A Right Royal Mix-up Uncut!

            Well, here's yet another chapter, this one with a little more plot than the last… Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer – It's flipping well not mine! These are getting rather tedious…

Chapter 11

Lily and James were scheduled to take a carriage ride through the city the next day to give everyone a chance to see the princess and her fiancé – especially the people who hadn't been able to attend the announcement ceremony the previous day. Although, judging by the crowds, the entire city of Bienville seemed to have been there.

            A small group of people was assembled when Lily went downstairs in the early afternoon, and several open carriages were waiting in the driveway. They were decorated with flowers and ribbons, and drawn by handsome horses that sported their own finery – plumes on their heads and splendid silver harnesses.

            Lily would have been enchanted under different circumstances – like not having to share a carriage with James. She nodded distantly to him and was annoyed when he came over to her, smiling mockingly.

            "You shouldn't still be holding a grudge," he murmured in her ear. "You won last night's round. I had to sleep alone."

            "The sheer novelty must have made it interesting," she answered coolly.

            "I can't say I'd recommend it. That's one thing you have to say for marriage. You always know you'll have someone to share your bed. I like to sleep spoon-fashion. How about you?"

            Lily knew he was merely baiting her, but she had a flash of their bodies curled up together, his arms enclosing her. Instead of snapping back – which was what he was trying to goad her into doing – she moved away.

            Remus came over to join her. James had evidently told him what had happened the night before, because he gave her a wary smile. "You look lovely today. Did you and James coordinate your outfits?"

            She had on a sleeveless white eyelet dress embroidered with blue daisies on the skirt and along the neckline. They matched the light blue linen shirt James was wearing with pale grey slacks and a white linen sports jacket.

            "We didn't get around to discussing clothes last night. We were too busy talking about other things," she replied sweetly.

            "I can imagine." Remus hesitated. "It's not a chivalrous thing to say, but James really was blameless."

            "Ariadne told me how loyal you are to him," Lily said, noncommittally.

            His face lit up. "She's terrific! I hope she'll come to visit you in Grandalia after you and James are married. Where does Ariadne live? She never got around to telling me."

            "I can imagine. It was such a mob scene that it was difficult to carry on a conversation. Did you ever see so many people?" While she was talking, Lily took his arm and steered him over to where Robert was standing. "Isn't it about time we got started?" she asked him.

            "We have another ten minutes," Robert said, after consulting his watch.

            A servant entered the room and handed James a small oblong package. "This just came for you, Your Highness. I brought it to you instead of taking it to your quarters because it's marked urgent."

            After thanking the man, James unwrapped the package, then walked over and handed a box to Lily.

            She looked at him warily without taking it. "What's this?"

            "An engagement present from my parents. I was supposed to bring it with me, but the jeweller didn't finish it on time. It just arrived by messenger."

            Inside the box was a small, exquisite gold medallion set with precious stones – rubies, emeralds and sapphires. It was attached to a thin gold chain.

            "It's beautiful," she murmured.

            "They'll be happy to hear you like it," he said politely. "It represents our family coat of arms and creates a magical bond to the family. I wear one, too."

            Suddenly Lily realised why something had tugged at her memory when she saw the medallion. It was a replica of the one Philippe was wearing the night she met him in the bistro. It had been James that night!

            If only he'd told her who he was and what was bothering him. She never would have agreed to this deception if she'd known how he and Gabrielle felt about each other. Poor James. Their meeting could have changed his life, but all it did was complicate her own. Fate played a cruel joke on both of them.

            He was looking at her with a slight frown. "What's wrong? What did I do now?"

            "Nothing! I… Should I wear it today?"

            "If you like." After watching her fumble with the clasp he said, "Turn around and I'll do that for you."

            While Lily held up her long hair, he fastened the intricate catch. It took a few moments and she was very conscious of his fingers on the sensitive nape of her neck. His hands felt sensuous, although she knew it wasn't intentional.

            Ariadne came over to them, accompanied by Remus. "Thanks for getting me invited to this outing today," she said to Lily.

            "I would have, but I didn't know about it myself until this morning," Lily answered. "I forgot to look at my list of events. You'll have to thank Robert or Henri."

            "I was the one who asked that you be here – after I found out I had to be. No offence meant." Remus cast a laughing glance at James.

            "None taken," he replied. "We all just put up with these things. Noblesse oblige and all that kind of nonsense."

            "I think it will be fun," Lily said. "It's a beautiful day for a ride and the carriages look adorable."

            James raised an eyebrow. "I can't keep up with your mood swings. What caused this sudden sweet forbearance?"

            She smiled mischievously. "Would you rather we traded insults? I thought of a few I didn't use last night."

            He returned her smile. "No, this is definitely preferable."

            "It's time to leave," Robert announced. "Gabrielle and James will be in the lead carriage, with Ariadne and Remus in the one behind them. The rest of us will fill up the other carriages." The rest being minor dignitaries brought along to make the procession look impressive.

            The streets were lined with people waiting for a glimpse of the happy couple. Their appetite for the young royals seemed boundless.

            Lily and James smiled and waved to the crowd, who cheered and called them by name. One enthusiastic young woman ran alongside the carriage for a few paces and tossed a long-stemmed rose into James's lap.

            "If the princess doesn't treat you right, just give me a call, Your Highness," she shouted pertly.

            He smiled dutifully without responding, casting a sidelong glance at Lily. "Even you can't blame me for that one," he said out of the corner of his mouth.

            "True. You can't help it if you're irresistible to women," she teased.

            Lily had decided to give him the benefit of the doubt about last night's incident. She realised belatedly that it could very well have happened the way he claimed. Noelle was the most predatory female she'd ever encountered.

