Read below for a sneak peek at the Prologue and first chapter of Old, New, Borrowed & Royal Blue!

Prologue

MY FINGERS BRUSH AGAINST the gold band, spinning the diamond this way and that unconsciously. Idly, I watch people with headsets and clipboards running around, talking in hushed tones, always keeping themselves within the shadows off stage. I dare a glance around the curtain. A podium is the only thing standing on the otherwise empty platform. I can’t see the audience from my vantage point, but I can hear the murmur of the crowd. An occasional flash illuminates the stage checking for composition and focus. Anticipation buzzes in the air, forcing me to take deep, steadying breaths before I let my thoughts get away from me.

Behind me, people argue in punctuated hushes over last minute wording on the press release that will go out in tandem with the announcement.

My eyes stray to the figure beside me. I watch as Alistair swiftly unlocks each of his cufflinks. He rolls his shoulders and casts his eyes to the stage as another flash goes off. He then undoes a button along the bottom of his jacket before immediately re-buttoning it. His fingers hover in the air, then he clicks the cufflinks back into place and his hands shove into his jacket pockets.

Is he… nervous? Mr. Always-Cool-And-Collected? Mr. I-Couldn’t-Care-Less?

He removes one of his hands and brings it up to adjust his tie. Under different circumstances, I’d smile and kiss him gently and tell him everything will be all right because we’re doing this together. But today isn’t that day. I’m too focused on standing on my own, keeping my feet beneath me as my knees quake.

He adjusts the tie and moves for the cufflinks again when I force myself to say, for his benefit and my own distraction, “Do I have anything in my teeth?”

I spread my lips and Alistair looks. “Nope. Me?”

I look at his mouth. “All clear. Though I sort of wish we were doing this with food between our gums. Wouldn’t that make the press go wild?”

A staff member with a headpiece on whispers from the shadows, “Your Highness, we’re good whenever you are.”

He nods and the staff member scurries away. To me, he shrugs, “Don’t underestimate them. They’re about to shit their pants.”

He straightens his spine and I watch the transformation as he dons the mask I’m so used the seeing. The face he wears for the public. The guy with an easy air of confidence and charm. He looks down at me and winks before striding out on stage. Camera flashes follow him the short distance to the podium. He grasps it on either side and smiles as I watch the boy I know from the TV screen, the one the country and I have always fallen in love with, as he takes a breath and then begins to speak, “Hello.”

Camera’s click away and I wonder if Alistair can even see the audience in front of him or if it is covered in blinded black spots.

“Thank you all for coming here on such short notice. I’d actually planned on making this speech on my birthday next week, but in all honesty, I could barely wait another day, much less a week, for this announcement. I’d like to start by thanking my parents for their unyielding patience with me over the years. I’ve often let my desires drive my decisions in the past, so I’m sure it comes as no small surprise that when it would come to matters of the heart, I’d be just as forceful and maybe a bit uncompromising with my demands.”

The members of the press laugh.

Alistair clears his throat and continues, “I’ve never fully understood why my sister was given the privilege of marrying the love of her life at age twenty-five while the law has forced me to carry the burden of patience and wait until my twenty-eighth birthday. Well, patience is certainly a virtue I lack.”

At this he tactfully pauses and a buzz settles over the crowd. Like a collective held breath waiting for release.

“Which is why I have beseeched my parents and they have, with many blessings, agreed to my request to equalize the rules of matrimony and allow me to marry this next year.”

Flashes explode on stage, but Alistair only gives them a moment to recover their ultimate shock before he continues, “It is my pleasure to introduce you all to a woman I fell in love with from the very first moment she was chosen to be mine. I’ve had my doubts about our betrothal process in the past, but nothing could prepare me for meeting her. It was almost like fate itself had brought us together. It is my greatest pleasure to introduce you all to, my love, my fiancé, Ms. Cassara Downey.”

He turns toward me. I take a note from the master and roll my shoulders back and then step out onto the stage. I keep my focus on Alistair with each approaching step. I reach for him and place my arm gingerly through his, my left hand perfectly positioned to rest with the diamond ring splayed out. I watch Alistair look down at the ring before his eyes find mine. For an instant, time almost stops; caught in a moment that’s all our own before I’m forced to follow his lead and turn to face forward into a new and unknown future.

 

Chapter One

Two Weeks Earlier

I’VE COME TO LOVE distractions recently. Nothing like a good book, movie, or half-day of closet organization to take your mind away from reality for a little while. Which is why, when Teresa texts me asking if I want to get brunch, I jump at the chance to peel off my wrinkled pajamas, put on real-people clothing, and get out of my lonely apartment for a little while.

I walk up to the line in front of the hostess stand at Minnie’sand make a quick scan. Looks like I beat Teresa here, again. A couple ahead of me steps to the side and I say to the hostess, “Table for two, please.”

She only briefly glances up from her notepad filled with names, “Probably gonna be at least half an hour. Maybe longer.” She gestures with her head over her shoulder to the crammed diner for emphasis.

I point to a couple of open stools. “What about at the bar?”

“Open seating.” She crosses off a name, her attention already passed me and says to the people milling in the lobby, “Tim party of five? Tim?”

