‘She looks great now.’ Marguerite’s warmth and approval were the one constant in this arrangement that was making Penny-Rose feel OK with what was happening, and it came to the fore now. ‘The media will love her.’
‘Rose was photographed leaving Lilie’s in that dress,’ Alastair said stubbornly. ‘She needs another.’
Marguerite was like a defensive mother hen. ‘I’m sure she has another.’ And then she frowned at her son. ‘Why do you call her Rose? Her name is Penny-Rose.’
‘Penny-Rose is hardly a name for a princess. Rose is much more dignified.’
Much more not me, Penny-Rose thought. Still, this marriage was all about keeping their distance. If that was the way he wanted it…
It seemed he did.
‘Do you have anything else to wear?’ he asked, deflecting his mother’s query nicely.
‘Um…’ Penny-Rose turned pink. ‘Actually I don’t.’
‘Oh, my dear…’ Marguerite sounded horrified.
‘Don’t let it bother you,’ she said hastily. ‘I don’t understand what women see in choice. It makes dressing a whole lot more complicated.’
‘But it also makes it more fun.’ Marguerite had swung to her son’s point of view in a moment. ‘Now, where will you go to shop? You can’t go anywhere in this principality. You’ll be mobbed before you reach the first boutique. There’s nothing for it. Alastair, you’ll have to take her to Paris. You need a few days on the rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré…’
‘Hey…’ The idea startled him. ‘I don’t have time to go to Paris. It’s not me who needs clothes.’
‘She can’t shop here.’
‘No, but-’
‘But Paris it must be. Are you saying that you won’t take her?’ his mother demanded, and fixed him with a look.
‘I could have Belle take her…’
There was a collective intake of breath. And then Alastair had the grace to grimace. ‘OK. Bad idea. Belle’s well known and there are media problems everywhere.’ He sighed and appealed again to his mother. ‘But you’re the obvious one to go.’
‘No, dear.’ His mother shook her head. ‘The press has seen you once together. The more romance we can imbue this with, the better. I’m not saying I hope the photographers find you-you need a couple of days’ grace-but if they do eventually track you down, it’d be so romantic to have you photographed strolling down Paris streets, hand in hand.’
‘Hey, I don’t intend holding anyone’s hand,’ Penny-Rose retorted, and Marguerite sighed again.
‘You two aren’t very good at this romance business, are you?’
‘We’re fine,’ Alastair said.
‘Right. Good. So hold hands.’
‘Mother…’
‘You need to get used to it.’ His mother looked from Penny-Rose to Alastair and back again. ‘In six weeks someone’s going to say, “You may kiss the bride.” If that means one chaste kiss on the forehead, the lawyers will label this marriage a sham and the castle-and the estate-will be lost. To us and to the villagers.’
‘They can’t-’
‘This marriage has to appear real,’ Marguerite said with asperity. ‘Alastair, stop treating the girl as if she’ll bite. Penny-Rose, stop treating the man as if he’s your boss. Get friendly.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Penny-Rose said, and she managed a smile. ‘I’ll do what I can.’
‘Alastair, take the girl to Paris. And start calling her Penny-Rose.’
‘Um…’
‘Don’t “um” me,’ his mother snapped. ‘Get a handle on this. You never know, you could just enjoy yourselves.’
‘Rose could enjoy shopping on her own.’
‘Call her Penny-Rose.’
‘It’s not a princess’s name.’
‘And she’ll only be a princess? Not a friend?’
‘We need to keep things formal.’
‘Fine,’ his mother said, exasperated. ‘Just take what’s-her-name to Paris.’
His exasperation equalled his mother’s.
‘What’s-her-name can go alone.’
‘Excuse me,’ Penny-Rose said, grinning slightly at their matching belligerent expressions. They really were very alike. ‘But I…I suspect I might need some help. I don’t exactly have much experience in shopping.’
They stopped glaring at each other and turned their stunned attention to her.
‘No experience in shopping.’ Marguerite gasped. ‘Oh, my dear…’ She sounded as if she’d just heard Penny-Rose had been deprived of something of major importance. Like a leg.
‘So where did you find the dress you’re wearing?’ Alastair demanded in disbelief. All women shopped!
‘Actually, I made it myself. I sew all my own clothes.’
That stunned them even more. Alastair stared at her as if she’d announced that she’d come from another planet.
‘You’re kidding.’ Sewing your own clothes… He’d hardly heard of such a thing.
‘I’m not kidding.’ She met his look head on, defiant. ‘I don’t just stone-wall. I have other skills, too.’ She grinned. ‘I can also whistle loud enough to call the kids home from a mile away. Want to hear?’ And she put two fingers to her mouth and prepared to whistle.
‘No!’ Marguerite and Alastair spoke as one, and she chuckled and desisted, but Alastair was still looking at her dress in awe.
‘But…’ His critical eyes appraised her workmanship and found no fault at all. ‘It’s lovely.’
She twinkled. ‘Thank you.’
He was still having trouble believing her. ‘And…your overalls?’
‘I made them, too.’
‘You really have never shopped for clothes?’
‘Sometimes at welfare places,’ she said diffidently. ‘But not…not at real clothes shops.’
‘Oh, Alastair!’ Marguerite’s eyes were shining. ‘What fun. To introduce your bride to shopping!’
‘To introduce your future daughter-in-law to shopping,’ he retorted, but despite himself his imagination was caught. ‘I don’t suppose…’ His thoughts were heading off at all sorts of wondrous tangents. A woman who’d never shopped…it was almost unbelievable. ‘Things like lacy negligees and so on…’ he said slowly. ‘I can hardly help her there.’
‘Of course you can,’ his mother said soundly. ‘Now…you’re to leave tomorrow morning. You’re to stay at the Hotel Carlon, which Belle tells me is the most splendid hotel in Paris. You’re to spend a fortune and you’re to have a very good time. That’s an order. Any questions?’
‘No, ma’am,’ Penny-Rose said faintly. ‘Except…’ She blinked. ‘There’s Bert. I need to ask Bert for a couple of days off.’
‘Bert and I have an arrangement,’ Alastair told her. ‘He’s a very understanding boss-and employee.’
That didn’t please her. ‘You mean you’ll just bribe him to keep me on the team with no questions asked.’
‘I need do no such thing. He’s not about to sack you.’
‘He mustn’t. If I lose my spot on the team…’
‘Because you’re out buying frilly knickers…’
‘If you so much as tell him that…’ She was aghast.
‘I won’t.’ Alastair smiled at her.
Drat! His smile was really starting to get to her. For heaven’s sake-she’d been living in Alastair’s home for only two days. She had over a year of this mock marriage to go, but there was something very strange going on already. Every time the man smiled at her, something in the deeper recesses of her middle did some sort of stupid lurch…
It was just that he was so darned attractive, she thought wildly, and the number of deeply attractive men she’d spent any time with in her life numbered approximately zero.
Or maybe it was just that she hadn’t had time to notice, she decided, forcing herself to be practical. Maybe there were plenty of gorgeous guys out there, and after this wedding farce was over-after her twelve-month marriage-maybe she could see for herself…
With her frilly knickers!
The thought made her grin, and Alastair saw it and smiled back.