Now Presenting (I'm No Princess Book 1) Read online

  Lia came around to hug me. “I’ve got you booked in for Friday,” she whispered to me with a smile in her voice.

  “Great. I’m so pleased I have to schedule time to spend with my sister.”

  “You’ll get used to it, Tati.” She kissed my cheek. “Love you.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled, but gave her a smile.

  Nico and I walked out of the room and found Nikolai waiting as usual.

  “I’ll walk Lady Tatiana up. You’re dismissed for the night,” Nico said to him.

  Nikolai nodded to Nico, then bowed to me. “See you in the morning, my lady.”

  “Yeah, night Nikolai,” I said.

  Nico offered me his arm and we headed towards my room.

  “Interesting outfit you chose tonight, Anya,” he said as though he hadn’t seen me in it all day, looking me over with a grin.

  I giggled. “Yeah. I’m seeing how much I can get away with.”

  “By all means. The palace could do with a little rebellion.”

  “All right, then. I challenge you to wear jeans to dinner tomorrow.”

  He leant his lips towards my ear. “I’ll go naked if you do,” he whispered cheekily.

  “Prince Dominic, are you flirting with me?” I asked in mock-horror.

  “I have been flirting with you all night, Lady Tatiana,” he chuckled.

  “The uncouth Australian girl who makes a mess and sets fire to things at the dinner table?” I asked.

  “I heard about that. And the very same.” He winked. “Besides, you are half Gallyrian so there must be some class in there somewhere.”

  I laughed. “Oh, that’s right! You’re the playboy prince. Now I just have to figure out whether you’re the kind with a heart of gold secretly wishing to be tamed, or the one who only wants to add me as a notch in his bed post.”

  We’d reached my door and we were the only ones in the corridor. I stopped and Nico put his hand on the door behind me, leaning in close.

  “Can it not be both?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “Nope, sorry. Gotta pick one.”

  He leant closer and I could smell him, a deep masculine scent that I was sure came out of an expensive bottle. I felt myself warm. “Which would you like me to be?” he smirked, studying my lips.

  I licked them subconsciously and saw his eyes blaze. God, what am I doing?

  “Oh, no. I’m not going to pick.” I smiled.

  “And why not?”

  “Because some commoner isn’t going to decide what you are for you. And anyway, you are who you are. There’s no changing that.”

  “Firstly, I think you’ll find you are no commoner–”

  “Irrelevant. Upbringing,” I replied.

  He smiled and before I knew it, he was kissing me. It took me entirely off guard, although in hindsight I really shouldn’t have been surprised. He kissed me deep and hard and it was lovely. Before I had a chance to pull away, he’d pulled away first and his eyes were bright.

  “What sort of playboy prince does that tell you I am?” he asked, his voice low and husky.

  I smiled. “The one after the bed notch.”

  “I sense that is not to your satisfaction?” he smirked.

  I shrugged. “It’s nothing to me, Dominic. You can get up to whatever you like.”

  “And what if I want to get up to it with you?”

  I laughed. “Oh, nope. Too far, man. You were doing so well too.” I put my hand on the door handle behind me. “You’ll have to start again now.”

  “Start what again?”

  I waved between us with my free hand. “This whole deal. You were doing so well, but you just jumped ahead too quickly. Back to ‘Go’ for you, do not collect two hundred dollars.” I pushed the handle down, no idea if they had Monopoly in this country or not. “Good night, Prince Dominic.” I winked.

  “Good night, Lady Tatiana,” he chuckled and I closed the door in his face.

  “Jesus, what got into you? He is a prince… Not some guy from PAC,” I whispered to myself as I headed to the bed and flopped down.

  After I berated my behaviour for a little bit longer, I pulled my laptop to me and sent Jenn and Bea that promised email. As usual, I told them everything.

  Chapter Seven

  The rest of the week flew by. Politics, tripping on flat surfaces, Gallyrian, dropping anything in my hands, etiquette, dance and flirtation with Nico, saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, and avoiding Dmitri and his stone-cold silence. Not that it was terribly difficult; it seemed wherever Nico was, Dmitri was sure to not be.

