Once Upon a Princess Read online

  “Nice to have friends in high places,” Rosie said, before pointing at the menu. “Do you know what you want yet? We haven’t succumbed to doing smashed avocado which I know you love in London, but we can do you a slap-up full English or even eggs benedict if you like.”

  “I can live without smashed avocado. When did food prep become so violent?”

  Rosie let out another cackle, and Olivia was strangely pleased she was responsible. When Rosie smiled, it lit up her whole face.

  “I’ll have whatever you recommend. Full English?”

  “Perfect choice. All the ingredients are locally sourced, and our cook, Gina, even makes her own ketchup.”

  “Far more impressive than squashing an avocado into a bit of toast.”

  “You know what, you’re right,” Rosie replied. “I like you, Miss London. Tea or coffee?”

  “Pot of tea, thanks.” Olivia paused. “Is this your place?”

  Rosie nodded, a cloud crossing her features before she restored her smile. “It is. It was my parents’, and now it’s mine.”

  “I like it a lot.” She sensed Rosie needed the compliment. “The counter is especially impressive.”

  Rosie beamed. “You think? That was me. I’ve always wanted to go to the US, but never managed it. So I decided to bring some Americana to Otter Bay.”

  “You’ve done a great job.”

  “We’ll see,” she said, tapping her notepad some more. She stopped, tilted her head, then looked back at Olivia. “That jacket — is it Paul Smith?”

  A tingle of embarrassment spread through her. Way to blend in, Olivia. “Yeah, it was a present to myself.”

  Rosie looked at her again now. “You weren’t at the train station yesterday, were you?”

  She winced. “I was.” Rumbled.

  “Thought so.” Rosie’s smile stiffened. “Anyway, full English and a pot of tea coming up.” She gave Olivia a final penetrating stare, then turned and walked out of view.

  Olivia breathed out as a tingle of something shot through her, heat flaring within.

  She wasn’t quite sure what had just happened.

  What she did know was, staying incognito might be harder than she’d first thought.

  Chapter 4

  Rosie leaned against the counter and glanced at the only customer in her cafe. Charlie had taken off her glasses and put them next to her plate while she hunched over her phone. They obviously weren’t reading glasses then. That was the extent of her knowledge about this stranger who had waltzed into Mark & Maude’s for the first time three days ago. Strangers represented a big part of the cafe’s business, of course, but Rosie found it hard to take her eyes off this particular one. There was something in the way she held herself and in how, every few minutes, she looked up from her phone and stared in Rosie’s direction.

  Charlie hadn’t glanced up in a while. Rosie assumed that whatever she was reading on her phone must be extremely interesting because it had held her attention for much longer than before. Rosie hoped that meant Charlie would give her a good long look next time she cut her gaze in the direction of the counter.

  Rosie suppressed a sigh. Did she really not have anything better to do than entertain thoughts like this? Like come up with a cunning plan to pay for Paige’s university fees, and have an equally bright idea to help Gina pass her citizenship test.

  But no, at the moment, it seemed she had to keep her attention on her only customer, bracing herself for when their eyes would meet again. Charlie was responsible for a small uptick in turnover after all, what with her having shown up for breakfast every day this week.

  Ah, there it was. Charlie put her phone down and ran a hand through her short, curly hair. Rosie tried to keep an eye on her whilst at the same time trying not to come across as though she had been spying on Charlie.

  Charlie sent her a smile along with a lingering look this time. Rosie smiled back and sprang to attention. She would much rather be summoned by a customer by means of a smile than a dismissive hand wave or, as preferred by a certain kind of people from out of town, a haughty “Waitress!”

  Rosie walked over to Charlie’s table. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “Goodness no.” Charlie rubbed her belly, drawing Rosie’s glance to it. She looked as though she had one of those annoyingly flat stomachs, even though the woman surely didn’t appear to count calories — especially not when eating at the cafe. “You’ve overfed me once again.”

  “I do apologise,” Rosie said. “Even though it is kind of our unique selling point.”

  Charlie chuckled. “Well, you did say you wanted to bring some Americana to Otter Bay and you’re definitely on point with your portion sizes.”

