Some Proposal (I'm No Princess Book 4) Read online

  “Lady Tatiana.”

  I smirked and the humour mirrored in his eyes. “I doubt I can convince you to call me Anya, so let’s just drop the ‘lady’, shall we?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Eric, please.”

  “Eric.”

  “Your grace, the car is ready,” Medina said and I yet again rued how silent that man was.

  “Thank you, Medina.” Dad looked to us. “Right. You four have a wonderful night. Lord Barr, Lord Baker, it was a pleasure to see you both again.”

  The men nodded and replied in agreement and I tried to catch Lia’s eye. She finally looked at me and I made my eyes wide in question. She gave a small smile as she cleared her throat and looked away and I knew she was agreeing with me – Dad had found me quite an appropriate date. With a title and everything. I didn’t know guys closer to my own kind came with titles.

  “Natalia,” Rupert said as though he spent every waking moment astounded by her beauty, “may I?”

  He held his elbow out to her as he walked towards her. I watched the absolute adorableness play out as she gave a shy smile, nodded and took it before letting him lead her out.

  “Tatiana?” Eric said and I nodded with a little more cheek in my attitude.

  “Eric.” I took his elbow and gave Dad’s humoured smirk a wink as we followed Lia and Rupert.

  When we were closed in the comfort and relative privacy of the back of the Maybach, a little of Lia’s formality dropped and she actually took Rupert’s hand of her own volition. I would have pulled her up on it with an only partly teasing ‘aw’, but I didn’t want Rupert thinking I was taking the total piss out of them. The poor guy was not ready for the full Anya. Yet. If he and Lia got serious then he’d meet her, but I’d ease the guy in slowly for the sake of my older sister’s potential happiness.

  “So who is this artist?” I asked looking around the car.

  Lia rolled her eyes and Rupert grinned.

  “Dante Rios,” Eric answered, leaning towards me. “He’s Gallyr’s most prominent artist and his exhibits are said to be commissioned by the highest of the peerage.”

  “Are they?” I asked, trying not to snort at the jokingly awed way Eric said that.

  “Who knows,” Rupert said with a shrug.

  Lia leant forward conspiratorially. “Lydia Delafose thinks he’s only popular because he says he is.”

  “How does that work?” I asked.

  Eric chuckled. “Wait until you see his art before you ask that question.”

  I shared a laugh with him and we spent the rest of the short trip chatting easily. Lia was an interesting combination of her usual self, but also self-conscious and I thought that was probably a good sign for the whole giving Rupert a proper chance. He and Eric seemed like almost perfectly normal men in their early twenties, only slightly more refined and a little less prone to swearing.

  When the car pulled up to the gallery, it was much like the ballet had been. People milled around on either side of the carpet leading inside and flashes from cameras went off here and there. A valet opened the door and I waited for Rupert to help Lia out, then it was my turn.

  “My lady,” Eric said with a playful half-smile and an outstretched hand.

  “My lord,” I replied in kind as I let him help me out of the car.

  As I got my feet under me, something struck me. I didn’t know what it was, or why I’d suddenly thought of it. But I remember Dmitri’s words about the people at the ballet premier.

  I looked around and I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination or something else, but I felt like maybe I saw it. Although it was less like something visual and more like a feeling. There was an undercurrent of something in the people watching us walk into the gallery. There were plenty of smiling faces, of people yelling names and trying to get attention. But there was also some who muttered to the person next to them while they looked us over like we didn’t belong.

  Normally I’d have assumed that was just me because I’d bet there were a lot of people – me included some days – who thought I didn’t belong. But these people weren’t even looking at the four of us. They were looking at the group who’d arrived before us.

  “Tatiana?” I heard Eric’s voice through my thoughts and felt a hand rest gently on the small of my back.

  I looked up at him with a reassuring smile. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” he replied with a look of soft humour playing in his eyes.

  “My ladies! My lords! A photo?” someone called as we walked along the carpet.

