Chapter One #2
‘Of course.’ His private secretary and closest confidant grinned. ‘But I worry one day I’ll forget in public and call you Benno.’ He paused. ‘We need to find a gap in your diary.’
Benedikt laughed and leaned back from his desk. ‘Good luck. I’ve seen the timetable for the next month.’
‘I’m not talking about later in the month. I mean today. There’s a…problem with the schedule.’
Matthias had handled his schedule for years, juggling commitments in Prinzenberg along with Benedikt’s business interests across three continents. He couldn’t remember problems before. Not in that tone of voice. Not with that frown of disapproval.
‘Tell me what happened.’
‘Nothing I can’t handle, but—’
‘Tell me anyway.’
His old friend sighed. ‘The same thing. Staff here take it upon themselves to vet who and what you see. They think they’re doing right but forget to consult me first.’
‘They’re still loyal to my father. Or at least his ways.’
Benedikt’s mouth tightened. He’d been young when he discovered how little he liked his father’s ways. Which was why, from the time he’d had any say in it, he’d spent so much time outside Prinzenberg even though he loved it. He’d only returned full-time following his father’s recent death.
‘They’ll learn. I’ll make sure of it. But it takes time.’ Matthias sighed. ‘Meanwhile, you have a visitor.’
‘If he’s not on the schedule I haven’t got time.’
‘She was on the schedule. I put her there. But someone decided she didn’t need to see you.’ He let that sink in. ‘She turned up anyway. She’s been in the palace vestibule for almost three hours. I’ve only just found out.’
‘Three hours! In the vestibule?’ He paused, watching Matthias’s expression turn ever more sombre. It seemed worse was to come. ‘Who is she?’
‘The Grand Duchess of Edelforst’s granddaughter. Princess Annalena.’
What was a member of Edelforst’s most senior family doing here? What administrator in their right mind thought it okay to put her off and not tell him?
As if Benedikt didn’t have enough to deal with.
His coronation was fast approaching and he was still fighting spot fires left by his father, made more difficult by the fact his father had been secretive about so much.
Karl had jealously guarded his business dealings as well as his power and prestige, even from his heir.
Relations between the Grand Duchess and Benedikt’s father had been frosty, if not downright inimical. As the Grand Duchy was a semi-autonomous province of Prinzenberg, in the end his father had left the place to run itself.
The Grand Duchess had a lot of power in the province, which had traditionally been ruled along matriarchal lines. Outside her province she technically had no political authority but she was respected, even revered nationally, though she hadn’t been seen outside Edelforst for years.
Insulting her granddaughter was not how Benedikt wanted to begin their relationship. He’d planned to visit but kept being delayed as he uncovered yet more urgent problems left by his father.
There was a knock on the door before it opened. He sighed and rose, an apology forming for her wait. But surprise caught his tongue as Matthias ushered her in.
The young woman’s dark blonde hair was plaited, arching over her head in an old-fashioned coronet that added to her height.
Instead of modern dress she wore a dirndl of forest green, figured with silver.
A decorative apron of pale green covered her skirt, the fabric betraying its cost with a shimmer of silk.
Her tightly fitted, laced-up bodice moulded a narrow waist and round breasts, the low décolletage revealing the edge of an embroidered white blouse beneath it.
There was no cleavage on show and her skirt fell just below her knees but Benedikt’s skin prickled in instant male awareness.
His skimming glance rose to the dark green velvet ribbon around her throat with its silver pendant. Worn like a choker, it emphasised her slender neck and the soft-looking skin sloping down to her breasts.
Benedikt swallowed, shocked by his instant response. His fingers twitched and his lower body hardened, his breath stalling.
The dirndl was the national dress of Prinzenberg, rarely worn in the capital except at festivals. Even in her province of Edelforst, it wasn’t worn daily. His parents had regarded it as terminally old-fashioned and he’d thought of it as appealing but country cute.
This woman wore it like a weapon.
She looked magnificent. And incredibly sexy.
His first appraisal took in her traditional clothes and slender body. His second lingered on her face. Taking in eyes the green of a mountain tarn and lips that curved like the proverbial Cupid’s bow.
