Reluctantly Royal

by Gillian Archer

  “But unfortunately for you, he’s not here, and you’re stuck with me. What I am going to tell you is what I’ve discovered during my short time in Las Vegas: Don’t ever stop living. When I lost my brother a year ago, my entire life flipped upside down and in most aspects, I forgot to live. Despite the tabloid headlines you’ve no doubt read, I didn’t date, I didn’t drink, I didn’t take off my damn necktie for months. I wasn’t living. I was just going through the motions, doing what was expected of me—my job. But really, that’s no way to live. Everyone needs a little work-life balance—even a degenerate like me.

  “I met a lovely lady this week who taught me that I needed to start living, that I needed to stop and smell the roses, or in our case, appreciate the beauty of neon signs.” I paused again as a few people in the audience laughed. “I hope that each of you, whether you’re the CEO or a software programmer, finds that work-life balance that you need, and I urge all the corporations here to make that a priority for your employees. A happy employee is a productive employee.

  “My brother was definitely a happy employee during his time working for the citizens of Monaco. And now that I’ve finally figured out a few things about life, I hope I will be going forward as well. I urge each of you to find that balance for yourselves and hopefully for your employees. Thank you.”

  I left the podium to modest applause and returned to my seat. Hannah turned to me with shining eyes.

  “I had no idea I did that for you.”

  “You did that and more, mon chou.” I leaned over and gently gave her a chaste kiss. A few lights flashed around us and I straightened up in my chair and smiled slightly. “We should probably keep it PG, given our audience.”

  Hannah looked over her shoulder at the tables beyond and laughed. “Something tells me it’s too late to lie low. At least no one knows my name.”

  I hummed a noncommittal reply. If anyone out there was with the press, it wouldn’t take them much time to dig up her identity. I opened my mouth to say as much before I closed it with an audible click. Nothing would be gained by telling her. It was possible that no one would identify her. And if they did, she’d be safe in my home in Monaco, where the press couldn’t touch her. We could talk about it tomorrow, if there was anything to talk about then. Instead I revised an old topic. “Have you given any thought to what we talked about earlier?”

  Hannah raised her eyebrows. “What did we talk about earlier?”

  I paused as a waiter swept away my mostly untouched steak and Hannah’s half-eaten and long-cold plate. Once he was gone, I continued. “Coming home with me.”

  “I, uh, well—”

  “I need you in Monaco with me, Hannah. This thing between us has the chance to go the distance, but the only way that works is if you come to me. I want you there. I need you there.”

  “This is such a huge step, Luc.” Hannah looked around the table, then leaned closer to me. “I hate to be that girl, but what does this mean with us? We’ve only been together for a few days. I’m not expecting an oath of undying love or anything, but what does it mean? Are we still casual? Will I be a secret?”

  I felt so exposed to talk about this in the noisy banquet hall, but it was a conversation we needed to have. I noted a few eyes on us, but for the most part everyone seemed to be focused on their own meal or conversation. Ducking my head, I leaned closer to her. “I told you before, I’m falling for you, Hannah. I want you in my life. I don’t know how to put labels on this—I’ve never been here before. But I want you in my life, however you’re willing to let me in.”

  “I…I just don’t know. It’s crazy. I mean, we’ve only known each other for a few days. And now you want me to uproot my life and go to the other side of the world? It’s…it’s a lot to take in.”

  “I know. And if the distance weren’t so huge, it’d be so much easier to take this slow. But here we are.”

  “I…” Hannah bit her lip, then released it with a sigh. “Okay, how about we make a deal, then? Since family is so important to you, you’ve got to agree to come to one of my family dinners. If you can survive the grilling from my dad, mom, and brother, and tell them about our trip, I’ll come to Monaco with you.”

  “Deal.” I leaned over and sealed our pact with another kiss. A few more flashes went off around us. “I must say you’re pretty soft on the bargaining front. You had me over a barrel. You could’ve asked for anything.”

  Hannah laughed menacingly as the waiter placed a mini trio of chocolate desserts in front of her. “You haven’t met my family yet.”

