I sat back from the table, laughing at something Dom had said and sighed contentedly. He was surprisingly good company and a great movie companion. Most times I preferred to go to the movies alone, I hated it when people tried to talk to me during the movie or ask questions because they didn’t understand what was happening, usually because they had been talking and missed it. I’d get so frustrated! So it was just as easy to go alone and then I got to enjoy the movie without interruptions. Fortunately, Dom had proven to be an ideal movie watching companion.

We were sitting on the deck of a small cafe that overlooked the marina. The sun had finally set and Lac Merveilleux was lit with the tiny lights on the various yachts and catamarans that were moored there. We could see the lights of the Palace from where we sat and it looked almost like fairyland.

It was such a pretty night, the large open sky, inky black and dotted with stars that reflected back on the water of the lake and the soft breeze that wasn’t too cold and carried with it the scent of spring. The Night Jasmine that wound it’s way along the railing of the deck was just beginning to bloom and the small white flowers were bursting with a heady fragrance. The candles on the table flickered in a jewel toned glass jar and provided enough soft light to create a feeling of intimacy without being too dark that we couldn’t see what we were eating.

We’d come here straight from the movie and we lingered over the meal, Dom ordering another bottle of wine since neither of us was driving. We both lived within the Palace and had access to a car and driver for our personal use, it seemed natural that we would share a ride home when we were done.

“So tell me more about your love of eighties movies,” Dom said, sitting forward and displaying keen interest.

I liked seeing Dom like this; engaged and animated. Far too many of our interactions were marred by our competitive natures, but tonight there was none of that. We were just two people enjoying a movie and a meal together, not that it was a date.

“My mother introduced me to them,” I said, smiling at the memories. “I was too young to really appreciate them at the time, but it was something that just the two of us did. When she got sick…” I paused, feeling the rush of emotion that I always felt whenever I thought of her. I took a deep breath, willing myself not to cry. A large, warm hand covered mine on the table and I looked at to see Dom gazing at me with compassion. I smiled valiantly at him before speaking again, comforted by the solid feel of his hand on mine. “When she got sick, I would crawl into bed with her and we’d watch them over and over again.”

“Always the same ones?”

“Always John Hughes movies, but she had a select few that were her favourites.”

“What’s your favourite?” he asked.

“That’s easy. Pretty in Pink. Pink was always my favourite colour, but with my hair I could never wear it. Somehow Molly Ringwald could pull it off and it gave me hope.” I chuckled at the silly notion of a little girl.

“I think you’d look lovely in pink,” Dom said softly.

I raised my eyes to his and the rest of the night seemed to melt away. Had I ever noticed the way the colour of Dom’s eyes changed with his moods? Had they ever been this green? Had I ever noticed how full his lips were and how strong his jaw looked? I don’t think I had ever taken the time to really look at Dominique and now I couldn’t look away. He was a beautiful man and when he wasn’t berating me, he was actually kind of wonderful.

His thumb brushed across the top of my wrist, his hand still covering mine on the table, and the touch sent a shiver of sensations through me. It was like when he rested his hand on my back as we left the theatre, there was an awareness that hadn’t been there before. It was strange and different and… I liked it. Just like I had liked dancing with him at the reception, just like I had enjoyed spending time with him tonight. I didn’t know what was happening between us and I didn’t know if I wanted it to continue.

No. It couldn’t continue. We worked together and generally we were on opposite sides of the fence about just about everything. There could never be anything more between us than that, we were just too different, well, actually, we were too much the same. We both wanted to be right, we both wanted to lead. That was a recipe for disaster in a relationship… not that I was contemplating a relationship with Dom.

I cleared my throat and slid my hand out from under his, picking up my napkin with it and gently blotting my mouth, signalling that the night was over. I already missed his touch, but it was better this way. We were colleagues who barely got along, one dinner and a movie hadn’t really changed that.

Dom shifted in his seat and looked down at his watch. “I suppose we should make a move,” he said, “We both have a long day tomorrow.”

I held in a groan, but couldn’t contain the grimace. He smiled, breaking the awkward tension between us. “Don’t remind me,” I said.

Tomorrow night was yet another function, this time one for foreign dignitaries. The Military Attache and Liaison to the foreign dignitaries position hadn’t been filled since Jordan Wicks had left… well charged and convicted before being imprisoned for his attack on the King, Prince and Princess. Without someone to host the VIPs, it fell to Dom and I, because of our expertise in protocol and etiquette we were the perfect choice to fill the gap. But it meant dealing with prima donna dignitaries who always had the most outrageous requests. Funnily enough, my father was one of them.

