Page 33 of Royal Heir (Westerly Billionaire 3)
“Thank you, Zinnia, for a beautiful lunch,” Rachelle said. “Your warm welcome means more to me than you know.”
Zinnia nodded as she walked with Rachelle back out onto the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. “Be good to our Magnus. He does not open his heart easily, but there is no one who would fight more fiercely for Vandorra—or for you if he chooses you.”
If he chooses me.
Like it’s that simple.
“How did you become queen?”
“Oh, he chose me.”
Relationships are so much more complicated than that.
Standing on the curb with Zinnia, Rachelle wished it didn’t have to be. Imagine how simple life would be if nothing else mattered besides wanting to be with someone who wanted to be with you? For just a night, Rachelle wanted to experience that. Even if it didn’t last. Even if something that good couldn’t.
One night.
One perfect night. Then I’ll go back to reality.
On that note—“Zinnia, where do women buy clothing in this town?”
“Like a dress?” the woman asked.
“And other things.”
“Other things?” Zinnia smiled knowingly. “Like a pharmacy?”
Rachelle tried not to die right there of embarrassment. “No, a clothing shop.” She glanced down at her jeans, then back at Zinnia. “I’d like to get something more feminine.”
“One minute,” Zinnia said. She turned and called back into the restaurant, right over the heads of the patrons. “Niko. Where does your wife buy those little nighties you blame your five children on?” He called back the name of a shop in a larger neighboring town. “Oh yes. Do you think you could send her quick to buy something nice in a size”—she looked Rachelle over—“eight? Something that would have you propose to her all over again.”
One of the men offered to go. Zinnia told him he was too young to have good sense in such things, but she would tell his father that he offered. The room fell quiet after that. Desi might not have been the only one she’d ever taken a stick to.
A moment later, Niko said his wife welcomed any excuse to shop and would be happy to go.
“Oh no. Please tell him it’s not necessary.”
Zinnia thanked Niko and closed the restaurant door as they exited. “It shouldn’t be until your wedding night, but I’ve given up lecturing the young. You’ll do as you please anyway.”
“Nothing is happening. I simply was looking for something besides jeans.”
Throwing her hands up in the air, Zinnia said, “Why do the young lie? I was never your age? Never in love? How do you think all of you got here if we didn’t first do what you’re planning? Your generation invented the Internet, not sex.”
Okay, then. I may have overbonded with the townspeople. “It’s probably time for me to head back. Thanks again for lunch.”
“You are a natural beauty. You don’t need makeup, but your hair could use a trim and maybe a good brushing. My sister is the best stylist in all of Vandorra. I will call her. She also does manicures. Beautiful and fast.”
You don’t by any chance know my grandmother, do you? Rachelle smoothed a hand over the curls she hadn’t straightened that morning.
“You’ll need a dress,” Zinnia said. “Men love dresses. I know just the shop. My cousin Abri travels once a month to the city to fill her shop with the best of the season. She is who we go to when we want something special.”
“I don’t want to be any trouble. Really. I have clothes.”
“No trouble. It is a memory we’ll all treasure when you marry our Magnus.”
“M-marry? I don’t really know him all that well.”
Zinnia frowned, but a moment later her smile returned. “Hopefully the right dress will change that.” She stepped away to make a few phone calls.
Rachelle looked at the men who still flanked her and realized they had probably heard the conversation. It didn’t show on their faces, but Magnus had said they were trained to look away. Still, she felt she needed to address the awkwardness of the situation. “I know what you’re probably thinking, but it’s not like that. Well, maybe it’s exactly like that, but I live a very ordinary life. I don’t travel to Europe. I don’t meet princes. I went to prom with my brother’s friend because he felt bad for me when he heard I didn’t have a date. So let me enjoy this, okay? Even if it reinforces your impression of me, I don’t care. I’m probably going right back to my regular life after this, but not today. Just give me today.”
A long silence followed.
Desi cleared his throat. “My wife showed me the video clip of you and Prince Magnus in London. She said he’d bring you here. She was right. She’s always right.”
“She makes him say that last part,” one of the other guards joked.
In a move that was so fast Rachelle almost missed it, Desi punched the other man on the arm, then went back to standing as if nothing had happened. It took Rachelle by surprise, and she laughed.
Zinnia returned just then. “Did I miss something?”
“No, not a thing,” Rachelle said.
“My sister said she has time if we go now. Ready?”
Rachelle tucked her hands into her jeans pockets. “Yes. Thank you for doing this, Zinnia.”
Zinnia linked arms with her and guided her down the street. “It’s my pleasure. Now let’s talk about those tennis shoes. Are you planning to play tennis today?”
It was late afternoon before Magnus drove back to his family home. He sat in his car to give himself time to calm down, because his temper was still hot, and he wouldn’t want to show that side of himself to Rachelle. She didn’t need to see the rage that had filled him when the man he’d sent to Slovenia reported Petek was dead. The car transporting him to court that morning had been involved in a hit-and-run crash that had left him and the driver dead. He’d been erased. Whoever was behind this was covering his tracks, but that wouldn’t save him.
His frustration with the situation was not Rachelle’s fault. He and his men needed to act fast and decisively. With Phillip’s help, Magnus designed a plan to lure Delinda’s security expert out into the open. They used their own experts to create duplicate servers, planted information, orchestrated opportunities, and made everything challenging enough for a breach to be believable. If she was as curious as Phillip thought she was, she would follow clues that would lead her right to a time and place they controlled, and they’d have her.
Delinda Westerly was a problem. It was one thing to engage in harmless matchmaking. It was quite another to hack someone’s server. She would soon discover why Vandorra’s borders were safe, despite their limited military capabilities. Magnus didn’t wait for a fight to come to him, and if he went to battle, he didn’t back down until he won. For that reason, he also sent his people more aggressively to uncover anything he could take Delinda down with if it came to that.
A car pulled up behind his. Magnus got out to investigate, then relaxed as soon as he recognized them as local musicians from town. Ones he’d known since they used to race their bikes up and down that very driveway. “Benito, good to see you.”
“Your Royal Highness,” Benito said in greeting before the two exchanged a warm handshake.
“What are you doing here?”
“Every dance floor needs music.”
“I’m sorry, my friend, but there has been a mistake. We don’t have an event planned for tonight.”
Benito wiggled his eyebrows. “I forgot. It’s a secret. If anyone asks, I said nothing.”
“What is a secret?” Magnus growled, his patience already thin after the day he’d had. The three other musicians scurried into the house with their instruments in hand.
“You put me in a difficult spot, no? I would be forever grateful if you let me run inside while you pretend to be surprised.”
“Look at my face, Benito. Do I look like I want to be surprised today?” If his friends had organized some kind of party for him, they had chosen the day poorly.
All Magnus wanted was to lose himself in the heaven of Rachelle’s body.
“Trust me, this will put a smile back on your face.”
“Benito.”
Benito looked around instead of immediately answering, which pushed Magnus from impatient to angry. Who did Benito fear more than his prince? “Zinnia asked me to be early, but you know how the band is. One of us is always late. Please, don’t tell her. I swore we would be here before you.”
