Читать книгу Betrothed to the Prince - Raye Morgan - Страница 10

Tianna felt the room fade and pulse, and she barely avoided a gasp. “Prince Garth!” She put her hand over her heart. “But…but the little maid told me the prince had gone to Texas.”

“Oh, aye. She thought you meant Crown Prince Marco, no doubt about it. He was here last week.” She began to bustle about the kitchen. “No one thinks of Garth as ‘the prince.’ He’s always been the younger brother, you know. The rascal. The charming one.” She grinned affectionately.

Tianna sat, still dumbfounded, and growing more and more astonished as she thought over this latest wrinkle. So the man they expected her to marry really was a playboy and a carouser. Delightfully irresistible—and the last man in the world a woman would want to be married to. Hah! Just wait until she explained all this to her father. It looked like she would be able to put together a nice tight case for annulling this betrothal. And wasn’t that what she’d come for?

Actually, it was getting hard to remember what she’d come for. Too much was getting in the way.

The cook had turned back and was frowning down at her. “Well, now about your business. Come about the pastry chef job, have you? We weren’t expecting you quite this soon, but that’s all right. We’ll make do.”

Tianna turned to tell her the truth, but she was rattling on.

“Now, let’s see a bit of your talent. I’ve got some dough mixed for pies. Why don’t you roll it out and we’ll see what you can do with it. Try something creative.”

“I’m really not here for the pastry chef job.”

“No?”

“No. I’m…”

It was going to be hard to explain what she was here for at this point—and why she hadn’t talked to Garth when she had a chance. Her day was careening wildly out of control. It was probably time she made herself known to everyone and tried to get some order back into things. “Actually, you see, I’m Princess Katianna of…”

Unfortunately, her words were drowned out by the sudden wail of the infant. The cook whirled and stared at the basket on the table.

“A baby!” Cook’s gaze fell on the basket. “Ah yes, Milla said you’d brought your baby. We really don’t have facilities for babies here. You should have asked first, you know.”

Tianna considered tearing her hair out, but thought better of it. “She’s not my baby,” she said evenly. “I found her in the yard.”

Cook rolled her eyes. “What nonsense,” she said, and bent over the little thing, cooing to it.

Tianna bit her lip and silently counted to ten, then drew herself up and gazed coolly at the woman. “I assure you, I’m telling the truth.”

Cook glanced up and seemed to recognize her growing irritation. “Well, that’s as may be. But then where did this baby come from?”

Good question. If only someone would answer it! Stifling the urge to scream, Tianna gave her a quick explanation of how the estate had been left unguarded and open to the world when she’d arrived. The cook finally seemed to accept that, though reluctantly.

“Oh yes, we’re so shorthanded right now, things are falling to wrack and ruin,” she said, shaking her head. “You know, they usually leave their babies at the guard gate. We never even see them up here. And you say you found her right out in the garden?”

Tianna frowned. “Are you telling me strange babies show up here all the time?” she asked.

Cook shrugged. “Well, not all the time. But it’s been known to happen. Single girls hoping we’ll take the tykes in and raise them as royals. Surely you know about the legend of Baby Rose. It’s an old Nabotavian story.”

She didn’t, but she wasn’t in the mood for a story right now. “You think this one was left by a desperate young girl?” she asked, looking down at the dewy little face and wishing she didn’t feel such a strong emotional pull every time she did so. The baby was starting to fuss again and she pulled it up into her arms without thinking twice, patting her little back and whispering sweet nothings against her silky head.

“No doubt about it.” The cook turned and spoke to the kitchen maid. “Milla, call the orphanage. Tell them we’ll be sending another baby over.”

Tianna looked up, frowning. She hated to think of letting this little angel go. “Don’t you think we should call the police? And perhaps, Children’s Services?”

“Children’s Services? Oh my, no. We’ll call the Nabotavian Orphanage, that’s what we’ll do. They’ll take her. We Nabotavians like to take care of our own.” She frowned at Tianna. “Aren’t you a daughter of the Rose nation, my dear?”

“Yes, of course I am.”

“Been in this country a little too long, though, haven’t you? Started to think like an American. Just like my young prince. It’s a good thing we’ll all be going back soon.” She shook her head. “We’ve almost lost our heritage, I do declare.”

