In Pursuit Of A Princess

Dinner with the prince. In his apartments.

Ariane trembled inside.

Her case of nerves had a twofold cause. First off, she was uneasy about her ability to keep up this brainless façade. So many times over the past few days she’d nearly blurted out her true opinions to the administrators and bureaucrats she’d talked with. She’d discovered just how much she abhorred looking like a senseless idiot.

And secondly, she’d done everything she could to keep from being alone with Etienne. Those mesmerizing moments they had shared on her first night in his country had really thrown her for a loop.

Before arriving in Rhineland she’d thought of Etienne as nothing more than a means to an end in her goal of discovering who was plotting against her country. But she’d quickly discovered that the prince was an alluring man. A sexy danger to her mission. Like flint against steel, he sparked feelings in her that she wasn’t up to dealing with right now.

When she’d received his dinner invitation this morning, her first reaction had been relief. All those formal meals were beginning to get to her. She’d smiled so much that her cheek muscles were becoming sore.

Fretfulness had Ariane actually opening the door of the guest suite and peering down the hallway one way, then the other, in search of Francie. She stepped back inside and shut the door.

She glanced at the beautifully carved German cuckoo clock on the wall. Being fashionably late was one thing, but this was bordering on nothing short of bad manners.

What was worse? she wondered. A terribly tardy arrival? Or visiting the prince’s private apartments without her lady in tow?

Certainly, Etienne would have staff members in attendance to serve the meal. And surely Harry, his personal assistant, would be present, as well. There should be plenty of people milling about to act as chaperones.

Not that a princess needed a chaperone in this day and age. However, Ariane almost smiled as she thought of how her elderly and quite conservative grandmother, the dowager queen, would respond. It was never seemly, Simone would say, for a single woman to visit a bachelor’s private rooms unescorted.