all away. Just the way you want to. She married a starving artist, a nobody, a man who never did become successful.”
He shrugged. “Her father disowned her. She gave up being a princess. And now she knows what it is like to be a commoner, with no money, no connections. No help from the people who loved her.”
Julienne felt the tragedy of poor Giselle’s situation deeply. She could identify with it in every way.
“But she has love,” she said hopefully.
“You can’t eat love,” he told her cynically. “It won’t pay the rent.” He shrugged again. “The last time I saw her the man she’d married was gone. He left her with three little children to take care of on her own.” He let that sink in, watching as her eyes clouded, and then he added, “She’s had it pretty rough.”
Julienne thought about that for a long moment and frowned at him. “Haven’t you tried to help her? You said she was your friend.”
“Of course I’ve tried to help her. She’s too proud to accept anything from me. She knows she turned her back on all of us when she made her choice, and she’s living with the consequences.” He watched her steadily. He was piling it on a bit thick, but it had to be done. If Giselle’s story could help turn Julienne around, it would all be for a good cause.
Yeah, what a cause. He was heartsick when he thought of it. He had to make her marry another man in order to save his beloved country from war. Great. And what did that leave him? Not a hell of a lot.
But it had to be done. The country had to be his highest priority.
Thinking about Giselle, Julienne was developing a lump in her throat. “I would help her anyway!” she insisted. “In fact, I’m an adult now. It’s time for me to have a living of my own. I’ll help her. I will!”
“Really?” He felt almost cruel doing this, but it had to be done. “How can you help her if you aren’t a princess anymore?”
She drew her breath in, knowing he thought he’d trapped her. Well, let him think so. She would find a way.
“I haven’t been to see her for a few years, but Rolfo got word to her that we were coming. She’ll be expecting us.”
“And why, exactly, are you taking me to see her?”
He turned to look at her, hoping she understood his basic motive was to make things easier for her, every time. “I think you’ve figured that out for yourself. I want you to see her and the conditions she’s living under since she gave up being a princess.”
“A cautionary tale, is it?”
“Pretty much.”
She was quiet as they rode through the villages, going higher and higher into the mountains. Of course she knew what he was doing. He planned to show her that choosing poverty over royal life was fraught with peril and ugliness and heartbreak. And he was probably right. But what choice did she have? Life with Alphonso promised to be much the same.
They pulled off the main road about an hour later, so that Andre could show her a meadow back in the interior—a place where he’d camped as a boy. Red and yellow wildflowers littered the valley floor, leading up to a waterfall with a huge drop, making for a magical view. They stood beside the parked bike and took it all in.
“Gorgeous,” Julienne said. “I’ve never seen anything more special.”
He smiled and looked at her, thinking she was pretty special herself. It was amazing how happy it made him just to have her appreciate something that he loved. But then, it was amazing how happy it made him just to be with her.
But any chance of that would soon be over. In just a few days she would be married to Alphonso—come hell or high water. It had to be.
The meadow was so beautiful they found they didn’t want to leave it, and they walked down the path until they found a small stream. Sitting beside it, each on their own flat rock, they talked and teased each other, and just generally made the day last a little longer than they had planned.
And finally Andre got down to business.
“All right, Julienne, since you have all this worked out, tell me what you think you’re going to do with your life. If you get your wish and don’t have to marry Alphonso, what will your life be like?”