Follow the Sun (20 page)

T
HEY WANTED TO
persuade her to take the crown, and they went all out, starting the next morning.

She liked purple irises; when Jeopard strolled out of the bedroom wearing nothing but a sleepy squint, he found several maids and butlers setting a dozen vases full of irises around Tess’s suite.

One of the maids saw him, squealed, and dropped her vase. Jeopard stalked back into the bedroom.

“What does
otrolig
mean?” he demanded.

Tess collapsed in the center of the bed, laughing. “ ‘Incredible.’ ”

After breakfast a palace aide requested that they come to one of the courtyards. There sat four sleek, shiny Jaguars in assorted colors. The aide handed her four sets of color-coordinated keys, smiled, bowed, and said, “From the royal collection.”

Several local designers were waiting for her after lunch with racks of clothes and accessories to suit her everyday needs. Then she met with a renowned Paris couturier to discuss “a few simple gowns for your formal needs, mademoiselle.”

What he proposed was a wardrobe worth close to two hundred thousand dollars.

“Not including shoes,” she told Jeopard breathlessly.

They escaped for an hour to explore the palace gardens. She wore a very feminine red suit with a blousy bodice, padded shoulders, and white lapels. Jeopard sank his hands into the pockets of yet another black suit and watched her wistfully gaze into a fountain.

She glanced up, tilted her head to one side as if she were seeing him for the first time, and said huskily, “Well, hello, gorgeous. Do you know that
you look mysterious and dramatic in those black suits?”

He felt as if he’d just been enchanted by a garden elf. “Do you know that you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen?”

Her eyes glowed with devotion. “We are very much in love with you.”

“We?”

She grinned. “The royal ‘we.’ ”

His heart sank. She was enjoying her new status, it was obvious. He couldn’t blame her, but he ached to keep her from drifting away from him.

“No one’s watching. Go ahead,” he urged wickedly. “Enjoy the water.”

She looked from him to the fountain, biting her lower lip. “All right.”

Tess stripped off her white pumps, then went behind a bush and quickly shucked her panty hose, glancing around with delighted naughtiness. She tossed Jeopard a kiss, climbed over the fountain wall, and stood in knee-deep water.

“Brrrr! Jep, this must have come straight from a glacier!”

But she padded around happily, bending down to scoop water over her hands, holding the water to her nose, and inhaling its scent. “It’s so crisp and pure!”

“It’s probably Perrier.”

They both laughed. Tess flung water in the air and watched the silver droplets fall. “Did I ever tell you about the Cherokee fairies?”

“Is this a bad joke?”

“No. Really. The Cherokees believed in all sorts of spirits. They called the fairies ‘Little People.’ The Little People were very good-hearted and helpful; they were best known for leading lost hunters back home.

“Then there were the
Nuhnehi
, a race of invisible immortals who looked just like ordinary Cherokees—when they wanted to be seen, that is. They were also good-hearted; sometimes they’d show up and help fight the Cherokees’ enemies.

“There were also fairies who lived in the caves and on the mountaintops, and some who lived in the rivers and creeks.”

Jeopard peered over the edge of the fountain. “I hope a few followed us here. We can use the help.”

“I hope so too.”

She delicately flung some water at him, as if christening him. “I’m going to bind you to me forever. This is part of a love charm I read in the book on sacred formulas.”

His heart pounded as Tess raised her wet hands to the sky and chanted, “Listen! No one is ever lonely with me. Now he has made the path white for me. It shall never be dreary.

“Let him put his soul in the very center of my soul, never to turn away. Grant that in the midst of women he shall never think of them. I belong to the one clan alone that was alloted to him when the seven clans were established.

“I stand with my face toward the Sun Land. No one is lonely with me.” She looked at Jeopard solemnly. “Your soul has come into the very center of my soul, never to turn away. I take your soul.”

He gazed at her with a sweet breathlessness inside his chest. “Will you marry me?”

So much for objectivity
.

Her hands paused in the air. She stared at him, and time seemed to stop under a sky as blue as the Blue Princess, a sky as eternally beautiful as the look in her eyes.

