The Prince's Devious Proposal

by Rayner, Holly

  “Did you get to interact with other royals much?”

  “Occasionally,” he said. “I met the Prince of Sweden once. He was my age—we were about thirteen at the time—and we had a pretty good day together. Our parents were conducting official business, so we just talked. I gave him a tour of the palace.”

  “Wow,” Naomi said. No wonder Petr moved so confidently and interacted with people so well. When they were together, he made her feel special—like a princess, even. And he focused on her as if she were the only one in the room.

  “But if your parents were socialites, you must have met interesting people too,” he said.

  “Well…” She laughed. “One time my parents invited Jefferson Haring and his family over for a dinner party.”

  “Jefferson Haring the actor?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What’s he really like?”

  “Shorter than he looks in the movies. But he had a daughter my age, Olivia. She was annoying.” Naomi chuckled at the memory. “My sister and I tried to get her to sit out by the pool with us and gossip while the adults had their after-dinner brandy, but she thought she was too cool for us. She kept asking us if we had met other famous people’s children, naming them, and when we said we hadn’t, she’d scoff like we weren’t even worth talking to.”

  “Wow,” Petr said. “I’ve known people like that. There was an upstart duke once who thought he outranked me because his country was larger than Sovra. I’ll never forget his mother introducing us and whispering to him that he ought to bow to me, and him snapping back that he didn’t have to bow to anyone from a tiny little country like mine.”

  “You’re kidding! What did you do?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Petr said. “I was only nine at the time. I was just in shock that someone was talking back to their mother like that. I didn’t even realize I’d been insulted until a few years later.”

  Naomi laughed. The experiences Petr was describing didn’t sound exactly like her own childhood, but they definitely ran parallel. She felt as if they could have easily stepped into one another’s lives when they were young without feeling too out of place.

  Apparently, he was thinking along the same lines. “We have more in common than I would have expected,” he said.

  “We do,” she agreed.

  “Does this happen to you often, with your fans?” he asked. “Are they usually people who are like you in some way?”

  “To be honest, I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve never gotten to know a fan this well. I usually met them in passing, after the shows. Nine times out of ten, I never learned their names, and when I did it was only so I could personalize an autograph. You’re really the only one I’ve ever gotten to know on a personal level.”

  As they enjoyed their meal, Naomi marveled at the fact that she could feel as though she had so much in common with someone who was quite literally royalty. He should have felt worlds away from her own life experience. But the truth was, she could relate to him. He was surprisingly down-to-earth.

  “I love chocolate,” he confessed as he ordered them a pair of lava cakes for dessert. It was such a regular thing to say—how could she help but see him as just a regular guy?

  He’s not just a regular guy. He’s a prince. And a charming, witty, and unpredictable one at that.

  But if you wanted to look at it from a certain angle, Naomi reasoned, she wasn’t just regular either. She was a pop sensation. All right, maybe she had left that part of her life behind her, but it was still a facet of who she was.

  Maybe that’s all this prince business is—just a facet.

  Whatever the case, she found she was unable to keep herself from being charmed by him. They ate their desserts and got up to leave, Petr paying the check without allowing Naomi to look at it.

  “We’ll have to do this again sometime,” he said as he drove her home.

  Naomi had half expected him to ask if she would like to come back to his place. She had been turning that question around in her head, deciding whether or not she ought to say yes. The fact that he was taking her straight home without asking was a surprise, but she found she was touched by it. He’s in no hurry. He wants to get to know me slowly.

  It had been a while since she’d been with a guy who had treated her that way.

  “Definitely,” she agreed. “Next time, I’ll call you.”

  He glanced at her. “I hope you do,” he said. “I’m really enjoying getting to know you, Naomi.” He reached over and took her hand.

  “You can count on it,” she said, her heart rate escalating as he held her hand. “I probably won’t even be able to wait three days.”

  “You counted the days?”

  She couldn’t keep a grin off her face. “I was excited.”

  He pulled up outside her house and got out of the car to walk her to her door. “I’ll see you soon,” he said.

  “See you soon,” she agreed, but made no move to go inside.

  He took her hand and pulled her close, cupping the back of her head, and kissed her, deeply and tenderly.

  The ground seemed to fall away beneath her.

  Then he stepped back and smiled. “Have a good night,” he said, and retreated to his car, leaving her gasping.

  Chapter 5

  Naomi usually spent her Sunday mornings curled up with a mug of hot coffee and a good book, and she had been looking forward to doing that the day after her second date with Petr. She wanted to take the time to think about the evening they’d spent together and all the things they had learned about one another.

  Could he really be a prince?

  On one hand, it seemed surreal. How could actual royalty just come waltzing into her life? How could a literal prince have been such a fan of her music that he had felt the desire to reach out to her? Naomi had never experienced anything like that before.

  But on the other hand…celebrities were the closest thing America had to royalty, and it wasn’t as if they had never crossed her path before. According to Petr, Naomi herself was a celebrity—although she found that particular assessment ridiculous. Of course she wasn’t. She had only been the opening act for a hit band for a few months. There were much more famous musical artists out there.

