men, in the Guard House when she put her head round the door.
‘Afternoon, Miss Greenwood. How’s His Majesty?’
‘On the mend, we hope, Fred. Has Prince Richard got back yet?’
‘Been and gone, miss. He’s over at the Palace with the Private Office. They’ll be rearranging diaries, I reckon.’
‘Yes.’ Yes, of course. She shouldn’t have needed a security officer to tell her that. ‘I’ll – just go then.’
‘Right you are, miss.’
He took the keys from her and Bella wandered blindly out into the London streets. Should she join Richard? Would he want her? Or would she be just another burden that he had to carry and be polite to, in addition to everything else?
There was only one way to find out. She half expected it to go to voice mail but he answered his phone after only three rings.
‘Bella. Where are you?’
‘Back in London. They tell me you’re at the Palace. Shall I come over ? Or—’
‘Yes,’ he said with urgency. ‘Yes, come now. That would be – yes.’
A flunkey escorted her to a room she hadn’t seen before. It was long and thin, with several desks with slightly outdated computer screens on them, and wall-mounted clocks showing the time in Ottawa, New York, Kingston Jamaica, Paris, Rome, Delhi and Canberra.
Richard was standing at a long folding table – it reminded Bella of a pasting table she had seen decorators use in her mother’s house – with three other men, looking at a huge roll of paper.
He glanced up when she came in and surged towards her, almost lifting her off her feet with the strength of his hug.
‘I’m glad you’re here,’ he said, too quietly for anyone else to hear. ‘So glad. I wished I hadn’t gone off last night the moment I got into the helicopter. I wasn’t thinking straight.’
‘You were worried. We both were. What’s this?’
He took her hand and led her towards the table. ‘My father’s schedule. He doesn’t hold with computers. He likes to see it mapped out in front of him.’
It resembled nothing so much as a giant campaign plan. It was even colour-coded. One of the blocks of colour started in three days’ time. She looked at it hard.
‘But that’s—’
‘Australia,’ said Richard levelly. ‘Yes. My father and mother were due to fly out on Thursday on the first leg of an Asian Pacific Tour. Six weeks away. They’d get back just over a month before our wedding. It’s out of the question now. The King has to be under medical observation for at least a month.’
‘You’re going to cancel?’
He held her hand very tight by his side. ‘No. Can’t do that. I will take over their schedule. Nell will accompany me to Australia and fulfil my mother’s programme there. My mother may join us later, depending on my father’s rate of recovery.’
‘So you don’t want me there?’
‘Oh, I want you all right,’ he said, with such bitter weariness that she had to believe him. ‘I just can’t have you. It’s not done. It’s not protocol, God help me. You’re not Royal yet.’
‘They’d be getting a substandard product?’
He gave a snort of laughter and immediately looked better for it. ‘Yeah, I s’pose.
‘So I take over my father’s diary. George is supposed to be studying, but he doesn’t have another exam this year, so he can take over mine. He’s cleared it with his supervisor. Maybe you’ll help out?’
‘Me? Even though I’m not Royal?’
‘Always helps to have a bit of skirt, though,’ said a voice from Richard’s other side, and Bella realised that her future brother-in-law was among those present.
He lurched round Richard and gave her a hearty kiss. ‘We’ll keep the world on its toes while you’re away, Magister.’
That was when she realised, truly realised, that Richard was going away and she would be left on her own. And knew that she could not make a fuss. It would only make things worse for him.
‘Yes, sure. I’ll stay here and keep on with the pre-Royalty arrangements, counting down to the wedding.’
‘And I’ll phone you every night.’
‘I’m banking on it.’
They spent Richard’s last two nights in England together. He sat up late at his desk, working through things. Sometimes typing at the computer. Sometimes staring into space, thinking. Bella brought him a drink or coffee or, once, cocoa because he said he couldn’t remember what it tasted like. So she pulled on her outdoor clothes and slipped out to the Late, Late Store attached to the big local garage and came back with a tin of cocoa,