  We stopped and did our bit. Journalists asked us who we were wearing and, naturally, Lia knew who had made her dress, not that anyone could see it yet because we were still outside in the cold in our coats. But I had no idea, which I didn’t hesitate to tell them. Thankfully, the journalists just laughed, took another picture of us and turned to the next group.

  “Why is it they never care what the men are wearing?” I asked.

  “Because we don’t look nearly as beautiful,” Eric replied and I snorted.

  “Oh I don’t know. You look pretty good to me. Besides the name of whoever designed your suit would mean as much to me as whoever designed my dress.”

  “In truth, it would be the same for me,” Eric said quietly like we were sharing a secret.

  As we walked in the doors, we handed out coats over to the staff and I looked around at the exhibit. Eric hadn’t been totally wrong about waiting to see Dante Rios art before asking any questions.

  In my completely uneducated opinion, art was a loose term for the pieces on display. It was an eclectic mix of…I wasn’t really sure what to call some of it.

  The paintings were like big print outs of pictures – Dante may or may not have taken – which had been painted on or over with basically no attempt made at making it look like it belonged. It was worse than me trying to use Photoshop. Case in point, there was a picture of a group of people obviously taken at different times in different places with different shadows all grouped together to look they were playing football. And one of the pictures was only taken from the waist up so the legs were drawn on. One person also had their eyes crossed out in big angry red lines.

  There were sculptures made out of different coloured bits of plastic in no discernible pattern. There was a series of four named by the seasons and I had no idea how the seasons had inspired them. There was another series named after emotions which again didn’t make any sense aside from the fact that hate was bigger than the rest and I could understand – I hoped – that that was making a statement of some kind.

  “So…” I started slowly. “This is art?”

  Lia failed to hide her snort and that made Rupert and Eric laugh under their breaths.

  “So I am told,” Eric said quietly to me, his hand finding the small of my back again as the men directed us through the throng of people gathered.

  “Oh,” I said as I saw one I liked. “That one’s nice.”

  “That’s a Monet,” Lia giggled and I sighed.

  “What’s it doing here then?”

  “That’s the end of the exhibit,” Rupert whispered.

  “Ah.”

  We spent a humorous night pretending to be fantastically well-versed art critics, complimenting Dante’s use of light and colour and whatever else sounded even vaguely appropriate. We found ourselves in a pickle once or twice when someone thought we were in earnest and started agreeing with us. But we managed to keep our laughter to ourselves until they left again.

  It was really nice to feel somewhat normal again. It was almost the best of both worlds – I was dressed in a fancy dress at a posh function, but Lia and I could laugh and chat and be almost ourselves with two handsome, funny young men.

  Chapter Three

  Something woke me and I wasn’t sure what it was for a moment.

  Then my foggy brain registered something about a vegemite sandwich and I sat up quickly, blinking heavily. It took a few seconds for my
vision to clear but when it did I found two very excitable princesses at the foot of my bed playing a song I almost recognised playing on Faith’s phone.

  “Aren’t you two meant to be at school?” I asked, my voice still a little rough with sleep.

  “Happy Australia Day!” they cried happily and I laughed.

  “Uh. Okay…?” I waited for the explanation.

  They both plonked onto my bed and I saw Lia standing behind them.

  “They decided to wake me up first,” she said, yawning.

  I nodded. “Makes sense. What are you guys doing home?”

  “It’s been pretty busy since you arrived,” Lina said.

  “And we thought you might be a bit homesick,” Faith added.

  “So we thought we’d welcome you home.”

  “We’re doing Australia Day!”

  I looked to Lia for confirmation and she nodded resignedly, still in her pyjamas. She came around the side of the bed and flopped onto it, her head hitting the pillow with a happy sigh.

  “They’ve found the Hottest 100 and everything,” she mumbled sleepily.

  “Seriously?” I asked.

  The girls nodded.

  “Everything’s all set up. You just have to get dressed!” Faith said.

