Chapter 7
The next morning, Erica followed a palace staffer down a long stone-floored hallway lined with paintings, tapestries, and a couple of suits of armor.
She had been to the public salóns of Castillo Draconago, but this was the first time she had been in the private wing, where the royal family had their apartments.
When she had texted Raul that she had information to share about the hole that had tripped him, he had insisted that she come to discuss it in person.
She was trying to pretend that her excitement was because she got to go to the palace.
But that was a lie. It was the prince who made her breath come faster.
Her high-heeled black pumps sank into the thick teal-green carpeting, making her miss her comfortable hiking shoes.
But she would not dare to go to the royal palace in anything less than the tailored gray trousers, blue silk blouse, and navy blazer that she wore for this visit.
She had toned down her usual taste in dangly earrings to small gold hoops and pulled her hair back in a low ponytail. Professional and unobtrusive.
They approached a door with a guard on either side.
“Erica Ortiz,” the staffer said. “ El principe is expecting her.”
The guard nodded and opened the door for her while the staffer smiled and departed.
Erica walked into a large living room that seemed full of people sprawled on comfortable couches and chairs.
The space was surprisingly casual with multiple seating groups anchored by richly colored Oriental rugs.
Polished wooden tables, brass lamps, and vivid landscapes added warm accents that glowed in the sunlight pouring through the tall arched windows.
“Erica! It’s good to see you. My apologies for not greeting you properly.
” Raul’s voice shimmered over her skin, and she wondered if her face was as lit up as his was.
Dressed in jeans and a white polo shirt, his feet bare, he lay on a green velvet sofa with his injured ankle propped on several pillows and surrounded by ice packs.
Despite the crowd, she wanted to stretch out on the sofa beside him, to feel those long, well-muscled legs entwined with hers, to rest her head on his chest and hear his heartbeat, to have his strong arms wrap around her.
Where did that come from?
“Oh, thank God!” The red-haired young woman sitting with her back to the door turned with a smile and a wink. “If I hear one more word from Raul about ‘stemming’ or ‘chimneys,’ I will scream. Hi, I’m Grace.”
Yanked out of her crazy fantasy, Erica recognized the new princessa , the daughter the king hadn’t known he had until a few months ago. The woman had grown up in Iowa, having no idea she was Calevan royalty. Such a strange and fantastic story.
Erica dropped a curtsy, which Grace waved off. “No need for that stuff here.”
“You know everyone else,” Raul said, sweeping his hand to indicate her boss, el Duque Gabriel, and his fiancée, Quinn, another American transplant.
She hesitated. She didn’t normally curtsy to Gabriel or Quinn when she was piloting their jet, but this was a different milieu.
“Come and sit.” Gabriel solved her problem by gesturing to an armchair beside Raul. “Would you like something to drink?”
“No, gracias .” She wove through the chairs and tables, her heels once again sinking into the luxurious carpet, to reach the indicated seat.
So many royals in one room. The two men—one heir to the throne, the other a brilliant musician and duke—exuded an inborn aura of confidence and power that they weren’t even aware of.
The two American women projected a different kind of confidence, one that came from being good at what they did.
Quinn was a genius at cyber investigation, while Grace was not only a princess but a veterinarian who was creating Caleva’s first vet school.
Erica reminded herself that being a pilot for a member of the royal family was not nothing. She sat up straighter to bolster her confidence.
“How is your ankle?” she asked Raul. “What did the doctors say?”
“They said that he has to stay off it for three days, and he keeps trying to schedule meetings,” Quinn said. “So we’re here to enforce the medical decree to rest.”
“I thought you were here for the pleasure of my company,” Raul said with a grin.
“Not when all you can talk about is rock climbing,” Grace said.
Gabriel shook his head, his long dark hair catching glints of light. “Erica, you did your job too well. He has become an enthusiast and throws around climbing jargon that none of us understands. You can be our translator.”
“Oh, and you’ve never once mentioned rasgueo or picado ,” Raul retorted.
“Those are flamenco guitar terms,” Quinn explained to the room, pushing her oversized, black-rimmed glasses up on her nose.
Gabriel shrugged in the same elegant, humorous way that Raul did. Funny that she had known her boss longer, but now she credited any similarities between them to Raul. Her perspective had shifted overnight.
“Is the ankle sprained?” she asked, trying to get an answer in the midst of the flying banter.