  “Thank you.” Rosie nodded. “I’m so glad to have met someone who really gets what this place is about.” She noticed Charlie’s plate wasn’t entirely empty.

  Charlie must have seen her looking. “It was delicious, by the way,” she said. “Please send my compliments to the chef.”

  Chef. Rosie never really thought of Gina as a chef. Did cafes even have chefs? She didn’t think so. “Will do.”

  “I’m serious,” Charlie continued. “There’s a reason why I’ve been coming here for breakfast three days in a row.”

  Rosie nodded in appreciation. Most people didn’t come to Mark & Maude’s for the snazzy decor. If it weren’t for Gina’s magic touch with food, the cafe would probably have been on the edge of going bust much sooner.

  “And here I was thinking it was the charming, personable service,” Rosie half-joked.

  “There’s that, of course.” Charlie had left a generous tip the previous two times she’d stopped by.

  “How about a coffee on the house?” Rosie asked.

  Charlie regarded her from under her long, dark lashes. “That would be lovely, although I do have a request to make.” She narrowed her eyes. “Only if the owner joins me.”

  Rosie’s lips spread into a smile. “Let me see if that would be possible.” She cast a dramatic glance about the otherwise empty cafe. “I wouldn’t want to neglect my other clientele.”

  “Naturally.” Charlie played along.

  “Looks like the owner has some free time on her hands.”

  “Lucky me,” Charlie said.

  Before Rosie turned around to prepare the coffees, she gave Charlie a quick wink.

  “My compliments to the maker of this coffee,” Charlie said. “The standards in this cafe are impeccably high.”

  “If there’s one thing you can’t compromise on, in life as well as in business, it’s the quality of the coffee.” Rosie sat opposite Charlie, who hadn’t put her glasses back on.

  “I only have instant back at the house where I’m staying, so this is a real treat,” Charlie said.

  Rosie let her jaw fall open in an exaggerated fashion. “The blasphemy.”

  Charlie cast her glance down. “I know,” she said, her tone demure.

  Rosie spotted someone looking in the cafe window and even though Mark & Maude’s could really do with the business, at that moment, she hoped they wouldn’t come in. She was having too much fun with Charlie. Thankfully, the front door remained closed.

  “You’ll just have to stop by here every day then.” Rosie tried locking her gaze on Charlie for longer than a split second.

  “Invitation accepted.” Charlie stared back at her, then looked away. “I’ll pay for my beverages, of course.”

  Rosie waved her off. “I’m just glad for the conversation. Even though we get many of your kind here, I don’t make a habit of having coffee with them.”

  Charlie raised an eyebrow. “My kind?”

  “No disrespect meant. I love your kind.” Rosie hoped the flush she felt creeping up the back of her neck wouldn’t make it to her cheeks. What was she rambling on about?

  Charlie grinned at her and defused the tension by taking another sip from her coffee.

  “You don’t seem to need those glasses much,” Rosie said, changing the subj
ect. To her dismay, she realised that her comment about Charlie’s ‘kind’ could be taken in more ways than one. Instigating innuendo about Charlie’s sexual orientation hadn’t been Rosie’s intention at all. She could only guess at how Charlie had interpreted it.

  “They’re new. I’m still getting used to them,” Charlie said. “Have you lived here all your life?”

  Rosie nodded. “Born and bred in Otter Bay.”

  Charlie smiled at her. “What a dream.”

  “Yeah right,” Rosie said. Then the front door opened and Aunt Hilary walked in. Rosie looked at her watch. A few regulars would soon come in for lunch and she and her aunt usually worked the lunch service together.

  “Hello, Rosie.” Hilary walked up to Rosie to give her a quick hug.

  “Aunt Hilary, this is Charlie, our newest, most loyal customer.”

  “Delighted to meet you.” Aunt Hilary extended her hand and Rosie witnessed how Charlie shook it in a firm grasp. No limp-wristed handshakes for this posh Londoner.

  “And you,” Charlie said. “I was just telling Rosie how delicious the food and coffee are here.”

