Page 43 of Expecting Royal Twins!
“He’s already working on them, Father,” Niko said.
Dmitar raised a brow. “Confident I would say yes?”
“Hopeful,” Niko admitted. That and he hadn’t been able to sleep knowing how negatively all this was affecting Isabel.
“Then we’re all set,” Dmitar said.
“Not quite, sir.” Izzy stood, and Niko rose to his feet. “I still have to see if Boyd will marry me.”
Dmitar chuckled. “He’s a fool if he doesn’t want to be your husband.”
“Not only a fool.” Niko liked the blush on Isabel’s cheeks. “A complete idiot.”
“Well, I hope Boyd is neither of those things, but I’d better find out.” She curtsied. “If you’ll excuse me, sir.”
Dmitar dismissed her. As soon as she exited, he grinned wryly. “I never thought there would come a day when I’d hear you admit to being not only a fool, but also an idiot.”
“I didn’t.”
“Not directly,” his father said. “But you are married to Izzy and don’t want to be her husband.”
“It’s not the same situation,” Niko protested. “Julianna brings a large dowry, one bigger than Isabel’s inheritance, Aliestlian trade support and investors, a royal pedigree that will provide alliances with other European kingdoms and the knowledge necessary to be queen. Even the Separatists support her. Isabel is an American, a mechanic. She doesn’t know the first thing about being a princess or Vernonia. She has no qualifications to be queen.”
“Isabel is honest, loyal, smart and has royal blood running through her veins,” Dmitar said. “You say she has no qualifications yet this American mechanic is willing to marry someone she doesn’t love for a country she hadn’t stepped foot in until twenty-four hours ago.”
Each word stabbed at Niko like one of the soldier’s bayonets on display at the National Museum. He stared at the ground.
“You may want to redefine what makes a queen, my son,” his father counseled. “Not only for your own sake, but your wife’s. Otherwise you really will look foolish.”
“Come on.” Izzy checked the reception bars on her cell phone. Nothing. She shook the phone. “What’s a girl gotta do to get coverage around here?”
The castle wasn’t that far from town. There had to be a cell tower somewhere. She’d tried using one of the phones inside the castle, but couldn’t figure out how to get a dial tone. If only Niko were here…
Strike that. She didn’t need his help or those blue-green eyes of his to make her heart go pitter-pat.
Izzy walked past the garden and down three steps.
Her eyes burned from exhaustion. The stone path hurt the bottom of her feet. Her fault. She’d ditched her shoes ten minutes ago. But she couldn’t give up.
The king had given his approval. Now she needed Boyd’s.
Time was ticking. Izzy needed to make this call. She checked the display. No bars. “I bet this place still uses dial-up internet connections.”
“A few villages in the mountains rely on dial-up, but the castle has a wireless network,” Niko said from behind her.
“What are you doing out here?” She was surprised to see him. It was as if her thoughts had conjured him up like some magic wish. “I thought you had stuff to do.”
“I do, but I thought I’d see if you had reached Boyd.”
“Not yet.” She held up her lousy excuse for a cell phone. “No service.”
His smile turned to a laugh. “So that’s why you were threatening to feed your phone to the fish.”
“I—” Okay, she had said that, but he hadn’t been there. “How did you know that?”
“A gardener warned the staff about a barefoot American screaming at her cell phone.” Amusement danced in Niko’s eyes. “I had a feeling it might be you.”
Heat stole into her cheeks. “Jules said when you’re royalty someone is always watching even if you can’t see them.”
“Yes.”
“But I wasn’t screaming,” Izzy defended herself. “At least not that loudly.”
Grinning, he punched in a couple of numbers and handed his cell phone to her. “It’s a satellite phone. I put in the country code for America. You’re all set.”
