Roslae, Tirisano

When the Duke of Roslae said dinner was to start at six, that usually meant he would like everyone to be present in the drawing room at six, so that he could escort them all into the dining room himself. Which was how Jamie had ended up ensconced alone with his father in said drawing room, sherry in hand, while Duke Oliver chatted aimlessly to fill the time. Each man was waiting patiently for the lady in their company to make her appearance, both for different but similar reasons.

Though it was meant to be sipped, Jamie downed the sherry in one quick gulp. He felt nervous and on edge, though he wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't like his father disapproved of Keira or that she had never met him. It was more a matter of having them both in the same room at the same time, and him with them. What would they say to each other" What would they talk about' He had no doubt they'd get on together just fine, but would he" Would he be lost in the conversation and overshadowed by his father, the duke" His nervousness was probably all too evident for his father to miss, but if he'd asked what he was nervous about, Jamie might not be able to put his feelings into words. He was dressed smartly for the occasion, like he always was, choosing a blue suit for himself that offset that of his eyes, blond hair neatly combed and gelled, so that not a single hair was out of place.

The duke watched his eldest son down his sherry in one gulp, and spent a brief moment trying not to laugh. He could see that Jamie was very nervous, though he couldn't quite work out why. "Jamie ..." he said thoughtfully, rising to his feet to join his son. "Would I be right in thinking that you intend to propose to young Keira when the time is right?"

Jamie arched a brow at his father, not entirely surprised at his father's question, since the subject had already been discussed at least once. After all, this was what his father wanted, but that wasn't why Jamie was going to do it. It was his father's timing that surprised him, knowing Keira might join them any moment. "Actually, I already have, in a way." Though it wasn't official.

His father raised his brow, surprised by the answer. "A little faster than I had expected, but never mind," he mused. "Hold this." He handed Jamie his glass, and began to rummage in the pockets of his dinner suit, exploring first the jacket, and finally the pants, to come up with a small red velvet box. "You might like to get this resized for her."

"Not soon enough," Jamie muttered to himself in disagreement. They'd wasted ten years; he'd be damned if they wanted any more. He arched a curious brow as his father handed him his glass and went about rummaging in his pockets to come up with a box small enough to hold an engagement ring. All of it was happening so fast, he hadn't had much time to think about a ring just yet. "What's this?" he asked, though it seemed obvious enough.

"That," Oliver informed him, taking back his sherry in exchange for the little box, "is your grandmother's engagement ring. Lovely woman, but fingers the size of sausages. Much too big for Keira's little hands."

For once in his life, Jamie was left speechless. He flipped open the box to look at the piece of jewelry safely hidden inside, pausing a moment to admire it and try to imagine it on Keira's finger. "Father, I don't know what to say," he stammered.

The ring was a pale pink diamond on a delicate band of rose gold, decorated with tiny diamonds itself. The duke smiled at his son's lack of coherence. "Did you really think it wasn't coming to you?" he asked gently. "It's a tradition, Jamie, and one I would very much like to continue with you. My grandfather gave me a ring to give my wife; now I think it is fitting that your wife should wear your grandmother's ring. If that is amenable to you, of course. You may wish to buy something new."

"No," he replied, clearly stunned and finding it difficult to find the right words, when all he really needed to say was thank you. "I thought it would go to Josh," he admitted. Though he was the eldest, no one seemed to have thought he would ever want to get married, and he had almost assumed that same thing himself until recently. He looked back at the ring, touched by his father's desire to pass such a priceless thing on to him and his bride. An heirloom passed down through the family - especially that of noble birth - held far more meaning than anything he might buy for her new. Jamie closed the cover of the ring box and tucked it into his jacket for safe-keeping before reaching to give his father a hug. "I don't know what to say. Thank you," he told the older man, clearly touched.

"If he had spoken to me beforehand, I would have offered Josh your mother's ring," the duke admitted quietly. "But now it will wait for the eldest grandson to propose with, when the time comes." He smiled as Jamie embraced him, patting his son's back fondly. "Just don't make me wait too long to see you two married," he told Jamie with a low chuckle. "We've been waiting long enough as it is!"

Jamie chuckled a little. What Josh lacked in patience, he more than made up for with in other ways. "I don't think you should tell him. It will only make him feel foolish." He was happy for his brother, though he thought the two of them were rushing things a bit. He was the eldest; he should have married first, but now he would have to wait for all the royal hoopla to die down. "No, I don't think she wants to wait long. In fact..." he glanced toward the door to ensure they were still alone.

