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CHAPTER ONE
‘NOW there, at least, is a Jackson who has bettered himself’
Princess Natalia Santina glanced at her mother, whose arctic tone belied what had sounded like a coether in disapproval Her usual look then Natalia turned to see as the subject of her h the crowd of well-heeled guests who had coement party of her older brother Alessandro and his unexpected fiancée, Allegra, daughter of British tabloid fodder and ex-footballer Bobby Jackson, to finally rest on Ben Jackson, Allegra’s older brother and self-made millionaire Not that the money made a difference to her mother Anyone, she liked to say with a sniff, couldhat mattered
After all, the fiancé who had thankfully just broken Natalia’s own engagement—Prince Michel of the small mountain principality of Montenavarre—hadn’t had much money He’d claimed Natalia had possessed impossibly expensive tastes, which was undoubtedly true for hiht be second in line to the throne but he was practically penniless, and in any case Natalia had no intention of spending her life in soo on and on about his country’s tediously noble history
The question of just how she intended to spend her life remained, as yet, unanswered For the lad to enjoy her reprieve fro in her experience so far had recommended it
Now her own gaze narrowed as she took in Ben Jackson’s powerful forrey silk business suit, his tie a sober navy, his uest Unlike his father, whose flashy tie, booestures proclai else could, Ben Jackson was the epitoance Queen Zoe, Natalia had noticed with a stab of aers for Bobby Jackson to shake and flinched visibly when he’d lavishly kissed her hand instead
‘What does Ben Jackson do exactly?’ she asked her arity of such a question Natalia knew you weren’t supposed to ask what people did, because of course people of class didn’t do anything Not for money Queen Zoe didn’t even like to mention the successful business ventures of her own son and heir to the throne Someties of a Victorian novel, or even a ti to this century
‘He’s an entrepreneur, as far as I can tell,’ Zoe said stiffly ‘So in finance’
How boring, Natalia thought, even as she eyed the oldest Jackson with undisguised feminine appreciation The set of his shoulders underneath the tailored grey silk was iered hand toan expression, Natalia decided, of controlled enthusiasm He felt deeply, but he didn’t want anyone to know She’d always been good at reading expressions, and gauging a person’s attitude It had certainly helped her through twelve years of incomprehensible education, when often the curve of a mouth or lift of an eyebroas the only clue as to whether she’d got it right or wrong
‘Who is he talking to?’ she asked her mother ‘Ben Jackson, I mean?’
Her hed with the kind of weary disappoint to the minister of culture and tourism,’ she told her, ‘which you would know, if you professed any interest in or duty to the country of your birth and family’
Natalia did not reply She knew her ement Both her parents had wanted her off their hands and out of the country At twenty-seven, happily unmarried and with a rather active social life, she was an embarrassment to the royal family At least this time it was by choice
‘You’re right, Mother,’ Natalia said with as much docility as she could muster ‘I should be familiar with Santina’s ministers I suppose I’ll have to remedy that immediately’
And with a suggestive sway of her hips, she sauntered over to where Ben Jackson was still looking intriguingly…passionate
The word slid slyly into her mind Ben Jackson didn’t look like a passionateabout the man from his sober suit to his close-cut brown hair said restrained Controlled Boring, even A uarded his passions—if he had them at all—carefully