The next week was crazy as we prepared for Alex and Freddie’s wedding. The palace filled with foreign dignitaries as they arrived to attend the wedding, and I was kept busy working with Elise and Michael as we wrangled the press corps. Freddie was a popular guy, both in business and amongst the nobility, and with his father being prime minister, there were many other heads of state and prime ministers attending the nuptials.

Alex had wanted Alyssa to be her matron of honour, but with her being the queen and all, it just wasn’t done. Her sister, Lily, took the place of maid of honour instead, with the rest of us acting as attendants. I was partnered with Drew, and Brooks played the part of Best Man because Will couldn’t. Jamie, one of Alyssa’s security team was partnered with Meredith, which was really kind of odd. No one knew why Jamie had been chosen as one of the groomsmen. As far as we all knew, Freddie barely even knew the bodyguard. Priscilla, Savannah and Margaret were paired with three of Freddie’s cousins, and Brooks’ five year old daughter was a flower girl.

The wedding was beautiful. Alex looked stunning in her Vera Wang gown and the men looked dashing in their grey morning coats and black pants. They were married in the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Calanais with the sun shining through the big stained glass windows and giving the whole scene a special atmosphere. The reception was held in the ballroom of Château de Monterey which was decked out in white roses. The bridesmaids wore pale blue, Alex’s favourite colour and the day went off without a hitch.

“Hey you,” Drew said coming to stand behind me as we watched the couples swirl on the dance floor. His arms snaked around my waist and I leant back into him, closing my eyes and taking a moment to appreciate my very own happy ending.

“Hey,” I said with a contented sigh.

“Feel like dancing?”

“Maybe later,” I replied.

We stood there like that, content in each other’s company and watched the world go by. It was the simple things that made our relationship what it was. It was the way he held my hand or tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. It was the way he knew that sometimes I didn’t want to talk and the way he understood my need to escape on Filigree or on my bike. No, I didn’t sell it and I no longer hid that side of myself from everyone. The bike had come to live at the palace, much to the consternation of Will, who now had to contend with Alyssa wanting to learn to ride.

“What’s going on between Meredith and Jamie?” he asked and my eyes found the two body guards locked in an embrace as they danced. That was a lot more than just a friendly dance going on.

“I have no idea,” I said. It was true that I had been too caught up in my own dramas to notice what was going on with everyone else, but surely a budding romance between two of the queen’s security detail would have been hard to miss.

“They look very cosy there together,” he said. “Kind of how we first met.”

I tilted my head back to meet his eyes. “Maybe you should take me out on the dance floor now,” I said.

“With pleasure,” he replied and grinned.

He led me onto the floor and pulled me close. The song was a quick-step, the first dance we had ever shared. Other couples moved out of our way as we flowed across the dance floor. I’d had ballroom dancing lessons as a kid but no one had ever made me fly like Drew did. I couldn’t stop the grin as we leapt and spun and quick-stepped our way through the song. A polite round of applause erupted when the song finished and I blushed furiously but Drew spun me out to take a bow and instead of feeling foolish in front of everyone, I felt beautiful. That was what Drew did for me. He showcased me in a way that no one ever had and it was liberating.

The orchestra started another song, a waltz this time and he pulled me close once again. I looked up at him and he dipped his head to kiss me. His lips were gentle and I melted into him. Here was our connection. If you looked at the two of us on paper you would wonder how on earth we would work as a couple, but when we were together, it just seemed natural. We complimented each other and that bonded us together like nothing else could.

The next day, after the excitement of the wedding had died down and Freddie and Alex had left for their honeymoon, Drew surprised me by inviting me to go on a picnic with him. We rode our bikes, although I may very well have preferred to ride on the back of his. I loved to feel the muscles of his stomach under my hands and the strength of his back as I pressed up against him.

He led the way and we wound our way through the hills and dales as the warm sun shone down. It was a beautiful day and the countryside was quiet apart from the roar of our bikes as we passed. It felt so good to not have to hide from who I really was any more. I no longer felt the pressure to perform and I was free to speak my mind - although that last one was going to take a little longer to feel comfortable with.