“So you’re preparing for the return?”

“We’re at sixes and sevens, my dear. All this moving back to Nabotavia has the entire staff in an up-roar.” She looked overwhelmed by it all. “The housekeeper left a week ago to manage the preparations at Red Rose Palace and she took some of our best workers with her. She left Mr. Harva, the butler, in charge, and he immediately ran off with the pastry chef. Now I’m left to try to keep things from falling apart here, and heaven knows I have my hands full.”

The little maid returned at that moment, walking into the kitchen with a bouncy step. “The orphanage can’t take her. They’ve got chicken pox. They can’t take anyone new for at least four days.”

“Oh my heavens! What’s next?” The cook turned to Tianna, shaking her head.

Tianna looked from the cook to the baby and back again. Hesitating, she recognized that she was at a crossroads. She could hand the baby back and identify herself, and everything would change. She would be the princess and escorted to the other side of the house where she would be given a beautiful bedroom for the night and probably not see this baby again.

Or she could let them think she was a mere job seeker and stick around for a while. She looked down into the baby’s face. The lower lip was trembling and the huge blue eyes were clouded. A wave of protective affection seized her. The child felt so soft and snuggly and she smelled like something fresh and new—which was exactly what she was. But she was also so helpless. Tianna hadn’t been quite this young, but she had known what it was to be helpless and lost. She didn’t wish that on anyone, especially not this innocent. Someone had to make sure nothing bad happened to her. And since she’d had plenty of experience helping with her sister’s baby, she supposed she was the one to do it.

“I…well, I suppose I could help….”

“And what is your name, child?”

Her chin lifted. “Tianna Rose.” It was the name she went by in daily life, and would do for the moment. No one would connect it to the Katianna Roseanova-Krimorova who was betrothed to the prince.

“Ah, a Rose, are you?” The cook nodded knowingly. “Related to the royal family by any chance?”

Tianna met her gaze levelly but she wasn’t prepared to outright lie. “Perhaps.”

“Ah, yes. Everyone likes to claim a little relationship here and there.” The cook smiled sympathetically. “I’m sure you have the usual references. Well, we can put you to work, I think. Somebody is going to have to take care of this baby, and I don’t dare let Milla do it. She’d probably leave it out in the yard again.” She smiled hopefully. “What do you know about the nanny business, Tianna Rose?”

For Prince Garth, driving his Porsche was a major part of the joy of life. Sleek and silver, his car purred like a giant cat and was so responsive to his handling, it reminded him of a sensual woman. Maybe that was why, as he drove up the winding driveway, returning from an afternoon of boring meetings in town with lawyers and business managers, his thoughts went to the lovely woman he’d met that morning in the gazebo.

He could still feel the way her curves had fit against his body and the memory stirred his reactions in a way that made him laugh at himself. She was certainly a tempting bit of luscious femininity—which should put him on guard, as he’d recently sworn off women altogether.

Women! They never played fair. Even those who agreed to ground rules from the beginning—vowing to keep things light and playful, swearing there would be no hearts involved, ended up wanting commitments and long-range promises in the end. And if you rebuffed their come-on advances, they usually found a way to make you pay.

He was still reeling from his last scandal involving a woman he hadn’t even kissed. She’d told the tabloids a wild tale of sex in public places and orgies on yachts and all because he’d stopped taking her phone calls. Sometimes you couldn’t win for losing.

On the other hand, he hated to think of how many women he’d hurt over the years. But their hearts seemed to break so easily. He’d finally come to the conclusion that it was better just to stay completely out of the game. After all, he was betrothed. He didn’t need to search for a mate, so why not give up women for the time being?

Still, the lovely yet dangerous visitor intrigued him. She’d said she was a photographer, yet all evidence suggested she was here to apply for the pastry chef position. Hopefully, she was going to be preparing tempting confections for him from now on. That thought made him smile again. Leaving his car out front for Homer, the chauffeur, to deal with, he went straight into the kitchen and greeted Cook with a peck on the cheek.

“There you are,” she said in a harried fashion. “Will you be having your dinner here tonight, then?”

“Yes, I think I will.” He glanced around the kitchen but didn’t catch sight of the woman he was searching for.