The duke followed his glance, chuckling a little at the furtive gesture. "My dear boy, if you have already discussed all this, what is the point of the cloak and dagger?" he asked in amusement. "Or is this something you haven't discussed with young Lady Talbot yet?"

"Oh, no!" Jamie exclaimed, turning back. "We've discussed it." Sort of, anyway, though not with the elder Lady or Lord Talbot yet. "It's just....We'd like to be married sooner, rather than later, and we were hoping it would be amenable to you if we live here." These were things he'd planned on bringing up over dinner with Keira present, but he hadn't expected his father to present him with his grandmother's ring.

"Once you're officially engaged, Jamie, I would expect her to begin the process of moving in with you," Oliver informed his son. "I am not so old that I don't understand how the times have changed, you know. And ..." There was a pause as he realized what he was being asked, and a sudden sheen of unshed tears appeared in his eyes. "It would be wonderful to have you both living here," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "This house does get awfully lonely sometimes."

Jamie's eyes widened a little at his father's declaration, not daring to expect he'd be willing to welcome Keira to their home until after the wedding. He knew his father well enough to notice the unshed tears and he smiled warmly and with fond affection. "Yes, well....With Josh gone, the house is a little quiet, and we thought you might like the company. Besides, if I am to follow in your footsteps one day, it seems I should actually follow your footsteps," he added with a grin.

"He's a good man. There's no one better than Josh," Jamie said, lifting his sherry for a sip. "He's just young is all. Maybe what he needs is a good father to son talk," he suggested, though he had a sneaking suspicion his father had already done that more than once. "Or maybe he just needs to find out for himself. They're both young, and he wasn't raised to be a Royal Consort."

"He bloody was," Oliver objected. "Both of you were. Your mother insisted that your education should cover everything you would ever need, including every eventuality that might possibly come up. She used to tease me about being Julius' in-laws."

Keira stared at the duke for a long moment, and turned her eyes curiously to Jamie, a teasing smirk tilting her lips. "And you never considered wooing the little princess yourself, love?"

Jamie froze, eye to eye with his father, unsure if he really believed him. They both knew Josh had been indulged a little more than Jamie, who was expected to follow in his father's footsteps one day. "Then perhaps you should remind him of that fact," Jamie suggested. It was neither a challenge or a rebuke, but they both knew Josh had taken their mother's death far harder than he had, or so Jamie let them believe. He'd been the elder brother; it had been up to him to be strong and to be there for his younger brother. Jamie turned a very serious glance to Keira. "No. I have always known my place is here."

"Do you think I haven't tried?" the duke pointed out, but he didn't press the point. He knew his sons very well indeed, and that particular tone in Jamie's voice was warning enough that if the point was pressed, father and son were going to have words very soon, and in front of their guest.

Realizing that something had passed by that she should not have intruded upon, Keira nodded solemnly in answer to Jamie's words, her smile disappearing as she took a sip of her sherry. She didn't know what to say now, feeling suddenly very out of place.

"We can talk to him until we are blue in the face, but there is only one way Josh will learn what he is capable of and that is to prove it to himself," Jamie said, more to his father than to Keira. He wasn't angry; he was only feeling like the protective elder brother that he was. He turned to Keira as if to explain. "He took Mother's death very hard," he told her quietly, not really wanting to discuss something they all knew already. "He adored her, and she him. It took a long time for him to come out of his shell after that."

"He has Dru now," she said, just as quietly. "She won't let him be overwhelmed. I know she's young, but she's possibly the most determined person I know. And she loves him, Jamie. I think both of you need to let her take over a little, when it comes to reassuring him. The Prince-Consort can't run to his father every time he feels a little shaken, just as the Princess Royale cannot run to her uncle when she feels the same way. They have to learn to lean on each other, to trust each other's instincts." Sensing she might possibly have said too much, she subsided, lowering her gaze once again.

Jamie weighed her words before nodding his head, agreeing with what she said and knowing in his heart that she was right. He turned back to his father, an apologetic smile on his face. "I believe Lady Keira missed her calling as an ambassador, Father. Come, let us not argue tonight. This is a happy occasion. Josh will be fine. Dru believes in him. We believe in him. He just needs to believe in himself."

Oliver was staring at both of them as though they had just grown four heads a-piece. "Somehow, I sense the days of blazing rows between father and son have just come to an abrupt end," he said with comical dismay, chuckling as he nodded to Jamie. Tensions eased, the duke turned toward the door. "Shall we eat, before the cook comes up here to personally spoon feed me?"

