ Arrosa’s mother knew about Clem, but the two had never met and Clem sensed the Queen would prefer to keep it that way. ‘We could do this. Your call, Rosy. What will it be? Six weeks of avoiding Akil, ducking away from the press and worrying yourself into a shadow or all the cream teas you can eat and a summer lazing on the beach?’
‘We must be mad to even consider this would work.’ But there was a hint of the old fire in Arrosa’s eyes and Clem knew she was close to agreeing.
‘It’s easy enough to swap back if we need to,’ she pointed out and Arrosa nodded then laughed.
‘You’re right. Let’s give it a week and see where we are. Thank you, Clem. Cornwall is just what I need, and I think maybe Asturia is where you need to be as well. To a change of scenery.’ She held up her glass and Clem clinked it with hers.
‘To the princess swap.’
CHAPTER TWO
AKILSTRODEACROSSthe ornate hallway and into the formal receiving room. His own taste ran to simple but the decor in his ancestral home had clearly not got the memo. Gilt and marble prevailed, every piece of furniture was priceless, old and incredibly uncomfortable and portraits of bewigged disapproving ancestors glared down from every wall.
Every one of them no doubt had an opinion on the dilemma he’d not been able to stop turning over and over since his last conversation with Arrosa had taken an unexpected turn.
It was an enticing prospect, an effortless climb to the very top of Asturia but, then again, he was doing pretty fine as he was. More than fine: Shadow Minister of the Interior at thirty with the possibility of making it to party leader before forty, a decade before his father had achieved the title. And as leader of the opposition, maybe even First Minister one day if the swing away from the traditionalists continued, Akil would wield a lot of power, the kind of power he had been born and bred to wield. But in Asturia the throne still held a lot of influence and nothing happened without the court’s approval.
And that was the heart of his dilemma. Because he couldn’t deny that if he were right next to the throne, married to a woman he knew shared many of his ideals, then together they could enact real change. The change so desperately needed if Asturia was ever to move forward, to be more than a curious little country sandwiched between France and Spain, a pub quiz answer and a quirky holiday destination. More, it would ensure that Ortiz blood would run in the veins of future kings and queens. He knew what his father would say. He would tell him to stop hesitating and act. Propose formally and marry her before she had a chance to change her mind.
But it wasn’t that simple. He liked Arrosa, admired her grace and intelligence, appreciated her beauty, but he didn’tknowher, not in the way he should know a woman he was considering marrying. Akil knew that he needed to marry carefully, strategically; after all, as his mother knew to her cost, being married to a politician meant sacrifices. But he did want compatibility. Companionship. Not the chilly battleground he’d grown up in.
Blinking, his eyes readjusted as the door swung shut behind him. The heavy velvet drapes were pulled against the midday sun, the large, dark room dimly lit by lamps. His mother lay on a chaise, barely mustering a smile as Akil walked over and bowed over her outstretched hand.
