Bride to the King by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online

tell her.”
    “Katalin knows already.” As Zosina looked at her in surprise, she explained, “Apparently she heard her nurse gossiping about what had happened and she asked me to tell her the true story.” “So you told her.”
    “Yes, I told her, but I made her promise to keep it a secret. I had to respect your mother’s wishes in the matter.” “I am so glad you have told me now,” Zosina sighed, “and perhaps – ”
    She had no need to finish the sentence.
    “I know what you are thinking – that perhaps King Gyórgy will fall in love with you the moment he sees you, as happened to me,” the Queen Mother said. “Oh, my dear, I do hope so!”
    “But suppose I don’t fall in love with him ?”
    “Never think negatively,” the Queen Mother advised. “Be positive that you will fall in love and that is what I am quite certain will happen.”
    She did not wait for Zosina’s reply, but put her hand against her granddaughter’s cheek.
    “You are very lovely, my child,” she said, “and you will find a pretty face is a tremendous help in life and in getting your own way.”
    Zosina laughed.
    “Katalin told me I needed willpower to get what I wanted and now you tell me it is being pretty.”
    “A combination of the two would be irresistible!” the Queen Mother said firmly, “so you have no need to worry, my dearest.”
    There was not much chance of a further talk with her grandmother because, when they crossed the border from Lützelstein into Dórsia, the train stopped at every station so that the Queen Mother could receive addresses of welcome from the local Mayors.
    When they continued their journey, there were crowds to wave and cheer when she and Zosina appeared at the windows of their carriage.
    “The people are very pleased to see you, Grandmama,” Zosina said.
    “And to see you,” her grandmother added.
    Zosina looked at her with a startled expression.
    “Are you saying they know already that I am to marry their King?”
    “I am quite certain the whole of Dórsia is speculating as to why you have come and drawing their own conclusions. In fact, if you had listened to that last address, which was an extremely dull one, the Mayor kept harping on the great possibilities that may come from this ‘auspicious visit’!”
    The way her grandmother spoke, which was a combination of irony and amusement, made Zosina laugh.
    “Oh, Grandmama,” she said, “you make everything so much fun! I love being with you. I only wish that you rather than I was marrying the King of Dórsia!”
    “There is a slight discrepancy in age to be considered,” the Queen Mother remarked, “and, as you well know, dearest, if it was not the King of Dórsia, it would be the King of somewhere else or perhaps someone far less important.”
    “That is what Helsa is afraid she will get,” Zosina grinned.
    “We will do our best to find her a reigning Monarch,” the Queen Mother said, “but they are rather few and far between unless she has a partiality for one in the German Federation.”
    “None of us want that,” Zosina objected.
    “No, indeed. Those small Courts are very stiff and starchy and one cannot breathe without offending protocol in one way or another. I am sure you girls would all hate it! I must say the visits I have paid there with your grandfather would have been absolutely intolerable if we had not been able to laugh when we were alone about everything that happened.”
    “Grandpapa must have been so glad he was able to marry you,” Zosina said. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you had not been brave enough to go and meet him in such a manner?”
    “Yes, I have often thought about it. Someone else would have been Queen of Lützelstein and perhaps, dearest, you would not all be so charming and so vital without my Hungarian blood in you.”
    “I have often thought that and I am sure it is why we all ride so well.”
    “Hungarians are born equestrians,” the Queen Mother said.