  —

  Hannah’s mom called bright and early at seven A.M. to run through her choice of meal options with Hannah. After they agreed on beef Bourguignon, due to my French ancestry—the only detail she’d given her mother—Hannah ended the call and tossed her phone to the other side of the bed.

  “I still think it’s a bad idea not to tell them.”

  Hannah laughed as she rolled toward me, and I got a flash of naked breast before she tucked the sheet around herself. “Which part?”

  “Either? Both? You have to tell them who I am before we leave.”

  “I just…I don’t know. How do you tell your mom that you’re banging a prince and he wants to take you back to his palace? I mean, it’s ridiculous. We don’t even know if this is going to go anywhere. I can’t wrap my head around it. How can I expect my parents to understand?”

  “If you don’t tell your mom about it, there’s a very good chance that the media will do it for you. Do you really think you can get on that plane with me and not have it come out? Because that’s naïve, and I thought you were smarter than that.”

  “Wow. How about you tell me how you really feel.”

  Her tart reply had me backpedaling a bit. “Come on, Hannah, you know what I mean. You can’t get on that plane without telling your parents where you’re going, at the very least. I thought you said they’re the type who still care and are involved in your life.”

  “Yes, that’s true, but—”

  “And the longer you wait to tell them, the harder it’ll be to finally come clean. Trust me, I know.” I raised my eyebrows at her. “But fortunately, some people are more forgiving than most. Which camp are your parents likely to be in?”

  “They will give me no end of crap about it.” Hannah collapsed back onto her pillow with a sigh. “I see your point. It’s just…It’s not the easiest thing to say. It sounds so fantastical. Heck, I can’t believe it half the time. To me you’re the slightly exotic ex-Lieutenant Luc Greiner who I met at karaoke night. I don’t look at you and think prince and palace and all that fairy-tale stuff. I just see a really hot guy who wants to spend time with me.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes and made a funny face like she was embarrassed to admit that detail to me.

  And that was why I had to keep her. She was the one woman who saw Luc the man, not the prince, not the title and the whole hoopla of my royal pedigree. She wanted me. Just me.

  Before Hannah could come up with another excuse, I kissed her. Hard at first, as the need to mark her as mine ran through me. But after a moment I gentled, as I tried to convey to her the emotions that consumed me. She threaded a hand through my hair and arched her body up toward my mouth.

  “Ahem.”

  I ignored the annoying person on the other side of the room clearing their throat and rolled toward Hannah, pushing her further into the mattress and shielding her from prying eyes. But it was one move too far; some of the sexual fog cleared from Hannah’s brain, and at the second “ahem” she stilled in my arms.

  “Luc?” Hannah whispered.

  “Oui?”

  “I don’t think we’re alone.”

  “I know we’re not alone,” I whispered back, before raising my voice pointedly toward our intruder somewhere behind me. “I was hoping that whoever it was would figure out we didn’t want to be interrupted before I was forced to fire them.”

  “Uh, but monsieur, it’s about Ms. Allen,” my tempo
rary and soon-to-be unemployed assistant said weakly from the other side of the room.

  Hannah looked over my shoulder at Morgan as she clutched at my back. “Is it my mom? Did she call again?”

  “Er, no, ma’am. I’m afraid it’s something else.”

  “Will you just spit it out, Morgan?” I asked, frustrated.

  “She’s made the news, monsieur,” Morgan answered. “You both have.”

  I closed my eyes with a muttered curse. I was afraid of that. Hannah whimpered, and I realized I was gripping her hair. I muttered an apology as I let her go and rolled to my side away from her. “How about you relax? Maybe take a shower? I’ll go see what we’re dealing with.”

  Hannah looked up at me with fearful eyes but said determinedly, “No, I’m not gonna hide in the bathroom until you give me the all clear. I want to see what they’re saying about me.”

  I sighed but couldn’t hold back my smile. That was the kind of thing that made it hard not to love her. “Fine. What channel, Morgan?”

  “Er…all of them, monsieur.”

  “Of course,” I murmured. “Thank you, Morgan. That will be all.”

  “Um, monsieur? One more thing?”