“Yes, Sundance, I will.”

He stepped close to the fountain. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him, happy tears shining in her eyes. Jeopard ignored the self-rebuke that stabbed at him. He’d enjoy this wonderful moment and let the future take care of itself.

“Ahem.
Prinsessa
, pardon.”

They looked up to find a stern protocol officer glaring at them.

“The duke, your cousin, is here to meet you.”

•  •  •

O
LAF STARHEIM WAS
perhaps forty years old, short and very pale, with thinning blond hair and pink cheeks. He wore a gray necktie and a gray suit that made him look even less vibrant.

Tess was shocked to find him so harmless in appearance; then she looked directly into his washed-out blue eyes and saw a sharp slyness that chilled her skin.

This was the man who wanted her dead, though there wasn’t any way she could prove it.

With a crowd of officials around them, she could only smile at him and try not to shiver when he smiled back. She wanted Jeopard beside her, but Jeopard had been barred from the room. The look in his eyes had left no doubt that he was frustrated by the exclusion.

“What a remarkable claim.” Olaf said softly. “So you say you’re the queen’s daughter?”

“I
am
Isabella’s daughter.”

“With such, hmmm, unusual coloring. Your father was an Indian?”

“A nearly full-blooded Cherokee, yes.”

“But you grew up in England?”

“In boarding school there.”

“And you think someone such as yourself is capable of assuming the queen’s duties?”

“Yes, but I may relinquish my claim. I understand that if I did, Parliament could vote to discontinue the monarchy.”

“And destroy more than a thousand years’ of tradition?”

“It seems to me the best of the tradition died with my mother. Perhaps the world is no longer a place where a few can expect privileges because of their bloodlines.”

“You talk nonsense, like an American!”

“I am an American. From the original Americans.” She gestured toward the Cherokee angles of her face. “And that heritage is much older than the ruling house of Kara.”

He was almost trembling with rage. Tess tried to freeze him with her eyes and hoped that she looked half as deadly as Jeopard could.

Then she turned and walked away.

T
ESS WENT TO
bed with a mournful headache caused by seeing what kind of cousin she had on her mother’s side of the family. She made a note to call Georgia and learn whether the lawyer had located Erica and Kat yet.

She needed a dose of good cousins to wipe Olaf from her mind.

Jeopard waited until she was sound asleep, then slipped out of her apartment. He found the palace maid who’d called him “incredible” and thanked her with so much charm that she nearly dissolved inside her uniform.

Then he asked her whether Olaf had an apartment at the palace.

Yes, there were apartments for him and other members of the extended royal family. He was in his suite now—she knew because she’d heard a servant complaining about the duke’s demands for liquor. And yes, she could tell him how to find the duke’s apartment.

When Jeopard arrived there, he told Olaf’s secretary that he had a private message from the
prinsessa
. The secretary ushered him into a sumptuous office, where Olaf sat brooding in a thronelike chair behind a large desk.

When he saw Jeopard his face grew even paler than usual. “My people told me that you’d gone to work for her after finishing my job,” he said icily. “She provides benefits I did not, I’ve heard.”

Jeopard stopped at the edge of the desk, pulled a small automatic pistol from one pocket, leaned forward, and pointed it directly at the Duke’s forehead.

“I know that you tried to kill her. I can’t prove it, but it’s true. Listen to this carefully. If she has an accident
or develops some sort of suspicious ailment, you’re dead. Dead.

“Even if you manage to get rid of me first, I have friends who know everything about you. They’ll make sure that the job gets done. Believe me, they can find you anywhere, and it won’t matter how much money you have or what royal title you have or how well you try to protect yourself. Understand?”

“Such bizarre fears shouldn’t worry you, Mr. Surprise,” he managed to get out in a faint voice. “I’m sure no one wants to harm you or the
prinsessa.
”

“You’ll return the Blue Princess diamond to me.”

“Now, really, your accusations—”

Jeopard pressed the gun’s muzzle between Olaf’s eyes. “I want that diamond back. Understand?”

The duke shut his eyes and nodded.

