Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Have you told her?” Gabriel demanded as he pulled out a chair across from Michel at his usual table at the hotel café.
“Why don’t you order a drink first?” Michel said with exaggerated solicitude. “You might get parched from lecturing me.”
“Cut the bullshit.” Gabriel’s anti-bullshit glare transformed into a charming smile when their server came over to their table. “Hello, Anne. I’ll have a double espresso.”
“You got it,” she said with a cheeky wink.
While the two of them flirted shamelessly, Michel sipped his green tea—he was a sentimental fool—and enjoyed his brief reprieve. As anticipated, the smile melted off his cousin’s face as soon as their server walked away.
“Don’t bother telling me you’re not head over heels for her.” Gabriel resumed berating him as though there was no interruption.
“Anne is an excellent server, but head over heels might be an overstatement.” Michel adjusted the cuffs of his shirt.
“You’re not as witty as you think.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “People just feel obliged to laugh at your jokes.”
“What people? You’re the only person I joke around with,” he muttered.
The comment hit too close to home. Other than with his family and a select few friends, Michel could never be sure how genuine people were being—never know what effect his crown was having on their interaction. Which was precisely why he needed more time with Emma before he told her the truth. He needed to know what she felt for him was for him and not the crown.
“By people, I mean me, ” his cousin clarified—taking the sting away from his comment—and promptly blew out a frustrated breath. “Goddamn it, Michel. I can’t believe you put me in this position. I hate being the voice of reason. It’s unbearably boring and frustrating.”
“We’ve only been on three dates.” Three incredible, unforgettable dates. But even so. He wanted more before he risked losing it all. “I still have much to consider.”
“You’ve been talking my ears off—nonstop—about this woman.” Gabriel threw his hands up. “What more do you need to know?”
“For one, I haven’t even met her family.” All he knew was that Emma was an only child and she lived with her father. He wanted to meet the man who had brought up such an amazing woman. “Maybe I should meet some of her friends as well.”
“Since when did any of that matter to you? If you’re going to start considering her family background and standing in society, you might as well marry Isabelle.”
“I had no idea the voice of reason was so irritating.” Michel pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t care less about background and standing. He just wanted to find out everything about Emma while he was simply Michel Chevalier. He ignored the small voice telling him that he was being selfish. And he didn’t want to listen to his cousin’s wise counsel either. “Please do shut up.”
“Fine. I’ll stop.” Gabriel ran his hand through his perfectly styled hair, making it perfectly mussed. “But don’t come crawling back to me when this whole thing blows up in your pretty face.”
“Pretty? That’s just blatant flattery.”
“Fuck you.”
“You mean ‘Fuck you, Your Royal Highness, ’” Michel whispered even though the tables near them were unoccupied. “America has done a number on your manners, my dear cousin.”
“Pulling rank on me at a time like this is a sign of weakness.” Gabriel smirked, relaxing into his seat at last. Officially relinquishing his role as the reasonable cousin, he scanned the lobby, taking care to look extra bored, and failed spectacularly at pretending to not search for Sophie.
“She’s on the other side of the lobby today,” Michel said with a smug grin. “Want to go say hello?”
“That’s the last thing she’d want me to do.” Something vulnerable crossed his cousin’s face before his mask of cynical ennui returned. “Besides, I don’t want to distract the woman while on duty. That would be tantamount to putting your royal arse on the line.”
“My royal arse would be fine for five minutes.” Michel huffed a frustrated sigh. “Are you ever going to tell me what the hell is going on between you two?”
“Sophie might be under the impression that I abandoned her when I left Rouleme without asking her to come with me,” Gabriel said blandly as though he was remarking on the weather.
“What?” Michel had no idea what he was expecting, but that was not it. “What?”
“Which is completely unfair, since she never would’ve agreed,” Gabriel muttered, warming up to the topic. “She always made it clear that her loyalty lay with the crown.”
“You two were together all those years ago?” He floundered to wrap his head around the idea.
“Nothing clear-cut like that. It was new. We were young.” His cousin gave him a pointed look. “We’d only gone out on a few dates.”
Michel ignored the dig and leaned into his indignation. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me, all these years.”
“Of course.” Gabriel managed to look chic and sophisticated while rolling his eyes. “Because it’s all about you.”
Michel didn’t bother flipping off his cousin. He should’ve been there for him. “I could’ve helped you.”
“There was nothing you could’ve done.” Gabriel raked his fingers through his hair again, and this time a strand of hair dared to stick up out of place. “Like I said, she would never have come to the US with me.”