“Good.” Cook gave him a baleful look. “You’ve been out gallivanting too much lately. It’ll do you good to stay at home for a change. Any guests?”

“No.” He peered around the kitchen, noting Milla shelling peas and a thin stranger cleaning off a counter. “What happened to the new pastry chef?”

Cook nodded in the direction of the slender woman. “There she is. She’s hard at work.”

Garth did a double take and frowned. “No, I mean the other one.” He turned to the older woman in alarm. “You didn’t hire her?”

“Oh, that one.” She waved a hand in the air. “Tianna, you mean. Yes, she’s still here. She agreed to be nanny to that baby that was found in the yard, at least until the orphanage can take her—or someone shows up to claim her. She’s probably up in the nursery right now…”

But Garth was already on his way, whistling as he went. Tianna. So that was her name. A lovely and typically Nabotavian name, a lovely and typically Nabotavian girl. Against all his better judgements, he was looking forward to seeing her again. Although he had a rather inflated reputation as a playboy, he had never actually dallied with the help. It wasn’t his style. But then, the help had never been quite so beautiful before. There was always the exception that proved the rule.

He was feeling rather debonair as he knocked a quick rhythm on the nursery room door.

“Come in,” her voice called.

He straightened his tie and turned the knob, a provocative smile at the ready. But when he opened the door, instead of the welcoming look of surprise he expected, he found himself gazing into a face that, though still beautiful, was set in a look that said “trouble.”

“There you are!” she exclaimed.

He stopped in his tracks, but at least she didn’t have her dukes up this time. “What did I do?” he asked, completely at sea.

She gave him a look that said, “If you don’t know…” and rose from the rocking chair with the baby in her arms.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come home,” she said distractedly. “I’ve got to talk to you.”

He raised an eyebrow, surprised at her tone but happy to see she was every bit as lovely as he remembered. Her soft burnished hair set off a face that was finely boned, the lips full, the green eyes luminous and framed in thick dark lashes. He liked the look of her and he was already speculating what her touch would be like.

“I had some meetings to attend to. And very tedious they were, too. Why? Did I miss something?”

Did he miss something!

Turning, she carefully laid the sleeping baby down in its antique crib, giving herself a moment to compose her emotions. Trailing a finger across the downy head, she felt a surge of affection for this helpless creature that was beginning to seem automatic. She looked so beautiful tucked under her lacy covers. It was official now. Tianna was her defender and protector. She would do whatever she had to do to make sure this child was safe and well taken care of.

Luckily, the nursery was fully stocked with baby supplies, as it had only been a short time since Prince Marco’s two children had passed through on their way to their larger bedrooms. Milla had been sent into town to get formula and baby food, but disposable diapers and baby blankets filled the cupboards—everything a well-connected baby would need. And this sweet baby might just be a little more well-connected than everyone had first believed.

Turning, she looked at Prince Garth. She’d been sitting here for the past few hours working herself up into a lather over this situation and it wasn’t going to help if she started ranting at him. At any rate, now that they were face-to-face, she knew he wasn’t the monster she’d been painting in her mind. Surely he would do the right thing.

“Have you done anything yet to find the mother of this baby?” she asked carefully.

He seemed puzzled by her question but he answered readily enough. “Don’t worry about that. The authorities will handle it. The orphanage finds the mothers very quickly. The mothers and babies are usually reunited within days.” He shook his head. “They do this because of the Rose Baby Legend, you know.”

She paused, biting her lip. This legend had been mentioned twice. It had to be peculiar to East Nabotavia, because she didn’t remember ever hearing of it before. She supposed she ought to get the full back ground before she made her case.

“Why don’t you sit down?” she suggested, gesturing toward a chair set facing the rocker. “I’d like to hear about this Rose Baby Legend.”

He looked at her and almost laughed. She was talking to him as though…hell, as though she were a princess. Actually, he was used to people treating him with casual equality. After all, he’d spent quite a few years in the U.S. Army after graduating from West Point, the last few as a lieutenant colonel. But this was different. He was in his own home castle and Tianna was an employee. By now she surely knew he was a prince. It was very strange that she didn’t seem to feel a need to treat him like—well, at least like the boss. A neutral observer might have come to the opposite conclusion and figured he must work for her.

