Chapter 10
R aphael
Seven AM found me jogging back to Braithar, sweat on my brow from the mild morning and no breeze to cool me off. Scotland didn’t get as warm as London, but it was going to be a stunning day.
Shame I wasn’t in a mood to enjoy it.
I crushed gravel under my running shoes, rounding the castle to the rear entrance. The imposing and fortified building was owned by Gordain McRae, the original creator of the bodyguard service. His daughter, Viola, had married Leo, our favourite rock star, they had two kids, and all of them lived here. Thus the team had been created. Gordain had worried too much over his daughter’s and son-in-law’s safety to allow anyone else the responsibility of protecting them.
He offered rooms for a bodyguard to live on-site, and both Ben and Valentine had stayed here before settling in with their lasses. Now was my turn. I’d previously shared a tower apartment with my sister, but since she and Jackson shacked up, I’d given them their privacy.
I prowled the flagstone floor to my doorway, let myself in, then headed straight to the shower. Under the hot water, I rinsed off the sweat and tried to centre my thoughts.
Last night, I’d cyber stalked Alex in a way that had veered far from professional. I’d started off with good intentions, looking for her events calendar and eyeing an upcoming busy week. Typically, she didn’t seem to be a working royal, only appearing at large-scale family events, but that had changed recently. Beyond that, I’d quickly found myself deep in gossip. Her dating life. Who her friends were.
I discovered Dori, giving me a full name of Ferdinand Dorian Christian Sonderburg, Count Sonderburg, as he’d informed me, and nephew to both the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the King of Norway. Both related to monarchs and the same age. Alex had been photographed with him for years, which suggested they had a solid friendship rather than a romantic relationship.
I hadn’t found any evidence of a long-term boyfriend at all. Lots of rumoured dates, particularly with celebrities, but any reporting was short-lived and without receipts.
I braced myself against the shower wall. I hadn’t meant to go down that rabbit hole. It was none of my business. But since I’d discovered it, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.
Was she single? Why, when any man would be lucky if she even looked his way?
When we’d talked at the base of the palace stairs, she’d told me she was lonely, an emotion I knew all too well. She’d looked like an angel, barefoot, and in a tight dress that I’d wanted to take off her.
She’d gifted me her mask. I’d brought it home. Last night, I’d unpacked my bag and had to take it from the room or I’d stare at it and think of her.
Which meant it was watching me from across the bathroom.
Fuck. I stared back through the shower glass, picturing her eyes and the curve of her cheek under the lace. Allowing my mind to wander down that road was a dangerous game. My dick was way too interested in her, and she’d been a client.
The thought smacked into me that right now, she wasn’t. I’d been fired. Heat rushed me, and I fisted my half-hard dick, squeezing then stroking myself while keeping my focus on the mask.
Damn, I needed more.
Lurching from the stall, I snatched it from beside the sink and got back under the water. Then I wrapped Princess Alexandra’s lace mask around my dick and gave myself a stroke.
Heat and need hit me in a rush. Images filled my brain. The teenage version of us dirty dancing, Alex’s hands roaming. Then two nights ago when my arm had been across her body, under her breasts. Fuck. More. When she’d brushed a kiss to my cheek.
The deeper I let myself go, the harder I got, picturing every perfect curve with an electric flash of attraction.
The memory adapted to me turning my face to claim the kiss. Her lips under mine…
That did it. My lust for her crashed into me, and I came into the hot water, white lace encasing me and the sensation abruptly, damningly good. A pulsing flood of desperate need followed for a lass who could never be mine, no matter how badly I wanted the opposite.
I wanted her.
Breathing roughly, I let that settle under my skin then opened my eyes, reclaiming logic where I’d temporarily lost my mind. Done. I could manage this thing, whatever it was.
Action was needed that had nothing to do with my over-interested dick. Even if peeling off the mask left a lace imprint I wished would never fade.
T hirty minutes on, and with a clear head, I hunted down my boss at the hangar.
In a repeat of yesterday, Ben ushered me into the office. This time, I had better control over myself.
I dropped into a chair. “Something has been playing on my mind.”
He made go-for-it hands for me to proceed.
“The bouncer at the club got paid off by the photographer. Alex saw the exchange of money. But she was in disguise and was sure she hadn’t been recognised. Her wig and mask were good enough for a casual bystander, so who told him she was there in the first place?”
“Not the bouncer?”
I tapped my finger on my knee, working it through. “Maybe, but a bribe given at that point makes me think it was to turn a blind eye to him taking the pictures. Not to tell him she was there in the first place.”
