Bella nodded as if she knew what Eleanor was talking about. Whereas she had never heard of Royalty Watchers Magazine until last year.
Eleanor wasn’t deceived. ‘You don’t know, do you? OK. She was an Art History major at Smith. Whenever he was in the States, he saw her. And then she came over here and worked for the National Gallery. Her father is on the Olympic Committee?’
Bella clicked fingers. ‘Got it. King Edvard or something. One of the bicycling Royals, right?’
Eleanor choked with laughter.
Coming up behind them Richard took off his sunglasses and surveyed Tilly’s composed run. ‘She’s not bad. What were you laughing about?’
Eleanor looked agonisingly embarrassed.
‘Bicycling Royals,’ said Bella crisply. ‘It’s rude to eavesdrop.’
‘What’s wrong with them? I’ll have you know that some of my best friends are bicycling royals.’
He put his arm round Bella and pushed his woolly ski hat further back. She saw that he had got rid of his skis.
‘Ready to go?’
‘What about you? Don’t you want another run?’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve had my fresh air for the day. Anyway, Mother’s tired. I thought we could go back with her?’
‘Sure.’
He drove with that controlled competence Bella was coming to learn he brought to everything. The Queen sat next to him and she did, indeed, look tired.
‘I will go and lie down for half an hour,’ she said when they arrived at the house. ‘Let’s have tea together in the conservatory at half-past three. I want to talk to you both before everyone gets back.’
What she wanted to talk about, it turned out, was the wedding. ‘Your father tells me that the Prime Minister’s Office has a list of possible dates, most of them this year. It is your decision, of course. But I want you to think about it very seriously.’
Bella looked at Richard. Did he know this was coming?
Richard was calm. ‘I think we’ve got that, Mother. The PM sent the list of dates over in the second week of January. That’s a fortnight ago now. Someone has been sitting on it. I know it’s not me and it doesn’t seem to be Father’s office. So it had to be you. What exactly is going on?’
The Queen folded her lips together. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.’
‘No,’ Richard agreed, not angry but not very friendly either.
His mother flushed. ‘I really wanted to get to know Bella …’
He said very coolly, ‘No, you didn’t. Have you even called her since the New Year?’
The Queen looked miserable. Bella felt sorry for her.
‘So, I repeat, what’s this about?’
The Queen drew a long breath. ‘This engagement, this affair, it has all happened too fast. You’re still starry-eyed about each other, I can see that. I think it’s lovely. But it’s no – no foundation for your future life.’
She turned to Bella.
‘You don’t come from our world. Don’t misunderstand me. I think that’s a good thing, I really do. But it means that you have no idea what your life would be like if you married my son.’
‘Will,’ said Richard, with steely quiet. ‘Will be like. When she marries me.’
The Queen ignored him. ‘All I’m asking is that you give yourself a year. You’re his fiancée. It’s official. You can be his companion anywhere you want. Just see what it’s like.’
Bella leaned forward. ‘I know he’s public property. He told me so right at the start and I’ve seen it with my own eyes. We don’t have to wait a year for me to learn that.’
The Queen shook her head. ‘And do you realise what it’s going to be like being Princess of Wales? It’s a job, you know.’
‘Richard will help me—’
The Queen drummed her fists on the arms of her chair. ‘But that’s just it! He won’t. He can’t. He’ll be off doing his own programme. Do you know his diary already has events booked in for five years ahead? Five years. When his grandfather died, it took the Private Offices three months to rework everyone’s calendars. My poor George was launching ships. He was eleven. My little boy, all on his own in front of a horde of men in uniform, throwing a bottle at a damn’ great ocean liner. But his father said that someone had to do it and George was old enough and liked the sea. Liked the sea …’
She fought with herself, drew several calming breaths. Richard watched her with dawning concern.