“You’re Nabotavian, aren’t you?” he asked as he sank easily into the chair. “Surely you’ve heard the story.”

“I may have heard it once, but if I did, it didn’t stick with me.” She sat down in the rocker and leaned forward. “Why don’t you fill me in?”

“The Rose Baby Legend. Okay.” He frowned, calling up the old story from the past. “It started about a hundred years ago in Nabotavia. It was a time of great instability in the kingdom—as usual. The queen—my great-grandmother—had given birth to three boys and then found she was unable to have any more children. She desperately wanted a girl. In fact, supposedly she’d fallen into deep depression because, as she said, the boys would all be taken from her by war and she deeply longed for a daughter who would stay beside her always. Everyone in the country knew about her sorrow. Then one day, while walking in the rose garden, she found a baby girl, wrapped in a rose-colored blanket. She adopted her, raised her as her own, even to the point of calling her a princess. She was my great aunt, Princess Elna. True to the queen’s desires, she never married, staying with her adoptive mother to the end.”

“Wow.”

“Yes. You don’t see that kind of gratitude much these days, do you?” He gave her a crooked grin. “I don’t really remember her, but I’ve always heard a lot about her. She affected the lives of all she came in contact with. She was the first one to start a nursing charity for the poor. She founded the original Nabotavian orphanage. The whole country loved her. She was considered a sort of royal saint.”

“Princess Elna.” Tianna nodded. She remembered now. She’d read a biography of the woman when she was about twelve or thirteen. “Yes, of course. I’ve heard of her. She was a wonderful woman.”

“Yes. Anyway, she became quite a legend, and eventually a myth grew up around her experience. It was thought that the royal family might take in other babies. The rose garden was open to the public in those days and women began leaving their babies there, with notes, begging for the royal family to adopt the baby. For some reason, a few years ago, the story was revived and they started trying to do that here, too. They usually don’t get any farther than the guard gate, though.”

“I see.” She nodded thoughtfully, then glanced at the crib where the little girl slept.

Garth followed her gaze. “Now where was it you found her?” he asked, watching for her reaction.

Tianna looked at him. “Just outside, along the driveway.”

“Not in the rose garden?”

“No, it was among the primroses.”

She blinked and their eyes met. His eyebrow cocked.

“Too bad,” he said softly. “I’m afraid we’re not in the adopting mood here at the castle.”

Tianna’s gaze was still holding his. “What if it’s not just some stranger who left her?” she asked softly. “What if it’s someone you know?”

He frowned, sitting back in his chair. The wary look returned to his handsome face. “What are you driving at?”

She rose, stepping to the chest of drawers and returning with a small note card. Even from where he was sitting, he could smell the rose scent it had been dabbed with.

“Here,” she said. “You’d better read this. It fell out of the baby’s clothing.”

He looked at it for a moment, a feeling of unease growing in his chest. This had all the earmarks of something that was going to be extremely unpleasant. Reluctantly, he reached for the card.

“My dearest Garth,” the note began. He groaned softly, then went on reading.

“Why have you done this to me? You never come by and you don’t write anymore. I’m at my wits’ end. I don’t know what to do. I can’t handle this by myself. It’s just too hard. I feel I’ve lost your love and your support. But this baby is as much yours as she is mine. I’m leaving her for you to raise. I just can’t do it on my own. But I still love you and always will. Your Sunshine Girl.”

“Nice try, Sunshine Girl,” he said sardonically, flipping the letter down on the small table between them. He took a deep breath, then looked up into Tianna’s intense green gaze. “I assume you read this.”

“I…” She flushed, realizing she had intruded herself where she hadn’t been invited. “I’m sorry, but I thought…”

“Of course you read it,” he said, sweeping away her apologies. “That hardly matters.” He fixed her with a serious look. “What does matter is that you realize it’s a hoax.”

“A hoax?”

“Of course.” He looked at the paper as though he could start a flame if he stared hard enough. “I have no idea who this person is. And I’m not the father of her baby.”

Tianna stared at him. So this was the angle he was going to take. For some reason, she’d thought he might respond with remorse at least, and hopefully promises of support. But as she looked into his clear blue eyes, she could see that he had no intention of doing any such thing.