  With that, Rosie’s private chat with Charlie had ended. She looked at her watch again. Charlie would leave the cafe soon and then it would be almost twenty-four hours before Rosie could offer her another coffee on the house. Rosie’s days had a tendency to fly by, but after this chat with Charlie, tomorrow still seemed so far away.

  She focussed her attention on the conversation between her aunt and Charlie again, ignoring the silly thought that had just flashed through her brain.

  Charlie was just someone passing through — here today, gone tomorrow. And although Rosie’s gaydar — which didn’t get a lot of practice and was anything but finely tuned — was on alert, she shouldn’t be looking forward too much to seeing Charlie tomorrow.

  Chapter 5

  Olivia reached the top of the climb from the secluded cove and strode along the sandy path cut into the cliffs — only wide enough for a single person — taking deep breaths of coastal air as she walked, tasting the salt. The sun wasn’t out yet, but there was still warmth to the early summer air, the white clouds a blank canvas overhead. Sunshine or not, though, being outside never got old — since she’d come back to royal duties in the capital, she’d spent far too much time indoors. She was headed east on the coastal path today, with the promise of a pub on the beach at the halfway point, where she planned a well-earned drink before the two-hour walk back.

  Today felt even more daring, because she’d left her phone back at the house on purpose. If her mother knew, she’d kill her. Heck, if Malcolm knew, he’d kill her, too. A prominent member of the royal family wasn’t allowed to just go wandering along clifftops, where the slightest gust of wind could plunge her into the sea — but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Plus, with Charlie’s jeans, baseball cap and sunglasses, nobody was ever going to recognise her. She’d bought a bottle of water in the supermarket earlier and had attempted a slight West Country twang. She wasn’t altogether sure she’d pulled it off. Olivia’s best friend from her army days had relations in this part of the world and had tried to teach her how to say certain phrases, but accents weren’t her strong point.

  She had a banana and a chocolate bar in her backpack, but her stomach hadn’t rumbled yet — and that was all thanks to Rosie, Gina and their delicious breakfasts. They were so filling; she hadn’t eaten lunch any day this week, and occasionally had skipped dinner, too. Not only was Rosie’s food amazing, the service wasn’t bad, either.

  Olivia didn’t know what it was, but there was something about Rosie she was drawn to. Sure, she was attractive, there was no getting away from that — her hair the colour of dappled sunshine, her electric blue eyes that lingered on Olivia for just a few beats longer than they should. Plus, she had curves in all the right places, and her arms were pleasingly defined from hours of working in her cafe.

  However, on top of those physical attributes, Rosie radiated a positivity and a resilience beyond her years — when she was close by, Olivia found it hard to drag her gaze away. She was sure Rosie had caught her looking a few times, but she was trying to be covert about it. The thing was, Rosie couldn’t be more than 30, yet she was running her own business and just getting on with life. Olivia knew many 30 year olds, and none of them were doing that — at least, not any she was friends with now.

  Even now, just thinking about her, Olivia’s pulse ticked up a few beats and her blood raced that little bit faster. She stumbled on the rocky path and almost tripped and fell but saved herself at the last minute. She took a moment to steady herself. Okay, perhaps she shouldn’t think about Rosie until she was on more level ground.

  Was Rosie a lesbian, too? There were no obvious signs, but then again, Olivia didn’t want to stereotype — she’d met many women in the army whom she’d sworn were lesbians, only for them to then introduce her to their husbands. Where Rosie was concerned, it was just an inkling she had. Or perhaps it was wishful thinking?

  However, even as she thought that, she shook her head. What did it matter if Rosie was gay or not? It didn’t matter at all. Olivia was just passing through, so nothing could happen. Plus, she was engaged to be married — at least that was the story her family were telling the world — even though she and Jemima weren’t in a relationship in any way at all. Jemima was history, but history just kept on repeating, that was the problem in Olivia’s life. Just ask Alexandra. If nothing changed, Olivia would be forced to live her own version of Groundhog Day forever.

