Page 15 of Falling for the Widowed Prince

"Ms. Woodward..." No. That couldn't be right. "Madeleine, would you consider supporting my quest to become the permanent regent by..." He swallowed hard and couldn't go on.

"Yes," she prompted gently when he didn't continue.

He took a deep breath. "Would you be my wife and allow me to be regent?"

5

For nearly twenty-four hours, Madeleine could do little but stare in the distance and try to make sense of the question the prince had asked of her.

She knew her jaw had dropped then opened and closed a few times before he spoke again and told her to take a day or two and think about it.

While she couldn’t imagine saying yes, she also didn’t think she’d be able to live with herself if she said no and someone else ended up as regent…

If it went badly, as she knew it sometimes did, she would never forgive herself.

The other option was for the prince to marry someone else who would then use her new position to her advantage with little or no consideration for the young queen or the country as a whole.

Sitting in a chair in the living area of her palace suite, Madeleine kept the lights off as she looked out over the twinkling lights of the capital city. Hot cocoa wasn’t something generally on the palace menu, but she knew the kitchens could come up with just about anything anyone could want so she’d asked.

Holding the warm mug with both hands, she took a sip and continued to try to wrap her mind around it all. To try to walk through what it would be like in reality if she said yes.

Would she move into the palace? Possibly even the family quarters? She’d never even seen them.

Madeleine was under no illusions that it would be a love match. There would be no snuggles in a shared big chair or soft kisses and whispered words of love.

It would likely involve helping care for the younger children, and possibly even the queen herself to an extent. Though she worked in the palace, Madeleine had never met any of the younger members of the family and only seen them in passing a few times. She preferred studying the books and artifacts and being the caretaker of the royal history to hoping for glimpses of the less public members of the family - like she knew some staff members did.

That thought sent her thoughts in another direction.

How would logistics work? Could she keep her job? Would she join the prince at official functions? She wouldn’t get a title. That didn’t matter to her, though she suspected some naysayers would accuse her of being just interested in a tiara.

When her phone buzzed, she glanced at the screen.

Liana.

As much as she wanted advice from her best friend, Madeleine couldn’t talk about this. The prince hadn’t told her that, but he didn’t need to.

Regardless, she answered the phone.

“Where have you been?” Liana demanded before either exchanged a greeting.

It made Madeleine laugh. “I’ve been asked to do a big project at work so I’m staying here for a few days until it’s done.”

Or she married Prince Anthony.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I got here twenty minutes ago for dinner and a movie. This is the fifth time I’ve called you.”

The date registered with Madeleine, and she groaned. “I’m sorry, Lis. I completely forgot. You know what happens sometimes when I get involved in a good history mystery.”

“A mystery?! Do tell!”

If she’d thought about it for half a second, Madeleine would have known that would be Liana’s first question. “I can’t talk about it yet. It’s got to do with some new material from the sixteen and seventeen hundreds and some discoveries in it.” That should be safe enough. “But I probably shouldn’t even tell you that much.” And that would hopefully help make sure Liana didn’t mention anything on accident. “I’ll let you know when I can.”

Madeleine could hear the door to an auto shut followed by the sound of the engine starting. “I really am sorry, Lia. I’m not sure how long I’ll be fully absorbed with the project, but as soon as I can, we’ll set a new time.”

“I’m headed out of town for a couple of weeks to film a movie for the spring HEA TV line up. I’ll be back a week before Christmas.” Liana’s voice took on that slightly distant quality it often did when connected to the auto’s infotainment system.

Biting back a groan, Madeleine set her mug down on the side table. “I’m so sorry, Lia. I forgot all about that.”

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