  So it was that I found myself at dinner on Thursday night. Dinner had gone about as swimmingly as usual. But I’d only managed to send my fork spinning once. I had had a couple too many wines because a certain prince kept filling up my glass – ten points if you can guess which one.

  Still, I owed Jenn and Bea a skype date now their exams were over (I’d been clever and chosen all the subjects that happened to finish sooner). So at the first sign of a yawn, I excused myself from coffee and port in the sitting room and hurried upstairs where Nikolai insisted he chaperone me and wouldn’t say goodnight until I was safely in my room with no princes in sight.

  I sent my bestest friends in the whole world a Skype chat request – hoping they were awake by then – and got changed into tracksuit pants and a slouch-necked jumper. By the time I came back, pulling my hair up, they were waiting for me.

  “HI!” they both yelled enthusiastically and I smiled. I missed them a lot.

  “Hey,” I said as I waved and settled in front of the laptop.

  “So, tell us about these princes,” Jenn said with a smile as she pushed her glasses up.

  “I want to hear about the impending engagement,” Bea argued with a shake of her head; she was the one who ensured we watched every princess movie religiously.

  “You’ve seen pictures of them–”

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t say anything about what they’re like in real life!” Jenn sighed, popping a biscuit into her mouth.

  I snorted. “Nico is exactly the guy we always thought he was,” I told them.

  “What about Dmitri?” Bea asked, scooting closer to the camera as her eyes sort of glazed over.

  I shrugged. “Worse?”

  “How could he be worse in real life? Hot guys aren’t meant to be worse in real life. They’re meant to be better!” Jenn scoffed.

  I shook my head. “No. Looks-wise, he’s…” I paused and it was only when Jenn and Bea both cooed in excitement that I realised I’d smiled a little. I shut that down quickly. “Okay. He’s hot. But his personality is even worse than Lia said.”

  “When she likes him or when she doesn’t?” Jenn asked with a smile.

  I snorted and rearranged on the bed. “Okay, it’s like this…”

  I gave her the rundown of every encounter Dmitri and I had had in the last week since I’d arrived. Including the day before when he’d interrupted my dance lesson with Nico with all his brooding annoyance because it turned out Nico was meant to be at a meeting and had ditched it in favour of hanging out with me.

  Thankfully, Nico hadn’t tried kissing me again. But every encounter was just as flirty as the first. I felt like we were both enjoying the game somewhat, but I didn’t think anyone expected anything to come of it. He was fun and our banter was amusing, but that was about as complimentary as I could be about Nico’s sincerity.

  And I told the girls this as we gossiped about whether Jack was going to actually ask Bea out or if Rosie was ever going to admit she liked Jenn. We talked about their last exams and how they’d gone. We talked about their plans for a summer without me while I planned for a second winter, this one without them.

  “But at least it’s got snow,” Jenn pointed out as I yawned.

  I nodded. “True. It’s getting thicker, too. I’ll take some snaps and send them through when I ever get some time to myself.”

/>   Bea laughed. “I do not envy you. How long do these lessons go for anyway?”

  I shrugged. “I’m hoping they’ll be over after my ball.” I faked gagged and that only served to make me yawn again.

  The three of us laughed as Bea said, “Go to bed. We can talk more later.”

  “You sure?” I asked. After all, it was the first time I’d really got to talk to them since I moved.

  “Yes,” Bea said as Jenn nodded.

  “We’re not going anywhere,” Jenn added.

  I nodded slowly. “Yeah. All right.”

  “We love you!” they chorused dramatically and I smiled.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I replied, blew them a kiss and disconnected the chat.

  But of course, I was totally wired and wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. The fire in my room was doing its job remarkably well. Which of course led to a hankering for ice cream I could only go so many hours trying to ignore. I slipped out of my room and found the palace dark and quiet, so everyone had presumably gone to bed.