  But he did seem genuine. He was a very sincere person, Naomi thought as she brewed her coffee. And he had clearly been in awe of her, thrilled to have the opportunity to meet her.

  Celebrity was just about the way other people saw you. Maybe in his eyes, she was a star.

  This is all so strange.

  And what was it going to feel like to go back to work on Monday now that she knew this? How could she go from being admired by a prince to being kicked around by Rick?

  A knock at the door disrupted her thoughts.

  Naomi frowned. Who could it be on a Sunday morning? None of her friends would have dropped by without calling, and she hadn’t seen any of them in weeks. They had come visiting in droves after her mother died, but they seemed to have sensed Naomi’s desire to be alone.

  She poured her coffee, picked up the mug, and went to the door. Pulling back the curtain, she peeked out.

  And almost dropped her mug. Petr was standing on her doorstep.

  What is he doing here?

  She fumbled with the lock and pulled open the door.

  He flashed his winning smile. “Good morning, beautiful,” he said. “Am I too early?”

  “Too early?” she said dumbly. “I thought I was supposed to call you next. Wasn’t that what we said?”

  “Yeah, we said that,” Petr agreed. “But I decided to change the plan. I hope you’re not angry.”

  “I’m not,” she said, and then wondered whether she should have waited to find out what he had changed the plan to before giving an answer.

  “Perfect,” Petr said. “Can I come inside?”

  She stepped back to let him in. “I just made a pot of coffee,” she said. “Do you want some?”

  “That would be great,” he said.


  She went to the kitchen and pulled down a mug, then winced and put it back. It had been a novelty gift from a friend after a vacation and had a vulgar saying on it. She rummaged around in her collection and found an innocuous white one. She poured him some coffee and returned to the kitchen table.

  Petr had taken a seat. She put the coffee in front of him and sat down opposite him. “So what brings you here this early in the morning?” she asked.

  He leaned across the table toward her. “I have a proposition for you.”

  She couldn’t help feeling a chill. “What do you mean?”

  He reached into his jacket pocket, produced an envelope, and set it on the table between them.

  She looked at it. “What is this?”

  “Open it.”

  Tentatively, Naomi reached out and picked up the envelope. She slit it open and pulled out two plane tickets.

  She squinted at the destination, her eyes opening wide. “Barcelona?”

  “You said you’d never been to Europe,” Petr reminded her.

  “Well, no, I haven’t. But—”

  “So what do you say? Let’s go?”

  Suddenly, Naomi was wide awake.

  “These tickets are for today,” she said.

  “No time like the present,” Petr said.

  “But…” This was preposterous. “I can’t just go to Barcelona.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…because I have work tomorrow!”

  “So take some time off,” he suggested with a shrug.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not? It’s a travel company, right? Who would understand the need for a vacation better than a travel company?”

  Naomi snorted. “It’s not a travel company,” she said. “It’s a sales company. That’s what they’re good at. That’s what they understand. Just because the things they sell happen to be vacation packages doesn’t mean they appreciate the value of a getaway.”

  “But you must have vacation time allotted,” Petr said.

  Naomi shook her head. “My boss really doesn’t like it when we use it,” she said. “And he already doesn’t like me. He’ll come down hard on me for sure if I take off on an impromptu vacation.”

  “Would he fire you?” Petr asked, his eyebrows raising.

  “I don’t know,” Naomi said. “He might.”

  “That’s not fair,” Petr said indignantly. “You deserve a vacation, Naomi. You deserve the chance to get away for a while. How long has it been since you traveled at all? Have you had any fun since the tour ended?”

  “I mean, I’ve done fun things,” Naomi said. “But…no. Nothing like that. Nothing like a trip to Barcelona.”

  “Come with me,” he said, taking her hand in his. “I already bought the tickets and everything. We can’t let them go to waste.”

  “You’re guilting me.”

  “Is it working?” he asked, turning on the charm with a sly smile.

  “No,” she said, laughing. “But I do kind of want to go. I just don’t see how it’s practical.”

  “There isn’t any way you can take a few vacation days?”

  “My boss won’t like it,” she said. “He’ll see it as me putting my personal pleasure above the needs of the company.”

  “What’s wrong with that? Shouldn’t you?”

  “Rick’s big on dedication to company success,” she said. “He wants us all to put the company’s needs first all the time.”

  “That’s hardly a realistic expectation,” Petr said. “What about when you’re sick? Surely you can be permitted to take a few days off for illness. Even a king gets a break when he’s sick.”

  “Well, yeah, that’s allowed—oh,” she said, a thought occurring to her. “I still have sick days left this year.”

  “Okay?”

  “I can use them,” she explained. “Rick still won’t like it, but he knows he’ll have HR problems if he tries to say that I can’t stay home when I’m sick. Nobody wants a sick person in the office spreading their germs around.”

  “I don’t understand the difference,” Petr said. “Your boss will be okay with your taking time off for illness, but not to go on vacation?”

  “He still won’t like it,” Naomi said, opening an email on her phone and beginning to type. “But he’ll recognize that there isn’t much he can do about it.

