Second Chance Prince

by Sara Bennett

Genres: Regency Romance

Synopsis

The third exciting romance in a sweeping Regency series from bestselling author Sara Bennett follows a dashing Prince and his former crush as they pretend to be engaged to hide from a deadly threat—perfect for fans of USA Today bestsellers Evie Dunmore and Manda Collins!

Release date: February 24, 2026

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Print pages: 352

Sample

The next morning, Roberta rose early because she intended to go riding. She had learned long ago that it was really the only thing that kept her sane. Because her natural exuberance needed to be curbed whenever she went into society, she would find herself watching her every word and every move. She couldn’t be her true self, and that made her jittery. If she was honest, there were times when, in the midst of a ball or a soiree, she wanted nothing more than to saddle her horse, Arrow, and ride as far and as fast as she could. The wind blowing in her face, the strength of the horse beneath her…it was a sensation she never grew tired of.

But these days, she had to curb her rebellious nature. Not because she was hanging out for a husband; Roberta had no plans to marry—being chained to a man was not something she imagined for herself. Well, not since she grew up anyway. She was the sister of a duke, the daughter of a duke, and she had a role to play. Olivia used to scold her for her thoughtlessness, but she had not understood—or perhaps she had not wanted to understand. Now she did. She had to watch herself carefully, and that meant that for many of the hours in her days, she could not be the real Roberta Ashton.

Apart from that one, brief window of opportunity, before most people had even opened their eyes, when she pushed aside the shackles and let the wild girl inside her run free. It was Roberta’s favorite time of the day.

The weather was cool today with a hint of rain, but Roberta didn’t care. She rode hard, shaking off her jitters and calming her nerves. The evening before seemed to have made those jitters worse than usual. Not just the pistol shot through the window aimed at Niki but seeing him again. There had been a time when she had imagined herself in love with him, but she knew now that it had been nothing but a girlish infatuation. He had always been out of her reach; she just had not known it.

Remembering now how she had insisted he be invited to her coming-out ball last year made her squirm with embarrassment. Had she really believed he might be interested in her? Roberta remembered her crushing disappointment when he did not reply. Then she had still been a child—he was a silly dream she had held on to since she first met him—but maturity had brought self-awareness. She was not designed for a conventional marriage, but she just hadn’t known it then.

Having seen Gabriel and Olivia find their perfect partners, and make peace with their true natures, had made her wonder if she might find someone, one day, who would allow her the freedom she needed to be herself. Someone who would not cage her in with protocols. Wedded to Prince Nikolai of Holtswig, even if such a thing were possible? What a disaster that would be!

By the time Roberta returned to the town house, she had put aside memories of her girlish fantasies and was looking forward to a picnic she had been invited to by Estelle Longhurst. Roberta had made the acquaintance of Estelle nearly three years ago, when she accompanied Olivia to an extremely questionable gathering at the home of the bohemian Longhursts. While Olivia dallied with Ivo—and there was a great deal of dallying going on, that was for certain—Roberta had spent the evening safely in Estelle’s bedchamber playing with dolls.

Dolls were more her little sister Edwina’s plaything, but it had been the beginning of an unlikely friendship between Estelle and Roberta that had since grown and flourished. They were very different personalities, it was true, but perhaps that was why they seemed to get on so well.

Estelle had made her debut too, and they gravitated to each other at society entertainments, heads bent close as they giggled and exchanged secrets. Indeed, Roberta could not think of another female—besides her sisters—with whom she was closer.

Gabriel and Vivienne had accompanied Roberta to Ashton House this year for the London Season, and Antonia had been permitted to join them. At nearly sixteen years, Antonia was the next Ashton sister to Roberta’s nineteen years, and although she was not yet out and wouldn’t be for some time, she was good company. After Antonia came Georgia, at eleven years, who seemed to enjoy being disliked, and Edwina, at eight years, who was a sweetheart. The two youngest girls remained at Grantham, the Ashton estate in Sussex, with their grandmother and their governess.

Roberta was deciding what she should wear to the picnic with Estelle when she was informed by a maid that Mr. Freddie Hart was awaiting her in the yellow sitting room.

