A Royal Entanglement: The Young Royals Book 2 (18 page)

Jeanette sat down on a chair opposite me.
 
“Why does this have you so freaked out?” she asked earnestly, “Do you have a deep dark secret that you don’t want the press to find out about?
 
A scary skeleton in the cupboard?”

I froze.
 
I would not think about it or they would see the truth written across my face.
 
I had managed to keep my one indiscretion from being made public when I was engaged to Bradley and there was no reason for the Merveille press to go looking for any dirt on me.
 
Sure, the stuff with Brad was embarrassing and I’d rather it never got discussed in the media, but there wasn’t much chance of it staying hidden now.
 
As long as that’s all they found when they went digging.
 
If the other thing became public, I’d probably lose my job and never be able to show my face in Merveille again.
 
Freddie would drop me like a hot potato and I didn’t think even Bradley would want me back.

“Alex?”
 
Freddie’s voice was cautious.

“Alex,” Jeanette said, “If there is something, we need to know now so we can come up with a plan—”

“There’s nothing,” I said, beaming a smile at the three concerned faces looking at me.

“Apart from the thing with Brad,” Freddie said.

“Right, yes, apart from that.”
 
I smiled at them benignly, hoping to convince them that there was nothing to worry about.
 
I would do the interview, we would keep it light and simple and then people would see just how boring I was and they would move on to the next scandal.

“Okay, good,” Jeanette said, “Then will I set it up?”
 
She looked between me and Freddie hopefully.

Freddie looked at me and I nodded once.

“Set it up,” he said, “Liaise with Dayne for a suitable time and find a nice easy reporter to do the interview.
 
Now,” he turned to me, “I came here to take my girlfriend to lunch.”
 
He held out his hands and I took them, allowing him to pull me up to a standing position.
 
“If it’s all right with the Queen, of course.”

“Get her out of here,” Alyssa said with a chuckle, “Just make sure she is back in time for my appointment with Poppy.
 
There is no way I’m facing that woman on my own.”

Freddie tucked my hand in the crook of his elbow and led me from the room.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“I have a lovely garden table reserved and a nice spread provided by Chef.”

“You can’t keep popping in on me unannounced,” I said, “That’s why I made the schedule.”

“Don’t you think it’s more exciting when things happen spontaneously?”

“No.”

He laughed.
 
“Alex, what am I going to do with you?”

“You are going to keep to the schedule,” I answered.

He laughed again.
 
“You know you just issued me a challenge don’t you?
 
There is no way I can stick to the schedule now.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help the small smile that tilted my lips, “Freddie, you’re incorrigible.”

“And that’s why you love me,” he said lightly.

The words might have been said jokingly, but I felt a spike of panic at the ‘L’ word.
 
I was not in love with Freddie, I refused to fall in love with him.
 
We were completely wrong for each other.
 
When I fell in love, it would be with someone who was quiet and unassuming, someone who flew under the radar.
 
Not someone like Freddie who blazed like the sun.
 
Freddie was too dangerous for someone like me.

“Alex you need to loosen up,” I said taking her by the shoulders and giving her a light shake.
 
She was as stiff as a board and looked like she was about to face the electric chair.

“This is a bad idea,” she said, “Maybe you could just do the interview by yourself.”

“You’re being irrational,” I said with a sigh, “You’ve been on camera lots of times and I’ve heard you in the Press Room give what for to any reporter who got out of line.
 
I don’t understand why this is so different.”

“Because all of that is for my job,” she said, “They have to respect me to get time with the Queen.
 
This is different, it’s personal.”

I drew her into my arms and kissed the top of her head.
 
She was frustrating and illogical and charming and I couldn’t seem to get enough of her.
 
I had made every one of her damned scheduled appearances, some in public for the media, and some less so, but I’d also visited her every night in her suite.
 
Not for anything lascivious, just to spend time with her away from the job and to get to know the real Alex.
 
She was intoxicating and addictive and I was becoming obsessed with her.

Dinner with the parents had gone wonderfully.
 
My mother was wowed by the very put-together Alex, who was a world away from the women I normally dated, and my father had equally fallen under her spell.
 
The only black spot on the evening had been that Bradley was there.
 
He hadn’t been too impressed to find out that I was the one that Alex was in a relationship with, although in front of everyone else he had been his charming self.
 
