Page 12 of The Phoenix (Spy Girl 6)
“Why ever would you want to do that? First of all, she’s a citizen. Second of all, she owns a home here. And, thirdly, she’s engaged to one of the Olympic athletes.”
“I just don’t understand why the press is so obsessed with her. Even in Montrovia. And she seems like she couldn’t care less.” She slides her iPad across the table, so he and Lizzie can see a photo of Huntley and Daniel walking down the street, hand in hand, smiles on their faces and a large headline offering more photos of their night in Georgetown. “They haven’t done a single interview since they got engaged! And the girl rarely posts on her social media. She should take a lesson from our Lizzie here.”
“Or you should take a lesson from Huntley, Mother. Maybe less is more, and part of her allure is that she doesn’t care about the interviews or the press.”
“Well, she’s certainly running with the power brokers in Washington,” Lizzie counters. “Regardless of her social media presence, she and Daniel were at dinner at a trendy Georgetown restaurant when they were asked to join two senators and their wives as well as the Speaker of the House. It appears they were having a great time.”
“Daniel is the president’s son. It makes sense he would know them.”
“Nope,” his mother counters. “It says that Huntley is the one who knows them all, having met at various social events. It also says that Huntley and Speaker Bessemer’s granddaughter, Blair, were recently wedding-dress shopping together in London, where Huntley found her dream dress.”
Lorenzo swallows hard, knowing Huntley won’t wear her dream dress unless she marries him. And, although it’s what he wants more than anything, it seems like all the cards are stacked against them.
Lizzie was in a foul mood to start, but with each word his mother speaks, the lines under her eyes seem to darken.
“It says they’re doing an interview tonight on a popular late-night talk show,” she mutters, looking even more stricken as she’s scrolling through the photos in the news story.
“This is ridiculous,” the queen says, now holding up her cell phone. “Daniel posted a stupid photo of her sleeping, and you’d think she’d won a Nobel Prize based off all the comments.”
Lizzie hands the iPad back to the queen, lays her napkin on the table, and excuses herself.
“You really shouldn’t be comparing Lizzie to Huntley,” Lorenzo tells his mother. “It’s not fair to her. You have her booked from morning to night with interviews and events even though she’s clearly exhausted.”
“I’ll cancel a few of her duties then,” his mother says dismissively. “She needs to rest up because the world is about to descend on our country, and she will be the belle of the ball here, not Huntley Von Allister. You should also know that I’m considering moving up the wedding.”
Lorenzo doesn’t bother arguing with her, as it will do no good, choosing instead to finish picking at his food, having lost his appetite the minute his mother mentioned Huntley and Daniel. Just because he knows their day was all for show doesn’t mean he’s still not insanely jealous.
After bidding his mother a good day, he makes his way to his study where he finds Lizzie dry-heaving into his leather trash bin.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m ridiculous,” she says. “Who gets this upset over a stupid boy? I should be ashamed of myself. I didn’t even mind the photos of them on their date. They looked like they were having fun, and I like seeing Daniel smile. It’s the photo of her asleep in bed that sent me over the edge.”
“In bed?” Lorenzo asks, needing to see this photo immediately.
She hands him her phone. “He posted it on his social media. The caption reads, She’s even beautiful when she’s sleeping, and then a heart emoji.”
Lorenzo carefully studies the photo. “That’s her plane. Why does her sleeping on a plane make you sick?”
“It’s a plane? Are you sure? I thought it was—as I said, I’m being ridiculous. Of course he’s going to sleep with his fiancée. It’s certainly expected of us.”
“Yes, it is,” Lorenzo says, pulling her into his arms, tenderly running his hand across her hair, and telling her that everything will be okay. Even though he’s not sure it will be.
“You need to get up,” Daniel tells me.
I’m not sure who set up the hotel for this occasion, but they assumed a single king-sized bed was what we needed. I was too tired to argue.
“You need to shower and eat. The glam team will be here in an hour to get us ready.”
