Mistress to the Prince (10 page)

Greg barely acknowledged the quiver in her voice as he licked his lips in anticipation of the food. 
“Hold on.  Let me just grab a plate and we’ll head back out.  I’m sure you’re loving all the fancy dresses.
  Just observe for a moment, okay
?
  I know women are always trying to out do each other with their clothes and shoes.
”

“Yes, they are lovely,” she said
distractedly
, looking over her shoulder.
Normally she would make a pithy
observation
about his sexist comment but she just couldn’t think beyond getting out of the area and into a less conspicuous position. 

Greg picked up a plate and handed one to her.  “Here, it might be too crowded to eat later,” he said
insensitively
.  He then proceeded to pile both plates with delicious smelling foods.  He led her to a table in the corner where they could watch the other guests mill about.  “I wish I knew more people here,” he said
, stuffing a lobster canapé into his mouth and looking around
.
  “I’ll be
t
there will be celebrities here tonight.  Don’t royals usually have lots of those kinds of people fawning over them?”

She didn’t even bother to respond to such a silly comment.  Royals were basically celebrities in their own right and Max had a hard time going out in public at times, especially when a new magazine article pop
ped
up about him. 
Tara
looked around and noted several dignitaries she spoke to on the phone almost weekly.  They didn’t recognize her, thankfully. 

She was nibbling on her food
, barely eating anything and
listening half-heartedly to Greg talk about his work when her luck ran out.  “
Tara
?” a feminine voice asked
from behind her
.

Tara
looked around and her stomach fell.  It was Princess Marabeth looking amazingly beautiful in a green, beaded dress that made her hair look more red and sparkling than usual.  “Good evening,
Your Highness
,”
Tara
rose and
curtsied
automatically.

She noted that Greg didn’t
stand and she reached behind her
to pull him up
as protocol dictated
.  He needed to show the princess respect as a woman
by rising from the table
, if not bowing because of her title.  “Greg,
” she started when he finally got the hint, “
this is
Cordova
’s
R
oyal
P
rincess, Marabeth.
 
Your Highness
, this is Greg Mallory.
”

“Good evening,
Your Highness
,” he said awkwardly, wiping his mouth with his napkin quickly and reaching out to shake her hand.  “Wow!  I didn’t think we’d be meeting royalty tonight!”

Marabeth was gracious as always and ignored the small slight because of his lack of a bow.  She reached out and shook his hand despite the inappropriateness of the gesture. 
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mallory.  I’m delighted that you were able to support a very good cause,” Princess Marabeth said.  “It is one of my projects and very important to me,” she said.

The perplexed look gave him away but he didn’t even try to save himself,
Tara
noted. 
“What’s that?” Greg asked with a blank look on his face.

Marabeth’s face remained blank but
Tara
could see the confusion in her eyes.  “The Children’s Hospital?  The reason we’re here tonight?” she reminded him. “Everyone here donated money to the fund and we’re celebrating the beginning of the next phase.”

“Ah,” Greg finally said, understanding the reason for the event.  “Um, actually, my boss donated and he wasn’t able to attend tonight so he passed the invitation on to me,” he said.  “But i
t’
s a real treat to be here tonight,” he finished
lamely
.
He understood he had made a very large faux pas.

Marabeth smiled brightly despite her well hidden dismay at the man’s words. 
“Well, please pass my thanks on to your boss,” Marabeth said then turned back to
Tara
.  “Why don’t you come over and say hello to Max?  I’m sure he’d be thrilled to see you here.
I’ll bet he didn’t even know you were coming.
” She leaned for
ward and said in a whisper
, “I know he’s pretty bored right now.
  He’s got some silly blond woman leaning on his side and you know how he hates blonds
,
”
she laughed. 

Tara
immediately shook her head.  “Oh, I don’t think so.  Who did your mother set him up with tonight?” she couldn’t resist asking.
  She wasn’t aware that he disliked blonds. 
Tara
thought that was his preference. 

“No one,” Marabeth said as if she were surprised
Tara
would even ask the question.  “For some reason, he wouldn’t let her even introduce the subject.  He’s been a bit of a bear lately
regarding that particular subject
.
  This woman just sort of attached herself to him and has made herself comfortable despite his displeasure.  I can tell any moment now he’s going to slice her with his usual caustic words and you know what will happen then.  The tears and the apologies…
”
Marabeth shuddered and
wave
d her hand.  “You know the rest since we’ve seen it so many times,” she laughed. 

“Oh!”
Tara
said, not sure what to make of
Marabeth’s comments.  But she had definitely seen Max cut a woman down who was being silly and obtuse.  Men weren’t immune either to his biting words if the man in question wasn’t making sense.  But he usually reserved his best lines for the mercenary women who were too blatant in their ambitions to tie him down
.  “Well, I see the Minister coming up behind you.  We won’t keep you.”

