HOW TO MARRY A PRINCESS Page 12

  She laughed then—and she leaned close to him to whisper, “You intended to announce our engagement tonight, didn’t you?”

  He gave her a dark look and dropped the apologetic act. “You’re damn straight. You should say yes and not ruin my big plan.”

  She sat back in her chair and gazed out at the tree-shaded, sun-dappled garden. “I believe you are the most relentless person I have ever known.”

  “You’re right. I don’t give up. You should say yes now. Telling me no is only putting off the inevitable.” He said it teasingly. But he wasn’t teasing, not really. Alice thought of the night before, of how sweet and eager he’d been to see her. He had so many stellar qualities. But he did have a ruthless side, a side that demanded loyalty rather than graciously accepting it, a side that strove constantly for control.

  He might claim her loyalty. But she ran her own life and made her own choices. And with the man she loved, she would be willing to share control. But never surrender it completely.

  “Alice!” Lucy hovered in the open doorway to the family room, wearing a gathered red skirt with white polka dots, a red lace bandeau and a jean jacket with big red buttons. She bounced over, grabbed Alice by the shoulders and planted a big kiss on her cheek. “There you are.” She took the chair on Alice’s other side, grabbed an apple from the bowl in the center of the table and bit into it with gusto.

  Hannah came out carrying two plates piled with scrambled eggs, bacon, browned potatoes and golden toast. “I hope scrambled will do.” She set a plate in front of Alice.

  “Wonderful.” Alice beamed at her and picked up her fork as Hannah set the other plate in front of Noah.

  “I had my breakfast hours ago,” Lucy announced, and chomped on her apple. “So what are you going to do today?” she asked Alice, taking great care to ignore her brother. “I mean, besides partying all night with Noah’s rich friends.”

  Alice reached over and put her hand on Noah’s. He turned his hand over and laced his fingers with hers. A delicious little thrill skittered through her. He might be ruthless and overbearing at times, but when he touched her, she couldn’t help thinking he was worth it. “Noah is showing me the stables and then we’ll go riding.”

  Lucy waved her half-finished apple. “I would go with you, but I don’t think I like the company you keep.”

  “Lucy.” Noah sent her a warning frown.

  She continued to pretend he wasn’t there. “Well, Alice, I’m going to put in a few hours sketching new designs.” She jumped up, bent over Alice and placed an apple-scented kiss on her cheek. “Come find me if he gives you a moment to yourself....”

  * * *

  Noah kept a variety of breeds, including Morgans, Thoroughbreds and Arabians. Each horse was a beauty with impeccable bloodlines, well trained and well cared for. And the stables and facilities were top-notch. None of that surprised Alice, but it was lovely to see it all for herself nonetheless. Orion would be happy here.

  She met his staff—the two trainers, the grooms and stable hands—and she admired the dressage and jumping areas, the oval-shaped private racetrack and the state-of-the-art hot walker. Once she’d had the tour, they chose their horses. He rode a big black Thoroughbred mare named Astra and she chose Golden Boy, a handsome palomino gelding with a blaze on his forehead and a thick ivory mane. Altus, on a gray gelding, followed them at a discreet distance.

  They rode for hours, on the trails around the property and sometimes onto trails that belonged to his neighbors. The horses seemed familiar with the route and comfortable with drinking from the troughs they came upon now and then along the way.

  Eventually, he turned onto a trail that went under the highway and they ended up at the ocean, on the ribbon of golden beach. It was nearly deserted, which surprised her. As they rode side by side on the wet, packed sand at the edge of the tide, he told her that the beach was privately owned by him and a group of his neighbors.

  They rode until they reached the place where the rocky cliffs jutted out into the tide, much like the cliffs at her family’s private beach in Montedoro. It was all so beautiful and perfect. Too perfect, really.

  It had her thinking of the other Noah, the scruffy down-and-out Noah she’d met first. She wondered about his early years, about his life growing up. Really, she needed to know more about the man he’d started out as.