  “All the better for sneaking around and investigating,” I whispered to myself as I padded along the hallway.

  I wandered fairly aimlessly, just enjoying the place and figuring the kitchen would be down. Finally, I found what looked more like a staff area and saw a light on ahead. Hoping I wasn’t going to interrupt anyone, I snuck down the corridor and peered around the door, but I couldn’t see anyone. Feeling a buzz of alcohol still running through me and being quite pleased I had an ice cream hunt to myself, I stepped into the kitchen and looked for the freezer.

  There was a muttering of low Gallyrian, then, “…just what I need,” and I jumped.

  Dmitri was leaning on a bench rudely hiding behind me with a mug and a newspaper, even more rudely eyeing me up and down and I felt more naked than I had in my underwear in front of Madame Jacqueline. And he was rudely naked. Well, from the waist up and that was bad enough. I had a long moment where I just rudely stared at him and, somewhere in the back of my head, I vowed to drink less at dinner the next night.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, thankfully breaking my concentration before I memorised the shape of his fine abs – even more perfect out of a compression shirt. A smirk played at his very nice lips, replacing the look of worry I’d barely noticed when I first saw him.

  “Uh, yeah. Seems my clock’s still all out of whack,” I replied with a nervous smile. “Thought I’d hunt for ice cream. What are you doing up?”

  He picked up his mug, stood up and moved towards me. “Ensuring I will not sleep tonight,” he answered. At my look of confusion, he waved the mug at me as he walked past. “Coffee. Do you want one?”

  “Offering me a drink? Careful, Dimitri, or I might believe you’re a decent guy under all that,” came out of my big fat drunk mouth.

  “Under all what?” There was a hint of playful disbelief to his tone.

  Oops. “You know what.”

  He shook his head. “I would not let that happen, Tatiana.”

  “Oh, good. You had me worried for a moment there,” I replied and he barked a laugh that had me smiling in response.

  “Do you want the coffee or not?” he asked as he turned to me with a smile.

  “Yes, please. That would be great.” I nodded.

  “Milk? Sugar?”

  “Milk, yes please. In the fridge?”

  “Ja.”

  I went to the fridge, got the milk out and passed it to him.

  “Dakke. Thank you,” he said.

  I smiled and went to find the freezer for ice cream. I hunted around for a while and finally found what I was hoping I’d find.

  “Brilliant!” I cried, as I hugged the box to me.

  “Something good?” he asked and I turned to him, still hugging the box.

  Really must drink less tomorrow…

  “Yes. These are great. I don’t know how he got them here, but I will be forever grateful!”

  Dmitri went back to the bench and put the coffees down, eyeing me suspiciously.

  “Do you want one?” I asked.

  “I do not know if I am brave enough to take something away from you that you clearly love.”

  I grinned. “I can spare one,” I answered, ripping open the box and pulling two out before putting the rest back in the freezer, which had started beeping at me.

  I pulled myself up onto the bench next to where he stood and passed him one of the packets. He looked at it, eyebrow raised in scepticism.

  “‘Golden Gaytime’?” he asked.

  “Sooo good!”

  “Gaytime?”

  “You don’t want it, I’ll have it,” I said with a shrug and made to grab it back from him, but he pulled it out of my reach.

  “I will try it. In the interests of international relations,” he answered sombrely.

  I tried to hide my laugh. “Of course,” I replied as I opened mine and took a bite.

  When I looked back up at him, he was watching me intently. I noticed how his eyes followed my tongue as I licked my lips and I felt my cheeks warm.

  “So tell me, your highness, any ideas on this fiancée I hear you have to announce soon?” Because when I was a little tipsy, I had a tendency to forget boundaries and blurt things out. Surprisingly, Dmitri didn’t seem to mind.

  He smirked as he opened his ice cream. “Are you interested?”

  I scoffed. “Please. I think I’d rather take my chances with Nico!”

  Dmitri paused in biting into his ice cream, seemingly unsure if it was nice or not. “It’s not as bad as I expected,” he said slowly. Then, “Dominic? Really? You’ve known him four days.”

