The Princess Read online

  “He’s a homosexual, sir.”

  “Next one,” the general barked.

  The next man, the businessman, had married a woman from the wrong side of the tracks when he was sixteen and now paid her enormous sums to keep out of his life. There had been no divorce.

  Another man was a compulsive gambler, another one’s family was making a fortune off the war with black-market goods. One of the young congressmen was selling his votes.

  “And the last man?” General Brooks asked wearily.

  “German grandparents. We could never be sure of his loyalty.”

  “Now what do we do?” General Lyons asked. “We’re running out of time. The imposter returns to Lanconia in two weeks and she’ll award the vanadium contract then. If she gives it to Germany, we’ll have to take the war onto Lanconian soil and then no mining will be done.”

  “I have a brother,” one of the WACs said, but no one laughed.

  After a moment of silence, a young second lieutenant stood. “Sirs, I have a report that might be of interest to you. It’s on the Lieutenant Montgomery who saved the princess’s life.”

  “We don’t have time—” Congressman Smith began.

  “Read it,” General Brooks barked.

  “Jarl Tynan Montgomery grew up in a small town on the coast of Maine, a town which his family virtually owns. They are Warbrooke Shipping.” The lieutenant paused a moment because he had the room’s attention now. Warbrooke Shipping was vast, and when the war broke out the company was the first to convert its plants to making warships. The navy owed much to Warbrooke Shipping.

  “His family first came to America during Elizabeth the First’s reign—some of them were here to greet the Pilgrims. The family motto is ‘Never sell the land,’ and they’ve kept the vow. They still own land in England that once belonged to an ancestor, Ranulf de Warbrooke, who lived in the thirteenth century. In eighteenth-century America they were rich by any standards, but one of the men married a woman named Taggert and the two of them ended up owning half the state of Maine. In the early nineteenth century, some of the Taggerts left the East Coast to seek their fortunes and lost everything until in the 1880s one Kane Taggert made the money back in spades. An aunt of Lieutenant Montgomery’s went to Colorado around the turn of the century and ended up marrying the son of this Kane Taggert. They now live in a marble mansion and own Fenton-Taggert Steel.” This was another supplier for the war.

  The lieutenant took a breath. “Lieutenant Montgomery is also related to Tynan Mills in Washington State. Besides the money, which the Montgomery family is rolling in, he’s got an ancestor who was a grand duchess in Russia, another one who was a French duchess, and several English earls as well as a few gunslingers. His ancestors have fought in—and been decorated in—every American war. Hell, even the women in his family have been decorated.

  “As for Lieutenant Montgomery himself, I couldn’t find a hint of scandal. He’s worked in his father’s shipyard with his three brothers since he was a kid. He’s a loner, spent more time on his boats than on anything else. Good grades in school, three years captain of the local rowing team. Enlisted the morning after Pearl Harbor—as did his brothers—and after boot camp was sent to Italy. A year and a half ago he was brought back to the States, given a commission, and put in charge of converting civilian vessels to military use in Key West. Two months ago a PBM came in too low and hit an ammo igloo and caught fire. Eleven people were killed but Lieutenant Montgomery got the fire out before the ammo blew. He was badly burned, spent a few weeks in the hospital, and was recuperating on the island when he saved the princess.”

  The lieutenant put down his papers. “In conclusion, sirs, I’d say that this man Montgomery is about as blue blood as America has to offer.”

  * * *

  “Absolutely not!” Aria gasped. “Under no circumstances will I marry that rude, boorish man. I will beg on the streets before I marry him.” For once in her life she didn’t bother trying to cover her emotions. She allowed her disgust, her horror, her repulsion to show to everyone. These Americans were insane!

  Congressman Smith looked at her with contempt. “If it were only you involved, there would be no problem. I hate to think what this imposter princess and her advisers will do to your country. I hope they don’t kill your grandfather.” He closed his briefcase. “It was nice meeting you, Princess. I wish you well, whatever happens to you.”

  Images flew through Aria’s mind: Cissy on the throne with someone—a murderer—controlling her. Lanconia had once been a warlike country. Would the murderer enter Lanconia in this war that raged around the world? Some Lanconians, usually older men without children to lose, said the lagging Lanconian economy would be helped greatly if the country joined the war.

  Aria imagined living in some American hotel and reading about the war-bombed Lanconian countryside. All those deaths would be her fault. To prevent hundreds, maybe thousands of deaths, all she had to do was marry a man she disliked greatly.

  “Wait!” she called to Congressman Smith.

  He stopped at the door but didn’t turn.

  “I…I will do what you want,” she whispered. She kept her back straight, her muscles tight. She felt that if she loosened one little bit, she would dissolve into a heap of tears.

  “Lieutenant Montgomery has already been sent for,” Congressman Smith said with a smirk before he left the room.

  “Bastard,” the WAC behind Aria muttered. She took Aria’s arm. “Honey, what you need is a good cry. Come with me. I’ll take you to General Gilchrist’s office. He’s away right now and you can be private in there. Is this Montgomery a real jerk?”

  Aria allowed herself to be pulled along and the lump in her throat prevented her from talking. She managed to nod.

  “Brother!” the WAC replied. “Am I glad I’m an American. Nobody tells an American what to do. I can marry whoever I want.” She unlocked a door. “Now, you stay in here. Leave the lights off and nobody’ll know you’re here. I’ll come pick you up at five. Until then I won’t have any idea where you went.” She winked at Aria and shut the door.

  Aria sat down on a little leather-covered sofa and clasped her hands together tightly. If she started to cry, she was afraid she would never stop. She forced herself to visualize her country under attack, then she thought how she was saving it from destruction by this selfless, noble act of hers. Unfortunately, she also kept remembering Lieutenant Montgomery sneering at her, his rudeness, the way he pulled her about, tossed her into boats.

  How could such a man be trained to be a prince consort?

  The more she thought, the worse she felt. She prayed that her grandfather would understand that she had had to do this.

  Chapter Six

  TWENTY-FOUR hours later the six men who were working on what had become known as the Lanconia Project had dwindled to four. Two men pleaded that they had more pressing matters to attend to and left the conference room. The truth was that if they had found the princess difficult, they weren’t prepared for the muleheaded stubbornness of Lieutenant Montgomery.

  General Brooks’s eyes were red and his throat raw from talking. “The son of a gun still laughing?”

  Congressman Smith was too angry to do more than nod.

  “What’s the latest?” General Brooks asked the pretty young WAC. They had tried using men to talk some sense into Montgomery and that hadn’t worked, so they had started using women. So far that had met with no success either.

  “J.T.…er, ah, Lieutenant Montgomery says he’ll stand a court-martial before he marries the princess. When I told him he was wanted because of his family history, he did, however, suggest that we offer Her Royal Highness to one of his brothers. He said that they might be tempted since they hadn’t met the—” She looked up. “Expletive delted.”

  “His brothers?” General Brooks’s face showed a little hope.

  “I checked, sir,” said a young captain. “The eldest brother is in intelligence, so far underground that only