Dimly Benedikt was aware of his heartbeat quickening and her eyes widening as she stared too, looking almost as taken aback as he was.
His vision flickered as something hard and fierce pulsed between them. Something he felt low in his belly and high in his tightening chest.
Imagination, he told himself. The result of too little sleep and too many hours unravelling the murky web of his father’s business dealings.
Matthias broke the silence, murmuring introductions before bowing his way out. Leaving them alone.
Benedikt moved from behind his desk. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess.’
He held out his hand just as she lowered her gaze and bobbed in a brief curtsey that was graceful but not at all subservient.
His hand fell. She mustn’t have seen him reach to shake her hand.
When she lifted her head her steady stare set off warning bells. She didn’t look like a supplicant. Nor a well-wisher. Her even features were composed, almost expressionless. Too expressionless.
‘My sincere apologies that you had to wait to see me. That was most unfortunate.’
‘As you say. But I managed to get some work done while waiting.’
Her words were even yet held a note of provocation. A reminder that her time was valuable too?
He gestured for her to precede him to a pair of leather lounges facing each other. ‘Please, take a seat.’
There was a refined rustle of silk as she passed him and he found himself watching her graceful walk.
Not the hip-swinging sway of a woman in high heels to which he’d grown accustomed.
Her movements were more fluid and she sank onto the chesterfield with a grace that made him imagine her swirling around the palace’s grand ballroom in a long gown.
‘I only learned a few minutes ago that you were here.’
Her eyes widened before her forehead crinkled in a frown. ‘Yet I spoke to one of your staff soon after I arrived.’
She doesn’t believe a word you said.
It was there in her carefully bland expression and too tight jaw. And the angle of her chin, not precisely aggressive but not compliant either.
Benedikt wondered what it would be like to have this woman compliant, or, better yet, pleased and eager to see him. His palms prickled with a phantom sensation as he imagined holding her. Her chin would lift, not in pride or wariness, but to bring her lips closer to his.
Adrenaline shot through his bloodstream, making his pulse pound.
He took a seat opposite and banished the fantasy. Later, when there was time, he’d unpick how she’d planted such thoughts in his hitherto pragmatic brain.
Unlike his father, he never let sex interfere with his obligations.
‘My private secretary will get to the bottom of the miscommunication. In the meantime, again, my apologies. Can I offer you refreshments?’
‘Thank you, no. I had some recently.’
No breaking bread with the enemy, then.
She certainly wasn’t here as a friend, come to congratulate him on his accession to the throne.
His father had complained about her feisty grandmother, getting in the way of his modernisation plans.
When he was younger Benedikt hadn’t paid much attention other than to silently applaud anyone courageous enough to get in his father’s way. It seemed the old lady’s granddaughter had the same strength of character.
‘If you don’t mind,’ she said, sitting straighter, ‘I’ll get straight to business.’
‘By all means. Which business, specifically?’
Which business?
Annalena sucked in an indignant breath. As if he didn’t know full well! There could only be one reason.
How dared he pretend not to know?
He even softened his question with a slight smile as if he really cared.
As if she could be swayed from her purpose by that!
Annalena chose not to think about that moment of shocked reaction when she’d entered the room and seen him in person for the first time. Tall, well-built and suave in his expensive suit, he’d made her pause as an unfamiliar sensation triggered inside her.
His features were arresting, bold and attractive, enhanced by an intriguing groove down one cheek when he smiled.
That, and the laughter lines at his eyes, gave an impression of warmth.
As did those golden-brown eyes that contrasted so appealingly with his dark hair.
But she wasn’t fooled. He was as hard and autocratic as his father.
They even had the same stubborn, angular jaw.
‘The dam, of course.’
‘Ah.’ He paused, his expression impassive. ‘What aspect did you want to discuss?’
Annalena resisted the urge to grind her teeth. He might have been asking what cake she’d like with her coffee.
Did he really think so lightly of their concerns?
You know the answer to that. He doesn’t care any more than his father did. That’s why you’re here . Just because he looks…appealing doesn’t mean he’s even halfway decent.