"Not so long as you still have teeth in your head!" Jamie replied with a chuckle, relaxing a little as the tension eased between them. He might not entirely agree with his father, but he didn't want to be angry with him, especially tonight. He settled a hand at the small of Keira's back, allowing her to follow his father out into the dining room with Jamie at her back.

Guided out between father and son, Keira felt herself smiling a little. Her first visit to this house in a decade, and she had somehow curtailed the beginnings of an argument between Jamie and his father. She had a feeling she might have to remember how she'd done it at some point.

"Oh, I hope you do not mind, either of you, but I had Cook recreate one of your favorite meals from your childhood," the duke was saying as they took their seats at the dining table. "I remember it always seemed to make both of you grin like it was your birthday when it was served."

That dinner just happened to be hotdogs and fries - picnic fare, the stuff of a kid's dreams. Dinner was followed up by ice cream sundaes, and thankfully, not a word in anger or argument was spoken. Hours later, the Duke excused himself, claiming he had some business to attend to before bed, leaving the young couple alone, but promising to join them for breakfast.

They had long since adjourned to the sitting room - the family sitting room, not the one used when there were guests in the house - and Keira had kicked off her shoes the moment she had sat down. Barring one slightly sticky moment, the conversation had flowed perfectly, more laughter than disagreement throughout the meal. But it was something of a relief when Duke Oliver excused himself, allowing the couple some privacy while still technically in a public area of the house.

Jamie had Keira's feet in his lap and was rubbing her soles and chiding her on her choice of shoes, before the Duke finally excused himself, deeming the two of them needed some privacy. "I don't mean to argue with him, you know, but we are both to blame for indulging Josh a little too much."

She smiled, raising her head from where it had been resting against the sofa cushion. "I know," she assured him. "And you didn't argue, not even a little. But I do think you both need to step back a little bit. The sooner he learns to trust his own instincts - which are good instincts, you both have made certain of that - the sooner he will feel more confident in himself. But I don't think he needs to be told that his education fitted him perfectly for this role. It would lay too much pressure onto him if he decides to believe that this is what your mother wanted for him, and it could damage his relationship with his wife badly."

And, of course, to make that decision, they needed to pick a date for the wedding. The sooner it was, the sooner Keira needed to be seen wearing a ring. The upper classes of Tirisano could be shockingly conservative in their judgement of one another, and Jamie was next in line to become the Duke of Roslae. "The sooner, the better," she murmured, wrapping her hands about his. "Jamie ....if you could choose a day to get married on, heedless of anyone else's plans, when would it be?"

"If we didn't have to wait until Josh and Dru were married?" he asked, unsure what she was asking him exactly. He wanted to be married, but he also knew that because of their stature among the ranks of nobility, theirs would have to be a public wedding, though not as much a spectacle as that of the royals, nor did he want to overshadow or compete with Dru and Josh's special day. It was a question that seemed simple, but was not.

Keira rolled her eyes with a faint smile. "We're not that good," she pointed out. "It takes more than two weeks to plan the kind of wedding we will have to have. But yes ....when do you want to do this?"

He considered her question quietly a moment. He had already been waiting ten years. What was it to wait a few short months more" "If you wish to move here, then I can wait until spring, but we will not see much of each other during the week, no matter what we do."

"Jamie ..." Keira sighed softly, her smile resigned. She had to wonder sometimes what it was he thought she was going to do when they were married. "When we're married, I won't be working anymore. I have to learn how to be the lady of a noble house, how to run a household, how to integrate into an estate. I've watched my mother do it for years. It's a full time job." She kissed the tip of his nose gently. "When we're married, this is where I'm going to be."

"Oh," he said quietly with a frown. "Of course." She wasn't going to work after they were married. He was just being stupid. "Am I being impatient to want it so badly, Keira?" he asked with a worried frown, as he slid his arms around her waist. "I don't want to interfere with Josh and Dru, but I don't want to wait either. I want you with me here and now and for always. Haven't we waited long enough?"

"The question is ....are we going to elope, or do it properly?" she asked him softly, relaxing into his arms as he drew her into his embrace. "The royal honeymoon is a month long. If we do things properly, the earliest we can be married and have everyone we love there is the beginning of December."