  “Alice.”

  She glanced over at him. The sun made his hair gleam like the brightest gold. He grinned and her pulse kicked up a notch. Really, the man ought to come with a warning label: Too Hot. Contents Combustible.

  He lowered his reins, canting slightly forward. She didn’t have to hear him cluck his tongue to know what he was up to.

  They took off in unison, her palomino as quick and willing as his black. The wind smelled of salt and sea, cool and sweet as it pulled at her tied-back hair. She bent over Golden Boy’s fine strong neck and whispered excited encouragements as they raced toward the other end of the beach, where Altus waited, ever watchful.

  The race was too short. They ended up neck and neck—and then turned their mounts as one and raced back the other way.

  That time, she won by half a length. But of course, he couldn’t leave it. A lucky thing she had that figured out ahead of time. Again they turned and made for the other end.

  He had the slightest edge on her and won that time. When they pulled to a halt, he sent her a grin of such triumph she had to kiss him. She sidled her mount in close. He must have read her look, because he met her in the middle.

  She laughed against his mouth as the horses shifted beneath them, pulling them away from each other—and then bringing them together so their lips met again.

  “We need to go back,” he told her regretfully. “The party starts at eight.”

  Side by side, they turned for the trail that would take them beneath the highway and back the way they’d come.

  At the stables, they let the hands clean the tack but took care of their mounts themselves. They hosed off all the salt and sand. Then Alice gave Golden Boy a nice long rubdown, while Noah did the same for Astra. A groom led both horses away to feed and water them. Noah had a few things to discuss with the trainers, so she left him and went on to the house, with Altus following close behind.

  Lucy must have been watching for her. She was waiting at the side door when Alice approached.

  “Come on,” she said, and grabbed Alice’s hand. “Have a cold drink with me. There’s plenty of time....”

  So they went up to Lucy’s room, which faced the mountains and was as bright and eye-catching as Lucy herself, the linens neon yellow and deep fuchsia pink. There were plants in pots everywhere. Lucy’s drawings and designs covered the walls, and a fat orange cat lay on the floor between the open doors to the balcony, sprawled on its back, sound asleep.

  Lucy scooped up the big cat and introduced him to Alice. “Boris, this is Alice. I like her a lot, so you’d better be nice to her.”

  The cat looked exceedingly bored, but Alice said hello anyway and scratched the big fellow behind the ears. She got a faint lazy purr for her efforts.

  Lucy got them each a canned soft drink from her minifridge and they took comfy chairs in her small sitting area. It didn’t take her long to get around to what was bothering her.

  “Lately, I have a hard time remembering how much I love my brother and how good he’s been to me,” Lucy said in a whisper, as though Noah might be standing out in the hallway, his ear pressed to the door. “I swear, most of the time now I never want to speak to him again. But I know I need to try harder to get through to him before I do anything drastic.”

  Alice didn’t like the sound of that. “Drastic. Like what?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “But, Lucy—”

  “Trust me. It’s better if you don’t know. It just puts you
in the middle of this more than you already are.”

  “All right, now you’re scaring me.”

  “Oh, please. It’s nothing that awful.” Lucy knocked back a big gulp of ginger ale. “And I’m twenty-three years old. If I want to walk out of here and not look back, he can’t stop me. But I don’t want to do that.”

  “You want your brother’s blessing,” Alice said gently.

  “Yes, I do. And that means I’m going to have to talk to him some more. I’m going to have to try again to get him to see that he has to let me go.” She waved a hand. “Oh, not tonight. Not with the big party and all, but tomorrow or the next day. And I know, a minute ago I said you shouldn’t be in the middle of this. I do totally get that it’s not fair to ask you, but will you maybe just think about backing me up?”

  Alice had no idea how to answer. She felt a strong sense of loyalty to Noah. But she also sympathized with Lucy. Noah was too protective and Lucy deserved her chance at her dream.