Drew pulled off the road and I followed him to a familiar little patch of ground. It was the same place we had picnicked before and it overlooked Ferny Grove. We parked our bikes and I helped Drew set out the rug and the mountain of food he had brought with him. It felt so good to be alone with the man I loved and know that there was nothing to come between us and tear us apart.

“To us,” he said, handing me a glass of wine. We clinked glasses and I sipped as I watched him watching me.

There was something different about him today. A hesitancy that I was not used to seeing in him. I leaned over and kissed him gently hoping to coax it out of him. He cupped my jaw and kissed me back, drawing it out slowly and I melted into his chest. This man! Whew.

“What’s going on in that big brain of yours?’ I asked, impatient to know what was going on.

He sighed and smiled at me. “I can’t keep anything from you, can I?”

I shook my head. “Nope. I can read you like a book.”

He grinned at me brightly. “And that is why I love you so much.”

I would never get tired of hearing those words.

“So spit it out and stop stalling.”

He took a deep breath before speaking. “I know we haven’t been together for very long,” he said, “But it feels like I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

I blushed at his words. “I feel the same,” I said.

He took my glass from me and put both his and mine down before pulling me over so that I was sitting in his lap with my head resting on his chest.

“I know that it’s probably too soon,” he murmured into my ear, “But I need to make something abundantly clear to you.”

I waited for him to go on and when he didn’t I raised my head from his chest to look at him.

“I want to marry you, Jeanette. I want us to share a life together and build a family. I can’t give you a title but I can promise to love you every day and kiss you goodnight every night.”

“I don’t need a title as long as I have you,” I replied, breathless.

“Is that a yes?”

“What do you think?”

“I think it’s a yes,” he said before kissing me again.

“I have something else for you,” he said, pulling something out of his pocket. He handed me a piece of paper and I unfolded it looking up at him in surprise.

“It’s the deed to Westhaven.”

“It is,” he said.

“I… I don’t understand.”

He sighed and smoothed a hand down my back. “I’m not really sure how to explain it,” he said. “It’s not a title, I’m not somehow now the Viscount of Westhaven—”

“Oh God Drew, I never wanted that.”

I know,” he said and brushed my hair with a kiss. “I just mean, it is the deed to the estate of Westhaven - the land and manor house and stables and whatever stock still remains - and I’m giving it to you as a gift.”

“What? You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I wanted to. The bank was foreclosing on Lord Cameron and I was able to buy both Westhaven and the Belgrave Square townhouse for a fraction of what it’s worth. I’m allowing Lord Cameron and his mother to stay on in the townhouse as tenants. Lord Cameron has to find some sort of income to provide for himself and his mother and I will be expecting them to pay their rent on time.” He smiled down at me. “The reason I bought it all was because I saw how you looked at Ferny Grove. I know how much you love the estate and your love of horses. I wanted you to have something of your own. Your own piece of the world where you could build whatever it is that you want to build. A stud or just your own stable of purebreds - it doesn’t matter to me. I just want you to be happy.”

“Oh Drew,” I said, throwing my arms around him and kissing him until he toppled over backwards. “Do you know how much I love you?”

He kissed me with a smile. “I think I have an inkling.”

We sat back up and I stared down at the pile of paper in my hand. This man was a marvel. What did I ever do to deserve him?

“What is happening with your mother?” he asked hesitantly.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “She left Merveille after throwing some nasty words around about how all her children were ingrates. I’m so angry at her right now that I’m glad there is a whole country and a channel between us.”

“I know she’s not exactly your favourite person, but she is still your mother. I don’t expect you to ever have a close relationship with her, but I hope you are not going to just pretend she doesn’t exist for the rest of your life.”

“I know,” I said closing my eyes and resting my head back against his chest. “But don’t worry. She will get over her snit and before you know it she will be sticking her nose back into our business and pretending like nothing happened. It will just take her a while to realise none of us are running after her trying to placate her. I think we’ve all learned our lesson on that score.”

“You know I will stand between you and her if she ever dares attack you again.”

I tilted my head up to his and kissed him. “I know and that’s why I love you.”

“Jamie? What are you doing?”

“Come on,” he said, tugging my hand as we escaped from the palace and snuck into a dark part of the gardens.