  “Swimsuit,” Lina added.

  I looked at them. “Sorry? Bathers? In the middle of winter?”

  “It’s still snowing outside. I checked,” Lia said from beside me as though she could read my mind.

  But Faith and Lina were obviously not to be deterred as they were both nodding vigorously and it was then I noticed they weren’t in their dressing gowns, they were in more kimono or kaftan style things.

  I rubbed my eyes. “Let’s be thankful the bedrooms are well heated,” I murmured then looked at them again. “Okay. Bathers?”

  “If bathers are a swimsuit, then yes.” Lina nodded.

  I sighed. “Okay. I have no idea where it is though.”

  “In the drawers,” Lia mumbled.

  I nodded. “All right–” Lina and Faith cheered and I laughed as I tried to shush them. “Can I at least know what we’re doing and who’s going to be there?” I asked when they were quiet enough.

  “We’re going to the beach and the whole family,” Lina said and I hoped that wasn’t the literal beach.

  “Nico might not if Arnell doesn’t let him off and Mitya was being a right bore about the whole thing. But Mother and Father said they’d be there,” Faith said.

  “Kostin seemed very excited.”

  “We spent ages researching it!”

  Lia lifted her eyes just enough to look at me in panic. I personally had never Googled Australia Day so who in the hell knew what they’d come up with. Still if they’d found Triple J’s Hottest 100 we were off to a good start. And it made sense that it was on in Gallyr on our January 26 since it was actually the day after in Australia already.

  “Hang on,” I said. “Doesn’t the Hottest 100 start at midday?”

  Lia nodded as she pushed herself off my pillows awkwardly. “Yeah. We’re going to put it on after dinner I hear.”

  I nodded slowly. “Got it all thought out, then?”

  Lina and Faith nodded excitedly and I smiled at their enthusiasm.

  “Okay. I will go on a bathers hunt.”

  “You too, Lia!” the princesses said and Lia nodded.

  “Yep. On it.”

  “We’ll meet you in the hallway,” Faith said as she patted my foot then they bundled Lia out of the room.

  I dragged myself out of bed and looked at the clock. It was only ten so that wasn’t quite so bad. We hadn’t been out all that late, but it had been a loud night with lots of laughter and a few drinks so I was feeling a little fuzzy and my throat felt rough from talking loud enough to be heard over everything else.

  “Bathers,” I mumbled as I stumbled to the walk in robe.

  I searched through a few drawers and finally found a pair of bathers tucked away like they were in hiding until summer. I personally didn’t blame them. I would quite like to have kept them in hiding until it was more than practically freezing outside. But I pulled them on, wondering if a red two-piece bathing suit was actually as risqué as it felt. As a counter-measure, I pulled on my tracksuit pants and a hoody and slipped on my ugg boots before meeting the girls in the hallway.

  “That is not your swimsuit,” Lina chastised.

  Without thinking, I pulled up my hoody and showed them the top underneath. “Bathers,” I said as though that proved it as Lia came out of her room in a very summery looking dress, followed by her ever-present shadow. “You’re going to freeze on the way to wherever we’re going,” I told her.

  She pointed at the princesses. “Then I’ll be in company.”

  “If I have to eat the lot of you to survive then it’s not my fault.”

  “Noted,” Lia said with a wry smile and a nod.

  “Kol, are you coming to the festivities?” I asked him. He gave me a look that quite clearly said I was to be quiet. “Excellent,” I said and I saw the corner of his lip twitch like he was trying not to smile.

  “Come on. Come on! We can’t have a full day if we don’t hurry,” Lina said.

  I looked at Lia and we nodded to each other. “No. Of course not,” I said as we followed them, our three guards trailing behind us.

  I had absolutely no idea where we were going but unless there was a heated indoor pool hiding in the bowels of the palace – which I seriously doubted – then I wasn’t sure how much I was looking forward to whatever it was. However, when we walked into the ballroom, it was a different story.