He’d questioned me after the news of our relationship had hit the media outlets and asked why I hadn’t come clean to him when he’d asked.
 
I’d simply told him that Alex hadn’t been ready for it to be made public and then the papers had taken the decision out of our hands.
 
He’d seemed to believe me, but wasn’t happy about it.

And now, here we were, ready to do the blasted interview that had gotten Alex so worked up in the Queen’s office that day and I was concerned she would bolt.
 
I wasn’t too happy to have to do the sit down either, but it had to be done or they would never leave us alone.
 
Besides, I had more to worry about than she did.
 
Alex was as pure as the driven snow, I was the one with the string of dated and ditched women, many of whom would be only to happy to spill details, real or imagined, of our time together.
 
This would be a cake walk for Alex.

“Naw, how sweet.”
 
The reporter, a young, blonde entertainment correspondent, (Melody, Melinda, Melissa?) walked into the green room where we were waiting.
 
“Are you guys ready to do this?”

Alex pulled out of my arms and smiled charmingly at the young woman.
 
“Cassie, yes, I think we’re ready.”

Cassie?
 
Right, the reporters name was Cassie.
 
I turned and smiled at her.
 
Let's get it done,” I said smoothly.

She fluttered her eyelashes at me and I held back a groan.
 
Maybe we would’ve been better off with an older, male reporter after all.

We followed Cassie into the studio and took our seats on the set.
 
It would be prerecorded and shown in a segment on a weekend entertainment show, it was as benign as I could make it, as per Alex’s request.

It started out innocently enough.
 
Questions about our childhoods, where we grew up, what we were doing now and then things moved in a decidedly uncomfortable direction.

“Freddie,” Cassie said, “You’ve certainly dated your fair share of women, why Alex?”

We’d established early on in the interview that she could drop the titles when addressing us.
 
Now I wished we hadn’t, maybe then she wouldn’t feel familiar enough with us to ask those kinds of questions.

“Look at her,” I said with a friendly smile, “Alex is beautiful and smart, who wouldn’t want to be with her.”

“She’s not exactly your usual type,” Cassie went on.

I felt Alex stiffen beside me and I reached over to take her hand.
 
“I have tremendous respect for the women I have dated in the past,” I began, “But there is something special about Alex.
 
When I look at her, I see a woman of incredible strength and character, a woman I want to spend more time with.”

“A woman to spend the rest of your life with?”

I smiled at Cassie, giving her my best playboy charmer smile.
 
“Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?”

“And what about you, Alex?
 
Is Freddie someone you could see yourself spending the rest of your life with?
 
I understand you’ve been engaged before.”

“That’s right, I was,” Alex said, a coolness in her voice that sent a warning which Cassie either didn’t pick up on or ignored completely.

“A man you left at the altar, if my sources are to be believed.
 
In fact, I believe you left your wedding just moments before you walked down the aisle to fly here to Merveille.
 
Did you come here for Freddie?
 
Were the two of you in a relationship while you were in the States?”

I felt my jaw drop and had to consciously close it.
 
Alex gripped my fingers almost painfully and I was concerned that she would flee at any moment.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Cassie,” Alex said, her voice stiff, “But that is not the case.
 
I regret my decision to walk away from my wedding without informing my fiancé, but I can assure you that Lord Bingham and I didn’t meet until I came to Merveille and accepted the job as Princess Alyssa’s Personal Assistant.”

“So, Freddie, are you worried that Alex will leave you at the altar?”

The interview finished soon after.
 
It had been a bit of a disaster and we had not been prepared for the direction in which the young reporter had taken it.
 
Alex was furious.
 
Her eyebrows were drawn down and her mouth was a thin, straight line.
 
It was adorable really, like a very angry kitten.
 
I wanted to draw her into my arms and kiss the scowl off her face, unfortunately I knew that my kitten had claws.

Luckily the interview had been held after office hours otherwise I would pity the poor staff that would’ve had to deal with Alex.
 
As it was, her lady’s maid was copping an earful.
 
She winked at me when Alex wasn’t looking so I assumed the woman was used to Alex’s moods.
 
I have to say I was a bit miffed by the interview too, but seeing Alex’s reaction actually cheered me.
 
I was a horrible person.