The setting was perfect. The castle featured nicely in the background of the photos and, although a few clouds scuttled by, the sky was mostly blue, and the lighting natural and flattering.
My smile should have felt frozen on my face, but it was genuinely planted there from joy. Being with Riggins, who was faking his joy at being an expectant father way too realistically, made me too happy for the smile to be anything but genuine. Honestly, I knew his joy wasn't real, but I was letting myself live in this fantasy world while it lasted.
I'd had tea and cakes set up for the press and the crowd of villagers we'd invited in for the big announcement. The tea table was covered with a white cloth and pastel baby-themed confetti in the shape of ducks and bunnies. The food was ready for the guests to dive into as soon as the press finished with us.
I was proud of Riggins.
He was charming and outgoing, completely at ease as he announced the due date. "November ninth."
That raised a few eyebrows. Almost every gaze in the crowd fell to my flat abdomen. I pressed a hand to it without thinking, self-conscious.
"It's early to be announcing a pregnancy, isn't it?" a reporter for one of the entertainment shows asked.
There was no baby bump to report or photograph yet. I was sure that was a disappointment.
Riggins laughed it off. "Traditionally speaking, yes. We'd have preferred to wait until the three-month mark. But since someone leaked the story … " His smile dazzled the crowed.
They laughed with him, not at us. He had them entranced. They were falling in love with their duke. The Dead Duke had neglected his social duties for far too long. People were hungry to vicariously live the aristocratic fantasy through us. Riggins picked up on that.
"About that," another member of the press said. "Rumor has it that the duchess' friend and former competitor for your heart, Lady Rose, leaked the story. Is that true?"
I froze and felt the nausea rise. I still wasn't sure whether I should feel fury at Rose or sympathy. She'd been desperate and I'd been unable to help. If the money from our story, which was only the truth, saved her family estate, shouldn't I be the bigger person and be happy for her? Even though it had been a breach of trust for her to share it, I would have helped her if I could have. If this was the form my help took, so be it.
Beside me, Riggins tensed, but his grin and charm didn't fail. "Frankly, I have no idea. It's not important. We're just happy to be expecting. This morning Dr. Turner gave us the good news the duchess is healthy and the pregnancy looks good. That's all that matters to me." He smiled at me in a way that took my breath away.
The crowd heaved a collective sigh. Wasn't that sweet? Wasn't he adorable the way he looked at the duchess and wanted that baby?
It would have been if it were true. Riggins, I realized with a start, was too good an actor to be trusted.
The questions flew. Where would we have the baby? Would we find out the sex before it was born? What plans did we have for the nursery? Who would be the designer? Would we get the same baby carriage the Duchess of Cambridge favored? Would the baby be a dual citizen?
Riggins gave non-answers, deflecting most of the questions with charisma and charm and the pat answer that it was still early days. We'd only just found out about the baby ourselves. Nothing was decided.
I watched the crowd as I let Riggins handle the press. Happy as I was, I was still in the throes of early pregnancy nausea and feeling peaked.
I recognized most of the people from the village, and, of course, the staff from the castle. I'd become on friendly terms with Mrs. Rees. We employed her cleaning service to do the castle housekeeping. She and her crew were in several days a week. There was the librarian and library staff from the village. Linda and Heidi from the dress shop. And over a hundred others.
In the last decades, the castle grounds had rarely been open to the public. People were naturally curious. There was always a discreet detail of security people around the castle. The Dead Duke had employed a security firm, and we did, too. It was only prudent. The dukes of old had their knights to protect and serve them. We had hired security guards, high-tech cameras, drone details, and a sophisticated alarm system. After all, the castle housed as many, or more, precious historical objects as most museums.
We'd hired an extra security detail to keep an eye on the crowd and keep wanderers out of the castle itself. The last thing we needed were interlopers in our inner sanctum. Because of the extra security, I wasn't too concerned as people wandered away from the main gathering. Other than the fact that I'd simply tossed that two-million-dollar set of lingerie in a drawer. Oops. Maybe I should lock that up with the duchess jewels. Then again, there were more valuable things in the castle. Like many of those paintings casually hanging on the walls.
A movement on the edges of the grounds near the maze caught my attention. A tall man lurked, cloaked in the shadows near the maze, his face hidden. There was something vaguely familiar about him. The way he was skulking around wasn't in his favor, either. Why didn't he join the crowd? I made a note to have security check him out.
The questioning finally ended. I was caught up in my duty as hostess. I invited everyone to help themselves to tea and sweets, and mingled.
"Yes, lovely." "Thanks so much." "We're thrilled." "Thanks for coming." "Yes, a little earl would be just the thing." "At twenty weeks." "Yes, we plan on finding out. The future of the dukedom hangs in the balance." I repeated all these pleasantries again and again.
The entire time, I felt I was being watched. Riggins was busy and involved in conversations of his own. When I looked out at the maze, I caught a glimpse of the man again.
I grabbed a security guard and pointed him toward the maze. "I'm not sure. But if there's someone lurking, I'd like to know their intentions."
"Yes, ma'am." The guard took off.
Riggins came up to me and whispered in my ear, "Everything okay?"
I frowned. "I think so. I saw someone in the maze." I smiled at him. "It's probably nothing. I've sent someone out to check." On impulse, I kissed him. And lingered long enough to express my interest. "You're doing beautifully. I'm not going to be able to trust another thing you ever say. You're such a fine actor. Or maybe liar is the better word."
He actually smiled. "If business has taught me one thing, it's how to put on a show."
The press conference party lasted no more than an hour and a half and was, by all accounts, a success. Our security team checked the maze and grounds, but could find no trace of the mysterious, lurking man. They scoured the grounds and checked the security feeds once more after the press and the guests left. There were no traces of him, or anyone.
As the guests left happy and excited, Alice made a point of pulling me aside and telling me how much goodwill we'd made with the village.
After the day I'd had I was exhausted. I went to my room to rest. And fell asleep as soon as I collapsed on the bed, without bothering to pull up a blanket. The most I'd done was kick off my shoes and take off my hat. And even that had taken supreme effort.
When I woke sometime later, my new dress was rumpled and it was already dark out. Someone had thrown a blanket over me and turned on the gas fireplace. In the old days, a maid would have had to come in to light the fire. This old castle could get cold in a hurry.
I glanced at the clock. It was nearly midnight. How had I slept so long? Pregnancy hormones had to be to blame. Growing a new life took more energy than I had.
Alice had texted me sometime before she went home for the day that she'd left a dinner tray in the fridge for Gibson to bring up when I was ready. The duke had taken his tray earlier and dined in his room. What was Riggins up to? Still trying to find a way to defeat my great-grandpa?
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. In the dark, even my comfortable room could feel a bit scary. Something about a castle that was hundreds of years old brought out the gothic in my imagination. Truthfully, when Riggins was gone, I'd holed up in my room for the night and didn't like to come out until morning.
The halls at night, even with electric lighting, could be intimidating and a little frightening. Footsteps echoed eerily on the tile floors. No plush, quiet wall-to-wall carpet like at home.