  Her indecision must have shown on her face because Lucy groaned. “Okay, never mind. It’s not your battle, I know that. Like I said, I shouldn’t have asked.”

  And Alice found herself offering limply, “I’ll...do what I can.”

  Lucy jumped from her chair, grabbed Alice’s hand and pulled her up into a hug. “Oh, thank you. And whatever happens, I’m so glad you came here—selfishly for me because I like you a lot and you’re so easy to talk to. But also for Noah. I’m so glad he found you and I hope you two end up together in, well, you know, that forever kind of way.”

  Alice eased from Lucy’s grip and set her soft drink on the side table next to her chair. Then she took Noah’s little sister by the shoulders and gazed into her wide brown eyes. “I can’t say for certain yet what will happen between me and your brother. But I can say that you are absolutely marvelous.”

  Lucy giggled. “I try.” And then she grew more serious. “I worry about Noah. I do. Before our mom died, he used to be...softer, you know? At least, he always was with me and Mom. I was sick so much and Mom, well, she was so sad all the time. Noah said she missed our dad. I remember him then as so sweet and good to us. He would do anything for us back then.”

  Alice reminded her, “I think he would do anything for you right now.”

  Lucy made a scoffing sound. “But you see, the point is, there are things he can’t do for me, things I need to do for myself.”

  Alice had to agree. “All right. I see what you mean.”

  Lucy dropped back into her chair again. She kicked off her shoes, drew up her feet and braced her chin on her knees. “All those years ago? Before Mom died?”

  Alice knew she should be getting back to her room to prepare for the evening ahead. Michelle would be waiting, growing impatient. But then again, this right now with Lucy, was a lot more important than primping for a party. She sat down, too. “Tell me.”

  “Well, Noah also had a wild side then, when I was little.”

  Alice wasn’t surprised. “I believe that.”

  “Outside the house, he was big trouble. He didn’t fit in and he used to get in fights all the time. It got worse as he got older. He didn’t make friends easily. He was an outsider. And he never backed down, so every night was fight night. I guess it’s kind of a miracle he never got shot. He did get knifed a time or two, though. That was really scary. He’d come home all bloody and Mom had to patch him up. He barely graduated high school. And then somehow he got into business college and found this job working for this guy who flipped houses. Mom was pleased he was working and actually getting a little higher education, but every day she worried he’d get kicked out of college for bad grades or lose his job for fighting. She had that sadness inside her, and it got worse because she feared for him, for his drinking, for his being out all night, being out of control. And then we lost her....” Lucy shut her eyes and dropped her forehead down on her knees.

  Alice sat in sympathetic silence, hoping that she would go on.

  And she did. She lifted her head and straightened her shoulders. She stared toward the open doors to the balcony. “And that was it. After the day Mom died, I don’t think he ever got into another fight. He got control of himself scary fast. He started getting straight As at his business school. I never saw him drunk again. I mean, that’s good, I know, that he isn’t out beating people’s heads in, that he’s not a drunk. That he’s focused and determined and a big success and all that. He’s come so far. I get that. I’m proud of him. But he’s definitely not as sweet as he used to be back in the day, when it was just us at home. He’s not as understanding, not as open-minded.” She turned her head, looked at Alice, then. “I’ve done my best, I promise you, to keep him real, to remind him that he only thinks he owns the world. But I really am well now. I’m one of the lucky ones. And I have my own life I have to live, you know?”

  “Of course you do....” Alice felt strangely humbled. She’d thought Lucy childlike at first. But today she saw the wisdom in those innocent eyes.

  Lucy reached between their chairs and squeezed Alice’s arm. “Noah desperately needs a person like you in his life, someone he can’t run all over. Someone who isn’t the least impressed by his money, someone who really cares about him and who can stand up to him, too.”

  Alice hardly knew what to say. “You make me sound so much more exemplary than I actually am.”

  “That’s not true. You are exemplary. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to my brother, and I only hope he doesn’t blow it and not let you into his heart and end up chasing you away.”

