“Americans.” Now Armand grinned. “Like your beaufrère, she would prefer to avoid such things as titles and positions of state.”

“But unlike Reeve, she’d have no choice.”

“If she loves you, the crown she’ll wear won’t be so heavy. Nor will yours, when your day comes.”

“If.” Alexander let the word hang. “I appreciate your approval, Father. Now your advice.”

“There are few people you can open your heart to, open it fully. When you find a woman to share your life, hold nothing back from her. A woman’s shoulders are strong. Use them.”

“I want to protect her.”

“Of course. Doing one doesn’t mean not doing the other. I have something for you.” He left the library through the connecting door to his office. Moments later he was back with a small black velvet box. He held it tightly in his hand as he went to his son.

“I wondered what I would feel when I gave this to you.” He stared down at the box in his hand. “There’s regret that it’s mine to give again, pride that I have a son to give it to.” His emotions, always so well controlled, swirled to the surface and were battled down. “There’s pleasure that my son is a man I can respect, not only a boy I love.”

He passed it over, hesitating a moment before his fingers broke contact with the box. “Time passes,” he murmured. “This is the ring I gave your mother on the night I asked her to marry me. It would please me, when you ask Eve, if you would give her this.”

“There’s nothing I would be prouder to give her.” He couldn’t open the box, but his hand gripped it as tightly as his father’s had. “Thank you, Papa.”

Armand looked at his son, as tall as he. He remembered the boy and all the years in between. He smiled and embraced the man. “Bring her to me when she wears it.”

* * *

Eve watched two stagehands, armed with spray cans, painting pipe. She stifled a yawn and made a notation. She was definitely going to have to invest in some new equipment once they were back in the States, which was in less than five weeks. In two days the first production would open; four weeks later the last production would close. They’d take a couple of days to break down the last set, then that would be that.

The company was already booked on a road tour through the fall. She was negotiating a three-week run in L.A. for January. And if she didn’t miss her guess, her desk would be piled with offers and inquiries after her return from Cordina.

Her return.