I roll over, pulling the pillow on top of my head. “The show doesn’t start taping until five. What time is it?”
“Nine.”
“I don’t take that long to get glammed up. Reschedule.”
“Can’t.”
“I suppose you’ve been up for hours?” I groan.
“Yep. Got a smoothie. Worked out. Did some laps in the pool. Ordered us breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Come on, Huntley. It’s our big day. At least pretend to be excited,” he whines.
“I will if you let me go back to sleep.”
“Okay,” he says, getting off the bed.
I snuggle my head down, prepping for more wonderful sleep when he rips the pillow out of my hands and bats me with it.
“Oh, now, you’re in trouble!” I yell, grabbing another pillow, standing on the bed, and swinging it toward him.
He does an evasive maneuver, but he’s not quick enough. Especially when I somersault across the bed and follow it up with a shot to the head.
That causes him to leap on top of me, pinning me flat on my back. I’m laughing, but his body is pressed against me, and his face is close to mine. And it’s …
I suck in a deep breath, causing him to grin at me.
“You think you’re tough, but you’re not.”
That makes me laugh.
“The somersault was an impressive move though. Mostly because I could see your underwear.”
“Daniel,” I say.
He kisses my forehead as the doorbell rings. “I know.”
At breakfast, he informs me that his trainer will be joining us on the trip to Montrovia as well as my brother and Dr. Kate.
“We never really discussed what we’re going to say at the interview,” he says. “We need to be on the same page.”
“No, we really don’t,” I tell him. “The bride does most of the planning typically.”
“Not for my wedding. I want to be involved.”
I can’t help but laugh. “You want to be involved in planning our fake wedding?”
“Yes, I do.”
“All right, I’ll interview you. So, tell me, Daniel, when are you getting married?”
“After the Olympics,” he says, getting all the food situated on the table the way he wants it. “At the White House, in the Rose Garden, with a rope, and Professor Plum.”
“Very funny,” I say, taking a bite of avocado toast. “How about colors? Have you registered yet? Picked out a china pattern? Where will you live? Where will you honeymoon?”
“Heck if I know. Fine. You answer those questions.”
I raise an eyebrow at him and smirk.
“You told me so. I get it,” he says, laughing, but then his expression turns serious. “I’m sorry I gave you a hard time about Lorenzo at first. You liked him right away, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but it was confusing because I liked you, too.”
“It drove me crazy that you’d slept with me but not with him. Isn’t that stupid?”
“No, it’s not. You could tell he wasn’t—like, it wasn’t going to be just a hook-up. I wanted more with him. The big wedding. The fairy tale. I wanted to go slow, mostly because I knew his reputation and I didn’t want to get sucked into caring for him, only to find out I was just one in a string of many. I liked him too much to risk my heart that way. I knew, if I slept with him, I would have a hard time maintaining emotional distance.”
“You needed more time with him,” he says astut
ely.
“So did you and Lizzie. If the announcement had happened even a few weeks later, you and I probably wouldn’t be prepping to go on a talk show about our engagement. I adore you. I hope we always stay friends.”
“Friends? Huntley, if this doesn’t work out, you’ll end up as my wife.” He gives me a wink and flashes one of his dimples in my direction.
After hours of prep and a wardrobe consultation with Dr. Kate, who flew in for the occasion with multiple options for both of us, we arrive at Rockefeller Plaza. Daniel was on the show after the last Olympics and seems to know the ropes.
I should probably be nervous about being interviewed on national television, but I’m not. I’ll just go out there and pretend I’m talking to a friend or something.
We’re about to go on when I get a call from Chauncey, telling me he just met three superheroes, which almost brings tears to my eyes. In a few more days, he’ll be reunited with his father and be safe.
Thinking about that means I’m a little distracted when we are introduced. Daniel grabs my hand and leads me out on the stage to loud applause.
The talk show host congratulates us and then plays a video of our proposal. “All of America wants to know about the two of you. Of your love story. What first attracted you to Daniel?”
