Free Hand-Me-Down Princess by Carol Moncado Page A

stroke.” His dark eyes twinkled at her. “My coach was always the one that had to tell me I had been DQ’d.”
    “DQ’d?” Was she going to have to learn a whole new language just to learn to swim?
    “Disqualified.” He leaned his forearms against the railing on the outer edge of the balcony. “None of the stroke judges wanted to be the one to tell the prince he had flutter kicked once.”
    She didn’t ask for another definition. He must have been kicking wrong, though she’d had no idea such a thing were possible.
    “Now, Mrs. Rappellino told me lunch was ready as soon as we are. Nothing fancy, she said, but whatever she makes is always delicious.” He extended his elbow her direction. “Shall we?”
    Jessabelle felt a bit ridiculous, but slid her hand into place. The fluttering sensation she had felt before returned, but she didn’t analyze it. She just hoped to make it through lunch without throwing up.
    * * *
    What had he been thinking? Offering to teach his wife to swim? Would she be interested, or was she just saying that because she thought he wanted her to? And they would have to be close to each other for him to help. That would be a problem unless she got much more comfortable with him. She also did not seem like the type to be comfortable in the water in general. That could take some work on its own.
    He held her chair as they sat down to the meal Mrs. Rappellino had prepared. As he expected it was a quiet meal. His new wife didn’t seem compelled to talk much.
    “What would you like to do while we’re here?” he asked as they waited for dessert.
    Jessabelle shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t know what there is to do.”
    “We could go shopping in town or sightseeing in the countryside. There are some ruins not too far away. We could also go skiing for a couple of days.”
    “I don’t know how to do that either,” she admitted. “I’ve always wanted to learn, though.”
    He gave her one of his best smiles. “Then let me see what we can sort out.” He would call Carson, his personal assistant later, and have him make the arrangements, including time with an instructor they could trust. “We could see about visiting Queen Christiana?” She would probably have some great suggestions for charity work, but Malachi was not sure he wanted to spend his honeymoon doing charity work.
    Jessabelle just shrugged. “Whatever you want to do.”
    Malachi let it drop for the time being but made up his mind to look online for good ice breakers or fun topics to discuss with your spouse. When they wrapped up the meal, he apologized to her. “I am very sorry, Jessabelle, but the suddenness of our wedding made it impossible for me to rearrange everything I had on the schedule. I do have a phone meeting this afternoon for a charity event coming up in a few months. Make yourself at home, all right?”
    She nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
    A few minutes later, he sat in the office he used while here, with the phone in one hand.
    “Good afternoon, Malachi.” Lizbeth Bence was his co-chair for this particular event. In fact, they often attended banquets and balls together, though it had never been a romantic relationship. He had never even kissed her or held her hand for anything other than a dance.
    They talked for several moments before including the events’ coordinator from the venue where the fundraiser would be held.
    Afterward, as much as he hated to, Malachi spent a couple of hours working on a variety of things. If he could get them wrapped up, he would be able to ignore the official side of his life for the rest of their honeymoon.
    Dinner was ready before he had a chance to look up some conversation starters. It should not be this hard to have a conversation with any other person on the planet, but it was. Dinner was full of awkward silences and stilted answers. Finally, he suggested a movie. They sat on the same couch, but several inches apart. They were only that close because