How on earth was she supposed to respond to that? Kelsey went with naked honesty. Begin as you mean to go on, right? “That’s more than a little disconcerting.”
“I imagine so.”
She stared over his shoulder for a second, distracted by a glorious vista of a jagged mountain range still tipped with snow on its highest peaks. “Whatever your expectations are, there’s a very good chance I won’t meet them. The idea of this life, of being royal, is completely foreign to me. The idea of having a whole second identity is beyond confusing.” Drawing herself up a little straighter, jutting her chin out just a bit, Kelsey finished with, “But I’m going to try.”
Another long silence. Uh…Elias had assured her that Christian spoke fluent English. Was he working so hard at coming up with the words in her language? Or coming up with something—anything to say to her?
He surged forward, throwing his arms around her and squeezing hard. It was a great hug. Kelsey swore she could feel the pent-up longing for his missing sister being released as they stood there, embracing in the light June breeze.
It was a much, much better start.
“Don’t worry about anyone’s expectations,” he said into her ear. “Because I never expected to see you again. So this is already more than enough.”
Footsteps made the metal stairs behind them shudder. Christian let go and delivered another knife-sharp nod. “Miss Wishner.”
Mallory curtsied. Perfectly. Geez, she’d done ballet for four years pre-puberty. Of course her curtsey would put Kelsey’s to shame. “Your Highness.”
Since he’d known her name, Kelsey assumed Elias had given the palace a mid-flight heads-up that Mallory was her plus-one on this royal adventure. But she wanted to make it crystal clear herself. Before they—literally—took another step.
“Christian, I want to thank you for letting me stay at the palace.”
“It is your home.”
Well, that’d be a discussion for another day. Right now, it was just a glorified hotel for the two-week vacation she hadn’t planned. “I’d like to ask that Mallory be given a room there, too. Or shove another bed into my room. I can’t have her staying at a Hilton down the street, running a gauntlet of security whenever I need her. Because wherever I go, she goes.”
“Understood. We’ve already prepared a room for her down the hall from your own.” He turned to face Mallory. “We’ll make you a lady-in-waiting.”
Her sister’s lips pursed. “Ah, I already have a job.”
Did she have to be so literal? And/or so dense? Why, why would Mallory argue with a freaking prince thirty seconds after being introduced? Kelsey threw her arm around her sister’s shoulders and whispered sharply, “Just say yes.” She gave a sharp pinch to drive home the command.
Christian resumed that parade-rest stance, but his eyes crinkled at the corners. Was he amused by Mallory’s resistance? Charm sort of oozed off him, like steam curling from a cup of tea. “If you accept the designation, Miss Wishner, you’ll receive an unqualified security clearance. You’ll be able to go everywhere with Her Highness, only excluding some private family meetings.”
“Thank you.” Mallory sounded…sullen. Like she was thanking him for giving her detention. Just as Kelsey was about to step on her foot, Mallory sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. There are a lot of changes happening, and it puts me off balance. I’m a planner. I like to see the next twenty steps carefully mapped out. Discovering my sister’s a princess…it caught me off guard. And sleeping in a plane didn’t help, no matter how luxurious.”
“I’ll personally make sure there’s a nightcap delivered to your room tonight. A liqueur local to Moncriano. Blueberries left to sit in sugar. Sweet and powerful.” Christian gestured at Mallory with one hand, palm up. “Rather like you, I imagine.”
Seriously? Her new brother was flirting with her sister? That was…well, it was weird. Or maybe she’d imagined the flirtatious subtext? Kelsey rubbed at the corner of her eye, because her sleep hadn’t been restful, either.
Elias did that sudden, silent appearing trick of his. “Your Highness, I recommend not staying outside. Too much opportunity for the princess to be seen and photographed and rumors to start swirling before you’re ready, even with the canopy.”
“Agreed.” Then he did a double take at Elias’s casually rumpled appearance before leading them down the strip of purple carpet to the waiting SUVs. Elias opened the door. “I’ll see you at the palace.” As soon as Kelsey and Mallory were inside, he shut the door.
“That’s it?” Mallory plastered her face against the dark tinted window to stare at the prince as he hustled into his vehicle. “That was the big introduction—over in less than five minutes? How dare he brush you off so fast?”
Kelsey scooted to the opposite window, drinking in the mountains again. They were magnificent. And to someone who’d spent her life in the flat Upper Midwest, they were also breathtaking. “We had a good moment. Okay, we had two really awkward moments first, but then a good one. I’m not sure there’s any protocol for what we’re doing. No set time limits for small talk with a stranger you happen to be related to.”
“You have twenty-five years to catch up on. Don’t you want to ask him a million questions?”
“Honestly?” Kelsey twisted around to look at her sister. She lifted her hands, then let them drop heavily back onto her lap. “I don’t know where to start. With Christian, or the king. Let alone with Mom and Dad. But I’m sure he’ll get in the car with us in a minute. We’ll have the whole ride to play Twenty Questions.”
She wished desperately her parents would answer their phones. She’d left messages when they stopped at Junior’s, and just before taking off. They must’ve been swamped with an emergency at the hospital to not return her calls yet. She and Mallory had been trained from a young age to accept that patients came first, unless they themselves were bleeding.
Did emotionally bleeding count?
Because she really, really needed to get the down-low from them on what the heck had happened to her twenty-five years ago. They had to know. Didn’t they?
The engine started. They pulled away smoothly. Without her brother in the car. And without her hot bodyguard.
Huh. Was this her new life? A family that didn’t hug on first sight and considered five minutes to be sufficient quality time together?
Kelsey felt even more unsettled than she had when Elias had locked their apartment door behind her.
…
Despite his exhaustion, Elias sat ramrod straight across from his prince. There must be something of urgency Christian wanted to discuss. What else would make him ride in a different car than the one carrying his newly rediscovered sister?