Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
“Hello?” My voice comes out groggy.
“Good morning, sunshine, this is your conscience telling you it’s time to rise and shine,” my brother’s deep voice jokes.
“Eddie,” I whine. “Do you know what time it is?”
“It’s four-thirty,” he snarks back. “You wake up at five to work in the stables anyway. Waking up half an hour early won’t kill you.”
“I need my beauty sleep. Especially on a Saturday.” I groan, half tempted to hang up on him. “What do you need?”
“Can’t your favorite brother ring you just to wake you up?”
“No.” So that’s his game. He’s rung to annoy me. I’ll find a way to get him back for this when I’m more awake. “Goodbye.”
“Ali, wait . . .” His voice sobers. “I promise I have an actual reason for ringing you.”
“Well, what is it?” I burrow into my bed, pulling the covers tighter around me.
“The press office received a tip-off this morning that you’ll be featured on the front covers of three or four different tabloids.”
“Ugh. Will they ever leave me alone?” I groan into my pillow.
“I’m sorry.” Eddie sounds sincere. “You don’t deserve this, especially with the crap they’ve thrown at you in the past.”
“What rubbish are they running this time?”
“Apparently, there are some photos and a video of you and your protection officer. The new Bruce.”
“Arthur?” I sit up tall, suddenly fully awake.
“That’s him,” Eddie says. “They’re claiming you two are in some type of romantic relationship. I’m waiting for Father to wake up before we figure out if it’ll be something we decide not to comment on or if we issue a strong denial.”
It’s like I’ve been sitting inside a saucepan with the heat turned up as high as it will go.
My blood is boiling. I’m seeing the world in tomato-paste red.
“Crap!” I toss the covers off the bed. How on earth have the gossip rags placed us together?
We’ve been so careful. Unless . . . are the photos from Tokyo?
Or are they of us in London? “Do you know when the photos were taken? Can you send me one?”
“Alice, I don’t want you worrying over this,” Eddie emphasizes. “We don’t know for certain if they’re real. For all we know, they could be photoshopped or generated by AI. You know how the gossip rags are with their fake news.”
“Don’t baby me. I need to know.”
“I haven’t seen them myself, but it sounds like they were taken in London.”
That narrows it down. I place my palm on my forehead, trying to recall our dates over the last few weeks. “Eddie, there’s something I need to tell you, but before I do, I need you to swear to me that you won’t tell anyone about it, including Amanda.”
“Ali?”
“Anyone,” I repeat.
“I swear.”
“The rumor is true. Arthur and I are kind of dating one another. I like him. A lot. We’re taking things slowly. It’s only been about three weeks since we made the call, but now . . .”
“Everything’s been turned upside down?”
“That’s putting it lightly,” I huff. “I know you’re probably vexed with me for breaking the number-one security rule, but try telling that to my heart. I promise if we decide to become boyfriend and girlfriend, we’ll do things the proper way.”
“Ali, contrary to what you might believe, I think it’s brilliant you found a bloke you like. Father may not be too happy about it, but we’ll figure something out. He doesn’t need to know if the rumor is true right now, per se.”
I exhale. It feels like an elephant is being lifted off my shoulders.
“Listen,” Eddie continues, “why don’t you get dressed and have someone bring you over to my place for breakfast. We can hold a council of war before we speak with Father.”
“I should be getting ready for work.”
“In this case, I think Danny will understand. Odds are Father will want to speak with you ASAP anyway.”
“You’re right. Okay, I’ll come.”
“Good. Text me when you’re on your way.”
I set my phone down and scrub my eyelids. What a horrid way to start my morning. I need to get ahold of Art as soon as possible. I need to speak to him before he sees the tabloids, or anyone contacts him about it. Somehow, I feel that the blow is better coming from me than anyone else.
Pulling out my mobile, I type up a quick message.
Alice
Good morning. I know it’s early, but are you free?
Angela
Yes, I am. What’s on your mind this morning, ma’am?
I wince. Art must not be on duty until this afternoon. Angela has the duty phone. It doesn’t hit me until now that I don’t have his private mobile number. There must be a way I can get it. Except my brain is moving at a turtle’s speed. I don’t have the faintest idea of how.
Alice
My brother has asked me to join him for breakfast before work. Would you mind driving me over to Kensington Palace in ten minutes?
Angela
Of course.
Alice
Thanks! I’m sure there’ll be some breakfast in it for you too.
Angela
That would be lovely. The Prince of Wales always has top-notch offerings.
“Are you holding up okay so far? I know this is the last thing you wanted to deal with,” Eddie says.
“I’m angry, but hanging in there. I haven’t had time to process it all. I knew at some point I’d become the target of the paparazzi again. I just was hoping the quiet would last a little longer.”
“I’m sorry, Ali. I wish I could do more to protect you.”
“You’re doing more than enough by being here for me and holding a council of war.”
