At His Majesty's Convenience by Jennifer Lewis

Author:Jennifer Lewis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-06-09T22:00:00+00:00

Seven

The following afternoon, Andi adjusted the collar of her new and fabulously expensive dress. Fit for a queen. The rack of designer clothes had arrived with a coordinator from Ruthenia’s most snooty bespoke tailor to help her choose the right look and make any necessary alterations.

She’d tried not to tremble when the seamstress stuck pins in around her waist and bust. Now the freshly sewn green fabric draped over her like a second skin of luxurious silk.

But did she look like a future queen? She’d be paraded on TV as one tonight. RTV was setting up cameras in the ballroom to interview her and Jake. She’d tried to beg off and delay any public appearances until after she’d made her decision, but endless calls from the television station had hounded her into it and at this point she’d appear snooty and uncooperative if she said no again.

“Earrings.” A representative from the jeweler where they’d bought the ring opened a case filled with sparkly gems. Andi hadn’t even noticed her come in, but then people were coming and going in a constant scurry, preparing for the evening shoot. The earrings blurred into a big shiny mass.

“You choose.” Andi didn’t even want to look at them. Better to let these professionals decide whether she looked like a future queen or not.

She certainly didn’t feel like one.

Was it her job to act this part? It felt more like her patriotic duty. Which was silly since she was American, not Ruthenian. At least until she married Jake.

If she married Jake.

She tried to keep her breathing steady as the girl clipped big emeralds to her ears and murmured, “Perfect.” The seamstress nodded her approval and beckoned across the room.

A middle-aged woman with a blond pompadour and a rat-tail comb approached with a gleam in her eye. She picked up a strand of Andi’s limp hair between her thumb and finger and winced slightly. “Don’t worry. We can fix it.”

Thirty minutes later her hair hung around her shoulders in plump curls that everyone assured her looked “lovely.” The woman staring back at her from the mirror, wide-eyed and pale beneath her carefully applied makeup, didn’t even look like her. She’d barely managed to remember who she was, and now she was being turned into someone else.

“Andi, can you come in for a moment? They want to check the lighting.”

She steadied herself and walked—slowly in her long, rather heavy dress—toward the formal library where the cameras were set up.

Jake was nowhere to be seen.

It’s your job, she told herself. Just be professional. Being a monarch’s fiancée definitely felt more like a career assignment than a romantic dream come true.

Strangers’ hands shuffled her into place under blistering hot lights that made her blink. More powder was dotted on her nose and fingers fluffed her curls. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the local news anchor going over some notes with a producer. What kind of questions would they ask?

I won’t lie.

She promised herself that.

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