Nora Roberts - Cordinas Royal Family 2 Command Performance

Copyright 1987 by Nora Roberts All rights reserved.

All the characters in this book are fictitious.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Published in 2003 by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

Thorndike Press Large Print Americana Series.

The tree indicium is a trademark of Thorndike Press.

The text of this Large Print edition is unabridged.

Other aspects of the book may vary from the original edition.

Set in 16 pt. Plantin by Christina S. Huff.

Printed in the United States on permanent paper.

ISBN: 0-7862-4239-6

(lg. print : hc : alk. paper)

To Walter Mittermeyer, a true prince,and his lady, Helen

She'd been to the palace before. The first time, nearly seven years earlier, she'd thought it was a fairy tale sprung into three dimensions. She was older now, though she wasn't sure about wiser. Cordina was a country. The palace was a building, a beautiful one. Fairy tales were for the very young, the very naive or the very fortunate.

Despite the fact that she knew the palace that housed the royal family of Cordina was stone and mortar rather than wishes and dreams, she had to admire it. It glistened white, almost pristine, atop a jagged jut of land that overlooked both sea and town. Almost pristine, yes, but not detached and not altogether placid.

Towers speared to the sky, piercing the blue with white. Turrets and buttresses attested to its age-old defensive function. The moat had been filled in, but one could imagine it. In its place were high-tech security systems and surveillance. Windows, some clear, some tinted, gleamed. Like any palace, there had been triumph and tragedy there, intrigue and glamour. It still stunned her that she'd had some part in it.

On her first visit she had walked on a terrace with a prince and, as fate had dictated, had had some part in saving his life. Fate, Eve decided as her limo passed through the high iron gates and beyond the red uniformed guards, was always sticking its fingers into ordinary lives.

Circumstances had led her to the tiny principality of Cordina all those years before, accompanying her sister, Chris, an old friend and schoolmate of the Princess Gabriella. If the circumstances had been different, Prince Bennett might have been with another woman on the terrace that night. She might never have met him or become a part of the closing chapters of the political intrigue that had haunted his sister and the rest of the royal family.

She might never have developed a fondness for the lovely palace in the storybook country. She might never have found herself being drawn back to it time and again. Yet this time she hadn't been drawn back exactly. She'd been called back. Command performance. She wrinkled her nose at the thought. Wasn't it too bad the command had to come from the one member of the royal family who annoyed her.

Prince Alexander, eldest son of the reigning monarch and heir to the throne. She watched trees heavy with pink blossoms bend in the breeze as the car cruised by. His Royal Highness Alexander Robert Armand de Cordina. She couldn't say where she'd learned his full name or why she remembered it. To Eve, it was simply as rigid and humorless a title as the man it pertained to.

A pity he wasn't more like his brother. Just thinking of Bennett made her smile and look forward to the visit. Bennett was charming and approachable. He didn't wear that invisible, but somehow tangible crown every minute of the day. Alexander was like his father duty, country, family. That didn't leave much time for relaxation.

Well, she wasn't here to relax, either. She was here to talk to Alexander, and to talk business. Times had changed, and she wasn't a young, impressionable girl who could be awed by royalty or hurt by unspoken disapproval. No, Alexander was too well-bred ever to speak his disapproval, but no one Eve had ever known could convey it more clearly. If she hadn't wanted to spend a few days in Cordina again, she would have insisted that he come to Houston. Eve preferred discussing business on her own turf and on her own terms.

With a smile she stepped from the limo. Since she'd given up the first, she'd just have to make sure she won the second. Dueling with Alexander, and winning, would certainly be a pleasure.

The palace doors opened just as she started up the wide stone steps. Eve stopped. Her dark blue eyes took on a wicked light as she dipped into a deep curtsy. "Your Highness."

"Eve." With a quick, pleasant laugh Bennett bounded down the steps to her.

He'd been with the horses again, she thought as his arms went around her. Their scent clung to him, earthy and real. When she'd met him seven years before, he'd been a beautiful young man with an eye for the ladies and a good time. Drawing back to look at him, she saw he was older certainly, but little else had changed.

"It's so good to see you." He kissed her hard, but the passion was friendship and nothing more. "Too long between visits, Eve. It's been two years since you've been in Cordina."

"I'm a working woman, Bennett." She slid her hands down to clasp his. "How are you? If looks mean anything, you're marvelous.

And if the scandal sheets mean anything, you're very busy."

"All true." He grinned and his clean-lined, almost poetic face became irresistible. "Come inside, I'll fix you a drink. No one's told me how long you're staying."

"That's because I'm not sure myself. It depends."

Her arm hooked through his, she entered the palace. It was cool, white and wide. Stairs swept up the side of the main hall, curling up and beyond the lofty ceiling. She'd always felt steady here, secure with the flavor of antiquity, continuity. Tapestries stretched over the walls, swords crossed with blades gleaming. A Louis XIV table held a bowl of distressed silver overflowing with jasmine.

"How was your flight?"

"Mmmm. Long." They turned off the main hall into a parlor where the drapes were open wide and the sun spilled in. The rays had long since beaten into the upholstery and faded it comfortably. There were roses here, rising out of porcelain and crystal. Eve dropped onto a sofa and drew in the scent. "Let's say I'm glad to be on the ground, glad to be here. Tell me how everyone is, Ben. Your sister?"

"Brie's wonderful. She'd planned to meet you at the airport, but her youngest has the sniffles." He chose a bottle of dry vermouth and poured it over ice. One of his greatest charms was never forgetting a woman's preferences. "It's still hard, after all these years, to picture my sister as a mother especially a mother of four."

"I've a letter from Chris and orders to hand-deliver it. She also wants a full report on her goddaughter."

"Let's see, which one is that? Ah, Camilla. I can tell you firsthand she's a scamp. Drives her brothers mad."

"That's what sisters are for." Smiling, she accepted the drink. "And Reeve?"

"He's fine, though there's no doubt he'd be more comfortable if they were settled year-round in America on that farm of his. They've done some pretty incredible things with the little farm here, but Brie's still official hostess in Cordina. Reeve would like nothing better than for Alex to marry and shift those duties onto his wife."

"Or you." She sipped, watching him over the rim. "If you took the plunge, some of Brie's responsibilities would shift."

"I love her, but not that much." He sprawled on the sofa, kicking his long, booted legs out.

"No truth to the rumors about Lady Alice Winthrop, then? Or was it the Honorable Jessica Mansfield most recently?"

"Lovely girls," he said easily. "I notice you're tactful enough not to mention the Countess Milano."