Eddie pours a cup of coffee straight from his fancy expresso machine and sets it down in front of me. “I can make you something else if you’d prefer.” He puffs out his chest. “I can do anything a barista can do.”
“Has your fiancée verified that claim?” My hand closes around the cup and brings it closer to me, as if I’m clutching a lifeline.
“Well, no.” He deflates. “I wanted to surprise her. I’ve been testing out my creations on David.”
I raise my cup to him. “Well, he’s a heavy coffee drinker. If he says what you’re making is good, that means you’re probably doing a brilliant job.”
Eddie pours his own cup and takes a seat across from me at the round kitchen table.
The shades are still drawn, and Amanda is asleep.
It’s just the two of us. My brother’s dressed casually in a white T-shirt and a pair of navy-blue joggers.
He was probably getting ready to go for a run when his plans shifted.
“So, you and the new Bruce . . .”
“Yes.” I stare into the mug. “His name is Arthur.”
“Arthur.” Eddie smacks his lips together and takes a sip of coffee. “What do I need to know about him?”
I lift my chin. “You haven’t asked for his personnel file?”
“I have,” he admits. “But all it told me is that if he did something stupid, like hurt your feelings and made you cry, I’d have to go after him with backup.”
I roll my eyes and hide a smile. That’s my protective older brother for you.
“What I want to hear is why you like him. What sets him apart from other blokes?”
“When you first meet Arthur, he’s quiet and shy. He doesn’t speak much until you get to know him. In fact, he annoyed me so much when we first met that I asked Papa to reassign him from my detail.”
Eddie snorts. “And Father said no? He normally gives you whatever you want.”
I nod. “Papa said Arthur was the strongest candidate he interviewed, and he wanted me to have the best on my team. He insisted that I wait until the end of summer to decide how things would play out.” I take a sip of coffee and let the strong bitterness roll over my tongue.
“And I’m glad he did because I would’ve regretted never giving him a chance.
The man I’ve come to know is witty, an excellent baker, caring, kind, and considerate.
He’s the first man who’s ever seen me. He gets me. ”
“It sounds to me, baby sister, like you’re on your way to falling in love.
” Eddie studies me for several moments, leaning back in his chair.
My brother has a knowing look in his eyes.
“What you’re describing is exactly how I felt when I first met Amanda.
She was one of the first people I’d ever met who treated me like a person instead of a prince.
It was an out-of-body experience for me. ”
I nod, thinking back to how much my brother has grown and matured over the last several years because of the vivacious American’s influence on him.
“I knew early on that she was special and that our relationship would be different than the flings I’d had in the past.”
“How did you know you were in love with her?” I cock my head to the side.
“Instinct? Feelings?” His lips twitch. “The best way I can describe it is that the energy between us shifted. When we were together, everything felt deeper and more meaningful.”
As I sit here and listen to Eddie going on about all the little qualities he began to notice and love about Amanda, an image of Art pops into my mind. We’ve only been on a handful of dates, but my gut instinct tells me that, like Amanda, something about him is different.
I want to spend time with him. He’s always in my thoughts and on my mind. I’m not at the point where I’m ready to declare that what I’m feeling is love, but I’ve definitely begun to care for him more than I have for any man.
“Ali?”
“Hmm?”
Eddie’s blue orbs look at me with sympathy. “I want you to know, like I said earlier, that I’m happy for you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you two out where I can, but you have to know that things are going to get ugly before they get better.”
I swallow hard. That’s not what I want to hear right now.
“We’ll have to speak to Father. I’ll leave how much you tell him up to you, but either way, Arthur is likely going to be suspended while an investigation takes place.”
“Suspended? Investigation?”
“Yes. It’s standard practice. Any rumor or allegation has to be investigated and go through the proper channels.”
I rub my temples. “There’s something I need your help with. I need to get in touch with him. But I don’t have his mobile number.”
Eddie frowns. “Ali, it would be better if you did nothing. His personal mobile will be subject to the investigation too.”
“Eddie, no,” I sputter. “I have to get in touch with him and let him know what’s going on. It has to come from me.” It’s all my fault he’s in this situation to begin with.
My brother sighs. “It means that much to you?”
I shoot him a Duh look. For a man who’s been in love before, he can still be dense. “Yes, it does.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to figure something out. Maybe a message from a raven? Or a carrier pigeon.”
“Eddie,” I moan. “Now is not the time for bad jokes.”
He holds up his hands. “I’m sorry. I know this is difficult for you. Leave it to me. I’ll come up with a way for you to get in touch with him without using your mobile. It just needs to be done discreetly. In the meantime, you and I need to come up with a plan for Father.”
“He’s going to be livid.” I fold my hands and set them on the table. “Until I have a chance to speak with Art, I’d prefer to respect his privacy and not comment on the dating thing. I just wish I knew exactly what photos the papers have.”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Eddie says grimly.