  Fires raged in every hearth and the heavy curtains were drawn, making the place too hot in my warm clothes. Every light blazed so it was bright like a hot summer’s day. And there was an above ground pool sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by beach umbrellas and towels laid out like we were looking over Glenelg beach on a busy day.

  Lia and I both took an uncertain step forward, laughing.

  “Oh my God!” Lia said. “This is amazing.”

  Rex, Hilde, Kostin and Dad were there with drinks in their hands, smiling at us as we came in. Kostin and Dad were wearing nothing but boardies, Rex wore a t-shirt with his, and Hilde wore a suave flowery one-piece with an attached skirt and a light top. Her drink even had a little umbrella in it.

  “Oh! Mum’s going to be pissed she missed this,” I chuckled.

  “It’s okay?” Lina asked and Lia hugged her.

  “It’s brilliant.”

  “How did you do all this?” I asked.

  Faith tapped the side of her nose. “We know some people.”

  “I heard there was swimming to be done,” came a loud voice and I looked over to see Dad waving us over.

  “Oh, Mitya! Are you swimming too?” Lina asked and I felt my stomach drop in partial excitement and partial terror.

  On one hand, we’d basically seen each other naked. On the other, we hadn’t seen each other almost naked in front of our siblings and parents…

  Oh. This just got so much worse…

  “Ja. I was…persuaded,” he replied and I felt that shiver run up my spine.

  “I thought you didn’t negotiate with terrorists?” Faith asked.

  “Normally, I do not. My little sisters however are extremely skilled negotiators.”

  “And I…encouraged him,” Hilde said.

  “Lady Tatiana, is that common swimming attire in Australia?” Dmitri said and I finally turned to look at him.

  Damn him.

  Damn him to Hell and Hades and Tartarus and whatever other horrible, scary afterlife place there was.

  Like his brother and my father, he wore boardies. Unlike his brother and my father, he wore them far too well for his own good. Add to that the slight hint of a cocky smirk on his face and the shine in those dark brown eyes and, if I wasn’t already totally in serious lust with him, I would have fa
llen then and there. Hard.

  As it was, what I would usually mistake for an insult, I took as a joke and I gave him a pithy smile in response. “Of course not. We just don’t usually make our way to the pool – sorry, beach – through an old, draughty palace.”

  “You have something against old, draughty palaces?” he asked.

  Again, the tone was much like it had always been in public. That sense of intense disapproval but with something else that…

  No. Surely, it hadn’t always been there?

  It was like he had to sound disapproving because then people would suspect there was something more between us. As though if he didn’t put a chill between us then everyone else would feel the heat… But then that would mean…

  “Tati?”

  I blinked and looked around. “Uh. No,” I laughed. “Sorry. What? No. I love them. They’re just not a usual beach-going feature in Australia.”

  Dmitri inclined his head and my brain was trying to over-analyse every single encounter we’d ever had to work out if my new theory was right. But I couldn’t let myself think that way, so I shook my head and headed over to Dad who was standing next to a tub full of ice and beer bottles.

  “Beer, kiddo?”

  “At ten in the morning?” I asked with a wry smile as he pulled one out and opened it for me.

  “How very Australian,” Lia giggled, coming up behind me and stealing my beer out of Dad’s hands.

  It was just the nine of us in the great big ballroom. Not even Lancaster or one of the other staff were there to open our drinks or pass us food or napkins. And there was an air of relaxation that I only realised I’d been missing now it was obvious how long I’d felt an undercurrent of tension around me.

  I jumped music started and Dad passed me another beer.

  “The girls have been working on the playlist all week,” he said, smiling at them fondly. “I doubt you’ll recognise most of the songs, but I promise you they picked well.”

  I snorted. “Everyone knows ‘The Horses’, Dad.”

  Dad’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “I’m impressed.”

  “I’m not completely out of touch with your old people music.”

  He snorted. “It came out less than thirty years ago.”