Free Princess in Love by Julianne MacLean

Scottish claymore which I know he will enjoy. I recall a time when
     he expressed a desire to visit the Highlands.
    For Alexandra, I have sent a portrait of her parents—King Oswald and Queen Isabelle—which
     was painted before she was born. Please tell her that I have enjoyed the honor of
     its safekeeping since the Revolution. No one has known of its existence or whereabouts,
     but the time has come at last to return it to its rightful owner—the only child left
     of the Tremaine dynasty.
    Your father,
    Kaulbach
    Leopold sank into a chair and cupped his forehead in a hand. His father wrote that
     he had been unwell since their argument. It must be serious indeed for him to let
     go of his old Royalist ambitions and set his son free to live his own life as he chose—as
     a loyal subject of the new Sebastian king.
    Nevertheless, turning his eyes to the large wooden box propped up against the bookshelf,
     Leo could think of only one thing: this gift provided a legitimate excuse to return
     to the city and visit the palace.
    And see the woman he intended to make his own, by any means necessary.

 
    Chapter Eight
    After the death of King Frederick, a full fortnight passed before visitors began to
     arrive at the palace, one by one, to present wedding gifts to Randolph and his new
     bride.
    Clearly the country was eager to meet the woman who had captured the king’s heart,
     so it was decided that a banquet would be held to provide the highest-ranking peers
     of the realm an opportunity to meet their new queen.
    The invitations were sent out and Rose was torn between her turmoil at seeing Lord
     Cavanaugh again—for naturally he was listed prominently on the guest list—and her
     shame and frustration at feeling anything other than indifference, for she did not
     wish to fall under his spell again. That would put her betrothal at risk and her heart
     as well, for it had taken so very long to get over him the last time.
    When the night of the banquet was finally upon her, she dressed in a gown of black
     silk with daisies embroidered on the puffed sleeves—for the daisy was her father’s
     favorite flower—and studied her reflection in the looking glass. She wondered fleetingly
     if it might be better to feign a headache and avoid attending the banquet altogether.
    In the end, she resolved that such absence and cowardice would only prolong the curiosity
     that was presently growing by leaps and bounds in her imagination.
    Perhaps facing Leopold in person would douse those flames with a heavy dose of reality
     and remind her why she was better off with Joseph, who would never flirt with any
     other woman and encourage her affections when he was not free to do so. Nor would
     he lie to her or toy with her affections. Joseph was decent in that way. He was not
     flirtatious or seductive, and for that reason he was not likely to be unfaithful in
     the future and break her heart. She could not say the same for Lord Cavanaugh.
    By the time she made her entrance with Nicholas into the reception hall, most of the
     guests had already arrived. The room smelled of lilacs and roses and hummed with subdued
     laughter and conversation.
    Nicholas picked up two sparkling champagne glasses from a footman carrying a tray
     and handed one to Rose. Together they mingled with the guests until Randolph and Alexandra
     were announced and everyone fell into courtly bows and curtsies.
    There was much talk of the late king during the first hour. Everyone who spoke to
     Rose offered kind sympathies, which she accepted gratefully, but when the dinner gong
     rang and it was time to move into the banquet hall, she found herself glancing more
     carefully around the room, searching for the one person she had not yet encountered.
    She knew he was here in the city. He had come to the palace that very afternoon to
     present a gift to Randolph and Alexandra in the throne room. Or so she had been told.
    But where was he now?
    A group of gentlemen in the