Free The Invitation by Samantha Hyde Page A

head
spin.
    “Not albino are
you? You are very pale.”
    “No,” she said,
bristling slightly. He really was most forthright.
    “Good, we
cannot afford anymore weak genetics, healthy children are
important. Well, I have to say a dose of fresh blood may be a good
idea. You do know that bearing children is a requisite of marrying
my son?”
    “I’m only
nineteen, I haven’t given children much thought. Of course, I hope
to one day…”
    “Do you love my
son?” he barked, cutting her short.
    “Yes, of course
I do,” she said, deeply flustered.
    “I don’t
believe you for a second, a woman like you could never love a wimp
like him. What is your angle Jane? At best you are in love with the
idea of him. At worst, you are a little whore using your looks and
virginity to worm your way into a life of luxury and privilege. And
to become famous beyond your wildest imaginings. Is it fame you
want, Jane? Do you want that exquisite face of yours adorning
banknotes? Do you want to be as lusted after as much as Pamela
Anderson in her heyday but to be worshipped like some kind of deity
too? Or maybe you just wish to be a Princess and Queen Consort one
day?”
    “No,” she
gasped when he had finished. “I just want Rupert.”
    “Liar!”
    He spoke
harshly and banged his fist on the table to emphasise his
point.
    “I don’t know
what you want me to say. I’m telling you the truth.”
    Although she
wasn’t. Not entirely. She had worked hard to get into Cobbold’s
University, only partly because Rupert was there. She had studied
hard at college, gained amazing results in her A-levels, and used
her looks and wit to charm her way through the vigorous interview
process such a university required.
    So she fancied
being a princess. What girl didn’t? If a girlish fancy had made her
end up in the most prestigious university in Britain, where was the
harm? She hadn’t really expected to bag the prince, yet alone
develop a genuine affection for him.
    I am not a bad
person. I am not…
    “Jane, are you
one of the simpering proletariat who is with my son purely because
you have had a lifelong crush on me?”
    “No,” she
gasped.
    But his words
touched on a nerve. So what if she’d had posters of HRH on her
walls? Every girl in the land did. And she did love Rupert.
Sometimes when she looked at him, he made her stomach flip.
    Yeah, only
because he’s his father’s son, and sometimes, especially in dim
lighting, he looks like HIM …
    “I am willing
to give you a chance. On one condition.”
    “Please, name
it Your Royal… Humphry.”
    “When we are
alone you are to address me as Your Royal Highness, Your Majesty or
Your Lordship. Is that understood?”
    Jane was
confused. What the hell had happened to ‘call me Humphry?’ Surely
that was a cockeyed way of going about it, shouldn’t it be the
other way round? Formal address in public and relaxed in
private?
    No matter, she
wanted him to think well of her.
    “Yes, Your
Majesty.”
    “Better. My
conditions are quite simple. You are to do whatever I say. I am to
mould you into a suitable addition to the royal family. Are you
prepared to make the necessary changes?”
    “Yes Your
Majesty. I just want to be with Rupert.”
    “Good. Only
when you are trained up will we officially announce the engagement.
In fact, it is probably better to consider yourself un-engaged from
this moment on. Have you told any of your University friends?”
    “No, it was
important that you were the first to know. Like you say, we didn’t
want it leaked to the press.”
    Trained up, she
thought. That’s a funny way to put it. For some reason the words
stuck in her mind. They sounded so ominous.
    “In an ideal
world, I would send you to a Finishing School for Young Ladies in
Switzerland. But that would interrupt your University studies too
much and it is important my son marries an educated woman. So you
shall be home schooled, by The King of England himself. What do you
say to that?”
    “It