The Princess and The Masked Man. Valerie Parv

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СКАЧАТЬ man was holding court. Eduard, Marquis of Merrisand, his prodigious memory supplied. He was so well known that no mask could conceal his identity.

      Maxim made an impatient sound. “If it helps, I’ve already spoken to Eduard about your desire to be appointed Keeper of the Castle.”

      “And?”

      Bryce heard the expectancy in her tone and wondered at it. Maxim presently held the dual titles of administrator of the Merrisand Trust and Keeper of the Castle. Giselle evidently hoped to take over the latter position herself. The Keeper was responsible for overseeing most of the day-to-day running of the castle, a big job for such slender shoulders, Bryce thought.

      “We agree that you’re well qualified, but Eduard is as constrained by the terms of the Merrisand Charter as I am,” Maxim stated.

      She turned to Bryce. “What do you think of a charter created two hundred years ago that excludes women from the position of Keeper unless they are married?”

      Bryce tried for diplomacy. “I’d have to know more about the circumstances.”

      She wasn’t letting him off the hook so easily. “What would you like to know?”

      “For example, does the restriction apply only to women?”

      “Unfortunately it does,” Maxim interceded, sounding uneasy about the admission.

      Bryce knew how his daughter would feel about that. Evidently the princess felt the same way. He didn’t entirely blame her. He couldn’t see the point of squandering half the world’s talents through an accident of gender. Something he had been unable to make Amanda’s maternal grandmother understand, or they might have parted on better terms. “Can’t the rules be updated?” he asked.

      “According to the charter, any changes must be put to the people of Taures province in a referendum. If they vote in favor, the change takes effect five years and one day from the date of the referendum.”

      Too long for Giselle to wait, he gathered when he felt her tense on his arm. “Isn’t that a touch excessive?” he asked.

      “The charter’s history is complicated,” the princess said. “Perhaps you know that the Merrisand title was conferred on our ancestor as an insult, after he fell out with the reigning monarch of the period.”

      Bryce searched his memory. “Merrisand being a term for a fool’s paradise in Carramer folklore.” In an effort to stir Amanda’s interest in the move, he had suggested she research the castle’s history on the Internet. She had gleefully reported the fool’s paradise connection to him, sounding as if she thought the description still fitted.

      “As I understand it, the first marquis turned the tables on his brother by establishing a charitable trust to help children in need, then built this castle to fund the trust’s good works. What started out as an insult became one of the most respected names in the kingdom,” he went on.

      Giselle seemed pleased with his knowledge. “Our ancestor had the five-year moratorium written into the charter to make sure the monarch couldn’t meddle easily in the trust’s affairs.”

      “Those two really got along, didn’t they?”

      She sneaked a glance at her brother, whose attention had been claimed by another guest. “Do you have brothers or sisters?”

      “Not a one.” After he was born his parents had tried for more children without success. Part of the reason for the intense interest his grandfather took in Bryce, he suspected. As his parents’ sole heir, he carried all of his grandfather’s expectations on his shoulders.

      “Then you don’t know how fierce sibling rivalry can get.”

      Although she couldn’t see it, he lifted an eyebrow. “Even among royalty?”

      “We’re still human. Oh.”

      He felt her sag in his grasp and reached for a chair with his free hand, spinning it around so he could ease her into it. “Perhaps you should sit the rest of the ball out, Princess.”

      His hands on her arms felt so warm and confident that she wished she could spend the entire evening in his company. Not possible, of course. Her duty didn’t permit it. Emboldened because she was now part of a group, other guests had begun to drift toward her.

      When her mystery man stepped back to allow them to approach, it was all she could do not to grasp his hand and hold him at her side. She wanted to know who he was and why she found him so compelling.

      At midnight, when the masks came off, she would have her answers, she promised herself as she pinned a smile of greeting to her face.

      Ignoring the discomfort in her foot, she welcomed her guests and made polite conversation. Chatted, smiled until her jaw ached. Ate some of the lavish supper the castle chefs had created. Listened to the music and attempted not to feel too left out of the dancing.

      And hoped she wasn’t watching the clock too obviously.

      Chapter Two

      For the rest of the night, Bryce found it a strain being sociable. He knew why and he didn’t like it. None of the other guests at the ball had captured his interest as totally as Princess Giselle.

      It took enormous self-discipline to keep his glance from repeatedly straying to where she held court. The silvery peal of her laughter drew his attention like a magnet, making him pulse with desires he didn’t want to feel. Not for any woman, but especially not for someone so inappropriate.

      During the move to Merrisand, Amanda had shown him an article in a magazine linking the princess with one of Carramer’s more famous exports, movie actor Robert Gaudet. He was in Hollywood at present, developing a new film project that his production company planned to make in Carramer. The article suggested that the princess’s injury was the only thing preventing her from being with him. The actor was supposedly so much in love with her that their marriage was a foregone conclusion.

      The article also mentioned the princess’s many teaching and charitable activities for the Merrisand Trust and Bryce wondered how they would fit in with a Hollywood lifestyle.

      He didn’t normally pay attention to such things but had been prepared to encourage anything that made Amanda happier about the move to Merrisand. He had read the article to please her, deciding that his daughter could have a worse idol than the hardworking princess.

      He tried to tell himself he was glad Giselle was involved with someone. Even if she hadn’t been a princess, he had nothing to offer her, either emotionally or materially. His wife’s illness had drained him of both the capacity and the will to put himself through such torment again. And until he put his financial affairs in order, he had little to offer any woman.

      The logic didn’t quench his desire to look at Giselle, and keep looking.

      He thought he’d resisted the temptation fairly successfully until he became aware that his dance partner had stopped moving. He forced his attention back to her. “Is something the matter?”

      “Perhaps we should dance over to the other side of the room before you get a crick in your neck from turning that way.”

      He СКАЧАТЬ