Annie West - Royals Untamed!

But both of them were laughing out loud. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Annabelle so happy. And it was Ruby who was responsible for that.

Something twisted inside him. Part of it was pride, part of it a little inkling of jealousy. Deep down he knew that he should be the one making his little girl laugh like that. But if it couldn’t be him he was so glad that it was Ruby.

Ruby was genuine. Ruby related to his daughter in a way that none of the other professionals had.

He had been so right to bring her here.

Even when the palace officials had voiced their obvious concerns about his latest plans to get Annabelle assessed he’d known that this was the right thing to do.

He’d been right to remember the passion in her eyes when she’d spoken about missing out on the job she would have loved. He’d followed her for years...sent her unsigned flowers. He remembered his surge of pride when he’d found out she’d got her dream job, when she’d been promoted, when she’d published professional papers. All those things had made him happy for her.

Now, in a few short days, she’d started to connect with his daughter.

With him.

There was a scream, followed by a huge splash. A flash of moving yellow rushed before his eyes. He was on his feet instantly.

Annabelle’s eyes were wide. She jumped down from her side of the fountain and ran around it towards the splash, meeting her father as they both peered down into the few feet of clear water.

Ruby was completely under the water, tiny bubbles snaking out from her mouth, her yellow dress billowing around her. Alex leaned over to put his hand in and pull her up—then gasped as she opened her eyes.

The expression on her face was priceless. Annabelle dissolved into fits of laughter as Ruby burst up through the surface of the water, shrieking with laughter.

Alex’s eyes shot up towards the hundreds of windows of the palace. He could only imagine what anyone on his staff might say if they’d witnessed this.

But the laughter was infectious. And Ruby wasn’t at all worried about the fact that her hair was sodden and she was soaked to the skin.

She reached towards his outstretched arm, smiled, and tugged sharply—pulling him straight in next to her.

Even though the sun was shining the water in the fountain was freezing.

His landing was partly cushioned by the soft body of Ruby. Water was dripping from the end of her nose, her hair was flattened to her head and her clothes hugged every part of her body.

‘Who are you laughing at?’ She winked.

He couldn’t do anything other than laugh. Annabelle was still jumping up and down at the side of the fountain.

Ruby reached down and picked up a submerged princess doll. ‘I came in to rescue the doll—what’s your excuse?’

He smiled, their faces only inches apart. He lifted his eyebrows, ‘Oh, I definitely came in to rescue Ruby.’

His arms were on either side of her, his chin just above her head. Every part of him was soaked.

‘Who says I needed rescuing?’ she quipped.

She didn’t care. She didn’t care about her wet clothes or how she looked. She wasn’t constantly looking over her shoulder for a camera. Ruby was just Ruby.

And it was at that moment that he realised. Realised this was bigger than he ever could have imagined.

Every thought, every memory of this fountain had been imprinted on his brain for thirty-four years. That famous photo had been shared firstly in the newspapers, and later around the world on the internet.

Every single time he’d looked at this fountain it had brought back memories of Sophia and their childhood. He could clearly remember sitting on the edge of the fountain with her, banging his heels on the stonework.

But now, and for ever, every time he looked at this fountain this was what he’d remember. This. A water-soaked, laughing Ruby with a twinkle in her eyes and a bright-eyed little girl watching at the side.

Some memories were worth changing.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THERE WAS DEFINITELY something wrong with her. She was getting used to these clothes. She was getting used to opening the closet and seeing the rainbow colours of the beautiful garments hanging up and just waiting to be worn.

Her blue jeans had been stuffed in the back of the cupboard, along with her baseball boots. It had only been two weeks and she didn’t even want to pull them out any more.

Even the pale green dress that she’d worn when she’d arrived—the best thing she had—looked like a poor cousin hanging beside all the designer clothes.

It made her skin prickle. She’d never been like this before. Every girl liked nice things. But she hadn’t expected to get used to it so suddenly.

What would happen in a few weeks, when she was back in London, in her flat, wearing her healthcare uniform again? She’d always worn that uniform with pride. What on earth was happening to her?

Alex had been keeping to his side of the bargain and spending a certain amount of time with Annabelle. She’d been trying not to interfere—no matter how much she wanted to.

It was important that there was time for just father and daughter. But the rest of the palace staff didn’t seem to understand that. She’d had no idea how busy Alex really was. It seemed that a country/principality didn’t run itself.

After watching the constant interruptions of their father/daughter time she’d appointed herself guardian of that little part of the day. She’d started to stand guard outside the door.

By the time Annabelle was settled into her bed and he’d read a few stories to her there was usually a queue of people standing outside the bedroom, waiting to see Alex. Not one of them ever got past her.

The hard wiring talk seemed to have done the trick. It had given him the gentle kick up the backside he needed to say no to people who weren’t his daughter. It was sad, but clear, that Alex hadn’t been able to spend as much time with Annabelle as he would have liked.

Now he made it his priority. And Ruby’s role was to make sure that father and daughter got that protected time together.

‘Knock-knock.’

The voice made her jump. She was sitting in the palace library, looking out over the gardens.

This had quickly become her favourite room. The beautiful wood and paper smell crept along the corridor towards her and drew her in like a magnet. The dark wooden bookcases filled with beautiful hardback books seemed to suck her in every time she walked past. The set of steps that moved on a rail to reach the books at the top almost made her jump up and down with excitement. Every time she entered the room she climbed a few steps and moved them on just a little.

She’d even taken to bringing her computer down here and answering any emails she received from work in her favourite environment. She needed to stay in touch with her colleagues to make sure things were running smoothly back home. There were only a few emails each day—mainly about patients, asking for a second opinion or a referral route for a patient with unusual conditions. Nothing she couldn’t handle from thousands of miles away.

She spun around in her chair. ‘Alex? Is something wrong?’

He smiled. ‘Do I only come and look for you if something is wrong?’

She leaned her elbow on the desk and rested her head on the heel of her hand. ‘Let’s see—maybe?’

She was teasing him. Sometimes he made it so easy. But most things were easy around Alex—except for the times when he was surrounded by palace staff. She could almost swear that Rufus stalked him from one end of the palace to the other.

‘Well, let’s change that. You’ve been here for a few weeks now, and apart from the palace grounds and a few walks into the city centre you’ve hardly seen anything of Euronia. How about we remedy that?’