"And if we elope, we risk scandal," Jamie replied with a sigh. "Why couldn't Dru and Josh wait a little while longer" All right," he said after a moment of silent thought. "First of the new year. That will give Dru and Josh time to settle in as the royal couple, and it will give the press and the people something else to look forward to." And just might take some of the attention and pressure away from the royal couple for a short while.

"Opening of Parliament," Keira reminded him gently. It was a big occasion in the royal calendar, and this time, Josh was going to be one of the main players. "Second of the new year," she offered a compromise. "And not a huge wedding with loads of people we've never even met before who just happen to be the right rank. I don't care about offending people - this is our wedding, celebrating the beginning of our married life together. We call the shots, or we threaten to elope."

"That's what I like about you, Keira," he started with a fond smile. "You aren't afraid to speak your mind, honestly and directly."

"I learned from the best," she teased him cheerfully, tweaking the end of his nose with a gentle thumb. "You were a very good teacher." Nose to nose, she grinned at him affectionately, teasing her fingertips against his cheek. "Although I'd like to think there is more you like about me than my occasionally blunt way of speaking."

A dimpled smirk appeared on his face at her teasing, and his gaze raked over her little black dress-clad body. "There's a lot more I like about you, but I don't think my father's couch is the right place to comment on it."

She laughed, easing back to take up the little box and carefully place the beautiful ring secure inside it once again. "You need to put this somewhere safe," she reminded him affectionately. "How about we don't put out an official announcement' How about we just do things the way everyone else does them, and just get on with it' The people we invite will know the truth, and to be fair, they're the only ones who matter. And it means we can keep the press guessing and away from your brother a little while longer."

He took the box from her, arching a curious brow as she explained her reasons for not wanting to wear it just yet - other than the fact that it didn't fit. He chuckled at the thought of it, stuffing the box back into his coat pocket for safe keeping. "It'll drive them crazy to keep them guessing, you know." Which admittedly wasn't a bad thing and just might take some of the heat off Dru and Josh for a while. "I like the way you think," he added, touching a finger to the tip of her nose. "You're evil."

Keira cackled sweetly, leaning close to kiss him once again. "Aren't I just?" she agreed in a merry tone. "Is it any wonder my parents are absolutely convinced you're going to run away screaming at any moment?" She grinned - her parents very much liked Jamie, but they didn't quite trust Keira not to muck things up. They didn't seem to have realized that the only reason she had mucked up every relationship thus far was because she'd been in love with James Stuart since she was a child.

"Are you sure they haven't got that the other way around?" he asked, smiling, though there was a hint of actual worry in that smile, like she might just regain her sanity and change her mind about him at a moment's notice. "I don't really care what anyone else thinks. We're meant to be together. Always have been."

"Exactly," she agreed, her tone so firm and fervent there was no need for that little bit of worry in his expression. "I've got you now, and I refuse to let go. They'll have to pry my cold dead fingers off you if they think they can part us in any way now."

That made him chuckle, though he wasn't really happy about the way she'd put it. "Let's hope it never comes to that," he said, though, of course, no one lives forever. Or at least, most people didn't. Suddenly, he was rising off the couch, with her still straddling his middle, lifting her with him effortlessly, as if she weighed nothing. "Shall I tuck you into your own bed in the White Room, or would you like to live dangerously and share mine?"

She squeaked as he stood, her arms wrapping about his neck easily to keep herself from tipping backward and dropping both of them to the floor. "I was under the impression that I would be sharing yours, my lord," she pointed out. "If I don't, you may get confused in the morning and come down to breakfast wearing entirely the wrong underwear."

Jamie grunted a reply as he collapsed on his back beside her, not quite exhausted, but definitely satiated, at least, for now. "Unless you want to hear about it at breakfast, I wouldn't advise it," he warned, hinting at his father's presence somewhere down the hall in a suite of his own. He slid an arm beneath her to draw her against him with a soft touch of lips against her forehead. The room was dimly lit, moonlight streaming through the windows and caressing her body with a cool, silvery glow. If she took time in examining his room, she'd find it to be quite masculine in decoration, though comfortable enough. The only personal treasures in clear view were a few photos of his family, some before his mother's death, some after.

Keira laughed, nestling quite comfortably into his embrace as he drew her close, reveling in the protective gentleness he showed her even without thinking of it. "I doubt even your father would dare to tease me quite that intimately just yet," she smiled, brushing her own lips against the curve of his shoulder. Her fingertips played over his chest. "Jamie ....when will you get the ring resized?"

