Royally Unprepared: Prince of Pout (Part 1) (Royal Misadventures Book 5) Page 5

  Still, the level of dedication that had people exclaiming their disappointment to my face overtly came as a surprise. I’d been prepared for many things. I’d been prepared to defend her to close friends and colleagues such as Arnell, the council, my family. But I’d been unprepared for little more than professional acquaintances.

  I wandered the room, trying to look purposeful enough that people were happy with a passing greeting and promise to speak properly later. I passed the dancing couples. I checked the bar. I saw my brothers. I saw my parents. I saw Max. I saw Natalia with Lord Barr and Lord Baker. But I could not find Tati anywhere.

  Presuming she’d stepped out for a moment, I ducked into the hallway. The wave of cooler air was pleasant against my skin, but there was still no sign of Tati.

  “Dmitri…”

  I froze then smoothed out any sign of a wince before I turned around.

  “Miss Schuller. I trust you are well.”

  She pouted as she walked towards me and I looked around to find we were the only ones in the hall.

  “I’m afraid not, your highness,” she purred.

  If I knew anything about women, it was that I needed to get out of there quickly but politely. “If you’ll excuse–”

  “My poor heart is broken, you see,” she continued.

  I backed up as she kept coming, and I cursed inwardly when my back hit the wall.

  “Miss Schuller–”

  “Oh, your highness!” she cried dramatically as she pressed herself against me in a manner that had me wondering if she’d watched too many old black and white films. “How could you be so cruel?” she wailed.

  I was torn between wanting to push her away and wondering how impolite that would be. “Miss Schuller, I assure you my intention was never to be cruel.”

  “But you must know you built my expectations, Dmitri.” And she was back to purring.

  “Miss Schuller. I must apologise then, for it was never my intention to…imply any more by our time together than what it was.”

  “You must know that any woman would find it hard not to fall in love with a man such as yourself…” With every word she leant towards me further.

  Despite me trying to pull my face out of her reach, her lips brushed mine. But thankfully she pulled away – though slowly– when she heard Tati’s voice.

  “A man like him, or a crown?” my fiancée asked, obviously not impressed.

  I looked at her, guilt gnawing at me. “Darling,” I called and I felt even stupider as she looked both humoured and horrified.

  I watched her walk forward confidently and fell in love with her all over again.

  “Amanda. What a pleasure. I’m so glad to see you could make our engagement party.” She stopped just in front of us and looked between us expectantly.

  “Thank you, my lady. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Amanda said, not taking her hands off me.

  I was beginning to wonder when she was going to, and Tati was obviously wondering the same thing.

  “Are you well, Amanda?” she asked, looking pointedly at the place where her hands rested on my chest.

  “Very,” Amanda replied, her tone haughty as though waiting for me to be called out for infidelity.

  “In that case,” Tati said, taking one more step forward. “Might I suggest you take your hands off my very uncomfortable fiancé? I’d hate, in his panic, for him to try another weird pet name for me.”

  Amanda scowled heavily as she finally stood straight. She smoothed over her skirts as though trying to imply I’d been attempting to make my way under them.

  “I’m sorry you had to see that, my lady. I told his highness it wasn’t appropriate now the two of you were officially engaged.”

  I didn’t have time to convey my outrage at her lies, because Tati got there first.

  “I’m honestly not surprised that every man you’ve been with has looked such a stunning combination of awkward and terrified. But I’ll clue you in – that’s a no from them. It’s a hard pass.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to understand what true passion looks like.”

  I would have stepped in, but I knew Tati could hold her own and would be more likely to be displeased with my interference.

  Tati rolled her eyes. “No. Of course not. Because uncouth common foreigners don’t have the capacity for passion. We’re little better than animals really. Just driven by base instinct.”

  “You said it, not me.”

  Tati scoffed. “Look. You lost. Give up. This is just sad.”

  Amanda drew herself up. “What is between Dmitri and I–”

  “Media gossip is not a relationship, Miss Schuller,” I told her and she looked at me in surprise. “Neither is it a promise. You may have been able to get away with your lies previously, but I will not stand here while you presume to tell the woman I love that you and I have ever been anything but acquaintances.”

  “Dmitri–”

  “It is perhaps prudent to refer to me by my proper title, Miss Schuller.”

  “You only picked her because of her father! This is just some plot to have his family on the throne,” Amanda spat.

  I told her, “Believe what you will,” as Tati scoffed, “No, that was your family.”

  “The media will hear about this!” Amanda threatened.

  “The way they heard about your private line to me while I was away when even my parents didn’t have one?” I asked and she went pale. I nodded. “Who do you think the media will believe, Miss Schuller?”

  “You royals are always making speeches to hide some scandal.”

  I inclined my head. “We have been known to. I was referring, however, to the Marquise de Ronique.”

  Both Amanda and Tati looked at me in surprise. Tati figured it out first and turned around to see the Marquise standing a little ways behind her.

  “Is everything all right, your highness?” she asked pleasantly.

  I nodded to her. “I believe so, Marquise. Thank you.”

