Page 35 of Forbidden Prince
"I would compare our castle staff with hotel staff in any country, with benefits like vacation time. Most are full time with two days off, but we have part-timerstoo."
He opened the ballroom door. Renee half expected to be wowed from the enormous chandelier like in the cartoons when she entered the room, but she laughed. Rows upon rows of wedding gowns greeted them, half stealing the limelight from any chandelier, which illuminated nicely. Her face must have given her away because he walked over to her and placed his hand on the small of her back. "Renee, what'swrong?"
"I didn’t know we’d have all these dresses like in your mother’s house." She pulled away and then paced. "Please send a note to your mother that we are getting married and once I go through these, we’ll tell her what dress Iwant."
Marcus paused. "You don't haveto."
"Yes, I do," she said. Something was off inside her, but she didn’t know what it was. She tried to brush off the thought and focus on the task. "And it will be easier to focus in your mother's with this done. I want all our attention on myparents."
"I'll grab my laptop in the library. Meet me there when you're done with the dresses? It's across the hall." He led her to the next doors that he flung open. "I want to take you to the village on this island when you’rethrough."
She kissed his cheek, thankful she knew where he'd be, and then followed him to close the door the second heleft.
The designer dresses were still in the order she'd left her pile. His mother must have known. She picked up the first dress and slipped it over herhead.
She stood, looking at the horrible mess she made with wrinkles and twisted lace when Anise came in. "Let me help you,miss."
"Anise." Renee relaxed, thankful until Anise tugged the laces so tight Renee couldn't breathe. Once she adjusted to the dress, she asked, "When did youarrive?"
"This morning." Anise smoothed a line of satin. "My brothercalled."
Renee trekked out to a mirror in the room and stared at herself in the dress. This modern lace cut wasn't nearly as appealing as she’d thought. She shook her head. "Can you undome?"
"Of course," Anise replied. "Let's find you a dress so that you can marry PrinceMarco."
The next gown reminded her of 1985 Madonna so she laughed. "No." The one after that made her feel like she was poofy and goofy looking, so no. However, the fourth dress was satin-soft material, had a lace neckline up to her throat, and made her feel like a true princess. Elegant, and beautiful. Tears welled in her eyes. "This is it, Anise. Please tell thequeen."
"You look lovely," Anise said and helped her out of thedress.
At least her biggest task, according to his mother, was done. She threw on a new green sundress that Anise handed her and her matching green Givenchy sandals. "Thankyou."
Renee popped her head in the library, searching for Marco. He had his back turned to her as he stared at his computer screen. She walked over and saw the words "Suspected Anarchists" on the screen in bold but he shut it down when she touched his arm. She asked, "Are youready?"
If she asked about what she’d read, she'd be more afraid. So instead, she leaned against his table and sent him a friendly smile. "I'm ready." He stood and closed his laptop entirely. "We'll talksoon."
He led her out of the library and toward the door in a circular fashion to get a light jacket from the armory for her to help with the ocean breeze. The moment they were outside, she realized they weren't heading toward the gate and the village. He brought her to a side building next to thecastle.
A slight cramp at her stomach made her wonder if she was about to start her period. Or maybe it was the eggs forbreakfast.
He opened the side door and chimes played above them. Marco could never be dull. "Where are we going?" She’d thought he’d said thevillage…
"I want to show you something." He opened a second door forthem.
"I'm all yours." The coarseness of his palms was at odds with what she thought a prince would be like. His hardness hadn't scared her. He'd been seriously the best lover she'd ever imagined. "Do you know what'sfunny?"
"What?"
"I never really thought there would be more to us than great sex and a good time." Her face must be bright red because she felt it was hot. She lowered her lashes to avoid his gaze but kept his hand in hers. "Thinking of you as my husband-to-be is going to take an adjustment, but I'mhappy."
"I'm happy too." He took her hand closer to his mouth. "But you asked what else you could do as my princess and I wanted to show yousomething."
"What is it?" Her lips craved another kiss, but the glare of the lights in the next room killed her libido. Other people were tooclose.
Liveried servants opened the last door for them. Marco waved at security and another set of doors opened the moment they stood in the middle of the room. This was top notch security, she thought, like something in a movie. He guided her inside where two young military-type men stood in procession. "I promised to keep you safe. I wanted to show you the village but first I want to give you a tour of the training camp Irun."
That explained the young boys that stood at attention near the doors. She took off her jacket, very warm in this room. "So we're seeing militarystuff?"
"It's not the military, though I am big on security." He shrugged out of his coat too and handed them both to a waitingservant.