“Good.” Jeopard stepped away and slipped the gun into a pocket. “One other thing. Your twenty-thousand-dollar fee. I donated it to charity.”

Jeopard went to the door, paused with his hand on the latch, and turned for one last look at the duke, who seemed to be wilting behind the enormous desk.

“Don’t come near her again; don’t talk to her. Ask your people for details about my reputation. Believe what they tell you.”

The duke buried his head in his hands as Jeopard left the room.

I
T WAS THE
most amazing dress. Tess gazed at herself in the mirror. The sleek satin ball gown was meant to look regal, and in truth, it made her feel that way.

The sleeves were long and tight, with puffed shoulders. The V-necked bodice hugged her gracefully to the waist, where it flared into a voluminous and flowing skirt.

One sleeve and half of the bodice were a glossy black; the black ran down the neckline diagonally to her hip, where it disappeared under a wide black-and
white-striped bow. The rest of the dress was a soft, antique-pearl shade of white.

Three maids fussed over her appearance, oohing and aahing, admiring the way the stylist had swept her dark hair into an old-fashioned chignon. They called for the valet, and he entered her dressing room carrying a black, velvet-covered case in both hands.

“What’s this?” Tess murmured.

“The prime minister asks that you wear these in honor of your mother.”

The valet opened the case and revealed a pearl-and-diamond tiara with a matching bracelet and teardrop-shaped earrings.

Tess trembled as the maids helped her don the exquisite jewelry. Her voice shaky, she asked, “Has Mr. Surprise finished dressing?”

The servants greeted her questions with awkward silence and furtive looks. “He was asked to go ahead of you. Your Highness. The prime minister wished to speak to him in private before the ball began.”

Tess whirled around, studying their faces anxiously. “Would you send for him, please? He’s supposed to escort me.”

“The prime minister intends to do that. Your Highness.”

Tess rushed up to Kristian Bjornsen as he entered the anteroom of her suite. The tall, graying prime minister was a Scandinavian Jimmy Stewart; there didn’t seem to be anything harsh about him, but his quiet presence was commanding.

“What’s going on here?” she asked firmly.

“Mr. Surprise agrees that it would be best if you experience this event alone,” Kristian explained gently. “Tonight you’ll meet our most important political and social leaders. Mr. Surprise will be in attendance, but he intends to stay in the background.”

Kristian Bjornsen paused, looking solemn. “
Prinsessa
, this evening I’d like to announce who you are.”

•  •  •

H
OW COULD JEOPARD
do this to her? Tess stood beside the prime minister, her hands clasped loosely in front of her, her head up. The magnificent ballroom simmered with excitement and hushed whispers-rumors had been traveling around Kara’s inner circles for two weeks, and now they’d been confirmed.

Queen Isabella had given birth to a daughter, and here she was to meet the country’s best and brightest; she was Kara’s princess and might one day be its queen.

And all Tess could do was stare numbly into the crowd, tormented, searching the room for the man who’d betrayed her.

She answered questions in a daze; she heard her beauty congratulated and her mother complimented; she was told with which men she should waltz and why each one was important.

It finally dawned on her that most of her partners were single, under forty, and members of royal families. With horror Tess realized that she was being presented with acceptable candidates for a husband.

Had Jeopard known about this too?

At the end of the long evening she dragged herself to Kristian Bjornsen and in a soft, emphatic tone said, “If you do not find Jeopard Surprise and bring him to me this instant I shall do a war whoop and throw hors-d’oeuvre knives at the orchestra.”

Astonished, he stared down at her. “Your Highness, there’s only one waltz left for the evening. And we’ve already scheduled—”

“
Now
, sir.”

“We don’t want you to be unhappy. Your Highness.” He signaled a man and sent him for Jeopard.

Unhappy? Was that a strong enough word? How about miserable? Disappointed? And one waltz with Jeopard wouldn’t change the fact that he’d deserted her. Tess went to the center of the ballroom and waited.

The glittering crowd began to part to allow the lone, unfamiliar figure through. People stared at the glorious
blond stranger dressed in white tie and black tails. His stunning entrance bespoke a natural ruler and a strength of character that made him a royal presence in his own right.