It was thrilling, this secret liaison between us and we had been lucky so far that we hadn’t been caught. As the daughter of the prime minister and a duke, my dalliance with a security guard would probably not go down well. Jamie was more than just a security guard though, we both were. As part of the queen’s personal security team, we were highly trained bodyguards who were prepared to step in front of a bullet to save the life of our sovereign. This was a fact that my mother hated with a passion.

It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the darkness after the bright lights of the palace, but the soft lapping of the water gave me some indication of where we were. There was a small dock in the shadow of the castle where the stone walls sunk into the lake. I felt the wooden boards under my feet as we walked out onto the short pier, the sky a dome of midnight blue velvet above us. I took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air and smiled as Jamie trailed a hand over my cheek and down my neck.

He kissed me then and I sighed into him. We saw each other every day, almost every hour of every day, but it was so very rare for us to be completely alone. It had started out as some harmless flirting and then one day when we had been sparring together he kissed me. I was ashamed to admit that it was my first kiss. As the queen’s companion and bodyguard, I hadn’t had all that much time to date and men found me intimidating anyway. Maybe it was the fact that I knew forty-seven different ways to kill a man without using a weapon that scared them off. Or maybe it was the fact that I could bench press more than them. Not everyone appreciated the muscles that I had spent time cultivating, but fortunately Jamie did.

He lifted his head and looked down at me with a crooked smile on his face. The man was gorgeous. He had the real boy-next-door look going on and with his sense of humour and love of life it was hard not to be attracted to him. It was a pity that it would never work out in the long run. I had mostly escaped the trappings of being a duke’s daughter by first becoming Alyssa’s companion when we were children, and then convincing my father to let me train at the academy to be one of her bodyguards. At the time it had seemed like a logical thing to do, to have one of Alyssa’s friends also double as a guard and thankfully my father had seen the sense in it, despite my mother’s protests. I was grateful for his foresight because I loved my job and I didn’t want it to be taken away from me, although inevitably it would be.

I would eventually have to take a husband and I would be expected to marry well. My parents had not been so draconian as to try and find a husband for me but I knew that Jamie would not fit the bill. He was not nobility and therefore unsuitable for a duke’s daughter. I thought the whole thing was a bunch of poppycock, but I didn’t exactly have a say in the matter. Besides, Jamie and I were just having fun, neither of us had made a commitment to one another. With our jobs being the most important thing in our lives, I doubted either of us was prepared to give it up for the sake of a relationship. That would be what would have to happen. One of us would have to step down from the security detail and I knew neither one of us wanted to do that.

“Are you looking forward to our little field trip next week?’ Jamie asked as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.

“A month on a yacht visiting the tropical islands? Nah, it’s not really my scene.”

His laugh rumbled through his chest and made me tingle. “Yeah, me either,” he said.

The queen and prince were starting their tour in a week’s time. We would be away from the palace for a month and would be traveling by yacht visiting the islands dotted around the Mediterranean. We would travel to Monaco first for a royal visit with the Prince of Monaco. We would then board the yacht, or fleet of yachts as the case may be, and travel to a small island owned by Merveille. We would spend a few nights there and then begin the tour of the islands off the coast of Greece and in the Aegean Sea.

“I am looking forward to having some down time on Le Beau.”

“I never understood why they named an island ‘beautiful man’,” Jamie said.

I chuckled, “It’s because of the natives on the island. Apparently they’re beautiful.”

“It’s still a stupid name.” He was silent for a moment, “Are you going to hit the casinos?”

“I thought I might,” I replied, “Are you?”

“Maybe… maybe we could go together.”

“I’d like that,” I whispered.

The island of Le Beau was kind of like the Las Vegas of Merveille. It was a popular destination for bachelor parties and girls’ weekends. I had never been and I was really looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about.

A giggle floated down to us from the garden terraces above and we both stiffened and lifted our heads to listen.

“We should get out of here before we’re seen,” I whispered.

Jamie pulled me hard up against his chest and kissed me fiercely, fogging my brain and making me breathless. And then he was gone, melting into the darkness and leaving me alone on the pier, stunned by the force of emotions that had swept over me with his kiss. I couldn’t be falling for him, I just couldn’t.