"When do you want to start wearing it?" he countered. There didn't seem much point in rushing out to get the ring resized if she wasn't going to wear it yet.

"Oh, about three days before the royal wedding," she suggested sweetly. The press wouldn't know what to do with themselves - on the one hand, the Princess Royale and Prince-Consort Elect would be back in Itana, but on the other hand, there would be all that speculation as to whether or not the notorious James Stuart had popped the question. She grinned. Well, he had said she was evil.

"You know, I think we should shoot for the front page," he mused, with an evil smile of his own. Not that he wanted to steal the limelight from the Princess and her Consort, but he took it as almost a challenge, and he doubted the other pair would care much. He rolled to his side, propping himself up onto an elbow to regard her in the moonlight. "What do you think?"

Tucking her arm behind her head, she looked up at him, smirking at the prospect he offered. "Some very public proposal?" she asked thoughtfully, one brow raised in challenge. "Followed by a scandalously fast retreat to your townhouse?"

"Hmm, do you think that's enough?" He considered the thought. "I can see it now....Playboy James Stuart proposes. Single women everywhere grieve." He grinned arrogantly, half-teasing, half-serious.

"Or we could, of course, completely destroy your reputation as a ladies-man," Keira suggested with a wicked twinkle in her eye. "It all depends whether or not you're prepared to follow me around everywhere for a few days looking like a puppy I've kicked."

"That doesn't sound like much fun," he admitted with a scowl. "You might as well put a collar on my neck and lead me by a leash." He was kidding, of course. There was no way he was going to be seen in public like that, even as a joke. "Maybe we should just stick to the proposal."

She laughed, rolling just enough to kiss his furrowed brow. "Don't look so concerned, I wouldn't do that to you," she assured him. "So where, how, and when are we going to do this" I'll have to remember to warn my parents beforehand. My sisters ....they can find out through the papers."

"Hmm, somewhere very public, but not so public that we'll get mobbed." He turned quiet a moment as he considered. He didn't want it to look like a publicity stunt, even though that was mostly what it was. She had already accepted his proposal, after all - this was just a way to mess with the press and throw them off Dru and Josh's scent for a while.

"Maybe we should do things the traditional way," she mused thoughtfully. "Go out for dinner, get a seat in a window so the bastards have a good view, that sort of thing. Or we could just wait until there's a few of them around, wherever we are. Are you a spontaneous proposer, or would you put a lot of planning into it?" She grinned at him, fairly sure it was the former in reality.

Not only was it a hypothetical question, it was mostly fictional since he'd already popped the question twice before, both times spontaneously. This was something different, however; this was just for show. "If we're going the traditional route, then it should probably be over dinner, wining and dining at a posh restaurant. Or we could do it while we're out on the town. In the middle of a nightclub, maybe." Though that might risk starting a riot.

She considered this for a long moment. "What about at that cabaret club that opened up in Itana a few weeks back?" she suggested. "They could do with the publicity anyway, and their comp're is supposed to be really very good."

"Oh!" Jamie exclaimed, eyes lighting up excitedly. "What if we ask them to call us up on stage, and I do it there in front of an audience?" If that wouldn't draw the attention of the press, nothing would.

Keira blinked in surprise, genuinely impressed with his showmanship. "That would certainly get their attention," she laughed wickedly, genuinely pleased with this idea. "I'll have to dress up extra specially, I suppose. Make them think it's some kind of anniversary for us." She winked at him, evil thoughts now beginning to circulate in her mind.

The mischievous gleam in Jamie's eyes hinted at the evil thoughts he was starting to concoct in his brain. "You should wear just enough padding to let them think you're in a family way," he suggested, eyes dancing with mischief.

Keira laughed aloud at that mischievous suggestion. "And refuse all alcohol, of course," she agreed. The Tirisano press seemed to have met their match in this pair, who had been gossip column fodder for so long, they knew exactly how it all worked. "No magic knickers on that night, then."

"Of course!" he agreed with a grin, but which quickly turned confused as she continue. "Magic knickers?" he echoed, unsure what she meant by that.

She grinned. "Oh, my darling, how do you think women keep such svelte silhouettes beneath slinky evening gowns?" she asked him cheerfully. "By means of scary underwear that sucks everything in and holds it hostage, of course."

That didn't seem to quite clear up the mystery for him. "But....You weren't wearing anything under your dress but your lingerie," he pointed out, disbelieving she needed any such medieval torture devices.