Alarmed—this must be something to do with last night—she quickly changed and went down to see what he wanted. She wasn’t surprised to find Gabriel there too. He and Freddie were fast friends. They looked up as she entered the room, and their expressions did not suggest they had been reminiscing about happier times. In fact, Gabriel was frowning, and Freddie’s hazel eyes had a watchfulness about them that only increased her unease.

“There you are, Roberta!” Gabriel said. He opened his mouth as if to ask her where she had been this early in the morning and then seemed to think better of it. She and Gabriel had come to an understanding. In public, she kept any reckless behavior carefully confined beneath an outer shell of “elegant young lady,” and Gabriel did not ask any questions about what she’d been up to in private.

For a man with six sisters, it was probably the only way his nerves could survive.

“What is it?” she asked, looking from one to the other. The two men did look very serious. “Has the prince taken a turn for the worse, Gabriel?”

“No, no, it is nothing like that,” Gabriel hastily reassured her. “Although Freddie is here to discuss a matter with you regarding the prince—”

“His Royal Highness, Prince Nikolai Lichtenberg, Duke of Holtswig,” Freddie broke in, giving the man his full title.

Roberta sat down abruptly on the sofa and stared at them as they also returned to their seats, facing her. The house was quiet, it was still early, and this moment suddenly struck Roberta as very strange. She rarely heard Niki’s name spoken like that. To her and her family, he had been simply Niki or Prince Nikolai, but she was reminded now that he had a life outside his encounters with the Ashtons. A life she knew very little about.

“How is the prince?” she said. “His injury—”

“Hale and hearty, so he says.” Freddie’s smile held a hint of mockery. “The truth is, no matter how hard he tries to put on a brave face, he’s worried. And so is the British government. Which means I’m worried too because it will be my job to sort out the mess if something happens to him.”

“‘If something happens to him’?” she repeated, her voice higher than usual. She remembered the look in Niki’s eyes, the trickle of blood at his temple. “Do you mean they might try again?”

Freddie leaned forward with his hands linked between his knees. “Let me explain. The Lichtenberg family have ruled Holtswig for generations, but since the prince’s grandfather died a year ago, there has been growing unrest. Under Nikolai’s grandfather and father, the country was rapidly modernized—for the good of the people, I might add—but there are those who wish to return to the old ways. These dissenters believe Nikolai should not be the next one to rule his country, that his family’s dynasty should come to an end, and their voices are growing louder.”

“But he is the heir!” Roberta cried. “Is that what happened last night? Did these dissenters who disagree with his right to rule try to—to hurt him?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“But…What are you going to do about it?”

Gabriel gave a huff of laughter. “For goodness’ sake, Roberta, let Freddie speak.”

Freddie’s hair was particularly bright in the dull light that came through the windows. When she first knew him, he had been in the army, but since then he had been seconded to a secret government department, and no one seemed to know exactly what his job entailed. He had given up his uniform and now dressed in formal wear, plain but elegant, and Roberta thought that he looked like someone you could depend upon in a crisis. Three years ago, he had helped extract Olivia’s husband, Ivo, from a tricky situation, and they were all grateful to him for that, so she should not be surprised he was the one looking into Niki’s troubles.

“The prince and I have spoken,” Freddie began, when he had her attention. “At first, he refused help from our government because he felt as if it would weaken his position with his people even further—relying on a foreign power, you see. But we came to an agreement. The reason why I am here is that our agreement concerns you, Roberta.”

“Me?” She stared. “Why me?”

“The prince expects to be in England for three months. While he is here, he needs protection, but he is reluctant to agree. He has brought his own bodyguards with him from Holtswig, but they are unfamiliar with this country. It was suggested to him that if he was engaged to an English girl, then protection could come from our government, disguised as assigned to her.”

“Engaged?” Roberta knew she must look as shocked as she felt. Niki engaged? She wasn’t sure exactly what she was feeling—jealousy, perhaps, and certainly disappointment, although those emotions seemed out of place for a woman who claimed she did not wish to marry and had long ago moved beyond her infatuation with the prince.

“It was not easy to get his agreement,” Freddie went on, watching her closely. “At first, he was dead against the engagement idea, and it was only when your name was put to him that he stopped arguing. You are friends, I gather?”

“Friends?” She floundered. “I don’t…We are acquaintances, I suppose. What do you mean, when my name was put to him?”

