Santina's Scandalous Princess(6)

      
          



      

‘She has stowed away on the airplane of the Maharajah Ashok  Achari.'

‘Ash?' Natalia said incredulously.  Ash was one of her brother Alex's  oldest friends, and as such had visited the  palazzo several times.  Sophia, Natalia suspected, had always had a bit of a  crush on him.  But to stow away on a plane … ! She felt a thrill of admiration as   well as envy. She might have made a few scenes, caused a few minor  scandals, but  she'd never done something really brave.

‘The media is going wild,' Zoe said in disgust. Both of her  parents  hated the press, though they recognised the need to appease the people's   desire for press coverage of the royal family. ‘Between this and  how they've  taken to Alex's intended-' Her mother stopped abruptly.  ‘Really, I cannot  conceive what your sister was thinking.'

She'd taken her future into her own hands-in a way Natalia  never had.

Zoe sighed. ‘The media is having a field day with Alex's choice  of  bride and now Sophia and Ash are having a hasty, patched-up wedding.  Your  father was quite right in having you volunteer for the Jackson  boy. In these  precarious times we must do what needs to be done.'

Ah, Natalia thought, royal duty. Of course.

Zoe turned to Natalia, her expression now one of kindly appeal.  ‘I  know this volunteering might be a bit … difficult for you,' she said, and   Natalia stiffened. Her mother's sympathy was far worse than her  scold. ‘But the  positive publicity really is important now.' She  smiled sadly and spread her  hands wide. ‘We're depending on you,  Natalia.'





CHAPTER THREE

NATALIA stood in front of Ben Jackson's office building on one of the  best streets of the business district and took a deep breath. She'd had a  fraught morning. The palazzo was still in uproar over Sophia and Ash's  scandalous elopement, and the paparazzi had hounded Natalia all the way  to the door of the chauffeured car that would take her into the city.  Fortunately the driver, Enrico, had lost them on the winding, cobbled  streets of Santina's capital city and now Natalia was left mercifully  alone. But not for long. News of her volunteering would leak out and  then she would be hounded again. She could just imagine how the press  would handle her sudden charitable streak. Bad Girl Plays at Being Good.  No one would take it at face value, or consider it admirable. She knew  that. Her mother might be depending on her to bring in some good press,  but Natalia doubted she could be the one to do it.

Sophia had always been the darling of the media, and even Carlotta's  sins were quietly forgiven, since she was so obviously repentant. But  Natalia? She was the party girl-shallow, selfish, reckless and wild-and  the paparazzi had no desire for her to shake off her role. Neither, it  seemed, did Ben Jackson. From their conversation two days ago, Natalia  suspected he was quite looking forward to seeing her fail. She  straightened her shoulders and started towards the office. Today she  would begin proving him wrong … and making his life hell in the process.

‘You're late.' Natalia had just stepped into the building when Ben  appeared in his own office doorway, tapping his gold and silver watch.  ‘Ten minutes after nine, Princess.'

‘Please, call me Natalia,' she said with exaggerated

graciousness. ‘Or if you prefer, Your Highness.'

Ben's lips twitched even as he narrowed his eyes. ‘We're informal in this office. Everyone will call you Natalia.'

Natalia glanced at the three people working in the front office, two  women and a man, all of their mouths agape, their eyes as wide as  saucers.

‘And,' Ben continued, his voice hardening, ‘everyone arrives on time.'

‘Of course,' Natalia replied smoothly. ‘It's just that I had some  difficulties avoiding the press. They were parked outside the palazzo  all morning. And not on my account, I might add.' She gave him a  smilingly pointed look as she took off her light silk trench coat and  held it out. The woman behind the receptionist desk hurried to take it  and Ben's face darkened.

‘You can hang up your own coat,' he snapped, and Natalia inclined her  head in regal acknowledgement. She had a feeling that playing the  gracious royal would get right up Ben's nose. And in actuality, she'd  held out her coat unthinkingly. She was used to someone snapping to  attention any time she needed or wanted something; that was how things  had always been done in the palazzo. Clearly it was not going to be like  that here.                      
      
          



      

She registered the narrowing of his eyes and the flare of awareness as  he took in her clothes; she'd worn the T-shirt he'd given her but paired  it with a pale grey silk pencil skirt and matching cardigan, and  finished the outfit with a narrow belt in black patent leather and a  pair of very high heels. Everyone else in the office wore jeans, save  Ben, who was dressed in another sober suit. The man, Natalia thought  idly, wanted to appear strait-laced. Boring, even. But she didn't think  he was, underneath. Not if that flaring in his eyes was anything to go  by. A lot of emotion bubbled underneath that coolly arrogant facade.

Ben introduced her to his staff: Francesca, a competent-looking young  woman in her twenties; Mariana, a stout matron in her early forties, and  Fabio, a shy young man who blushed crimson as he stammered his hello.  They were all islanders, all bilingual, and they all, of course, knew  exactly who she was. Natalia greeted them graciously, but she saw the  mix of awe and speculation in their faces and wondered what they thought  of her. What they'd read, and what they believed. Not that she cared.  She wouldn't let herself.

‘Come into my office,' Ben said, still sounding annoyed, ‘and you can get started.'

‘So lovely to meet you,' Natalia told the three still standing with  their mouths agape, and they stammered their replies. She strolled into  Ben's office and he closed the door firmly behind her.

‘You can drop the princess act,' he growled, and she turned around, arching her eyebrows.

‘But I am a princess.'

‘You know what I mean. As long as you're here, Your Highness, you're just another one of my employees.'

‘Volunteers,' Natalia corrected sweetly, and Ben's eyes narrowed to near slits.

‘Very well. Volunteer. And my employees out there are not your royal subjects as long as we're in this office.'

‘So you object to my being polite?'

‘I object to you acting like you're gracing us with your presence,' he snapped.

‘Oh, I see,' Natalia said, sitting in the chair across from his desk and crossing her legs neatly. ‘You want me to grovel.'

Ben let out an exasperated breath. ‘I just want you to act … normal.'

‘This is normal for me.'

‘Really?' He looked irritatingly skeptical. ‘Somehow, Princess, I don't  think any of this is within the realm of your normal activities.' He  glanced pointedly at her demure outfit, and Natalia knew he was thinking  of the rather outrageous outfit she'd worn at the engagement party. It  had been a very short dress.

Natalia gave him a cool look. She would not let him rile her, even  though her heart had already started thudding hard both with anger and  trepidation. She was outside of her realm of normal activities. And her  comfort zone. ‘Tell me, Ben,' she asked in as friendly a tone as she  could manage, ‘why do you want me here? To teach me a lesson or to have  me actually help?' His eyebrows snapped together, but he said nothing.  ‘Because,' Natalia continued, leaning forward, ‘if I'd offered to help  without you first arranging this ridiculous bet, I doubt you'd be  scolding me in front of your staff and calling me "princess" in that  sneering voice.' She saw realisation and something close, perhaps, to  regret cross his features, darkening his eyes and tightening his mouth.

‘But you didn't,' he finally said, biting off the words.

‘So I'm to be punished?'

‘I'm just treating you like everyone else who works here, Prin- Natalia.'

‘Ah, with respect and courtesy then.'

For a second he looked completely flummoxed, and Natalia felt a savage  surge of satisfaction. He may have got the better of her in their last  conversation, but she was determined to give as good as she got today.  She smiled, her point made, and leaned back in her chair. ‘How long has  this office been going?'

He looked surprised by the turn in conversation, but he took it in his stride. ‘About six weeks.'

‘And you've been here that whole time?' How had she not come across him before?