  Rosie, however, wasn’t part of her history, and that was the other thing Olivia liked about her. Rosie was a clean slate, she was unknown — and Olivia’s only thought whenever she saw her was how much she’d like to change that, and fast.

  She kicked the ground as the sandy path began to slope, meandering down to the beach, the rocky terrain green with moss to her right, the rocks and ocean beyond stretching out to her left, grey and white with mellow waves, as if the sea was dozing. She wasn’t going to let her predicament get her down today. Rather, she was going to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, safe in the knowledge that nobody knew who she was or where she was.

  When she arrived at the pub 20 minutes later, the lunchtime crowd were clearing out, so she took her white wine spritzer onto the massive pine deck built on the sand. She pushed her sunglasses firmly onto her face, angling her head as the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds. The deck had around 30 tables on it, and the local seagulls weren’t being shy about swooping in to help themselves to the remains of lunch. Seeing as some of the creatures were almost as big as her sister’s cat, Olivia was glad she wasn’t eating.

  She’d only been sitting there two minutes when she heard a throat being cleared nearby. When she turned her head, there was Rosie.

  Olivia immediately stood up to greet her, then had no idea what to do with her arms. That was the other thing that happened in Rosie’s presence: a fine sheen of nervousness broke out all over her skin, momentarily making her lose all control of her limbs and senses. It both unnerved her and thrilled her all at the same time. It hadn’t happened since Ellie.

  “Long time no see,” Olivia said, finally managing to get some words out.

  Rosie checked the phone she was holding in her left hand. “What’s it been? Three hours?”

  “Maybe three and a half.”

  Rosie gave her a look. “Sounds like you’ve been counting.”

  To cover the blush she could feel rising in her cheeks, Olivia held out her hand and motioned for Rosie to sit down.

  She did so, putting her phone on the table, quickly followed by her drink.

  “What are you on?” Olivia pointed at the reddish-brown liquid in a half-pint glass with a stem.

  “Cider. Local Cornish speciality.” Rosie nodded at her drink. “Not quite your white wine spritzer.” She grinned. “Next time, I’ll buy you one.”

  Olivia smiled: there was going to be a next time. “I’d l
ike that,” she said.

  Freed from the confines of the cafe, Rosie looked different somehow — more defined, sharper, relaxed. As if when Olivia stared at her, Rosie had been auto-enhanced. On this deck, Rosie was no longer ‘Rosie the cafe owner’; she was simply Rosie. If there had been any barriers between them — cafe owner and customer — they were now completely down.

  Rosie snagged her sunglasses from her handbag and put them on, before leaning back with a sigh. “It’s so lovely to get a shot of vitamin D, especially after today.” She swept a hand through her thick locks and Olivia followed it, taking in her smooth fingers, her short nails. Perhaps her thinking wasn’t quite so wishful.

  “What’s happened since I left? I thought you’d still be at the cafe.”

  Rosie shook her head. “I was. Then my ex showed up and there are only so many times I can tell her I’m not interested.” There was a pregnant pause as Rosie realised what she’d said, but she avoided eye contact, ploughing on. “So, when my sister Paige showed up after school and said she’d help Hilary finish up, I thought I’d take the chance to grab a bit of fresh air, you know?”

  Olivia nodded: she knew only too well. She also knew she was sucking in her cheeks to try to keep herself from smiling too broadly at the fact that Rosie had confirmed her ex was a woman. Olivia’s inkling had proved correct: Rosie liked women. Olivia’s heart boomed, but she kept it together.

  “What about you?”

  Olivia took a sip of her wine as a stalling tactic. She’d love to tell Rosie her woes, how she was being forced into a marriage she didn’t want with a woman she didn’t love; how Rosie was the most intriguing woman she’d met in a very long time.

  But she couldn’t.

  So she didn’t.

  “Just making the most of my time here.” Olivia took in a lungful of the salt-whipped air and gazed out across the golden sands to the waiting sea. Now the sun was out, the water was a layer of greens and blues, its foam leaving a lace pattern on the sands as it ambled in and out. “I just love being by the sea, it makes me feel calm.” That was true — being near Rosie was having the same effect, too.