She pinned on a cool smile, thankful that his arrogance temporarily banished her worry and her ingrained fear at being in the palace where King Karl, the bogeyman of her childhood, had lived. ‘All of it. You know the whole idea is disastrous. I’ve come to make sure it’s stopped.’
Now she got a reaction. His eyes no longer looked complacent. They widened in shock. His dark, angular eyebrows jerked down above his nose and his mouth lost its easy half-smile.
Obviously he didn’t like head-on confrontation.
In which case he should have done something about this much earlier. For a moment satisfaction flared, but she stifled it. This wasn’t about her but about keeping Edelforst safe.
He smoothed out his frown and spread his hands in an apparently open gesture. ‘I’m happy to take you through whatever aspect of the project concerns you. But as for stopping it… That’s impossible. It’s a tremendous opportunity for the country and will bring huge benefits long term.’
Annalena curled her hands over the arms of her chair. ‘Of course it’s possible to stop it. Work hasn’t begun.’
He shook his head, his lips curving in a half-smile, as if humouring her. But there was no smile in his eyes. ‘It’s not that simple. You may not be familiar with the ins and outs of commercial projects but commitments have been made. Contracts are in the final stages of negotiation.’
Patronising man! She might not have managed a hydroelectric project, but she knew about commercial negotiations, both on her grandmother’s behalf and in her own work. Botanical research that identified compounds with potential medical and other uses was highly prized.
‘If contracts are being negotiated they haven’t been signed.’
‘But statements of intent have, with penalty clauses if the project doesn’t proceed.’
‘You were so sure you could force this through, despite the opposition?’
‘Opposition? You’ve been misled. A thorough feasibility study was undertaken and no negative issues were found that outweighed the benefits of the scheme.
’ He smiled, a charming smile that Annalena guessed would make a lot of women melt.
Even she felt a tickle of appreciation low in her body.
‘I’m happy to explain the scheme and put your mind to rest.’
Put her mind to rest!
How dared he? He made her sound as if she were too ignorant to understand what the scheme involved. As if she’d come here on a whim. She’d guarantee she knew more about it than he did.
Now she knew how he worked. He used charm to cloak his ruthlessness instead of the aggressive bluster his father had employed. One had threatened people into compliance and this one showed friendly concern that was barely skin deep.
Contempt fired in her blood.
He intended to brush their concerns aside. To downplay them and carry on regardless. Because, like his father, he had the power.
Her heart thudded so hard and fast she almost put a hand to her breast to calm it. Instead she kept her hands where they were, a lifetime’s lessons in control and decorum coming to her aid.
She drew a slow breath. She’d come hoping they’d discuss this sensibly and he’d see reason. She’d hoped he wasn’t like his father.
Above all, she’d hoped he wouldn’t force her hand.
Instead he was fobbing her off.
‘There’s nothing I could say to dissuade you?’
His smile was sympathetic. Or was that pitying? ‘I’m afraid not. But—’
‘Please! No more weasel words about tremendous opportunities and the public good. We both know they’re false.’
She’d shocked him. He looked almost comically stunned, as if no one ever called him on his lies. If the situation weren’t so dire she might find it amusing.
But this wasn’t funny. They’d done everything they could.
Submitted detailed reports and evidence.
Experts had talked at length with royal administrators.
From the moment the massive dam was mooted under his father’s reign, everyone from her grandmother to scientists, sociologists and farmers in Edelforst had pleaded to save a huge proportion of their land from being flooded.
No one had listened.
There was only one way to stop this disaster, but it meant doing something so drastic Annalena had desperately hoped to avoid it. The thought of inserting herself further into this awful place filled her with dread. But this wasn’t about her.
Shoring up her resolve, she drew some papers from her pocket and held them out, pleased her fingers didn’t tremble. Though from this moment, her life would never be the same.
Benedikt of Prinzenberg rose and took the papers. ‘What are these?’
‘The documents that will ensure the dam isn’t built.’ Annalena sucked air into constricting lungs. ‘Proof you’re not the legitimate ruler of Prinzenberg. I am.’