Invitation to the Prince's Palace

Invitation to the Prince's Palace by Jennie Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Invitation to the Prince's Palace by Jennie Adams Read Free Book Online
Authors: Jennie Adams
Tags: Romance
soil samples himself, and took Rufusina into one of the groves to sniff about. Mel didn’t fully understand the process. The older Winnow kept lapsing into the beautiful local
dialect as he spoke with Rikardo.
    It was worth not being able to understand, to hear Rikardo respond at times in kind. She felt as though she’d heard him speak to her in the same language but she must have imagined that. In any case it was very lovely, a melodious harmony of tones and textures.
    ‘We will take breakfast up there, if you are agreeable.’ Rikardo pointed to a spot partway up a nearby mountainside. He’d handed the truffle hog over to Winnow, who was about to put her to good use in the groves before seeing her returned to her home. And with an admonishment to ensure the pig didn’t run off, as she was apparently wont to do on occasion.
    But right now…
    There was a natural shelving of rock up high where a bench seat and table had been set into it. The view would be amazing. ‘Oh. That would be lovely.’
    They began the climb. ‘The truffles. Will they be okay?’
    ‘I hope so. We’ve had two years of failed harvests. That has resulted in a devastating financial blow to the country’s economy while we searched for a preventative treatment that would work without affecting the quality of the truffles.’ He led her to the bench seat and table.
    Opposite was a mountain with large sections covered in ice. Mel sat, and her glance went outward and down, over groves of trees and over the village named after the royal family. ‘There must be so much rich history here. I’m sorry that there have been difficulties with the truffle industry. From Winnow I gather you play a key role in this truffle work?’
    ‘I run the operations from ground level to the marketing strategies.’
    Mel’s gaze shifted to the village below. ‘You must care about the people of Braston very much.’
    ‘I do, and they are suffering. Not just here and in Ettonbierre village, but right across the country.’ He drew a breath. ‘I had planned that we should eat while I led up to my request but perhaps it is best to simply state it now and then explain.’
    Mel’s breath locked in her throat. Rikardo had a request of her? She glanced again at the scene below. Rikardo led a privileged life compared to the very ordinary ones playing out down there. There was a parallel to her life with Nicolette and her cousin’s parents. But there was also a difference.
    Rikardo seemed willing to go to any lengths to help those who depended on his family for their livelihoods. ‘What can I do to help you? To help…them?’
    ‘You are kind, aren’t you?’ It wasn’t a question, and he seemed as concerned by it as he was possibly admiring of it. ‘Even though you don’t know what I may want.’
    Mel lowered her gaze. ‘I try to be. What is it that you need?’
    ‘If it is at all possible, if it’s something you can do without it interfering unreasonably with your life or plans and I can convince you that you will be secure and looked after throughout the process and after it, I would like to ask you to take Nicolette’s place.’ Blue eyes fixed on her face, searched.
    ‘T-take her place?’ She stuttered the question slightly.
    If Mel had peered in front of her in that moment, she felt quite certain she would have seen a hole. A rabbit hole. The kind that Alice in Crazyland could fall down.
    Or leap into voluntarily?
    ‘Just to be clear,’ Mel said carefully, ‘are you asking me to be the one to temporarily marry you?’

CHAPTER FOUR
    ‘ I KNOW a marriage proposal must seem quite strange when you expected to be sent back to Australia today.’ Rik searched Melanie’s face.
    He felt an interest and curiosity towards her that he struggled to explain.
    And an attraction that can only get in the way of your goals.
    He couldn’t let that happen. And right now he needed to properly explain his situation to her. That meant swallowing his pride to a degree,

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