Ben followed my lead. “Because the money would’ve changed hands earlier at the point the informant had something to offer. If true, that suggests it was someone else. Who do ye think?”
“This is going to sound wild, but one of her bodyguard team. They chose the bar we were going to and also chose to ignore Alex going into the club, even though I told them. It feels too coincidental. I don’t know how I’d find out, though. If I track down the photographer, he isn’t going to give up a source, and they’re hardly likely to admit it.”
Ben considered my point. “Perfect timing. I just took a call from Barrington. From Jared, he had a completely different story than the one ye gave.”
I snorted. “Naturally.”
“He fired him.”
I blinked at my boss. “Oh, shite.”
“We had a long talk, and let’s just say this was the first deep dive he’s done into that team since they were set up. Jared and co have had a number of complaints and breached protocol multiple times.”
“They cover several members of the royal family. How did no one pick up on this?”
“Barrington might have that contract, but his main focus has been on the city and high-risk London-and-international-based families. Diplomats and ambassadors. Ultrahigh net worth individuals. He took his eye off the ball and has vowed to fix it. He asked for my advice in filling Jared’s role. The fourth member of the team is returning next week, but the princess has a series of engagements before then, so he has to hustle to fix this.”
For a beat, I held still. Of the three members of the team, there was only one I rated and who hadn’t been there that night. “Suggest Riss to manage the team and send me back in temporarily. We’ll cope as a unit of four. Jared did nothing useful that I could see.”
He watched me for a long moment.
My heart thumped. I needed to convince him. “Leo can spare me, can’t he?”
“He can,” Ben admitted. “He’ll be writing songs all summer and doesn’t have another meeting outside of Scotland for three weeks. I was planning training and days off.”
“I want to go back. I want to test out how it goes with Jared not there.”
“Assuming he was the mole?”
It had crossed my mind. I’d told Johnnie and Will about the princess going into the club. It could be either of them, but it stood to reason that one could’ve contacted him. Jared felt like the more obvious choice, but I could be wrong.
I swallowed past a lump in my throat. “That isn’t the only reason I want to go back. Remember I told ye I knew Alex from my student days?”
“Ye mean Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra?” He quirked a single eyebrow. “I take it ye know her better than implied?”
“Not exactly. I didn’t mean to hide anything. There’s more of a personal connection than I expected.”
Ben’s expression shifted to shrewd judgement.
I worked my jaw. “Don’t look for more than there is. I just want to help while I can. Once upon a time, I did her a disservice. I consider her a friend, though she doesnae think the same about me. This will be my way to make it right.”
My boss sighed. “I’ll make the offer, but it’s up to Barrington, and if he agrees, it’s a time-limited deal. I’m naw losing ye to his team.”
I leapt up. “Loud and clear.”
“Fine. Now go do something useful while I make a call. This might be a no, so don’t get your hopes up.”
Too late. They already were.
O ut of the hangar, I drove to Valentine’s place, a quick check-in with him and Jax giving me their location. As a team, we weren’t often office-based unless we were writing up risk assessments or doing research.
Today was Sunday, though. Not always a day off for us, and even if it was, we often met up for a run or fitness work of some kind.
Or moving furniture, as was apparently happening this morning.
I left my car by Val’s and joined the two men who struggled under the weight of a sofa. They carried it from Valentine and Mia’s place to the open door of the next cottage.
I raised my eyebrows at Mia who watched them go.
“What’s going on?”
She grinned at me. “We bought a new couch. I love that one, but we need bigger. You’ve seen the size of my fiancé.”
Her hand drifted to her belly, and she twisted to answer a question from her little daughter, Tobi. Huh. I hid a smile. Valentine hadn’t been shy about wanting to extend their family, and it looked like they were ahead of the game.
It was their wedding in a few weeks. A joint one as Ben, brother to Val, was marrying Daisy on the same day. The whole estate would celebrate with one huge party.
Mia turned back to me. “We’ve managed to buy a few new things so the place next door is slowly getting furnished, ready for an owner.”
“Is there one?”
I loved these cottages. Both single-storey and converted from some previous centuries-old use, they were stone-built, white-painted, and faced another gorgeous view. Val and Mia had made theirs into a snug home. The empty place next door cried out for the same treatment.
Mia tilted her head. “Not that I know of. Valentine was thinking you might want it.”
My heart thumped, but I shook my head and gestured to myself. “It’s a family home. Resolutely single here.”
“That shouldn’t stop you having a place of your own. Are you interested?”
