Chapter 36
A lexandra
By air, we travelled to Lancaster House, Raphael touching down in a clearing in the thick private woods behind the mansion. I’d rung ahead to Perkins, and Dad plus his lady friend were expecting me.
He hadn’t heard my news yet. It was still early enough not to have made the mainstream headlines he might see, and for that, I was glad.
Nothing about this was good, but fear built inside me in anticipation of my father’s reaction and the resulting stress making him sick again. Maybe if I’d followed Dori’s advice and talked to him earlier, none of this would’ve happened, but hindsight didn’t help me now.
I had to explain this to Dad in person, taking all the care to limit it to what he needed to know. I’d already warned Perkins that there might be press hunting for me, and he’d talked to the security who patrolled the estate, texting me during the flight that none had been seen yet, and they’d close the gates.
Good. We’d beat them here, which meant there was time to do all I wanted in the right order.
Most people travelling up from London would take several hours on an airport hop, and could go to Raphael’s home first, if they knew his name, and Raphael’s team plus Dori would be an hour by road in their own vehicles. Valentine’s early action meant we were on the front foot at last.
When we left the helicopter to climb into a waiting Land Rover, my father’s groundskeeper behind the wheel, nerves over a new realisation cramped my stomach.
Raphael claimed my hand across the seat. “Okay?”
“Why is it in the middle of all the drama, the one thing I’m fixating on is introducing my dad to you?”
He sat up taller. “Now I’m second-guessing what I’m wearing. Should’ve brought a smart jacket.”
I glanced over at him and shivered. Raphael was in his standard wear of black jeans and a t-shirt. We hadn’t lingered in the cottage after making our plans, and he matched my casual vibe. He was so perfect, and all I’d ever brought him was hassle.
“That isn’t what I meant. What if you meet my father and want nothing more to do with me? He can be eccentric.” I’d already explained that he was frail and his hands shook. If he was tired, the evidence of his stroke would be in his face, too. But I hadn’t shared his mischievous side and how he loved to tease.
Raphael laughed and stroked my knuckles with his thumb. “Not happening. Your exploits didnae scare me off, so nothing will.”
“Exploits?”
“Leading me on a run around town, jumping in a lake, charming birds into a riot. Ye know, the typical princess-and-bodyguard dating scene.”
I laughed, but my amusement didn’t hang around for long.
Out of the woods, we zoomed up to the crenelated entrance to a private wing of the house, surrounded by an extensive lawn and tall hedges. The entrance hall was four storeys high with a narrow tower abutting one corner. It was the prettiest house, yet never truly my home.
Raphael’s gaze travelled over the eighteenth-century stately home, constructed by an ancestor in the romantic style of much older buildings. “No wonder your da likes it here.”
“It has everything he needs, including a dungeon he regularly threatens to lock people away in.”
Someone cleared their throat, and my father’s manservant regarded us from the doorway.
Perkins bowed his head. “Your Royal Highness. Sir, welcome to Lancaster House.”
He made way for us to enter the cooler interior. Dad liked things kitsch and had had the house done out in the family tartan. That plus the deer heads and abundance of weaponry on the walls made it a true Scottish retreat. One he hadn’t left in a long time.
With the door firmly closed behind us, Perkins, who was nearing eighty if he was a day, straightened his lapels and gave us a critical but professional once-over. “Ma’am, you’ll find your father with Mrs d’Farnacee in the East breakfast room. He’s waiting for ye. Sir, if I may.”
He stepped to a tall cupboard and flipped through hangers until he extracted a tartan jacket, handing it to Raphael.
My boyfriend, because I was running with that now, slipped it on. “Perfect fit. Thank ye. Please call me Raphael.”
Perkins bobbed his head. “Very good, sir. I’m sure you’ll find His Royal Highness more amenable to a young man already dressed in his colours.” His eyes twinkled, and he indicated for us to follow.
If I’d been alone, Perkins would still have taken me to my father. Things were done a certain way at Lancaster House and had been so for decades. That familiarity gave a small degree of reassurance though did nothing to replace my worry.
Through the house, we climbed a flight of stairs, and outside a pair of tall double doors, Perkins halted and knocked. Dad called out an answer, and Perkins marched in, the sound of laughter and conversation finding us in the hall.
Raphael dropped my hand and swallowed, staring straight forward but not moving.
I nudged his shoulder with mine. “Breathe.”
“Never met a girlfriend’s parent before.”
“So, we’re dating then?”
He jerked his gaze to mine. “Of course we are. Aren’t we? I can’t believe I’m asking that in a palace to a princess.”
I preened. “Now who’s nervous?”