I had been ignoring the message on my phone for the past half an hour, but I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I wanted to see Meredith one last time, just in case the meeting I was about to go into had the expected outcome. I had always known that it would happen one day, I just hadn’t thought it would be so soon. Not that ten years in exile was exactly soon. Maybe it was more the fact that now that I had initiated a relationship with Meredith, I wasn’t ready for it to be over.

I took a deep breath and tapped on the door. At the spoken command from inside, I entered.

“Benjamin,” I said, acknowledging my immediate superior. “Von Bartham.”

Both men nodded to me. “Prince Christophe.” Von Bartham returned and I sighed audibly.

“Has it happened then?” I asked.

Benjamin sat forward in his chair and leaned his elbows on his desk. “No,” he said, “Your father is still imprisoned, but there has been chatter.”

“They know where I am,” I said feeling the familiar frustration. I had been avoiding the traitorous insurgents for ten years. They had taken my father hostage and had murdered my mother and sisters. I had been lucky enough to escape and I had been biding my time in the hope of finally being able to reclaim the throne of my country.

“Yes,” Benjamin said.

“I told Freddie not to include me in his wedding party,” I said with a growl of frustration.

I had been so careful and Freddie was one of the very few people who knew who I really was. We had become close friends, not that anyone would know about it. I suppose Alex would know the truth now. Freddie had warned me he wouldn’t be keeping any secrets from her. I had only asked that he waited until they were married. The last thing I wanted was for the entire palace to know my secret. Now it seemed it wouldn’t matter. The cat, as they say, was out of the bag.

“So what do you want me to do?” I asked, resigned to fleeing in the middle of the night before anyone could drag me back to stand trial in what would be a farce of the judicial system.

The rebels who had attacked the palace on the small island that was my home were more corrupt than they accused my family of being. I hated to think what had become of the island paradise that I had once called home. My heart bled for the people I had left behind, but my hands were tied. I couldn’t reclaim what was mine until we found a weakness in their forces and so far none had become evident. Many had branded me a coward for running away, and perhaps they were right. My father had urged me to run and I had only been a mere boy of fifteen at the time. He had promised me that by running then I would live to fight another day. Alyssa’s father, King Edward, had been friends with my father and had offered me sanctuary. I had been secreted out of my country and sequestered in the castle of Merveille until the immediate danger had passed. When Von Bartham had suggested I join the royal guard, I jumped at the chance. Spending time in America while Alyssa attended Harvard had further distanced me from the troubles at home. No one knew what had happened to me and many speculated that I was dead, a fact that the rebels touted to be the truth and to be at their hands.

“I want you to stick with the plan,” Benjamin said. “Go on tour with Alyssa. Get lost on Le Beau for a while. Keep your head down. Von Bartham will monitor the situation from here and we will do what we can to remove any photos of you in the wedding party that might surface.”

“And the rest of the guard? Are they to finally find out the truth about who I am?”

Benjamin studied me with his shrewd eyes before shaking his head with a sigh. “No. Not yet. This might all blow over and then we would have compromised your identity for nothing. We won’t say anything for now.”

“Does Alyssa know?” I hadn’t thought to ask before. She hadn’t treated me any differently, so I had just assumed the truth hadn’t been revealed to her yet.

“Yes. So does Will. Alyssa was told in her security briefing after she took the crown. Will was told in his after he married her.”

“And they are okay with me continuing on with the tour? Won’t having me there increase the security risks?”

Von Bartham and Benjamin shared a look. “We don’t think so. We will keep your duties out of the spotlight. You won’t be visible at any of their public appearances and…”

“And what?”

Benjamin sighed. “We want you and Meredith to pose as decoys for Alyssa and Will.”

I scoffed. “Meredith has bright red hair and looks nothing like the queen.”

“A wig, some dark glasses. They are of a similar height and build. It was always part of the plan, it is something that she has been trained for.”

“And me? A wig and dark glasses?”

Benjamin nodded, “And some decent clothes.” He smiled trying to lighten the situation. I wasn’t known for my stylish dressing, something that had become a bit of a joke around the palace.

“Okay,” I said, drawing in all the frustration and residual anger that seemed to be my constant companion.

I didn’t think this would end well, but maybe I would finally be able to do something to help my people. Maybe this whole ordeal was finally going to come to a head.