Raul made a face. “Yes, but no fractures. If I wasn’t concerned about walking without a limp at Gabri’s wedding, I wouldn’t have agreed to a three-day sentence of boredom.”
“Rude!” Grace said. “How can you be bored with us here? We’re charming.”
“Only you care if you’re limping at the wedding, gilipollas . I certainly don’t,” Gabriel said, stretching out his long black-denim-clad legs. “You can borrow one of the antique canes from the palace collection.”
“Seriously?! You have royal canes?” Quinn said with an eye roll. “I thought the tiaras and jeweled medals were over-the-top enough.”
“We once persuaded Franco—he’s the keeper of the palace treasures—to let us borrow a couple to use as props in a play at school,” Raul said. “Why he trusted us, I’ll never know.”
“Maybe because you did your prince thing, sticking your nose in the air and swearing on the throne or the crown or something equally weighty, that you would bring them back unscathed.” Gabriel threw a smiling glance at Erica. “He’s good at that, you know.”
She could imagine Raul squaring his shoulders and angling his strong chin upward, his blue eyes burning with conviction. A flicker of heat moved through her at the picture.
“Franco wouldn’t let me take my favorite one with the jeweled dragon’s head, though,” Raul said with a mock pout.
“Probably because it was encrusted with a small fortune in emeralds,” Gabriel said.
Erica was beginning to feel out of her depth as they talked about priceless historic objects like they were toys. Not to mention that she didn’t know if she should share her suspicions about the dragon eggs with the whole group, since Raul hadn’t brought up the topic.
Grace stood and stretched. “This has been fun, but I have to meet with some folks from La Sociedad Real de Prevención de la Crueldad con los Animales. Wow, that’s a mouthful!
” She shrugged into the green jacket that matched her pencil skirt and smiled.
“Nice to meet you, Erica. Raul might have convinced me to go rock climbing with you someday.”
“It would be my honor,” Erica said, hoping the princess was just being polite. The responsibility for one royal on a cliff was exhausting. Two royals would probably short-circuit her brain completely.
“More like a pain in the neck, but you’re used to that with Raul.” Grace walked to the door and gave them a wave. “Adios, amigos!”
“We should get going too,” Gabriel said.
“Quinn has work to do, and I have to practice.” He took Quinn’s hand to tug her up beside him as he rose.
“I’ll come by with my guitar later, primo , so you can tell me what you think of my latest composition.
It’s titled ‘El Principe Torpe.’ The Clumsy Prince. ”
“Cabrón!” Raul grabbed one of the pillows he was leaning against and hurled it at his cousin.
Gabriel caught it with a laugh. He nodded to Erica. “I’m counting on you to keep him from getting up off the sofa.”
“And don’t give him his laptop,” Quinn said. “He’s not allowed to schedule any meetings until tomorrow.”
“ Ay, caramba! You’re driving me crazy,” Raul said, making a shooing motion with his hand. “Hasta luego!”
Gabriel bent to squeeze Raul’s shoulder. “I’ll be back before dinner. I promise, hermano .”
Raul nodded, gratitude in the smile he gave his cousin.
The young royals clearly cared about each other as family, but there was more to the bond. They reminded her of soldiers who fought side by side and trusted each other with their lives. Maybe being royal felt a little like being under siege sometimes.
Then the door closed behind Quinn and Gabriel, and Erica realized she was now alone with the prince. There were no other royals and no bodyguards to deflect their attention from each other. The three feet between them seemed to vibrate with her awareness of his long, lean body.
What the hell?! She’d met him several times on Gabriel’s jet and never had this kind of response.
Of course, back then, he had given her what she now thought of as his prince face—the charming smile, the smooth manners, the slight distance.
On their camping trip, she had seen glimpses of the human being behind the mask, a man in pain.
“I apologize for my obnoxious family,” Raul said, but he was smiling. “They don’t know when to shut up.”
They cared about him, and she could see him reveling in that knowledge. “That’s what family is for,” she said.
“I would offer you refreshment, but you will object to me getting up.” Raul pointed to a cabinet across the room. “Open the doors, and you’ll find the fridge. Help yourself to anything you’d like.”
“Can I get you something?” Erica asked.
“Join me in a beer? I’ve got nowhere to be.” His voice had a tinge of bitterness.