The Prince's Bride. Lisa Laurel Kaye
make up another fairy tale with me, Julie? Like the one when the princess saved the kingdom from the dragon?”
“I don’t have time, honey. Tonight’s the ball.”
Lexi sighed. “You get to live in the castle, and you get to go to the ball. You’re the luckiest person in the world.”
Julie smiled at her. “I think I am,” she agreed.
They walked into a tiny room in back, which Annah used as her office. Annah, who was just hanging up the phone, smiled at Julie.
“You look like you just swallowed fireworks,” she said.
Julie shrugged happily, eyes sparkling. “I am going to a royal ball tonight.”
“Yes, I know,” Annah teased. “Maybe you’ll be swept off your feet by a movie star or a diplomat or a multibillionaire—”
“Or a prince,” Lexi suggested.
“In my dreams,” Julie said with a laugh. At least, in her dreams of long ago.
“Are you wearing anything in those dreams?” Annah asked dryly. “I don’t know how you could leave your dress for the last minute like this, but better late than never.”
“I have great faith in you. I knew you would find me something,” Julie said.
“Two somethings.” With a smile, Annah turned to a closet in the corner of the office and pulled out a short, strapless dress of brilliant blue. “Ta-da. What do you think?”
Julie looked at it. “Ah,” she said, noncommittally. “And the other something?”
Annah sighed, and rummaged another dress out of the closet. “This,” she said, holding up a black gown with sheer sleeves and a floor-length hem.
Julie looked at them both. “What do you think?”
“No contest. The blue,” Annah said. “It’s made for you, Julie. You’re the only woman I know who could do it justice.”
Julie looked at the dress doubtfully. “It is gorgeous, Annah. But I’ve heard you can never go wrong with basic black.”
“Black is all wrong for your coloring. No one has bluer eyes than you do, Julie, and this dress will make them shine more than the most exquisite jewels in that ballroom.”
Uh-oh. Annah was starting to wax poetic about the darn dress, which, Julie noticed, barely covered the hanger. “It doesn’t look my size,” she pointed out diplomatically.
Annah thrust the dress into her hands. “Trust me.”
Julie sighed. Annah knew her way around clothes. She had an instinct for knowing what looked good on all of her customers, which was why they kept coming back. And she herself always looked terrific. Annah had class.
She was smiling brightly at Julie. “Try it on,” she urged.
Minutes later, Julie emerged from the dressing room and looked at Annah, waiting for her reaction.
“Oh, Julie,” Annah said, her dark eyes wide. “Even I didn’t expect it was going to look this good.”
Lexi stared at Julie, openmouthed, before bestowing on her the highest compliment in her six-year-old world. “You look like a real princess,” she said.
“Now let’s try something out on your hair,” Annah said, starting in with a brush.
While she was working, the bell on the front door jangled. Lexi flew out to see who had come into the store. “Mommy!” Julie heard her say. “Come see Princess Julie!"
“Drew, stay out there until I’m finished,” Annah called. “I want you to get the full effect.”
“She won’t let me look, either,” complained Julie. She was glad Drew had arrived in time to give her opinion. They had been friends forever, playing together all those summers she had visited her grandfather. They’d had the run of the castle grounds, a kid’s paradise, and had been joined by Prince Whit whenever he and the king stayed at the castle. Whit was Julie’s age, Drew just a year younger, and in those days the three had been as inseparable as the peanut butter and marshmallow goop sandwiches that had been their favorite lunch. But Julie hadn’t seen Whit since they were both sixteen, while she’d seen Drew every summer but one.
“How is everything going for the ball, Julie?” Drew asked her.
“So far, so good, keep your fingers crossed.”
More quietly, Drew said, “When does Whit arrive?”
“Not Whit. Erik.” As she said his name, Julie felt her stomach give a funny lurch to zero gravity.
“Prince Erik?” Drew sounded surprised. “I thought Whit was going to take the king’s place as host.”
“He was supposed to, but I just got a call from one of King Ivar’s men. It’ll be Erik.” It still seemed strange to think that Erik would be at the ball tonight. After all those years, she would see him again. She couldn’t help wondering what would happen. Maybe they would dance, and maybe the magic she remembered would be recaptured, and this time, maybe… Amazed at the rapidity of her chain of thought, Julie was forced to smile at her own expense. More likely he’d pat her on the head and send her away again.
“I’m surprised that Whit would pass up the chance to host a ball,” Drew said. “Talk about being in his element. Glitz, glamour, publicity, beautiful wom-en…”
“I wonder why Prince Erik hasn’t married yet,” Annah mused. “Do you think he’s looking for a bride, Julie?”
The king had made no secret to Julie of his great desire to have his older son marry, but Julie had no idea what Erik’s opinion on the matter was. “If he is, he should hire you as a consultant, Annah,” she told her friend warmly. Annah had an uncanny talent for spotting true love when she saw it. “Would you like me to suggest it to him tonight?”
Annah laughed. “Why don’t you go for him yourself, and avoid the middleman?”
“If the past is any indication, she doesn’t need any encouragement, Annah,” Drew said from the other room.
Julie ignored the hot blush that Drew’s teasing comment had called up and spoke to Annah. “Childhood friends remember the most inconvenient things.” Like an embarrassing crush on a friend’s older brother.
Annah put the brush down. “This sounds interesting,” she said. “Do tell.”
Julie gave a sheepish grin. “I kind of fell for Erik,” she explained.
“When?” asked Annah.
“Ages ago,” Julie said, secure in the knowledge that now she was neither so young nor so naive. At sixteen, she had thought she’d found the love of her life, but he had obviously not felt the same inexorable pull of destiny that she had. At twenty-five she hardly spent her days pining over him.
Still, to be honest, she had to admit that she seemed unable to erase him from her mind completely. She had always wondered what would happen if she got a grown-up chance to see whether her young intuition had been on target. The king’s change of plans had given her an excellent opportunity to satisfy her curiosity. Naturally she had no real expectations; but Julie was an incurable optimist, and optimism sometimes has very little to do with what is realistic. Somewhere inside her lived the battered, but still breathing, hope that someday, somehow, she might have another chance to try to win Erik’s heart. And she knew that seeing him tonight at the ball would either resuscitate that hope or give it the blow that would lay it to rest for good.
Uncannily Drew read her thoughts. “You aren’t really interested in him, are you, Julie?” She sounded concerned.
Julie didn’t answer.
“Everyone has things that they keep from even their best friends,” observed Annah