            "You don't seem to have any trouble resisting me," he remarked dryly.

            "I could say the same about you," Lily replied, continuing to smile and wave.

            "You'd be wrong. You couldn't help but notice my reaction to you." He grinned.

            Her pulse rate sped up as she realised what he was alluding to – his obvious desire for her the previous day when a conventional kiss had turned into something more. For her, too.

            "This isn't the time to discuss it," she told him. "What would all these people think if they knew what we were talking about?"

            "I don't think they'd be as shocked as you are. We're engaged. They know we're going to make love soon."

            "That sounds so unromantic," she protested. "Like it's a duty that comes with the job."

            "Any man would consider it a privilege to make love to you."

            He could have been reciting the alphabet and any female would have responded to that deep, smoky voice.

            Lily was glad when they reached their destination, a tree-lined square in the middle of the city. A lovely marble statue of a woman rose from a splashing fountain set in the centre of a circular pool. The statue had been erected in memory of Gabrielle's late mother.

            A small stage was set up facing the fountain, and people were gathered expectantly. James helped Lily down from the carriage and they both ascended the stage where she was to give a short speech.

            People pressed forward to hear and see better. When Lily started to speak, all eyes were trained on her. Nobody but James noticed the toddler teetering on the coping of the pool. His mother's attention was focused on the stage.

            Lily had only said a few words when James jumped off the stage and waded through the crowd. There were murmurs of disapproval, until they discovered the reason. The little boy had fallen into the pool and was lying face down in the shallow water, momentarily stunned.

            James jumped into the pool and scooped the child into his arms. The toddler was coughing, spluttering and crying, all at the same time, but he wasn't hurt.

            "It's all right, little one, James told him in a soothing voice. "You'll be fine."

            The child clutched him around the neck while calling loudly for his mother. "I want my mummy!"

            She rushed up and took him from James, explaining tearfully, "I only took my eyes off him for one minute."

            "They're speedy little demons at this age, aren't they?" He chuckled.

            "How can I ever thank you, Your Highness? You saved my baby's life!"

            Others in the crowd were saying the same thing. They crowded around, offering handkerchiefs and scarves for him to dry himself off. Although the pool was shallow and only James's shoes and the bottoms of his trousers got wet, holding the little boy in his arms had soaked his shirt and jacket. The fountain had also dampened his hair.

            "Don't worry about it," he told everybody. "I'll dry off in the sun. I know we all want to hear the rest of Princess Gabrielle's speech."

            "That isn't important," she said. Lily jumped down from the podium to join James. "We should get make to the palace so you can change clothes. You must be terribly uncomfortable."

            "I'll survive. You can't disappoint all these nice people." He turned to the crowd. "You'll forgive the way I look, won't you?"

            His question was greeted by roars of approval. James had clearly won their hearts. Even after Lily was through speaking, he insisted on staying to mingle with the people for a short time. Gabrielle's popularity soared along with his.

            When they were back in the carriage, James said, "I think it would be nice to send the toddler a toy of some kind, don't you? It might take the sting out of a bad experience."

            "That's a nice idea, but how would we know where to send it?"

            "I found out the mother's name."

            Lily turned to look at him. "You're a very thoughtful man."

            "I kept telling you I wasn't as bad as I've been painted." He laughed and squeezed her hand. "You were just a hard sell."

            "I'm finally convinced." She smiled.

AWWW! How thweet! Anyhoo, next chapter, we hear from Gabrielle…

I'm a fairy high on pixie dust!

And here come the thank you's…

A caramel camel and fourteen woodlice go to all my wonderful reviewers:

heavenly182angel

devilishly sexy

The Spectre of Sanity

KiSStHiSx86

Mistress del Mare – thanks, it's one of my dreams to be an author someday… Thanks for your help with the favourites thing, but I think that's for favourite author? I'm not really sure…

ivy – I suppose I can manage the vanilla coke *sigh*

Elspethelf – he won't find out for quite some time… I do love to torment my readers *cackles evilly*

zebragurl – thanks, it's a real compliment that my story is unputdownable, as it were…

kitty – I'm not really sure what a dingbat is. It's one of those questions like, what's a gorm, and how do you lose it?

chewy

Destiny's Phoenix – thanks for your extremely poetic review, it's great to see I can get someone to wax lyrical about my brilliance ;-D

everblue3 – there, Lily's finally figured out that James and Philippe are the same guy… and I can't stand fics where Lily and James fall in love at first sight, or the love/hate fics where they kiss and suddenly instead of cursing the hell out of each other they're snogging in the hallways – life just isn't like that! So, I tried to make this a little more realistic in their reactions to each other…

Surely Sagittarian – as you've probably seen, James does notice the change in 'Gabrielle's' personality, but he's suspicious of it, and then when it doesn't disappear, he can't believe his luck!

Serenity

Millie*A

curlz

quinn

Shree

anonmous

VeelaStar

Caffine

Lily of the Unicorn – different is good, I was aiming for different…

EkkyPoo

Ceso

Lily-White – I updated by Friday, where's my cookies???

KV

charismatic – thanks, and yes I am so special, for your information! ;-D

KiSStHiSx86 and everblue3 get a helter-skelter and several strawberry yoghurts because they've reviewed all six chapters since I last thanked everyone…

And a frog prince and a fluffy green bunny to Ceso, Caffine, devilishly sexy, Lily-White, Lils, Danceangie101, Plush Appeal, surferbunny77, dymphna-lunatic, VylantTyrant who have all put me on their favourite author page!!! Thanks, you guys! I'm so overcome! *sob*

And, once again, thanks to everyone who put this story on their favourite page!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Stick a chicken up your nose…