Marabeth immediately turned and greeted her husband Sam, who put his hand on her waist, then turned to
Tara
.  “Good evening,
Tara
.  Why are you hiding over here in the corner?  Why don’t you come with us to the family table?”

Tara
physically backed up at the idea.  “Oh, no
!
  We’re not here to intrude,” she said. 
“I’m sure my date would prefer to sit over here where we can observe the party better.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed slightly at
Tara
but the smile remained on his face. 
“Nonsense,” he said, not taking no for an answer, “Come along.  I’m sure everyone will be thrilled to see you.
  And I do mean everyone,
”
he emphasized mysteriously. 

He bent down and whispered something in Marabeth’s ear.  When he was finished, she raised questioning eyebrows to her husband, who mysteriously nodded.  That created a huge grin on
Marabeth’s
face and she turned to
Tara
and seconded her husband’s invitation.  “Absolutely,” she said, “you must come join us.  It looks like you two are finished with your meal so come along.”

Tara
’s stomach started fluttering nervously.  “Really, we’re fine over here by ourselves,” she tried to explain but Greg was too excited at the idea of meeting more royalty and he was already following Sam and Marabeth
, almost leaving Tara behind in his enthusiasm
. 

“This should be amazing,” he said encouragingly to
Tara
, already following behind Princess Marabeth and the Minister of Defense. 
“You’ve never met the royals, I’ll bet.  Isn’t this the best date you’ve ever been on?” he asked. 
Tara didn’t answer even though the fact that Princess Marabeth had come up to greet her, an obvious indication that
Tara
had indeed met the princess before.  She was coming to understand that Greg wasn’t very smart about picking up on clues. 

There was nothing to do but follow the three of them. 
Tara
didn’t contradict the fact that she had already met the royals of Cordova. 
The idea occurred to her that she could just run from the building or throw on
someone else’s
shawl to cover her dress.  But no one was wearing anything she could grab
and her own shawl was back in the cloak room which would be impossible to get to since there was still a long line of people coming in
. 

Tara
knew she was getting hysterical and she
forced herself to calm
down as she walked
slowly behind the princess and her husband, the Minister of Defense, Sam Montrose
. 
Her dress wasn’t too risqué, she told herself, trying to gain some confidence by looking at what the other women were wearing. 
There were many other women
wearing similar dresses so she was not dressed inappropriately. 
Some were even more
revealing
than hers.  She told herself that t
he only reason she was so nervous was because she didn’t want her co-workers, or more specifically, her boss, to see her dressed like this.  She
reminded
herself
that
she’d worked hard to create a professional image in the office and this w
ould only be a slight setback.  She’d just wear all of her severe, black suits for the next week which would hopefully counter the image she was about to reveal to her boss. 

As they walked, she saw Max look up.  The expression in his eyes when he saw her ran the gamut of emotions.  Initially, he was surprised, then delighted, then he saw her date touching her arm and his eyes slid down her figure in the sexy dress and the anger entered, and stayed. 

At that moment,
Tara
knew that she wasn’t nervous about her co-workers’ impressions changing because of her dress.  Not even about Max’s impressions of her changing.  She was just plain nervous about being around Max.  Would he think she was being uppity
by attending the ball as a guest instead of a worker
?  Probably.  This was not her place. 
And the anger on his face was proof in her mind that he was thinking the same thing. 

“Good evening,
Tara
,” he said formally
, his eyes narrowed on the man touching her elbow
. 
“
I assume this is your next blind date.  Am I correct?” he asked
curtly
.

Tara
inhaled sharply
, hurt by his rudeness
.  “Yes,” she
replied evenly
, becoming angry at his
bald comment
.  “This is Greg.”  She turned to the shorter man and smiled at his confused expression.  “And this man is your future ruler, the
C
rown
P
rince of
Cordova
, Prince Maximillian.  And I can assure you he has better manners
normally
, but for some reason they slip away when I’m around lately,” she said.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marabeth smile, then turn to her husband and nod. 
Tara
didn’t know what to make of that but she ignored it for now and turned to Greg.  “Would you like to dance?” she asked sweetly.
  “This obviously isn’t the best place to be standing tonight.”

Greg faltered and looked out onto the dance floor
warily
.  “
I hate to admit this to someone as beautiful as you but
I
n
ever learned
how to dance
,” he joked and turned back to
Tara
. “I’m sorry, but you really don’t want to dance with me
unless you want your toes mashed and the possibility of appearing in a ‘what-no
t
-to-do’ video
,” he said
self-depr
e
catingly
.

Max immediately took
Tara
’s
hand and tucked it into his arm.  “Allow me to fill in for you,” he said without asking and started walking away with
Tara
on his arm.