I gasped in delight. “It’s so beautiful, Nicky.”
Nicky lifted the ring from the box and slid it onto the third finger of my left hand, smiling a bit when it fit perfectly. I tilted my hand this way and that, admiring how beautiful the ring made my hand look.
“I did all right, then?” He raised my knuckles to kiss them. “It just seemed as though this was made to be on your finger. I could see it perfectly.” Giving my fingers a squeeze, he added, “I chose it myself. I didn’t have any help at all—not even from Shelby or your sisters.”
“You did better than all right,” I assured him. “I couldn’t have picked out a better engagement ring myself. I love it.” Rising on my toes, I kissed his cheek. “And I love you. You planned a perfect way to propose and the most gorgeous ring. This is the kind of stuff girls dream about.”
“The beach where we met and had our first kiss so long ago seemed like the only place to have our happily-ever-after,” Nicky observed. “Although this doesn’t feel like an ending.”
“It definitely isn’t an ending. Our happily-ever-after is only the start of the story.” I leaned into him, joy surging through me. “And it’s going to be the most beautiful love story anyone has ever heard.”
“PUSSY CAT, PUSSY CAT, WHEREhave you been? I’ve been to London to look at the Queen ...”
I murmured the nursery rhyme absently under my breath. All of the lines of the old verse had been running around my head for the past weeks, and now that I was in the car with Nicky, on our way to Buckingham Palace, I couldn’t stop thinking of the words.
“Ky, you’ve got to stop that.” Nicky was half-laughing, half-scolding as he reached to hold my clammy hand. “You’re not going to—what’s the next line? Something about a mouse?”
“I frightened a little mouse under her chair,” I corrected. “And I know. But I’m nervous. It’s not every day a girl meets her fiancé’s grandmother. And it’s especially nerve-wracking if his grandmother happens to be the Queen of England.” With a deep breath, I added, “More specifically, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories. Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith.” I’d been well-trained over the past two weeks during my crash course in all things related to meeting the Queen.
Thanks to Lady Marjorie Lewis, former lady-in-waiting to Her Majesty and close friend of the Duchess of Westhampton, Nicky’s mother, I now knew how to curtsy in exactly the right way when I met the Queen. I knew how to address her, too, and the subjects I was definitelynotsupposed to bring up.
“Ky, maybe you should focus more on the fact that you’re meeting my grandmother than on the fact that she happens to be the Queen. It might help your nerves.” Nicky cast me a sideways glance as he slowed to take a corner. In the backseat of the car, his security officer adjusted his safety belt.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? I keep trying to tell myself exactly that—to just think of her as your loving grandmother, the same way I might think of Honey. I’ve been working on that for weeks. But then Lady Marjorie reminds me of who your sweet grandma really is. She tells me I must never forget that. So, who am I supposed to believe? You or the woman who’s been training me?”
“You’re not a dog, Kyra. Marjorie hasn’t been training you, she’s been ...” Nicky screwed up his face, thinking. “Helping you.”
“I’m not sure that there’s any difference,” I muttered under my breath. I was fairly certain that my fiancé heard me, but he pretended that he hadn’t. I didn’t blame him; we’d been going around and around in this discussion for quite a while now.
About ten days ago, after a particularly grueling day with Lady Marjorie, we’d had dinner with Nicky’s sisters, Alex and Daisy. Alex’s husband Jake was away, so it was just the three siblings and me.
I’d been frazzled and exhausted. Working full-time at a demanding job and then spending another three hours afterward practicing my curtsy and my manner of speaking wasn’t easy. Adding to that, in public I had to pretend that nothing had changed. I could only wear my beautiful new ring inside the cottage, and only then if we were alone or with immediate family. Not being able to shout our news to the world was painful and frustrating.
“Ky, no offense, love, but you look like shit.” Daisy frowned at me across the small table around which we all sat. “Are you sick?”
I shook my head. “Just tired. And no offense taken, by the way. I have a mirror. I know how rotten I look just now. It’s an accurate expression of how I feel.”
“You’re beautiful, always.” Nicky wrapped one arm around me. “If you’re feeling so terrible, why don’t you slow down a bit? Take some time off work. Your grandparents will understand.”
“I can’t right now.” I shrugged. “We have some make or break meetings coming up. The supplier we thought we had locked in for apples failed the last inspection. Now I’m trying to work out whether we can salvage that deal or if I have to find a new farmer.”
“All right, but I’m sure they could work around you for a few weeks. At least until after we announce our engagement.”
I frowned at Nicky. “There are several things wrong with what you just said. First of all, what makes you think they can work around me? Do you think my job is so unimportant that I can just leave it for a few weeks and nothing will change? No one will care? That makes me feel good about what I do. Thanks.”
Nicky closed his eyes and shook his head. “Ky, of course not—”
“And second, why do you think life is going to get so much easier after we announce our engagement? Basically, at that point we’ll be acknowledging what’s been a poorly kept secret all along, and the press will have all the more reason to trail us everywhere.”
“There will be a huge difference.” He leveled a gaze at me, holding his eyes steady. “You’ll have official protection. You’ll be under the wing of the Palace and the Royal Family. And I’ll be able to take better care of you, too, since I won’t have to pretend that you’re just some woman who’s shacking up with me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nice.”
Nicky ignored me. “And regarding your first point, of course, I don’t think that. I know that you play a very important role in your family’s company, and I know Handsome and Honey count on your hard work. But at the same time, itisyour family company, and theydounderstand some of what you’re going through just now. I think they’d be more than happy to allow you to cut back your hours, at least, or work from the cottage. That’s all I was saying.”
I knew Nicky had a point—well, actually, he had several—but I wasn’t ready to give up yet. Being stubborn was a trait that ran in my family, and I had it in spades.
“Ky, may I add something?” Alex, Nicky’s older sister, had been a good friend to me over the past year, allowing me to stay with her when I came to visit Nicky and offering me advice when I asked for it. She was quieter than Daisy, and slightly more reserved, but then again, that didn’t take much. Daisy was one of the most joyful, impetuous women I’d ever known.