Freddie and Gabriel exchanged a glance. Gabriel gave a sigh as if the weight of the world had descended on him. “Roberta, I don’t entirely agree with this plan of Freddie’s,” he said. “If you feel the same way, then I promise you will hear no more of it. It may be a clever way of getting the prince to agree to accept the British government’s protection, but in my opinion, there are too many things that could go wrong. When I think of you being placed in a position where you could be hurt, or worse…” He waved a hand as if it was too painful for him to speak of it. He took a breath and went on. “But I know you have a mind of your own, and I have learned to trust you. Most of the time, anyway,” he added with a faint smile. “So I will abide by your decision in the matter.”

Roberta was touched by his care of her, but at the same time, the thought of being part of a dangerous adventure appealed far more than she knew it should. But then Roberta had always been an adventurous sort.

“If you’d let me finish,” Freddie spoke loudly with a frown at his friend as he retook the floor. “The plan I put to the government is that you undertake a sham engagement with Prince Nikolai. All we’ll need is three months—that is, the time he intends to remain in London—and then he’ll return to Holtswig.”

By now, Roberta was speechless but Freddie certainly wasn’t.

“I am aware the announcement of such an engagement would seem quite sudden, but you and he met some years ago, and the Dowager Duchess of Grantham was a friend of the prince’s grandfather. Perhaps we can say that when you met again this Season, you both suddenly realized you had feelings for each other? It will not seem too far-fetched. We can make it work, Roberta. Then, when the three months are up, an announcement will be made that the engagement is over. No details need be given; it is a private matter, after all, and the two of you will part amicably. I can ensure there will be very little hint of scandal, and what there is…Well, I am sure the Ashtons can take it in their stride.”

“Because we are such a scandalous family after all,” Gabriel muttered, showing his displeasure.

Roberta shook her head and then gave a ghost of a chuckle. “Are you sure you haven’t been reading Annette’s books, Freddie? This sounds more like a romantic novel than something from real life.” Vivienne and her cousin Annette wrote a novel some years ago, which caused another scandal in the family.

Freddie cleared his throat. “That may be so, but the prince has agreed to it.”

“He has?” Her voice rose again to an uncomfortable pitch. “Really?”

“Yes, really. All I need now is for you to agree, Roberta, and I can begin to put the pieces together.”

Like a jigsaw puzzle, she thought dazedly. This piece here, that piece there…She tried to collect her scattered thoughts. Freddie wanted her to become engaged to Niki for three months and then to call it off. Roberta wasn’t sure she could make up anything more preposterous if she tried, and her imagination had always been vivid. She couldn’t do it. She wasn’t the person for the job. She would make a fool of herself, and Niki too, and—

“The prince mentioned something about a Mr. Walter?” Freddie was looking puzzled. “That this may help run him off?”

“It certainly would,” Gabriel said before she could think of an answer. “How does the prince know about your persistent suitor?”

“I must have told him,” she admitted uneasily. “You know how my tongue runs away with me, Gabriel.”

Her brother turned to a confused Freddie. “This is a man who Roberta and Antonia call ‘The Most Boring Man in London.’ For some reason, the poor fool has set his sights on the woman least likely to agree to marry him. He cannot seem to understand the misery she would cause him.”

Roberta shot him an indignant look.

“This is a gentleman you have no interest in, but he is interested in you?” Freddie said thoughtfully. “I fear I know the type. There is only one thing that can put a stop to his ambitions, and I have the perfect solution. Become engaged to someone else!”

Roberta had to admire his ability to turn a situation to his advantage. “I am not trained to be a prince’s wife,” she said rather desperately. “Really, I am not.”

“You don’t have to be,” Freddie assured her. “It is only for three months. In fact, any faux pas you make might help to explain why the wedding is called off.”

Roberta tried to recall what else she had said to Niki last night. She remembered admitting she had no intention of marrying, so she supposed he would think it would not matter to her if she was involved in a broken engagement. Or perhaps he assumed she would not expect more of him after the three months were up? Awkward if she insisted their engagement was real. She probably was the perfect candidate.

“And then there is the payment he has offered the Ashton family,” Freddie said silkily.