  Chapter Nine

  When Alice got back to her room, Michelle was waiting, tapping her foot in irritation. “What am I going to do with you? Is that hay in your hair? The party starts at eight. Have you forgotten?”

  Alice didn’t even argue. She headed straight for her bath.

  She was ready at a quarter of eight, fifteen minutes before the guests were due to start arriving. She followed the sound of music down to the first floor. A quartet was warming up in the wide curve at the bottom of the stairs—a grand piano, bass, drums and a sultry singer in a clinging blue satin dress, her blond hair pinned up on one side with a giant rhinestone clip, her lips cherry red.

  Alice had a look around. In the living room, two full bars had been set up, one at either end. The dining room was one fabulous buffet, set out on the long dining table and on each of the giant mahogany sideboards. She moved on to the family room, where the doors were wide-open on the loggia. Outside, there was more food and yet another full bar.

  Noah appeared from the foyer. He was looking cool and casual in an open-collared dress shirt and dark trousers.

  He swept her with an admiring glance, head to toe and back again. “You look incredible in that dress and those shoes.” She wore a short strapless black cocktail dress, her classic red-soled patent leather Christian Louboutin stilettos and the hammered-gold necklace he’d bought her. He put an arm around her, drew her close and whispered, “So how come all I can think of is getting everything off of you?”

  She laughed and leaned against him, the things Lucy had revealed to her earlier foremost in her mind, making her feel tenderly toward him—and sympathetic, too. He’d been through so much and come so very far. She would try to remember to be patient with him. She teased, “I think I’ll keep my clothes on, if that’s all right with you. At least until the party’s over.”

  He handed her a glass of champagne and offered a toast. “To when the party’s over.” They touched glasses, sipped and shared a quick champagne-flavored kiss.

  The doorbell rang and the party began.

  Alice met a whole bunch of handsome, athletic people, most of whose names she promptly forgot. A lot of them were horse lovers. Many knew of her and her family. And she could tell by the gleam in more than one eye that several of them had read of her exploits ov
er the years. Yes, she did feel a bit like Noah’s newest acquisition—a famous painting or a champion racehorse brought out and paraded around, yet more proof of Noah Cordell’s enormous success.

  But she didn’t let it get to her. She’d spent too much of her life with people staring at her to become all that upset if they stared at her some more. She didn’t let the ogling bother her, only smiled and tried enjoy herself.

  Her second cousin, Jonas Bravo, and his wife, Emma, arrived around eight-thirty. It touched Alice that Noah had thought to invite them. She sat out by the infinity pool with them for over an hour, catching up a little. Emma and Jonas enjoyed a great marriage. They loved their four children and they were clearly blissfully happy together. It always made Alice feel good to be around them. They encouraged her to come visit them at their Bel Air estate, Angel’s Crest, anytime she could manage it during her stay. She thanked them and promised she would try.

  They went back inside together, the three of them. Alice excused herself to mingle with the other guests. She visited with a couple of minor celebrities who lived in the area and chatted with a lovely older lady about the best local beaches and the fine gardens at Mission Santa Barbara. Then she joined Noah, who was talking horses and polo with three of his neighbors. The nearby polo and racquet club was deep into its fall schedule of polo tournaments. After half an hour of that, she excused herself and went upstairs to freshen her lip gloss.

  At the top of the stairs stood a tall, attractive fortyish brunette in red silk. “Your Highness. Hello. I’m Jessica Saunders.” Jessica had very angry eyes.

  Alice was tempted to simply nod and move on past. But she did want to get along with all of Noah’s friends. So she paused when she reached the landing and returned Jessica’s greeting.

  Altus was below her, following her up, staying close as he always did when there were strangers around. She gave him a quick glance and a slight shake of her head to let him know she was fine. He continued the rest of the way up, passing between her and the other woman, stopping farther down the upper hallway, where he could keep her in sight.