Another woman appeared in the doorway behind her, Daisy, Ben’s fiancée. She and Mia worked together running a cleaning company, and Daisy had on her branded tabard, but also a panicked expression.
“Oh my God. How do I unsend an email from my phone?”
Mia blinked at her. “I don’t know. Why, what’s wrong with it?”
“Look!”
Daisy held up the screen. Mia and I leaned in to peer at the email in question.
Good afterboob, it started.
I choked.
Mia’s hand flew to her mouth. “Afterboob?”
Daisy moaned in horror. “I know. I wished a potential new client a good afterboob. Oh God, he’s going to think I’m a lunatic.”
Badly, I wanted to crack up in laughter, but that wouldn’t help stricken Daisy. “How long ago did you send it?”
“Yesterday. Does that make a difference? Please tell me I can do something.”
I tapped through the settings then on the email address. “I’m really sorry, I don’t think you can. It’s a Hotmail account. You can’t unsend to them, which I know because I once tried to unsend something daft.”
Daisy took back the phone, clutching it against her chest. “Please tell me it was ridiculous so I can feel better about this.”
I grinned. “Actually, it was. At uni, I had to cancel a session with a flight instructor and told him ‘sorry for the incontinence’ rather than ‘inconvenience’. He never replied.”
Valentine and Jackson came out of the second cottage, and my best friend smirked.
“I remember that. I’ve got a better one. I wrote ‘you go tit’ instead of ‘you got it’ to Ariel recently. It became a whole thing.”
All of us except Daisy burst out with laughter. The woman’s shoulders went down an inch, though.
Valentine pointed at himself. “When we were kids, me and my siblings changed our dad’s email sign-off. Now, to really set the scene, you have to picture our huge, serious, bar-owning father, and him sending messages that should’ve ended ‘Thanks, Bull’ but magically changing to ‘Okey dokey pig-in-a-pokey, Bull’.”
We laughed harder.
Valentine continued. “The best part is, he didn’t notice for at least a week. We forgot all about it until he came home and lined us up to get the culprit. One of his beer suppliers had pointed it out, and he realised all week he’d been sending that out. To his bank, to the doctor, everywhere.”
Daisy sighed, still crestfallen but at least slightly entertained. “Thank you all for trying to make me feel better. It looked like such an interesting cleaning job, too. A big house owned by the client’s aunt who’s gone into a care home. She was a bit of a recluse and a hoarder, according to him, and she’s given permission for the place to be cleaned out but said there’s an item of treasure hidden in the mess. He didn’t know what it was, only that it has to be found and not thrown away with the rest of the rubbish. Isn’t that enticing? Now we’ll never find out what the treasure is.”
Mia gave her a one-arm hug. “Maybe he’ll like the boob reference and book us anyway?”
The two lasses disappeared back into the house, and Valentine and Jackson enlisted me to help with the next step of their plan—a bookshelf that needed building and installing. We spent a couple of hours over it, moving a freestanding one to the place next door.
It gave me a chance to poke around and to consider Mia’s suggestion. One of the bedrooms had a wide bed in it already plus a bedside table that begged for a lamp. The comfortable sofa sat in the living room opposite a stand for a TV, the bookshelf climbing the wall to the right.
Alone for a moment, I tried to imagine living here.
If I wanted to, Gordain, who owned it and much of the land for miles around, wouldn’t mind me moving out of Braithar. But nothing felt simple right now. My mind was only half here, the other half following a certain princess around London.
Committing to a rental agreement came with a reality I didn’t like. This wasn’t a home for one man on his own.
I wanted a girlfriend.
I wanted the easiness Valentine and Mia had in how they reached for each other, almost without looking. How my sister and Jackson seemed to be each other’s missing puzzle piece. How Daisy would go take comfort in a hug from Ben.
In comparison, I felt that gaping hole where my other half should be.
I wanted Alex. The strange and insistent notion took me by surprise. But I was a bad bet with a dodgy past no high-profile person could overlook. My father was a mobster. We’d run from him, but that life tainted my past, present, and future. Even if my brother and sister had no issues with connecting with another person, I still felt unsafe. Alex could never date me. It would be out of the question. She was already in enough danger.
My phone rang, distracting me from my gloomy thoughts, and with Ben’s name onscreen.
I answered without a greeting. “What did he say?”
“That Riss took the promotion and you’re exactly what he hoped for.”
I draped against the doorframe. “I’m going back?”
“You’re going back, just to work with Princess Alexandra and just for a week. Pack your bag. You’ve got your orders.”