“He’s your father. Wait, do I bow?”
“At the neck, and call him Your Royal Highness the first time you address him and then sir after. And yes, I’ll be your girlfriend.”
His heated gaze touched mine, but we could do nothing to celebrate the moment. Not now. Later, I’d make him ask me again when I had the chance to show how it made me feel.
Perkins announced us. “Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra and her companion Raphael Gordonson.”
“Alexandra,” Dad boomed. “Come in, child.”
Raphael straightened his shoulders, and we entered the bright breakfast room. At a small table in front of open French doors, my father set down his teacup and watched our approach, his dark-blue smoking jacket wrapped tight around him despite the warm day. At his side, Sarah d’Farnacee rose gracefully and curtsied to me, her cloud of blonde hair and make-up perfect as always and her smile soft.
I greeted them both, noting that Raphael sketched a perfect bow. It had never occurred to me until now that it could be seen as strange that we did this, but my father preserved all manners of respect, and I’d been taught to from as early as I could remember. As always, Raphael rolled with the punches.
“A pleasure to meet ye, Your Royal Highness, Mrs d’Farnacee,” he said.
My father made a small shooing gesture to Sarah, and she rounded the table to stand in front of Raphael. “Mr Gordonson. I find myself in need of a strong young man to assist me down to the patio. Would you mind?”
Raphael shot me a surprised eyebrow rise but offered his arm to Sarah, then escorted her out of the French doors and down the stairs, their footsteps disappearing.
My father watched them go. I waited for his judgement.
“Smart young man. I take it you bringing him to me and Perkins stuffing him into our tartan is of significance?”
I was too nervous to sit, so held the back of a sturdy and ornate dining chair. “Yes, Papa.”
“Let’s hear it then. How long have you known him?”
“Five years.”
He sipped his tea. “His family? Perkins looked him up but found nothing.”
“He isn’t titled.”
“Then he wants one?”
I made eyes at my dad. “He’s a pilot, actually. He works hard and is self-made. He flies and drives, unlike either of us.”
My father appeared unconvinced but picked up the last bite of food from his plate and finished it. He was eating well, then. There was colour in his cheeks, and he had a snarky attitude about him that suggested he was in better health.
“Self-made or not, he’ll need to change his game in order to marry you, Alexandra. In the old days, he’d need a title.”
I resisted a disrespectful eye roll. “He hasn’t asked, so don’t jump the gun. Plus he doesn’t need to change anything. It isn’t necessary. All that matters is that he’s important to me, and I wanted you to meet him, among other things. Stop making wedding plans.”
My father hummed. “Well, I suppose he’s a better choice than that nephew of Norway you run around with. I confess I’m relieved it won’t be him who will come to me for permission.”
My nerves left me, and I rounded the seat to drop into it. “You love Dori. He’s on his way here, actually.”
Dad brightened. “Is he? Think he’ll join us at whist?”
My mind slipped to the mission Dori had taken on with Raphael’s team. To the whole drama that brought me here. I stiffened my spine. “Perhaps. There’s something I need to talk to you about. You have to promise not to rage about it.”
“Well, spit it out, then.”
“Over the summer, the king asked me to step in to carry out some public appearances while he was away.”
Dad’s lips thinned. “The nerve. Off sunning himself while he set you to task. No, no. I never wanted that for you. You have your art, plus you always hated public speaking. No, Alexandra. Absolutely not.”
“Calm or I won’t continue.” My throat clogged at his referencing my art and my aptitude. I never knew he’d noticed.
My father reached for a plastic pill dispenser on the table. He popped one of the compartments, extracted a small yellow pill, displayed it to me, then swallowed it. “Proceed.”
This was the hard part.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell him about the security leaks or the danger I’d been in with the drink spiking. Though Dad looked well, another stroke could ruin him.
I dropped his gaze and half of what I could’ve said. After our conversation, I’d go out and make the appearance that would make the press lose interest in me. Dad didn’t need to be any the wiser about that. The only part I couldn’t handle myself was Sir Reginald’s threat to put my father to work or defund him.
“They want me to do more, and I don’t mind helping out our family, but there were concerns over how it was being managed…”
“What kind of concerns?”
“Raphael’s team are bodyguards. Their advice was for me to stop. But if I’m not the one doing it, it was suggested that you?—”
“Perkins,” my father bellowed. “Fetch me my telephone.”
Perkins stepped through the door. “At once. Please be advised that we have another guest arriving. I’m informed a second helicopter recently touched down.”
My father grouched about who that might be, but I was already on my feet. With any luck, my lure had worked, and I had to get in there first to control this mess.