Даниэла Стил - Royal

She was far more relaxed on the trip back on the train than she had been on the way to Scotland. She had managed to stretch her meager wardrobe to its limits. She had been impressed by how fashionable Princess Victoria was, and she was so lively and stylish at everything she did. She lightened the mood wherever she was, but unlike the queen, she had few responsibilities, not even a husband and children. She had been very warm and welcoming to her newest cousin and gave her little snippets of advice throughout the weekend. Publicly, she had a reputation for being flighty and a party girl, but Annie could tell that she was intelligent and much less superficial than she pretended to be. It was simply the style she had chosen for herself when she didn’t marry. She jokingly referred to herself as the family spinster, which was not the image Annie had of her at all. She was a very glamorous, beautiful woman.

In contrast, the queen was actually more lighthearted than she seemed publicly. She was a warm wife and mother, and enjoyed the time she spent with her family at Balmoral. She was already regretting that the summer was almost over. From Annie’s perspective it had been a very successful weekend, and she had gotten to know a little bit about all of them, and genuinely liked her new family.

She didn’t see Anthony until the following evening, when he came back from the South of France a day late, and looked a little worse for wear but said he had had a fabulous time. He had stayed on his friend’s yacht, had lunch at the Club 55, danced at all the discotheques, picked up numerous women of assorted nationalities, which he didn’t tell Annie, but she could guess. When he asked about her weekend at Balmoral, she said she’d had a fantastic time. He smiled at her enthusiasm.

“It’s more your cup of tea than mine,” he said. “My father loves it too. I always find it incredibly boring. It’s a little too rural and family for me. Did Princess Victoria sing?”

“Every night,” Annie said as she smiled at him, “and we had a barbecue.” He didn’t tell her the details of what he’d been doing in Saint Tropez, but a family barbecue with teenage boys present had not been on their agenda, much to his relief. But Annie had loved it. She was at a very different point in her life than he was and family-style weekends didn’t thrill him, even with the royal family. He wanted racier diversions and couldn’t see himself ever content with a life like that. And he knew that Princess Victoria was far more like him. But Annie’s innocent enthusiasm seemed sweet to him.

She was already busy with the horses by the time he got there. His father was annoyed with him for returning a day late, but Anthony was used to it, and the lecture he got didn’t impress him or bother him at all. He’d had a lifetime of them, about responsibility, his least favorite word.

Annie hardly saw Anthony all week, and the following weekend she went home to Kent for the twins’ birthday. She had promised to be there, and wouldn’t miss it. It was a very different weekend from the previous one at Balmoral. They went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant, and bowling afterward, and the Markhams let them use their pool because they were away. Annie spent hours in the pool with her brothers, and had given one a camera, and the other a stereo for their birthday. She was happy spending the weekend with them, with their father looking on. She had two families now, one royal, and the other, the one she had grown up with, as the daughter of employees on a big estate. The two lives were entirely different, and yet she was at home in both of them. She had adapted surprisingly well to the new one, as the niece of the queen, and the cousin of the future King of England. She was both people now, the simple girl she’d grown up as and a royal princess by birth. The boys teased her about it when she went bowling with them, and they asked if the queen had her own bowling alley at Buckingham Palace. Annie said she didn’t, and Jonathan laughed.

“If I were king, I’d have my own bowling alley, a pinball machine, a jukebox, my own movie theater, and an Aston Martin,” Blake said, imagining it, and his older sister grinned at him.

“Why an Aston Martin?” she asked him, thinking of Anthony Hatton’s Ferrari, which seemed more glamorous to her.

Her brother gave her a look that implied she didn’t know anything. “James Bond drives an Aston Martin,” he said with a supercilious look, and she laughed again.

“Of course! Silly of me,” she said, kissed him on the cheek, and went to buy popcorn for all of them. She was still smiling at the image of Blake as king with his own movie theater, jukebox, pinball machine, and bowling alley. She wondered if her new cousin George had those on his list too. More likely on Albert’s, or maybe William’s. There was something universal about teenage boys that was very sweet, even if they grew up to be king one day.

Chapter 14

The month of September went by too quickly for Annie. She loved her duties at the queen’s stables, and her internship had only been for two months. She was sorry to see it come to an end. Anthony’s had been for a shorter time, and he left in the middle of September. He was starting a new job at a public relations firm in London, which sounded interesting to her. He said it would be mostly organizing parties and special events for VIPs, and using his connections to get wealthy new industrialists introduced into society, and helping them get into the right circles. It didn’t sound like a serious job, but it sounded amusing and right up his alley, since it involved parties.

“They pay dearly for that kind of service,” he explained to her during dinner at their favorite pub the night before he left. She had enjoyed their friendship of the last month and a half, more than she’d ever expected to. He was deeper than he looked, although he never set the bar high for himself, and having fun was always the top priority to him. It sounded like he had found a job that met that criterion and he got paid for it. It was the best of all possible worlds for him. “What about you? What are you going to do when you leave here in two weeks?” he asked her.

“I’m going to travel for a month, to Australia. I’ve been dying to see it,” she said innocently, and he looked at her with suspicion. It was the first time she had mentioned it to him.

“Why is it that I don’t believe you? What do you have up your sleeve? Something to do with horses undoubtedly. Amateur races perhaps?” He grinned at her and she laughed.

“You know me too well. Don’t tell your father. He wouldn’t approve. He and the queen think that the amateur races in Australia aren’t worth bothering with. But it’s good experience if they ever change the rules here. I could ride in the Newmarket Town Plate. But I didn’t have a mount for it. So, I’m off to Australia.”

“And after that?”

“I don’t know. I could go home to my father for a bit, and give him a hand in the stables. He hurt his knee and could use the help.”

“Why don’t you buy yourself a decent dress and come to London. You could come to some of the parties I organize. I can put you on the list as Her Royal Highness, and you could impress my crude clients with the important people I know.”

“It sounds a bit awkward to me.” She looked hesitant.

“It’s not. They’re actually very nice, and I could use some more royals on my list. Victoria will come to any party. But it’s a bit slim pickings after that. I need another Royal Highness. Hell, I’ll buy you the dress,” he teased her. “Something shocking and naked and sexy.” He liked the vision of it and she laughed.

“I’d look like a ten-year-old who ran away from a brothel,” she said. “Why couldn’t I come in my riding clothes?”