  “Oui?” I sighed.

  “The palace is waiting on the line for you. His Highness’s assistant sounded impatient.”

  “Of course she is. Tell them I’ll call back.”

  “But—”

  “Tell. Them.” I huffed impatiently. “That will be all, Morgan.”

  “Oui, monsieur.” The door closed softly behind her as I rolled out of bed, then crossed over to the television in the suite.

  “You know, you could’ve been nicer to her.” Hannah followed me out of the bed. Wrapping the sheet around her body, the end trailed after her like the train of an elaborate wedding dress.

  “I don’t have time for lessons in manners right now, mon chou. In about five seconds I’m gonna be ripping some throats open, so you might want to stand back.”

  “Still. She works for you. What was it you said yesterday? Something about work-life balance and happy employees?”

  “I knew that speech would come back to bite me on the ass,” I muttered as I flicked through commercial after commercial. Why did they all advertise at the same damn time?

  “Does that mean you didn’t mean what you said during your speech?”

  “What? No, of course I meant it.”

  “Then—”

  “Hannah, seriously? Can we please find out how bad this political fire is before you make me apologize to everyone I’ve ever met?”

  “I was just…” Her voice faded away as her picture filled the television screen. “That’s from my social media. How did they…”

  “…from the lighter side. Local resident Hannah Allen is purportedly dating Prince Lucien Greiner, the second in line to the crown of Monaco. Pictured here last night at the Global Gaming Expo, she looks on adoringly as her beau, Prince Lucien, gives the keynote speech. Later they celebrated with a few kisses. Ms. Allen is a resident of Las Vegas and a recent graduate of Expert Cosmetology Institute and Cimarron High School. She is currently working at Camelot Beauty and Spa. So if you’ve been there or have an upcoming appointment with her, it’s quite possible that a future princess has cut your hair. How about that, Ginger? Have you been to Camelot…” The newscaster’s banter cut off as I toggled through the channels.

  “That wasn’t so bad, right? I mean, they didn’t say anything negative about me. So hopefully—”

  “This is only the first foray,” I bit out as I stopped on another news channel. “They’ve had the story for—what?—less than twelve hours? By this time tomorrow, they’ll know your dress size, your every embarrassing photo will be plastered on magazines across the country, and your high school boyfriend will be giving interviews.”

  “Good luck with that. I didn’t date anyone in high school. I was too busy being a nerd and then going to physical therapy appointments.” Her voice trembled like she was holding back a sob.

  I grabbed her and pulled her in for a hug. “I’m sorry, mon chou. I should’ve seen this coming. I thought—I hoped—that no one would be able to identify you until after we left. I was hoping we’d be on a plane headed for my home before any of this hit the media. I should’ve protected you better. But I promise I will from now on.”

  “It’s okay.” Hannah trembled in my arms. “I can deal with this. It’s not like I have any deep, dark secrets hiding in my past. I’ve been pretty boring actually. Just the car accident, and then the live-like-you-were-dying phase once I moved out of my parents’ house. As you do.”

  “See? That’s the attitude to take. Fuck them. Fuck all of them. Let’s get on the plane now. I can’t control the American media, but I sure as hell can control their access to you.”

  And then the phones started ringing. The room phone—no doubt my brother calling again. Then my mobile and Hannah’s mobile. Soon the room was filled with a cacophony of ring tones.

  “Oh, God. My mom. What the hell am I going to tell her?” Hannah gave me a panicked look, then hit the speakerphone button on her phone. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Don’t you “hi mom” me. Is it true?”

  “Er—”

  “Is that seriously all you can say? There are reporters banging on my front door. I was just getting ready to leave for work and opened the door to their microphones and camera lights. How could you not tell me, Hannah?”

  “Mom, I’m so sorry. It just kinda happened. I was going to tell you tonight when you met him—”

  “You were going to invite a prince—a freaking European prince—to my house without even telling me first? How could you? I was going to serve him my beef Bourguignon from a freaking cookbook. For a prince. A prince, Hannah!”

  Hannah gave me a chagrined look as she rolled her eyes. “I know he’s a prince, Mom.”