For the first time since she’d read the note, her confidence wavered. Maybe he was right. Maybe the baby wasn’t his. On one level, she would like to believe it. But how could that be? The note came across as so sincere. And women usually knew who the fathers of their babies were. It was hard for her to believe that any woman would set her baby out to be found like that without being darn sure….

“I assumed at least you would know who she is,” she said, pinning him with a penetrating look.

“No. I do not know who this is.”

She leaned forward, frowning. The baby seemed to be about four months old to her. “Well, if you think back…. Where were you a little over a year ago? That’s when it would have happened.”

“I was in Nabotavia,” he said coolly. “Fighting with the underground.”

“Oh.” She sat back. That certainly put a different light on the subject. Still… “But maybe she was in Nabotavia, too.”

A muscle twitched at his temple and his mouth seemed to harden. “And maybe she’s just a local girl who heard about the Rose Baby Legend and decided to take her chances.”

She held his gaze with her own intense stare. “Maybe.”

They stayed that way for a long moment as the air crackled between them. Suddenly Tianna was short of breath and afraid she knew exactly why. She licked her lips, trying to mask her breathlessness, and saw his gaze darken as he followed the path of her tongue. That only made things worse. She had to focus hard to remember what they were here talking about.

“At any rate, there’s no need for you to worry about it,” he said at last, shrugging carelessly. “I’m sure the mother will be found eventually.”

She drew in a sharp breath, back on subject and exasperated with him. “That’s all you have to say about this?”

He looked very continental and above it all. “What would you like me to say?”

She shrugged, growing more and more annoyed with him. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you’re sorry the poor little thing has been abandoned. That you’ll make some effort to find out where she belongs.” She threw out her arms. “How about giving some indication that just possibly you might give a damn?”

But what if I don’t?

He didn’t say it, but he was tempted to, more because he knew it would drive her crazy than anything else. Of course he cared on a basic human level. But that was pretty abstract. In the grand scheme of things, he had to admit that the women who left their babies hoping the royals would raise them didn’t interest him much. It had been happening for as long as he could remember. The only thing that made this instance different was that this new mother had composed a bogus note to add to the mix—and that Tianna was involved.

He had to admit, she interested him more than any woman had in a long time. Women usually swooned around him, flirted, gushed, gave every indication that they would love to be taken home and ravished. But Tianna was different. She reacted enough to let him know she wasn’t immune to the attraction that had sprung up between them from the first. But she was working very hard to resist it. And that, of course, was a challenge he might not be able to ignore.

Still, he knew she wasn’t going to be happy until he took some steps toward solving the problem of the baby—an annoyance he could easily take care of.

“If it will make you feel better, I’ll put a real expert on the case right away.” He pulled out his cell phone and quickly punched in a number. “Janus? I have an assignment for you. Please meet me in the study in…oh, say five minutes.”

“My valet,” he told her as he folded his phone and put it away in his pocket. “He’s the most trustworthy man I know. He’ll handle it.”

She sat very still and drew in a slow, deep breath. Where should she go from here? It would have been nice to see more enthusiasm from him, more interest in getting to the bottom of this mystery. It disappointed her to have him brush it off, as if it hardly mattered, as if, like any rich and powerful person, he didn’t have to deal with the problems of the little people. This was exactly what she hated about the monarchy—and one of the main reasons she was determined to slough it off like a poorly fitting skin.

He rose from his chair and she rose to face him. “Would you like to hold the baby before you go?” she asked hopefully.

His eyes shone with a quizzical sheen. “No thanks,” he said dismissively. He hesitated, then added, “Dinner is at six in the game room.”

“Oh, I can’t leave the baby.”

He looked pained. “Of course you can. I’ll send up Bridget, the downstairs maid, to sit with the baby. She often watches Marcos’s children.”

“No, I really don’t think…”

“Tianna.”

Her head jerked up at the tone of his voice. He hadn’t come right out and said, “Listen, wench, I think you’re forgetting who’s in charge here,” but he might as well have. The implication was clear as a bell.

“I require your presence at dinner,” he said, his voice low but filled with steel. “Six o’clock in the game room.”