Gabriel stiffened. “I am not selling my sister, so you can forget about that.”

Roberta looked from one to the other. “What do you mean?”

“The prince has offered a substantial sum for your participation,” Freddie explained, avoiding the eyes of his furious friend. “He wanted to help with some rebuilding—”

“No!” Gabriel shouted.

Freddie held up his hands. “Very well, we will discuss it later. Or not. Right now, I must have Roberta’s answer.”

Niki was offering to help rebuild the east wing; that must be it. Roberta was moved by his kindness before she remembered he wanted something from her too. Something that could be challenging and dangerous. Roberta remembered moaning about how boring her life had become. Well, things would certainly be more exciting if she agreed, and she could rid herself of Mr. Walter too. And yet…she was aware of her own limitations when it came to behaving herself in social settings. Just look at the ammunition she had handed to Niki last night when her tongue ran away with her!

Freddie spoke again in a quiet, serious voice, “Don’t forget what this is really about. The prince’s life is in danger.”

All the protests she had just come up with turned to ash. Niki’s life was in danger, and she had seen for herself last night how that could end. With him lying dead at her feet. That same emotion inside her tightened and ached, and she knew she must do everything she could to prevent that awful thing from happening.

The two men were watching her closely, awaiting her decision.

Niki would be lying cold and dead, and if she refused to help then it would be her fault. There was no choice, really. She had to agree. Roberta took a deep breath.

“Very well. I will do it.”

Niki stood at the window, hands behind his back, and stared out at the streetscape. Then he remembered he’d been warned to stay away from windows and quickly stepped back.

Blast it all! He was furious and worried, all at the same time. Since his grandfather’s death, he had grown used to being in charge of his life, but now he was being told by others what he could and couldn’t do. His Holtswig bodyguards wore worried frowns, and Freddie Hart wasn’t helping with his reminders about snipers taking aim at him whenever he showed himself.

He was sick and tired of it, which was one of the reasons he had given in and agreed to this pretend engagement with Lady Roberta Ashton.

At least, that was what Niki told himself in public. It was only in his private moments that he reluctantly admitted how fascinating he had always found Roberta. Rather like the boring Mr. Walter, although Niki refused to believe he had anything in common with that gentleman. All the same, he would probably have been better off dealing with his attraction by staying as far away from her as possible, but instead, he was drawn to her in a quite ridiculous fashion. As if she were a magnet and he a pin. For three years, he had rarely given her a thought, and suddenly it was as if she had been there all along, occupying a special part of his brain. There was no one else he knew who did and said things like Roberta. Was that the reason he was longing to be in her company? He suspected that spending more time with her would soon rid him of this uncomfortable attraction. Or perhaps he just hoped it was so.

In every way, she was so very different from Niki. She seemed to have no trouble in expressing her feelings, loudly and freely, and she did not care a jot what others thought of her—at least, he remembered she had not cared during Niki’s stay at Grantham. Time and maturity had somewhat tempered that defect in her character, but he suspected the change was all on the surface. Even as she was mouthing polite nothings to him last night at the ball, he was certain he could see hidden secrets in her blue eyes.

Niki had always struggled to convey his intimate feelings. He was not brave like Roberta. In his position, one did not blurt out confidences, and even in the safety of his private chambers, he remained cautious. Was that the reason he found himself captivated by her? Because she was everything he could never be?

As a small child, Niki had been under the direction of his father, Prince Edgar, who believed his only legitimate son and heir should show little or no emotion and restrain himself at all costs. “Your feelings are nobody’s business but your own,” he would say. “The people do not want to hear your inner thoughts. They want a leader who can make decisions coolly and calmly, and without hotheaded emotion. The Lichtenbergs are an old and important family, and Holtswig is your country to rule, Nikolai. The future depends on you. Never forget that.”

Niki had not found it difficult to be stiff and proud and often silent. The effort of making conversation was never easy for him, especially when he felt all eyes upon him. Over the years, he had discovered it was better to shrug off overtures of friendship from those who did not have his best interests at heart and be thought cold and rude and proud rather than awkward and indecisive and shy.

