Princess Annie by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

combination of jubilance and anxiety when she reached Annie.
    “He’s coming!” she cried, embracing her friend with feverish strength. “His carriage has been sighted from the north tower!”
    “Who?” Annie asked, frowning.
    “Chandler Haslett, of course,” Phaedra chided breathlessly. “My bridegroom. He’s come all the way from America to marry me!”
    Annie knew all about Mr. Haslett, though she had never actually met the man. Like Rafael, he was well-acquainted with her parents, and his own father had been a Bavian nobleman, his mother, a beautiful young heiress from Boston. He had plenty of money and had hunted tigers in Africa and polar bears in the Arctic. He looked handsome enough in his photograph, and was perhaps thirty years old—a perfect age for a new husband.
    Annie sighed inwardly. It was all so romantic.
    Annie and Phaedra had sat up many a night, back at St. Aspasia’s, in Switzerland, talking about the marriage that had been arranged when the princess was still an infant, speculating and theorizing. It had been a delicious topic then, a safely distant prospect, but now Annie felt the beginnings of trepidation on her friend’s behalf. After all, Phaedra hadn’t seen Mr. Haslett since she was a child, and for all anyone knew, he was mean-spirited. Perhaps he gambled, chased unprincipled women or consumed ardent spirits to the point of intoxication.
    In a moment, Phaedra’s exuberance faded, and Annie saw her own misgivings mirrored in the princess’s perfect face.
    “What if I don’t ever love him?” Phaedra whispered, clutching Annie’s hands in a frantic grip.
    Annie took charge. After all, one of them had to be strong. “If you find Mr. Haslett unacceptable,” she said reasonably, “you have only to tell Rafael that you don’t wish to go through with the marriage. I’m sure he’ll call it off immediately.”
    Phaedra was pale, and her brown eyes had gone round. “Oh, Annie, you’re so very American . I was promised to Mr. Haslett years and years ago. Papers were signed and properties were exchanged. It is a matter of honor—Rafael would never break such a pledge, even though he didn’t make it himself.”
    Annie forced herself to smile for Phaedra’s sake. “Never mind that,” she said. Her store of confidence was dwindling rapidly, for it had been a trying day, but she drew on what remained. “Mr. Haslett is a wonderful man—he must be, with all he’s accomplished. I’m sure you’ll fall hopelessly in love with him right away.”
    “But suppose I don’t?” Phaedra fretted, her panic rising in spite of Annie’s hasty reassurances.
    “We’ll worry about that when the time comes,” Annie said resolutely. All the same, she was glad she hadn’t been promised to a stranger like a building or a piece of land, and she was furious at the very suggestion that Rafael would force his own sister into marriage for the sake of his blasted honor.

CHAPTER 3
 
     
    C handler Haslett’s entourage came through the main gate late that afternoon, with much color and commotion. The party was escorted by hired soldiers mounted upon bay horses and wearing bright blue coats. Mr. Haslett rode in a fancy carriage with brass lamps and a monogram painted on its side. Behind this august vehicle were two smaller, less spectacular coaches.
    Annie stood beside Phaedra, while a throng of servants, grooms and others who made their homes within the keep’s far-flung walls strained and whispered behind them. Rafael watched the proceedings from the balcony outside his study, Edmund Barrett at his side. Lucian was nowhere to be seen.
    Annie held her breath, and knew Phaedra was doing the same, when the liveried driver stepped down from the box of the grand carriage, but he didn’t open the door right away. Instead, he walked around to the boot, brought out a set of steps and placed them carefully. Only then did the guest of honor descend.
    Relief flooded Annie as she assessed Mr. Haslett. He