  I shrugged. “You boys are typecast.”

  “Really? You have us all figured out?” he teased.

  “I’ve figured out who you want me to think you are. But, who’s to say if there’s more underneath?”

  “And?”

  I sucked on my ice cream in an entirely unnecessary way before I answered, but I enjoyed the look in his eyes as I did. “You’re the brooding bad boy with some chip on your shoulder. And, Nico’s the party boy – nightclubs, fast cars, women. Am I right?”

  Dmitri looked amused, but nodded once. “And what is my chip?”

  I shrugged again, knowing exactly what it was but sure that bringing up his military ambitions would make this somewhat pleasant Dmitri disappear. “Beats me, but you’re pissed about something.”

  He failed to hide his look of surprise quickly enough, but I did almost miss it. “And what about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Leave anyone at home?”

  “Well, there’s Mum and Jenn and Bea.”

  A smirk crossed his face. “No boyfriend?”

  I laughed. “Do I look like the kind of girl with a boyfriend?”

  He gave me a funny look and I thought he was about to say something, possibly even complimentary, but he only shook his head and finished his ice cream.

  “So, this dinner tomorrow…” I started, thinking of the talk from that night’s dinner; Rex had decided Lia and I should go to the dinner the next night with the military leaders. Something about it being good for assimilation or something.

  “What about it?” he asked.

  “Is it really wise I go? We all saw how well I did at the state dinner…”

  “Your concern for the wellbeing of others is appreciated. But what the king wants, the king gets.”

  “Can I tell him I don’t want to go? At this rate, a hangover isn’t off the table.”

  He huffed a laugh. “Remind me not to challenge you to drink until we build your tolerance.”

  I smiled and couldn’t help asking, “Are you going to be a bad influence on me, Dimitri?”

  His smile was warm and insinuating, and I felt butterflies. “Oh, I hope so.”

  I didn’t know where this Dmitri had come from, but I liked it.

  I looked down at the floor between my
legs in the hopes he wouldn’t notice how red I was sure I’d gone. “Who says I’ll let you?”

  Suddenly, he was standing between my legs and I was looking down at his half-naked body. I looked up and found our eyes pretty well level. His were dark and smouldering and I felt that stupid flutter again as he leant his hands on the bench on either side of my hips.

  I felt the mad urge to kiss him. What can I say? The guy had an odd effect on me, not helped by the fact I’d had too much to drink.

  He stared into my eyes and I knew he was smiling. “I could do a great many things to you, my lady.” God, why did that phrase sound so good out of his mouth? “If I felt so inclined.”

  “Really? And what? Just because you’re a prince, you think I’ll let you?”

  His eyes sparkled with humour as he shook his head. “You could not care less that I’m a prince.” I was impressed it wasn’t a question. “You just like what you see.”

  I smirked at him. “Do I?” I asked and he nodded. “You’re very sure of yourself. I was under the impression you were rude and I disliked you.”

  He chuckled as he tipped his face towards my neck and his breath made me shiver. “We don’t have to like each other to do what I have in mind,” he whispered but I was too distracted by his hand on my hip to respond.

  But all he did was pull away and pass me my coffee mug, which he’d picked up as he leant around me. My heart beat wildly in my chest and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to have heard him or not. I didn’t know if he was flirting with me, playing with my presumably obvious reaction to him, or if he’d been drinking too. I watched him, trying to gauge his intent.

  “I should walk you back to your room,” he said, picking up his own mug.

  I nodded and put mine down so I could slide of the bench without spilling it all over myself. Just as I made to move, Dmitri took me gently by the waist and lifted me off, setting me on the floor.

  “You are very short,” he commented dryly, something sombre in his eyes.

  I pushed a non-existent piece of hair behind my ear. “Uh, thanks,” I answered. He scoffed and I couldn’t help smiling up at him. “For the help. Not the insult, you arse.”

  “Calling the crown prince an arse could be considered treason,” he said, deadpan.