Dom stood from the table and came around to pull out my chair. I stood and smiled my thanks and when he offered his arm, I hesitated for a fraction of a second before slipping my hand through his elbow crook. I might not be going to pursue a personal relationship with him, but it was no reason to be rude.

I rested my hand on the small of Priscilla’s back as I guided her to the waiting car. It was more than just my gentlemanly manners that made me do it, I wanted to touch her. When she had pulled her hand from under mine at the table I felt the loss keenly, and this was a way for me to renew the contact without being obvious.

The driver opened the car and I helped her into the car before sliding in after her. The door closed and we were enclosed in an intimate darkness. We sat close together, my shoulder and thigh gently brushing hers and it felt right.

The car pulled away from the curb and we travelled in silence. Not an awkward silence, not really, more of a pregnant silence. The atmosphere was one of anticipation, a curious waiting to see what would happen next.

For the last five years I had kept myself apart and for the first time since the death of my wife, I yearned to connect with someone.

I had revelled in my grief, not that I was happy about the loss of my wife, far from it. I had loved her more than I had loved my own breath, but I had used her death to retreat from life. Intentionally. My grief was a wall that kept me separated from others, kept me aloof, kept me from connecting too closely with anyone lest I lose them too. The closest I had come was my friendship with the Prince, and now he was gone too.

I wore my grief like a badge of honour and used it as a weapon to hurt people when they got too close. It was my excuse for rudeness and cutting remarks and lately it had begun to feel like a millstone around my neck, dragging me down and slowly crushing the real me underneath.

But something had changed in me over the last few months and it was no more obvious than tonight. For the first time since they had pulled Adélise from the water and pronounced her dead, I had felt a spark of life within me. For so long I had felt nothing but numbness that it was astonishing to feel attraction and the need to be connected with someone.

The fact that it was Priscilla who had awoken that part of me was a complete surprise. We had been at odds since the moment I had met her so to feel something other than animosity towards her was shocking to say the least. But there it was, as clear as day, the need to keep touching her, however inconsequentially.

“I enjoyed tonight,” I said to break the silence that had seemed to get heavier the closer we came to the Palace.

She turned to me and I saw her smile in the ambient light of the passing street lamps. “I did too,” she replied.

“I don't suppose we’ll get many more free nights until after the wedding now,” I said, wanting to keep the conversation flowing.

“No,” she replied, “It was an unexpected reprieve tonight and I'm glad I could share it with you.”

Her words warmed me and I shifted slightly, just enough so that my thigh was now more firmly against hers.

“I meant what I said earlier,” I spoke quietly, but no less genuinely, “I am sorry for how I've treated you since we've been working together and I hope that going forward we can have a more open working relationship.”

Did I always sound so pompous? My words sounded stiff and far too serious for what I wanted to say, but how could I tell her that I'd like us to be friends without coming across like a needy twit?

She smiled at me again, “I think we can definitely improve our working relationship.”

I reached over and took her hand, surprising both of us.

“I want us to be friends, Priscilla, more than just colleagues.”

She squeezed my hand as the car glided through the Palace gates.

“I'd like that,” she murmured looking up at me with wide eyes.

There it was again, that kick in my gut. My eyes dropped involuntarily to her lips and I found myself lost in the imagining of kissing her. I hadn't kissed another woman since my wife, and only one or two prior to marrying. Suddenly it seemed vital for me to taste her mouth, to remember what kissing was like. It had been so long I didn't even know if I remembered how.

The car came to a stop and one of the Palace attendants opened the door, breaking the moment. Priscilla slowly withdrew her hands from mine and I turned to slide out before reaching back in to help her out. We walked into the Palace together, not touching, and headed towards the residences.

One whole wing was dedicated to housing the many staff of the castle and it was separated again into male and female residences. I walked her to the large double doors that led to the female wing and stopped, turning towards her.

“Thank you for letting me crash your movie night,” I said with a grin.

“Have I made you into a John Hughes convert?”

“I don't think I can completely commit until I watch a few more of his movies.”

“Well, definitely count me in for that,” she said with a laugh.

Oh yes, I definitely would, I thought to myself.

I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it before leaning forward and brushing a soft kiss on her cheek, lingering just a little to inhale her floral scent and memorise the softness of her skin against my lips.

“Good night Dom,” she whispered, looking up at me with something akin to wanting.

“Good night Priscilla,” I murmured in return, gazing down at her and wishing there was some way to prolong the evening.

She stepped back, away from me, before turning and opening the door by scanning her thumbprint on the biometric scanner. The door clicked open and she slipped through, turning to look at me one more time before closing the door.