I cross the diner to claim a pair of crunchy, red leather bar stools before someone can snag them. I slide the stool closer to the counter and glance at my cell phone. Teresa hasn’t texted, but her late arrival and lack of communication about said tardiness is no surprise. I put my phone away and pull one of the stacked menus over, even though I know I’ll look through it and still order my usual.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

The question draws my eyes up and I smile at my waiter. Red, curly hair accentuated by hazel eyes and an easy smile that says more than words need to—hot and he knows it. His shiny nametag claims his name is Keith. He looks like a Keith.

“Coffee with cream, please.”

“Sticking with a classic. You got it.”

I smile at him again as he holds my glance for a moment longer before turning his back. I close my menu and let my eyes wander behind the bar to a television playing the morning news. The sound is muted, but little black bars of white text slide along the bottom of the screen. I’ve always wondered about the people who aspire to be closed captioning writers on TV programs. What a stressful job that must be. And can you just turn that kind of thing off or are you constantly walking around throughout the day committing conversations to memory?

“Good morning. Know what you want to drink, sweetie?”

I pull my thoughts back to the present, as I look over at a middle-aged woman in a baby blue dress. Christy, according to her nametag.

I point my thumb to the left and reply, “I think he’s already on it.”

“Wow, what a rock!”

The ring. They always notice the ring. To be fair, the thing is pretty big compared to your standard expected diamond size. Then again, if she knew who the ring was from, then the caliber of diamond attached to the simple gold band wouldn’t be a shock at all.

I smile, embarrassed and give a small shrug as I say, “Thanks.”

I’ve perfected the embarrassed smile. It’s what people want to see. No one wants the overly confident bitch that says,Yeah, obviously.No, people like reluctant innocence.

“Mind if I see it?”

I smile wider. And that’s always the next question. “Of course.”

I reach my hand out towards her and she steps closer taking my hand in both of hers. No one’s been bold enough yet to ask me to take the thing off, but rarely do they hide their disappointment when I keep it firmly planted on my finger. Christy doesn’t frown though; her smile just grows as she turns my hand back and forth catching the diamond’s sparkles in the light. Just then, Keith returns to set down my coffee, his gaze snags on the diamond, then on me. I repeat my embarrassed smile-shrug and wonder what he’s thinking. Does he think I look like the type of girl who deserves a ring like this? Or like the imposter I sometimes see in my own reflection?

“Know what you want to order?” Keith asks.

Keith’s presence doesn’t seem to deter Christy at all as she keeps looking at the ring. Sparkles can do that to a girl.

“I do, but I’m waiting on a friend if you can give me a few minutes?”

Keith shrugs, “Sure.”

Finally, Christy relinquishes her hold on my hand. “Simply gorgeous. He must be some guy.”

“He is.”

Without another word Keith rolls his eyes and turns away to tend to some other people down the bar. Sparkles can also do that to a guy when he isn’t the one who gave them to you. I slide my coffee closer and start unloading creamer after creamer into it.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Christy says as she turns down the other direction of the bar.

My stomach gives an audible growl. I retrieve my phone and find the screen still blank. Under my breath I curse, “Teresa…” Where is she? If that girl doesn’t get here soon I’m going to order my huevos rancheros without her.

I take a few sips of coffee and then nearly cough it up as my eyes glance back at the TV screen. The photo of a couple stays on screen as white text burns by beneath it.

“Excuse me, Christy?” I stare up at the news broadcast, unable to tear my eyes away to see if she hears me. Luckily, she comes wandering back into view. “Is there any way you could turn the volume up on this? Just for a minute?”

She turns around to look back at the screen before reaching her hand under the bar for the remote. The volume suddenly rises on the newscaster as he continues with his broadcast.

“Now, Barbara, is there any official word from The Palace as this news has broken this morning?”

“We’ve been talking with the royal family of Esadorra’s publicity team and so far, the family does not have an official statement for release. Given the gravity of these claims we expect them to break their silence soon.”

“This must be a tough situation to handle since the royal family has been practically parading the idea that the prince and princess would have a child soon.”

Videos flick across the screen seemingly at random of two beautiful people as the voiceover continues, “Yes, the royal couple has spoken multiple times about wanting to expand their family. The king himself has recently hinted at wanting grandchildren. Assuming the rumors are true, this can’t be easy for the family to reconcile.”

“You bring up a good point, Barbara. At this point we have no real evidence to prove the infertility claims against the princess.”

“Absolutely, Kevin. We don’t know anything for sure, but a document seeming to detail medical details about Princess Adelaide was leaked to the press earlier this morning. If the document is real, then I’m certain the Palace will be conducting an investigation into who could have had access to such confidential information.”

Christy tskspulling my attention briefly away from the screen. “Awful, isn’t it? The whole world knowing your personal business.”

I nod as I mindlessly twirl the ring around my finger. My eyes flash back to the screen as the broadcast continues.

“If these claims prove true, then the question must be raised about where Prince Alistair falls in all of this.”

“I think that’s the next thought on everyone’s mind, Kevin. But Prince Alistair’s announcement ceremony and wedding are nearly three years away with Princess Juliana’s still another two years after that.”

I watch as the screen changes to an image of a handsome man with curly brown hair. Sunglasses cover his eyes, but I can picture their exact shade of moss green in my mind. Prince Alistair. The one person in the world who hates me so much he can barely stand the sight of me. My fiancé.

A sound draws my attention down. My eyes zero in on my phone screen as it chimes. Private Number.And just like that, reality finds a way to blow all your distractions crumbling to the side.