Chapter 41
WILD GOOSE CHASE
DUNCAN
London Daily Times
The Prince of Wales has had half a dozen social secretaries in the last five years.
Most recently, this post has sat vacant for nearly a month.
So, when the palace released a plan to announce a new social secretary, we wondered who the lucky victim was.
It seems she is an unknown twenty-five-year-old PR consultant named Eloise Mills.
We’ve confirmed that she was the one previously following the Prince around as a sort of “handler”.
Leo Hayes assessed the situation, “As a Royal Correspondent, I’ve seen many things, but never a total outsider stepping into this role. We know nothing about Miss Hayes. It’s a curious choice. Only time will tell if she can outlive her predecessors.”
“Bloody ridiculous,” Mum said. “As if you weren’t just like Miss Mills, Lucy. You still work here!”
“Well, she actually has a lot more of an advantage there,” Lucy pointed out. “She went to Seymour.”
“Posh,” Dad said. “She’s so normal. I didn’t know what to expect.”
I was surprised by that.
“Dad, she has impeccable manners. She’s great. You could bring her anywhere and she’d never put a foot wrong. She only struggles with staff.”
“That’s an American thing,” Mum said. “Mummy was like that. Americans are odd.”
“Excuse you!” Lucy laughed.
“You’re one of us. Calm down!” Her husband, Winston, observed.
I was home for two days as we finalized the tour—wardrobe, media prep, all of that. And while I’d like to say I got to spend the time with Ella, she was off entertaining her friend.
Lucy rolled her eyes. “I get it. But I worked for the Queen as an intern and got hired right onto staff. I had no business as such.”
“Duncan is right. You were delightfully rough at first,” Mum said. “But I think you picked it up too fast for us to remember. And by then, you’d caught George’s eye.”
I groaned. “Mum, you mustn’t bring that up.”
“Well, the other line of media inquiry into this focuses right on that. Is she just another Lucy Chandler?” Lucy feigned surprise.
I snickered.
“Well, if you’re a climber, you’re my favorite one, darling,” Mum said. “And Eloise does not strike me as such.”
“No. She’s very well-behaved, ma’am.” John stepped in, taking breakfast with us before the busiest day this week. “A kind sort.”
“Good. And you are satisfied with the arrangement your mother thrust on you?” Dad asked.
I didn’t want to explain that thrusting is what I would love to be doing to Miss Mills.
I cleared my throat. “Yes. She is helpful. We are doing well as a team, I think. Right, John?”
“Certainly, sir. I like Miss Mills. She’s always organized and does her homework. You almost forget she is so young as serious as she takes her role.”
“See, Luce, there you are,” Winston joked with his wife. “That was you.”
Lucy glared. “I’ll be ready to pass the torch then. Another generation should step up. I’m tired.”
“I think she’s more than prepared to do that,” John said.
There was an implicit assumption here. I should do the same. Marry a nice girl. Have fat babies. Become king. That was all it took, right? Instead, I spent my time chasing a girl more than a decade younger than me for what? An odd blowjob? I hadn’t even fucked her yet!
“I’m going to get my affairs in order before we get started,” I said. “I’ll see you all in there.”
I kissed my mother’s cheek and dispersed. I wandered down the hall to find the door to Ella’s office open. Was she in? I knocked on the doorframe and poked my head in.
She was there along with her friend sorting through boxes.
“Oh, hello,” Monique bowed slightly.
Ella looked at me.
“Your Royal Highness,” Ella curtsied oh-so-elegantly, looking less-than-enthusiastic. “Didn’t expect to see you. Did you not say the meeting was—”
“It was later,” I acknowledged. “It is later, rather. But I saw your door open, and wondered what was going on. Settling in, Miss Mills? And Miss Vincent, you’re assisting?”
“I agreed to carry a box. She gets up at the crack of dawn and drags me out. I have a job interview in an hour.”
“So we are wrapping up,” Eloise said. “Or, rather, I will put her in a cab, and she will return to find me still unpacking. I just wanted to get settled in now that it’s official.”
“Of course,” I said. “Good luck, Miss Vincent. You are thinking of moving to London?”
“I am.” The girl smiled. “And while I have my reservations about coming back to the UK, Ella is laying the pressure on thick.”
“I am sure Ella would be most happy to have you back on our little island. She has been quite excited about it.”
Eloise glared. I’d been overly familiar. I would hear about that. I struggled to control myself. I wanted us to be friends—real and proper friends. And couldn’t we be? Mum and Lucy were joined at the hip. Although, they were platonic friends. There was nothing about Ella that felt platonic.
I shifted on my feet nervous, “Well, if you all need anything at all, please do not hesitate—”
“Duncan?” Eloise said, voice rather terse.
Despite the shock of her invoking my first name in front of her friend, I turned my eyes back to hers. “Yes?”
She stood there, hands on hips. “Can you get us a reservation at Barnaby?”
“Us?” I asked.
Her gaze was unfazed, serious, and unwavering. “Monique and I?”
“Oh.” I felt stupid. “I cannot promise, but can you not call on my behalf and do it?”
“I’m not technically here yet.”
“Fine. I will mention it to John. For this evening?”
Eloise nodded.
“Ella, that’s a lot to ask,” Monique said.
“He’ll manage,” Eloise said. “Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”
“Yes, ma’am, of course,” I turned to leave.
Oh, she was sending me on a wild goose chase and loving every bit of it.