  The Marquise looked over Amanda as though she were little more than a squashed bug on the sole of her shoe. Her gaze passed over me, then she smiled at Tati.

  “Lady Tatiana, I do believe my sister wanted to extend her best wishes.”

  Tati inclined her head regally. “Of course.” She turned to me and, with a rueful smirk, said, “Darling?” as she held her hand out to me.

  I skirted Amanda and took Tati’s hand.

  She leant towards Amanda and said pleasantly, “I do so hope you can return the dress.”

  I supressed my laughter as we followed the Marquise back into the ballroom.

  Just before the door closed, we all heard Amanda shrill shriek of annoyance.

  Chapter Seven

  I could admit to being not entirely up with all the ins and outs of the female peerage politics aside from it being far more intricate than the men’s, but I did know that the marquise had been less than polite to Tati on every occasion they’d met. So to see them walking through the guests, their arms linked as the marquise talked to her earnestly, was a surprise. And it was a surprise the paparazzi noticed.

  Determined to not let her out of my sight again for the rest of the evening, I followed Tati as she went to speak to Charlotte Farraday and was pleased to know that Tati had obviously made one sincere friend in her time in Gallyr at least. I was even more pleased it was Miss Farraday as everything I’d heard of her painted a wonderful picture.

  As we neared Miss Farraday, the marquise called to her sister, “Charlotte! Charlotte! I was just saying to Lady Tatiana. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all holidayed in Holberg next winter together?”

  I saw the look Miss Farraday and Tati shared ad wondered what sort of in-jokes they already had together. Particularly if they were at the expense of the Marquise de Ronique.

  “Tatiana. Your highness. Allow me to offer my fondest congratulations,” Miss Farraday said warmly as she and Tati hugged.<
br />
  “Holberg, Charlotte,” the marquise said impatiently as Tati nestled under my arm again.

  Miss Farraday gave me a small conspiratorial smile. “Indeed, Vivianne. Although, I’m sure Tatiana may well have obligations of her own.”

  The marquise started as though she’d remembered something. “Oh yes. The wedding! When will it be? Have you picked a date? The end of Summer has always been my favourite time of year for a wedding.”

  Tati looked mildly surprised. “Really, marquise?”

  The Marquise nodded and I felt as though there was more meaning behind the conversation than the words on the surface.

  “Oh yes. Don’t you think? The flowers would be lovely. So much inspiration for the designers.”

  Tati nodded as her gaze slid to Miss Farraday. Both of them seemed to be supressing smiles. “I’m sure there would be.” She put her hand on my arm. “But I think I’d much rather settle a date with my fiancé. Rather than, say…without his knowledge.”

  The marquise paled a little as she looked between us in panic. “Of course,” she laughed. “Your highness, what do you think?”

  I pretended to think about it. Naturally whatever date we did pick would be done behind closed doors and after – hopefully – at least a few dates, a couple of tumbles in the sheets, and some proper quality time together, alone and with our families.

  “We promised it wouldn’t be summer,” I said slowly and noted Tati’s surprise from the corner of my eye. “Other than that, we honestly haven’t had time to talk about it.”

  The Marquise smiled. “No of course not. Plenty of time, surely.”

  I inclined my head politely. “Indeed. Now, do you mind if I borrow my fiancée?”

  The marquise opened her mouth, but Miss Farraday answered, “Not at all. Tatiana, we should catch up soon.”

  Tati nodded. “I’d like that.”

  I steered her away. “So you haven’t been a total… What do you call it? Miss? Like a hit and a miss?” I whispered in her ear teasingly.

  I felt her laughter through her back vibrate against my chest. “If I wasn’t quite so enamoured with you, you wouldn’t get away with such insults, Mitya.”

  “What if I make it up to you later?”

  She spun quickly in my arms and managed to keep her footing by leaning on me. “How long do I have to wait until later?”

  I grimaced. “A little while I’m afraid.”

  A little while turned into a few hours as we did the rounds and talked to people, posed for pictures, danced, and generally made a good show of being in the middle of everything. No matter how often I wanted to drag her away to somewhere secret, we didn’t have a chance until after midnight when we said our goodnights to all and I took her to my room.

  I opened the door and she looked around in awe.

  “This is your room?”

  I nodded as I closed and locked the door behind us. “Don’t tell me the daughter of a duke has less lavish rooms than the crown prince?” I teased and she snorted.

  “All right. When you put it like that, it makes total sense.”

  I pulled off my jacket as she had a look around, and I was very happy to just watch her.

  Unlike her room, it was more a suite of rooms. We had walked into a living area that was more set out for meetings than it was relaxing. Through double doors was the bedroom. Through there, the dressing room and bathroom.

  “Your bed is on a platform thing!” she called and I followed her into my bedroom.

  I wrapped my arms around her from behind and she giggled as she leant back into me.

  “I can get one for your room if you’d like?”

  She laughed as she pulled away and twirled around happily. “No. Thank you, though.”

  “Did you want to keep dancing?” I asked.

  She shook her head and spun to a stop, grinning at me. “No breakages, no pyrotechnics and no bruises. Are you impressed?” She struck a pose that succeeded in its intention of making me laugh.