I turned and headed towards my own residence, a smile playing around the corners of my lips and a curious desire to whistle. I refrained, but the desire was strong and it was all because of Priscilla.

I glided down the hallway feeling like I was flying. As much as I knew I shouldn’t get involved with Dom outside of work, I couldn’t help the utter contentedness that I felt after spending the evening with him. After everything that happened with Piérre, I never thought I would ever feel flattered by another man’s attention again. There was no question in my mind that Dom was a completely different man to Piérre, the two were so different, in fact, that they were barely the same species.

My feeling of good fortune lasted until I entered my suite and found Bianca asleep on the couch, yet again. The small television that she had insisted having installed in my sitting room was blaring away on some idiotic American reality show and Bianca slept on, blithely unaware of how much she had interrupted my life.

I had hoped to get her installed in her own suite, but with the upcoming wedding, the Palace was already full to bursting with visitors. After the wedding there would be an opportunity to move her out of my space, but up until then, I was stuck with her.

I switched off the television and slumped down into one of the armchairs and gazed at my younger sister. I knew I was harsh on her, but at twenty years of age she still behaved like a thirteen year old. It was my father’s fault for sheltering her so, and the plan to bring her here to intern with me was an attempt to get her out from under his doting and give her a taste of the real world. Unfortunately, my patience had been running a little thin and I’d fobbed her off to whoever I could instead of taking her under my wing and leading by example.

I did love her, but I also resented her. It had been because of her that I had missed out on so many things as a child. My father had relied far too heavily on me to fill in the gaps that my mother’s death had left and instead of growing up surrounded by pretty dresses and dolls and a gaggle of friends, I had taken on the reins of running the household. Looking back I often wondered how Cook and Nanny had put up with me playing grownup. Although I was eternally grateful to them for all that they taught me. By the time most girls my age were just learning the ropes, I had been running our house for years. But it had come at a cost and I was only now learning how much of a cost.

Coming to the Palace and working for the Queen was the best decision I’d ever made, even if I had spent a good deal of it fighting with Dom. Alyssa had opened my eyes to what was out there for women, avenues that, if I’d stayed in my father’s house, would have been closed off to me. She had empowered me, not with anything specifically, but just by the way she had faced the challenges in her life and how she had defeated them with grace and good humour. She had also given me a support network and friends and my own income, all of which had been missing from my life in France.

It had been a hard won battle to get here and there was no way I was going to give it up lightly. Piérre might think he could just waltz back into my life and pick up where we left off, but he had another think coming. I refused to be caught up in his web of lies and deceit again. I didn’t care what my father had told him or promised him, there was no way I was going to marry him.

“Oh, hey,” Bianca said sleepily as she blinked her eyes open and stretched. “What time is it?”

“A little before eleven,” I replied, “You should have gone to bed instead of falling asleep there.”

“I know,” she said and yawned, “But I wanted to find out how your night went.”

“You were waiting up for me? Why?”

She shrugged, “I just thought you might want to talk to me before bed, that’s all.”

There was something off about what she was saying, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“I was just going to the movies and then dinner. Nothing unusual.”

“Oh, I know,” she said hurriedly, “But, well, I expected you home earlier.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because you left your wallet behind,” she replied with big, innocent eyes, pointing to the sideboard where my wallet sat.

I had no recollection of removing my wallet from my handbag and I never, ever put it on the sideboard.

“Did you go through my wallet?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at my sister.

“Um…”

“Bianca! Really? You’re stealing from me now?”

“No, no, I promise it was nothing like that.”

“Then why the hell would you need to take my wallet out of my handbag?”

I wasn’t looking for anything in your wallet,” she said, pouting, “I was looking for a hairband in your bag and I took your wallet out so that I could see better. Do you know how hard it is to find anything in that big leather sack you carry around and call a handbag? You could practically use it as an overnight bag.”

“Enough!” I said, holding up my hand to stop her babbling. “Please don’t ever do that again. If you need something, just ask. You let me go into town without any money and if Dom—”

“Dom? The Lord Chancellor?”

“Yes, the Lord Chancellor happened to bump into me outside the theatre and he very gallantly shouted me a movie and dinner. If not for him, I wouldn’t have been able to have the night out.”

Bianca beamed a smile at me. “Did he kiss you?”

“What?! No, of course not. It wasn’t like we were on a date or anything.”

“Dinner and a movie, sounds like a date to me.”

“I’m going to bed,” I grouched, refusing to entertain her nonsense. It wasn’t a date, just two friends sharing a meal and seeing a movie. It wasn’t a date, even if there had been a moment when I thought he would kiss me and I wouldn’t have turned him away if he’d tried.