Marion Lennox - The Prince’s Outback Bride

‘And take us to Paris?’It had to be said. She was torn between disbelief and a magic, wondrous hope.

‘No, here’s the thing,’ He said ruefully. ‘Because I can’t do that either. I listened to those elderly players yesterday saying their kids were having to leave the country. I thought about fractured families. I thought about this wonderful little country that can be so much if it’s well managed. And I thought about the buildings I’ve been proud constructing. Yes, I can be proud of my buildings but here…Pippa, here we can build a whole country.’

‘But how…?’

‘There’s so much we can do,’ he said, exultant. ‘The people who talked to me initially in Paris-disaffected citizens who are aching to be allowed to set decent government in motion-are desperate to help, and they will. If I stay on as Crown Prince…’

‘You’d take that on?’

‘Yes,’ He said firmly. ‘It’s not fair to ask that of Marc. It never was, but it’s taken the love of a wonderful woman to make me see it.’ He grinned. ‘And also to see that it might not be so much a burden as a privilege. I’ve talked to Mama. She’s agreed-with sadness but I’ll make her see it need not be a grief. We’ll set the DNA testing in place to prove things. But you know what? I’ve been thinking and thinking. I thought it’d be great if Marc stands to inherit. I talked to him about it last night and he agrees. So…We can formally adopt. The kids will be our kids, along with whoever else comes along. That way it’s Marc who stands to inherit. How perfect is that?’

‘But…’ It was too much to take in. ‘You love them that much?’

‘I love them so much I can’t do anything else,’ he said, and he tugged her into his arms and held her tight. ‘Pippa, last night I rang my mother in Paris. Like me, her life has been desolate since Thiérry died. We’ve put things on hold. But last night I talked to her about what we can do-what we all can do-if we have the courage to take this on.’

‘You’ve really asked her to…’

‘Yes,’ He said, stroking her hair, kissing the top of her head. ‘Yes, I did. I told her that once upon a time I remembered her talking of a vision she had of how this country could be. She married as a green girl, marrying the fairy tale. I told her we could live the real fairy tale. We could make this country great. And we could be a family.’

‘Your mother…’ She was finding it hard to get her mouth to form words.

‘You’ll love her,’ He said, urgently, putting her away from him a little so he could make her see. ‘She’s a wonderful, wonderful woman and she’ll love you to bits. You’ll love her to bits. She’s nervous now, but she’s brave enough to want to try, and she’s already falling for the children. She’ll help us, Pippa. There’s no way one person can be sovereign in this country. We need a family.’ He hesitated. ‘But there is one problem.’

‘Only one?’

‘She has a dog,’ he said, rueful. ‘A weird-looking mutt called Hannibal she saved from the street several years ago. She has him here.’

‘She brought her dog?’

‘I rang her last night and talked this all through with her,’ Max confessed. ‘Before I’d finished talking, she was organising plane tickets. She and Hannibal flew into Monaco at dawn and she hired a car to bring her here. She’s ready to be part of this, and so is her disreputable mutt. But, Pippa, it’s asking a lot of you. You’ll have three kids, a husband, a mother-in-law, a castle full of devoted retainers and a maniac dog whose sole desire in life is to destroy every shoe he ever sets eyes on. Beatrice says as far as she knows there’s never been a dog in this palace, and now it’s looking like Dolores might have been the start of a dynasty.’

His grip on her hands grew urgent. ‘I’ve thought it all through. All night…There’s been so much to think of. We could donate the kids’ farm to be the wildlife corridor you were so enthusiastic about. Maybe we could keep the house so we could visit every now and then-but not in midwinter. It’d almost be worth the plane fare to tell the Tanbarook supermarket ladies ourselves.’

He hesitated, waiting for her to smile. Waiting for her to say something. Nothing came.

‘But is it too much, do you think?’ He held her shoulders, desperately anxious. ‘Do you think you can take it on?’

‘I…’

‘And your nursing,’ he added, figuring he had to set all the facts before her before she refused or accepted. ‘There’s a hospital in the village. There’s been no young nurses in the place for years and it’s really run-down. I thought maybe you could take it on as your special project. There are more hospitals through the country. So much to do. And me…As soon as we’ve finished Blake’s house we’ll move on to rebuilding the village hall. I’ve had to move fast to stop demolition this morning and that’s only the beginning. There’s so much. We’ll make this country the greatest of the Alp Quartet. Raoul thinks he’s done well in Alp d’ Azuri. He doesn’t know the half of what great can be.’

‘Hush,’ Pippa said, half laughing, half crying. ‘Max, do you know what you’re saying?’

‘I surely do.’ He paused, his smile fading as their gazes locked. The plans fell away. There was only this moment. This man, and this woman.

‘Pippa, will you take us on?’ he whispered. ‘I know you haven’t been born into it. I know you can walk away. But we need you so much. Will you wave your wand, my wondrous fairy godmother? Will you marry me?’

She smiled at him, her eyes misting with unshed tears. Her Maxsim, Crown Prince of Alp d’Estella. Her own true love.

Would she marry him? How could she not?

And it was a first.

‘I never heard it said that any fairy godmother got to marry Prince Charming herself,’ she whispered, drawing him into her and holding him close. ‘But there’s always a first, my love. Move over, Cinderella. Yes, my lovely prince. My Max. My love. Yes, I will.’