“How do you know when you didn’t ask?” Michel prodded gently, seeing that the conversation wasn’t easy for his cousin.
“Because I know her. I was in love with her since we were ten.” Gabriel huffed a humorless laugh. “Do you know how hard I had to work to get her to go out with me? She wouldn’t have uprooted her entire life to start anew here. Besides, I couldn’t ask that of her. It would’ve been too selfish of me.”
“I’m sorry,” Michel said sincerely, even as he fought to not see the similarity between his cousin’s past choice and the one he would have to make in less than two months. But leaving one’s home for an uncertain future was different from leaving to become a queen. Who wouldn’t want to be a queen? The thought didn’t sit right with him, but he resolutely returned his attention to their conversation. They were talking about Sophie right now, not Emma.
“It all happened a long time ago.” His cousin waved aside his apology.
Michel couldn’t help but ask, “Do you still love her?”
“It broke my heart to lose her”—Gabriel swallowed—“but Sophie and I are living the lives we were meant to live.”
Michel nodded. That was the closest thing to an answer he would get from his cousin. He had to respect that. Even though he wished he could do more for him. Even though Gabriel and Sophie deserved so much better.
“How are you enjoying your sightseeing adventures?” His cousin changed the topic as he drained the espresso Anne had brought him earlier.
“Let’s just say I’m beginning to understand why you chose to put your roots down in Los Angeles.”
“ Of all places .” Gabriel grinned, the shadows beginning to recede from his eyes. “It’s a gem with endless facets to discover and experience.”
“And you get to be you here.” The familiar envy tugged at Michel.
“I’d be me anywhere I am.” His cousin held his gaze. “The crown doesn’t erase who you are, Michel. I wish you could see that.”
“Perhaps my problem is that I don’t really know who I am, with or without the crown.” Michel straightened his teacup, staring down at his lukewarm drink. “Am I the sum of my father’s and my country’s expectations? Is that all I could ever be?”
“Most days, I don’t know whether to pity you or envy you. But make no mistake. You are in a position that gives you the power to make real change in Rouleme—in the world.”
“I thought you were tired of being the voice of reason.” Michel smiled, grateful to have his cousin by his side.
“I wasn’t being the voice of reason. I was just being your wiseass cousin.”
“Thank you for being a wiseass.” He raised his teacup in wry salute.
“Anytime.” Gabriel inclined his head like true royalty.
Michel’s pulse jumped when his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out in record time. His shoulders slumped when he saw who it was.
“Yes, Antoine,” he responded with an apologetic look at his cousin. “Is this something urgent? This isn’t a good time to talk.”
“I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t urgent, Your Highness.” His assistant used the formal address without irony, but Michel was conditioned to feel chastised by it from all the time he’d spent with Sophie lately.
“I apologize for doubting you,” Michel said, switching to French. “What is it?”
“The ministers are balking at the social services addendum you proposed.”
“That addendum was passed last winter.” He stood from his seat and nodded his goodbye to Gabriel. “It was meant to go into effect next month.”
“Go.” Knowing the drill, his cousin shooed him off with his hand. “I got the check.”
Michel walked away from the table, clapping Gabriel on the shoulder. Sophie appeared by his side as he headed toward their elevator. She arched an eyebrow in question, and he shook his head.
“They’re claiming that there is a discrepancy in the proposed budget.” Antoine sighed. “It’s an obvious delaying tactic. They’re taking advantage of your absence, Your Highness.”
“But Toulouse gave me his word.” Michel cursed under his breath as the elevator shot up to their floor.
“And the minister is trying to keep it,” his assistant said. “But the old-timers are ganging up on him.”
“I want to see this alleged discrepancy in the budget.” Sophie wordlessly followed him to his door and held it open for him. “And set up a call with Toulouse.”
“For when?”
“Right this damn minute,” Michel snapped as the door closed behind him.
“Of course, my prince,” Antoine said with calm efficiency. “I’ve emailed you the documents already, and I’ll track down the minister in person if I have to.”
“Good.” Michel inhaled through his nose and got control of his temper. “Thank you.”
“It’s my honor, Your Highness. I will update you as soon as I have the call scheduled.”
Michel threw his mobile on a side table and walked to the window overlooking Downtown Los Angeles. His time in America was not a vacation. It came with a price he couldn’t ignore. Would all this be worth it if he couldn’t win Emma? He wouldn’t trade a single moment he’d shared with her for the world, but that wasn’t enough. His people needed him—especially the single mothers and their children that the addendum was supposed to benefit. He clenched his fists. He had to make his time away from Rouleme count.