“What is it? Has word leaked about the princess? I personally chose everyone on this mission, but it’s also true that almost everyone can be bought.”
Christian stretched out his legs. “Almost everyone?”
“Some of us value honor over money, Your Highness.” Elias hoped it was true of everyone in the royal household. But then again, he didn’t protect the heir to the throne with something as weak as hope. And there had been leaks over the years, albeit not from the RPS.
“If you’re trying to use reverse psychology to get a raise, it won’t work. The Captain of the Guard makes those decisions, not me.”
Elias winced exaggeratedly. “Guess I’d better hope he has a long-lost sister I can find and bring home to him.”
Chuckling, Christian asked, “How’d it go?”
Should he start with how crazy-attracted he was to Christian’s little sister? Or save that grenade for later? Along with how damned much Kelsey simply did not want to leave Manhattan? “It wasn’t, ah, trouble free.”
Christian’s head turned to him so quickly there was an audible neck snap. “Really? Who doesn’t want to be a princess?”
“Your sister, as it turns out. She was less than thrilled by the news. Not at all easy to convince, either.”
“That’s surprising. Isn’t it every little girl’s fantasy to be a princess?”
Aha. There was the problem, just as he’d feared.
The royal family still thought of their princess as the baby they’d lost and sought for so long. Elias suspected this wouldn’t be the last time they overlooked the fact that Kelsey was actually a grown woman. A grown, beautiful woman with an interesting mind all her own.
“She’s not a girl, Christian. She’s a woman who had just started living her dream and I ripped her away from it. For you.”
“For the good of the country.”
“Of course.” Country before self. The Villani royal family all believed it, lived it, as did Elias. But would an independent American fall in line to that way of thinking? For a country that didn’t yet feel like her own?
The prince pulled a bottle of water out of the pocket in the door. “Did you mention the clothes, the jewelry, the servants?”
“Yes. I got the distinct impression she was pissed at what she interpreted as attempted bribery.” Which had shocked Elias. It had also impressed him. Intrigued him. “Besides, you’re doing her a disservice. A whole new family’s a lot to digest by themselves, let alone giving up your entire life to go live with them. Would you expect Genevieve to throw away her life for designer clothes and a handful of tiaras?”
“She’d step over a black cat and walk under a ladder for a tiara,” Christian said dryly. “But I get your point. Genevieve would never abandon what really mattered to her for mere things.”
“Precisely. You should give your new sister the same credit.”
Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Christian said, “You’re right. It’s hard, you know? To not have any idea what to expect from her. To not make assumptions.”
“Here’s something else you’d never assume. The princess suggested waiting a year to come to Moncriano. She wanted to put if off until she was all settled in Manhattan and had saved enough money to make the trip.”
Laughter ricocheted off every gleaming silver handle and fitting in the car. “That’s priceless.”
Funny in theory, maybe. Not in reality. Not to Elias. “You laugh, but it may be a serious problem if she chooses not to embrace her inheritance, her birthright. She could turn her back on all of this.”
“Nonsense.” Only Christian’s sudden white-knuckle grip on the handle above the door gave away his unspoken worry. “Haven’t you heard? I’m charming as hell. Moncriano’s the best country in the world. And once she gets used to having breakfast delivered in bed, she’ll realize being a princess isn’t a hardship. We’ll get her to come around, no problem.”
Christian wasn’t listening. And he was very likely underestimating Kelsey. That was the last thing she needed.
Elias rapped his knuckles against the window. “I’m telling you, Moncriano’s the last place she wants to be. She’s a huge flight risk. The least little thing could send her running back to Manhattan. Eight-hundred thread count sheets and having someone do her laundry won’t make a difference.”
“Fuck. I know.” The prince dropped his chin to the perfect Windsor knot in his sky-blue tie. “I’m making light of it because I’m scared.”
“You? Scared?” His friend was famously fearless. Even when a healthy shot of terror might lead to clearer thinking. Like, say, preventing him from getting in a fight with seven angry, drunk Swiss Guard with only Elias by his side. Or in Tokyo, when he’d eaten thirds of that sushi that could kill you. Nothing phased Christian. “Of what?”
“Of saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing.” Now his head dropped lower, to cradle in his hands. The words came out slightly muffled. “My own sister terrifies me, because I don’t have a clue how to handle her. Of how not to piss her off. How to sell her on our country, our family, without disparaging her own. How to get my baby sister to love me. Or even like me, after all this time.”
It usually required half a whisky bottle to achieve this level of sharing. Even stranger that it was happening before two a.m.
Elias wanted to help, but this wasn’t a situation with a rule book. Or even examples of how anyone else handled it, because princesses didn’t just go missing for twenty-five years and then pop back up.
All he could offer Christian was normalcy. And their normal was poking at each other. “Did you start seeing a therapist while I was in New York?”
“Very funny.” He whacked Elias on the knee with his water bottle. “Help me, damn it. Who else am I going to talk this through with? Papa and Genny have their own issues. I can’t lay anything else on them.”
Clearly, this wasn’t the time to confess how…attracted he was to Christian’s little sister. That just might be the straw that broke the prince’s back. Then again, Elias would probably be wise to never mention just how much he’d enjoyed having Kelsey curled up on his chest as they winged across the Atlantic.
“Look, it’s an impossible thing to go through, but I promise, she’s nice. You’re awesome with strangers. You two will figure out how to do this brother/sister thing.”
With a hollow laugh, Christian sat back up. “Did you see us five minutes ago? On the tarmac? We were like the Three Stooges bumping into each other. Thank God there weren’t paparazzi around to capture it.”