Susan Meier - Twice a Princess

The Tale of the Cursed Princess

Not so very long ago there lived a princess with the reputation for being short-sighted, immature and spoiled rotten. Even her betrothed found her to be barely tolerable.

The princesss temper tantrums and selfishness eventually became too much for her family to bear. Her reaction to her fathers marriage was the proverbial last straw. The kings only daughter loved being daddys little girl, and the appearance of a potential stepmother threatened to change all that. The young princess tried to sabotage the engagement and the wedding. Her schemes were unsuccessful, but they convinced her godmother that the princess needed to be taught a lesson in humility and the power of love.

Her godmother cursed the princess with immediate advanced age, a severe bout of crankiness and exile from her country. The only way the princess could break the curse was to choose twenty-one potential couples andusing stories and a little magicbring love into their lives, a bond sanctified by marriage. Once the last marriage was performed, she would turn back into a princess and be welcomed homeas long as the last couple was joined before her thirtieth birthday.

If she failed to secure the marriages before time ran out, she would live in exile as a crone until her death. If she succeeded, however, she would return home to marry the prince she had been promised at birth, with a well-learned lesson of what it meant to truly love.

N early purring with joy over making her twenty-first love match, Princess Meredith Montrosa Bessart, known to the guests of La Torchere Resort as Merry Montrose, stood on the sidelines of the dance floor at the wedding reception of Cynthia Rawlings and Rick Barnett. Resplendent in his black tux, typically dark and brooding Rick gazed down at his beautiful blond bride as they glided along the dance floor, Cynthias satin gown floating around them.

They looked like Cinderella and her prince, which to Merry was ironic considering that she was the real princess on Torchere Key, though a curse had changed her from a young, beautiful royal into a crone. Even dressed in her pretty blue gown, with her gray hair swept into a twist and wearing the diamond earrings and necklacepart of the collection of jewels belonging to Silestias royal family that shed been allowed to keep to remind her of homeshe didnt look anything like a princess.

Not dancing, Merry?

The smooth baritone voice of Alexander Rochelle, owner of southwest Floridas La Torchere Resort and Spa, flowed over Merry from behind. Tingling with awareness, she took a second to compose herself before she turned around to face him.

Dressed in his black tux, his blond hair casually styled in sexy disarray and his blue eyes dancing, Alexander was so gorgeous, so tantalizing, that the breath in Merrys lungs disappeared, her chest tightened and her knees weakened. But the first fifteen seconds in Alexanders company were always like this. Not just because he was gorgeous, but because he had an air of excitement, power and sensuality about him that Merry hadnt seen matched. Not even in the court of Silestia, where her father was king.

Hed even had that air when hed posed as a handyman.

As resort manager I dont dance, she said slowly, forcing herself not to flirt with him. As a homely crone she would look ridiculous flirting with a handsome man. Though she had to admit that when she believed he was just a handyman, she had wanted to do more than flirt. Hed disguised himself to discover the secret of the resorts recent love matches, but he soon revealed himself as the resorts owner, first to her privately and then at a staff meeting. That same morning, he moved from a cramped employee efficiency apartment into the best villa on resort grounds, and he had been on La Torchere ever since, not really watching over her shoulder, but a hands-on owner to be sure. So, any thought she had of flirting had long ago died.

Still, that didnt mean she couldnt smile. Maybe even joke a little. But if I did break protocol and dance at a guests wedding, I certainly wouldnt do it in front of the boss.

Alexander laughed. Again, the smooth sound of his voice seemed to pour through Merry, touching her when she didnt want to be touched

Well, that wasnt precisely true. Shed like nothing better than to be touched by this man. Tall and broad shouldered, with a deep and masculine voice that reminded her of dark liaisons and whispered secrets, Alexander Rochelle was so physically male that Merry couldnt imagine anything more feminine than being his lover. Just once in her life, she yearned to experience romance as intense, as perfect, as she was sure it would be with this man.

But she couldnt. Rick and Cynthias marriage made their commitment official, finalizing the twenty-one matches that would break Merrys curse. She didnt know what would happen next. Literally! Right now, she stood before Alexander as a twenty-nine-year-old princess in a crones body, but any minute now her physical appearance, regal bearing and comportment could be restored. Then Alexander Rochelle might be attracted to her, but it was her duty to return to Silestia to marry Prince Alec Montclair, the man to whom she had been promised.