  “I see,” Petr said, still sounding bemused. “Well, if it works, I say go for it.”

  Naomi finished crafting her email and sent it off. “I told him I was going into the hospital for tests and that I would have to be out for the week,” she said. “That should give us enough time, right?”

  “That’s right,” Petr said. “That should be good. So we’re really going?”

  “We’re really going,” she agreed, smiling. “Are you sure, though? I can’t believe you would spend this kind of money on me.”

  “It’s not on you,” he said. “Well, I mean, it is for you. But I was thinking primarily of myself, I promise. I’ve been wanting to get away for a while now, and I don’t have anyone to travel with since I’m new in the country. Now that I’ve made a new friend, I’m excited to be able to do the things I’ve only dreamed of before.” He sipped his coffee. “Barcelona wouldn’t be nearly as much fun alone.”

  “No, I wouldn’t think so,” she said. “Well, if that’s how you feel about it, then I’m more than happy to keep you company.”

  “I owe you one,” he said with a grin.

  That was pushing it a little too far. “No, we’re even,” she said.

  “All right, all right. Fair enough,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender.

  “We’ll have to be careful not to be photographed,” she said, thinking of the tabloid article she had seen featuring his picture the day before. She herself had been photographed by paparazzi on occasion, but it never happened anymore.

  Then again, she wasn’t usually in Barcelona with royalty. Who knew what would happen there?

  “Why can’t we be photographed?” he asked. “Teasing photographers is fun.”

  “Maybe so,” she said. “But if pictures of me in Barcelona get out, there’s a chance my boss will see them. And if he knows I lied to him, he’ll be justified in seeking retribution against me. I would lose my job for sure, and I can’t afford that.”

  “I wouldn’t want to see you get fired,” Petr said. “All right. We’ll duck the paparazzi.”

  “Great. Thank you,” she said.

  “I wish I could understand what it is about this boss of yours that worries you so much,” he said. “Is this really the way he treats people?”

  “Yes,” she said. “He’s been looking for excuses to crack down on me ever since my mother died.”

  Petr looked pained. “I’m sorry to hear that. How long is it since she passed?”

  “Thank you,” Naomi said. “It’s been six months now. In the days after the funeral, all I wanted was to spend some time with my sister.”

  “Are you and your sister close?”

  “No,” she said. “Not exactly. But both of our parents are gone now. She’s the last family I have. I want to be closer to her.”

  “That makes sense,” Petr said, his tone gentle.

  “I thought the company would give me some time off for bereavement,” Naomi said. “I went to New York to be with Sarah. But almost as soon as I had landed, they told me I needed to come back. They said that I was at risk of losing my job if I didn’t get back to work, and that my time off hadn’t been approved through the proper channels.”

  “That’s awful,” Petr said. “Didn’t they know about your mother?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I’d explained that. And maybe I didn’t apply for time off in the right way. Maybe I didn’t follow the right protocols. But they should have helped me fix that, not demanded that I come right back to work.”

  Petr nodded. “I agree,” he said. “That’s terrible.”

  “Ever since then, Rick has been incredibl
y hard on me,” Naomi said. “He watches what time I arrive at my desk and what time I leave for the day. If I get up to go to the bathroom, I can feel his eyes on me, following me. He’s waiting for me to make a mistake. I think, in his mind, he’s moved me into the category of people who don’t put work first, who let their personal lives get in the way.”

  “But people should be able to have personal lives,” Petr said. “You’re not a drone. You’re a human being. And as your employer, he should respect that. He should want you to be happy so that you bring that happiness in to work with you. That’s how you get people to do good work, not by micromanaging their time.”

  “I feel like you would be a better boss than he is,” Naomi said with a little smile.

  “Well, it sounds like the bar for that isn’t very high,” Petr said.

  “At any rate,” Naomi said, “he treated me badly at a time in my life when I really could have used the support of my employer. And now I’m afraid of him, but…I don't know. The idea of breaking the rules a little does hold some appeal for me too. Maybe it will be good for me to get away right under his nose like this, to take a vacation that I know he wouldn’t approve of.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Petr said encouragingly.

  Naomi laughed. “I can’t believe I’m blowing off work to go to Europe with a man I hardly know. It’s not like me at all.”

  “You’ve never done this before?” Petr asked, grinning saucily.

  “Nothing like this,” she said.

  “Well, you’d better pack,” he told her. “Our flight leaves in four hours, so we should head to the airport soon.”

  “What should I pack?” She was suddenly nervous at the realization that she had no idea what was in store for her. “What kinds of clothes am I going to need?”

  “I haven’t made any set plans,” he said. “I’d pack some casual things that you’ll be comfortable walking around the city in, and maybe a few outfits that would be appropriate for a nice dinner. Some swimsuits wouldn’t go amiss either, I don’t think.”

  In other words, the same kinds of things she would pack for any other vacation. It was amazing how normal it all sounded when he described it.

  “I’ll be in my room,” she told him. “Feel free to help yourself to more coffee, or…or anything you find in the kitchen, really. Mi casa es su casa. Have you eaten?”