  Then she came over to me and we wrapped our arms around each other. It was but a simple action, but one I never knew I’d craved until now.

  “Very. Though I feel there was more behind your conversation with the marquise?” I replied.

  She nodded. “Yes. A lot,” she laughed. “Most of which stemmed from previous conversations where she spent a lot of energy putting me down and pointing out how below other’s notice I should be. She used Holberg to demonstrate how I was a nobody because I didn’t even know what it was. And…get this. She and Amanda were actually implying that they were already planning your wedding for late Spring or late Summer. She said all the same things about it as she did tonight.”

  “You were terribly polite to her given all that.”

  “I totally was, though. Wasn’t I?” she giggled and snuggled into me then pulled back to look at me. “But you!”

  “What about me?”

  “You told her we promised it wouldn’t be in summer.”

  I pretended to have forgotten. “Did I?”

  She nudged me. “You did. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “True. Who did we promise, by the way?”

  “Jenn and Bea.”

  Of course. “Can I ask why? I feel as though I need to have the reason if I’m telling people.”

  She snorted. “So they were complaining about how hot it was in Australia and I made them promise they’d never get married in summer because I was adamant I’d never go back in summer. And they made me promise back, even though I said I was going to be the spinster aunt who never married.” Her cheeks went bright pink and I smiled.

  “What?”

  “What, what?” she asked shiftily.

  “What else was said to make you blush?”

  She looked at me petulantly. “They said unless I married a prince.”

  “Any prince?”

  Her cheeks went a darker shade of red. “You might have been mentioned.”

  “I might have been mentioned?”

  “Maybe?”

  “Can I ask how long ago this conversation was?”

  “You can ask. I might not tell you.”

  I wrapped my arms around her again and nuzzled into her neck. She giggled.

  “All right!” she laughed. “All right. It was the day of the art gallery exhibition opening.”

  I pulled back from her. “Dante Rios’ opening?”

  She nodded.

  “You went with Lord Barr to that opening, did you not?”

  She nodded again. “I did.”

  “Yet you were talking about marrying me?” I teased.

  She giggled again. “Yes. Thank you. We both know Eric was an obligation.”

  “You seemed to enjoy his company.”

  “I did. But neither of us considered we were more than friends.”

  “You discussed it?”

  “We did.”

  Of that I was glad. It was one thing for me to know I had done nothing to encourage Amanda Schuller’s affections and another to wonder if I was going to have an angry peer to deal with. We were long past the days of official duels, but that did not mean something less official wasn’t known to happen when the situation called for it.

  “Okay!” she said. “No more dwelling on other people. It’s just you and me for the rest of the night.”

  I smiled at her. “I couldn’t agree more, my lady.”

  I picked her up and spun her around, and she laughed again. When I put her down, I looked at her skirts.

  “Yet another dress that was really not made for…making out?” I looked at her to check I was using that phrase properly.

  Her smile widened again. “Oh, were you thinking of making out with me?”

  I slid one arm around her waist and pulled her hard up against my body. She breathed out heavily and all humour left her face to be replaced by heated desire.

  “I was thinking about more than that,�
� I told her.

  “Exactly how much more?” she asked. “Only, this dress had a thousand layers and–”

  I silenced her with a kiss and felt her smile against my lips. When I trusted she would be quiet enough for me to talk, I pulled away and ran my free hand down her cheek.

  “I was thinking perhaps you and I could spend the night together?” I asked her softly.

  She bit her lip and I was sure she wanted to sass me. “It wouldn’t be the first time. Not really.”

  I nodded. “True. But I was thinking maybe this time no one had to sneak out the next morning.”

  Her smile was somewhat whimsical.

  “What?” I asked her.

  “Did you realise you shift between English and Gallyrian now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean when you talk to me, you lose the stilted, often annoyed English and you shift back and forth.”

  “I did not know that. And you keep up.”

  She nodded. “I do.”

  I pulled her close again and whispered. “I think we’ve got to be in front of a priest before that counts, darling.”

  Her nose wrinkled and she laughed.

  “What now?”

  She shook her head. “You should have seen your face when Amanda was all trying to…” Tati burst into a fit of giggles. “So much for the stoic brooding sexy prince. You looked petrified. Anyone who looked at you would have assumed you’d never touched a girl before.”

  “I think we both know that I have.”

  She sobered somewhat and looked into my eyes. “That we do. But before you remind me,” She lay her hand on my chest, “I’m not convinced about ‘darling’ as a pet name.”

  “Why not? It’s very refined.”

  “I just don’t feel like a darling. Besides I will forever remember the look on your face the first time you said it and I’ll never be able to take it seriously.”

  I nodded. “All right. That is fair.”

  She gave a single nod. “Cool. Now.” She spread her arms wide and leant back. I tightened my grip so she didn’t fall. “I believe you were going to remind me you how you’d touched a girl before?”

  I smirked at her and she lost all teasing again as she looked at me with nothing but desire. “First you need to show me how to get this dress off.”