  “Well, I didn’t!”

  “Mrs. Allen?” I cut in. “I happen to love beef Bourguignon, and I have no doubt I would’ve loved yours as well.”

  “Hannah?” Mrs. Allen whispered furtively. “Am I on speakerphone?”

  “Yes, Mom. I’m sorry, but—”

  “Take me off speaker.”

  “Mom—”

  “Take. Me. Off. Speaker.”

  Hannah mouthed a sorry to me as she pushed the button, then held her phone to her ear. “I’m sorry, Mom. I just—” She broke off and listened. “But—If I could just—Mom! Listen to me! I know he’s a prince. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know it would become national news. I’ve only been seeing him a week. Less than, really. But I like him. I like him a lot, and he wants me to go back to Monaco with him. And I think—”

  Hannah paused as she listened to her mom on the other end of the phone. I knew I should be answering any one of my phones and putting out fires, but I couldn’t tear myself away from Hannah’s drama. And it was a good thing I didn’t leave, because after a moment Hannah held her phone out to me.

  “She wants to talk to you.” Laughter danced in Hannah’s eyes as she passed the phone to me. “I’m sorry, but she’s kind of crazy.”

  “So that’s where you get that from. Bonjour, Mrs. Allen. It’s so nice to finally meet you. I wish it were under better circumstances.”

  “Yes, hello, Mr. —er, how should I address you?”

  “Luc is fine, madame.”

  “Err, Luc. Prince Luc.” She huffed an irritated sigh. “What is this nonsense about you taking my daughter to Monaco when you two haven’t known each other for a week even? Hannah can’t just drop everything and run at your beck and call. She has a life here. Family. Responsibilities. She can’t just walk away from everything. From us.”

  I heard the fear in Mrs. Allen’s voice, so similar to Hannah’s just a few minutes ago. “I realize that, ma’am. And I’m not asking her to give up her life. I might have only known her for a few days, but Hannah means the world to me. I appreciate that she has family and responsibilities here, b
ut if we want to see if our relationship has a chance, we need more time together. And since Hannah is between jobs at the moment, it seemed ideal for her to come to—”

  “SHE WHAT?!”

  Mrs. Allen’s shriek had to have been audible on the next floor. I pulled the phone away from my ear as Hannah collapsed in a dramatic fashion at my feet in a puddle of white sheets and blond hair. Merde. I was torn between comforting Hannah and her still-sputtering mother on the phone. Hannah’s shoulders shook, and as I reached a hand to her, she rolled over and revealed her smiling face.

  “Oh, my god. I’m so sorry.” Hannah’s chortling belied her whispered apology. “I swear I was going to tell them, it’s just—” She broke off and shrugged helplessly as she continued to laugh.

  I shook my head at her and returned to the phone. “I apologize for breaking the news to you, Mrs. Allen. I thought you knew.”

  “She quit her job for you?” Her anger vibrated through the phone as she muttered to herself. “I thought that girl was smarter than that. Shelving her life for a man. I certainly taught her better than that.” Mrs. Allen huffed, then continued in an even tone. “Put her back on the phone. Now. Please.”

  “She quit her job before we met, actually. And I’m afraid you’re going to have to talk to me for a little bit more, ma’am. This might’ve been easier if we’d spoken face-to-face, but I’m afraid with the media circus that’s going to be difficult now. We’re going to have to change our schedule and leave town as soon as possible. The story should die down if we limit the access the media has to us.”

  There was silence for a beat before Mrs. Allen’s flat voice came across the line. “Which means you’re leaving for Monaco immediately and taking my daughter with you.”

  “If she agrees, we’ll leave within the hour, if possible.”

  Hannah froze on the floor and looked up at me with wide eyes.

  I looked at her as I spoke to her mother. “I want to keep her safe, and I’m afraid that I’m not able to do that here. The frenzy will only get worse as long as we’re here to feed it. We won’t be able to leave my suite. She won’t be able to start or even look for a new job. She can’t stay at her apartment, and frankly, you can’t stay at your house, either. It’s not safe.”