She almost snorted to herself, avoiding it at the last minute. A prince. A palace. This was not what she’d imagined. Maybe it could be better than she imagined.
“All right,” she managed finally. “I’ll go and see the palace. But I’m not making any promises.”
3
Lise had no idea how they’d gotten to the palace. The technical details, yes—Raed had led her out to a black SUV that waited by the entrance to the university, a car seat already installed in the back. The driver had taken them on a series of winding turns through the city, this way and that, and Raed sat next to Jake the whole time, offering him bites of pizza and telling him about the buildings they were passing.
And then—the palace.
They entered through a set of gates in the back, off a private road that seemed practically silent after the bustle of the city, and parked at the end of the circle drive. The palace sprawled before her, massive and intimidating. Was this really a good idea? Raed stepped out of the SUV and offered her his hand. She took it, speechless. The palace. It was a fixture in the city, of course, but now that she was standing in its compound, it looked much bigger. And the palace wasn’t the half of it. She undid the buckle on Jake’s seat and lifted him out, his weight familiar on her hip.
“This way,” Raed said, and she turned to find him standing next to a golf cart.
“Car,” said Jake, pointing, his tiny finger stretched out toward the cart. “Ride.”
“Yes, buddy,” she whispered into his ear. A golf cart. That made sense, right? The palace grounds were sprawling, reaching out as far as she could see behind the massive building. Lise got in next to Raed, and he watched her carefully to make sure they were settled in before he drove them out of the main courtyard. They took a paved path through landscaping that reminded her of a garden gone wild.
“This buggy is yours,” Raed said casually. “It goes with your cottage. The cottage you’ll stay at if you agree, of course. We have several on the grounds.” A couple of minutes later they pulled up in front of one of them. Lise stifled a gasp. It was no “cottage.” It was a neat two-story house with a manicured lawn. Raed hopped off the golf cart and led them around to the back, which featured a full-size pool. Off to one side was a paddling pool with zero-depth entry. All of it had been surrounded with a safety fence. Jake struggled to get down from her arms, and she put him on his feet. He rushed to the fence as fast as his little legs could carry him, pressing his hands against it, then peering back at her with longing in his eyes.
“House,” Jake said, his little voice twisting at her heart.
“A house,” she agreed.
They went inside—through the living room with its leather sofas and chairs and a wide space for Jake to play in, and into a huge kitchen with brand-new appliances, including an expensive coffee machine. Lise poked a lever on the refrigerator, and a perfectly clear sphere dropped into her hand.
“Craft ice?” Lise said, her eyebrows raised.
“Craft ice,” Raed said. “My mother likes it.”
He led them to the second floor. The master bedroom featured an enormous canopy bed and an en suite bathroom, which was all sleek and marble and modern. It was the most romantic bed Lise could picture sleeping in. And the second bedroom—well, the second bedroom had been turned into a little boy’s room. The only thing missing was—
“If he needs a crib, you can order whatever you wish to complete the room,” Raed said as Lise opened her mouth. “I didn’t know how you did things at home, but it’s important to me that you feel comfortable.”
“Order them from where?”
“Someone from the palace will come by and give you all the information you need. Online stores are an option, but there’s also an interior decorator who can give you guidance if you feel you need it.”
An interior decorator. When she was pregnant with Jake, Lise had bought the middle-of-the-road crib at her local department store and put it together herself. Her mother had been too busy to help her with it, and she hadn’t wanted to ask her work colleagues, who she knew wondered privately about Lise’s decision to become a single mother. They badly wanted to know who the father was, and she hadn’t wanted to admit that he was as good as a ghost—no record of him anywhere, except for the baby in her belly.
Jake moved in a quick circle around the room, making a beeline for a low shelf that had a small collection of books and a big red truck. He took the truck down and rolled it back and forth on the carpet, making soft car noises.
If they’d been in contact with Raed when Jake was born, he would always have had these things. A room just like this. There would never have been a question about daycare or a nanny or the constant struggle Lise faced to keep up with her career and make sure he had as much of her as possible.
She pushed those thoughts out of her mind. What mattered now was that they were here. And even though it seemed surreal to be staying in a royal guest house, it wasn’t bad. No. It was very, very good.
Lise and Raed, with Jake held in her arms, did another circuit of the house. It all smelled fresh and new and painted, as if he’d had the whole thing remodeled on the fly. Perhaps he had. It was the kind of thing a rich prince in Qasha could do, right? Have a guest house remodeled. Everything about the house was well taken care of, and the scent of lemon cleaning solution brightened the air.
“A member of the staff will be here to clean every three days,” he mentioned.
“Oh, I don’t need that,” she said automatically.
“You will, since you’re working on my pilot project.” He patted her gently on the shoulder. “It’s all right to enjoy yourself while you’re here. You don’t have to worry yourself with cleaning. Now, tell me—is there anything you need now?”
There was only one thing missing. Lise didn’t want to say it out loud, but he’d asked, and the worry had been nagging at her from the moment they first came through the house. There was no separate office or classroom space. Guest houses didn’t always have classroom space, obviously, but—
“I—I can’t hold classes or needs-assessment interviews here.” It sounded wrong, almost off-key, the way she found a flaw in it, but it was true. She couldn’t very well teach out of a private part of the palace grounds.
“Of course not.” Raed grinned at her, his smile contagious. “Come see the business wing of the palace.”
“The business wing?”
He laughed. “Yes. We don’t conduct the work of the country in our private rooms. I’ll show you.”
She went and scooped up Jake, who pointed back at the pool with a fierce look in his eyes. At the golf cart she sat down in the first available seat—oops. The driver’s seat. Lise got her feet under her and stood back up. “Here—”
“You can drive if you like,” Raed offered.
Her face warmed again. “Actually, I can’t. I don’t know how to drive.” Lise felt his eyes on her as she made her way back to the passenger side and settled in with Jake in her lap. Raed blinked at her from his spot next to the cart.
“You don’t drive,” he repeated.