When his father died and his grandfather took over his care, Niki’s personality did not change in public, but it did in private. He found he could convey his feelings to the older man as he had never been able to do with his father, and they grew close. His grandfather’s urging was one of the reasons he had agreed to visit Grantham three years ago. Later, he regretted it when he was embroiled in a scandal, which did not explain why he still found himself mulling over that brief time and remembering it in remarkable detail.

As soon as he had arrived at the Ashton estate, he had guessed that the Dowager Duchess of Grantham planned for him to marry her granddaughter Lady Olivia. The dowager had already given him veiled hints at the prospect in her letters, and Niki had certainly been struck by Olivia’s beauty. For a time, he had thought that perhaps this was a very good plan, and that he would allow himself to be swept up in it. But it wasn’t long before Lady Olivia showed an obvious preference for the Duke of Northam, and then came the shocking revelation that the new duchess, Vivienne, had penned a romance novel with her cousin. Niki had decided to walk away.

For all his father’s lectures on their elevated position, Prince Edgar had also led a life riddled with scandal. He and Niki’s mother, Countess Marie, took numerous lovers between them, and the countess was currently estranged from her son and living with a paramour in Italy. Francis Ruess, Holtswig’s chief chamberlain, and a man Niki had grown to trust implicitly, had warned him many times that the people of Holtswig did not want a prince who followed in his parents’ footsteps. Times had changed, and Niki must set an example. Where Olivia Ashton was concerned, it had been better to be thought heartless than weak.

If Olivia had been an impossible choice, then her younger sister Roberta had been worse. She had “borrowed” Leopold, Niki’s prized stallion, and ridden him roughshod through a bramble thicket. He had feared his beloved horse had been permanently damaged and had spent several sleepless nights until Leopold recovered. Yes, Roberta had apologized, but he could tell she didn’t think she had done anything wrong. He supposed, in hindsight, she had been young and reckless. Afterward, she had even had the audacity to treat him as if they were friends. He hadn’t been sure what to make of her. Yes, her nature was warm and open, and as a man who revealed very little of his own inner life, her behavior had bewildered him, but it had also thrilled him.

When he returned home and told his grandfather about Roberta, the old man had laughed and advised him to wait a year or two and then make her his mistress. Niki had not, of course. The thought of broaching such an arrangement with Roberta had made him cringe—he had never been the sort of man who could carry off such brashness—and yet he found himself imagining such a scenario far more often than was healthy.

Roberta’s smile when he closed the door of his bedchamber, where she was waiting, her arms welcoming him into her embrace…

That was three years ago, and much had changed for them both, so why was he now agreeing to Freddie Hart’s suggestion of a fake engagement? The idea made him shudder. Yes, playing at being engaged to an English lady meant the British government could protect him without Niki seeming to be beholden to them. As soon as Freddie set out his plan, Niki had sent an urgent message to Chamberlain Francis for his opinion on the matter.

Francis’s reply had returned posthaste, and in it he had—in his usual rather pompous manner—listed the pluses and minuses of the arrangement. For one, Francis felt the people would find such an alliance between Niki and Roberta puzzling, but it helped that the Ashtons were an old and important family. If it wasn’t for the rumors and scandals that surrounded them, then he felt the match would be acceptable—after all, Niki’s aunt had married an Englishman. The chamberlain went on to admit that the Lichtenbergs were hardly unsullied, and the Duke of Grantham was well thought of, and Roberta had taken her place in society and there had not been a whisper of anything untoward attaching itself to her. So far.

Two wrongs do not make a right, Francis had written back to him. Just because your parents were imperfect in their behavior does not mean you should marry someone from a similar background.

He was right, of course he was. But it was Francis who had suggested Niki remove himself from Holtswig for three months until the unrest settled. His aunt Matilda Brooks had been begging him to stay with her in London, and he had planned to use that as an excuse for his absence. “You are not running away,” Francis had assured him the last time they spoke face to face. “And I will be here to see the country has a firm hand on the reins.”

Francis had risen through the ranks of the Holtswig army to become the general in charge before Niki’s grandfather asked him to take on the role of chamberlain, which was similar to the British Prime Minister. He was a wise man, and while Niki was happy to listen to his advice and trust his judgment, he also had to make up his own mind.

Do not engage yourself to Lady Roberta, Francis had written bluntly in the final paragraph of his missive. I think it would be most unwise.

Niki. . .