She wrote that down.
He went on to talk to them without introducing her.
Dree sat on her chair and kept her eyes glued to her tablet.
Maxence returned to his seat behind the desk and gestured at the two other chairs in front of it. He sat at the desk, his posture regal and solidly in charge, and asked his two guests, “Any specific type of coffee or ‘stronger?’”
Georgie said, “Black.”
Alexandre said, “Scotch.” He dropped into the far chair, almost reclining with his long legs stretched out, utterly at ease in a prince’s office in a palace.
Dree wrote their beverages of choice down on her tablet, maybe still trying to mimic a dutiful secretary or just doodling because she still wasn’t being introduced, so it wasn’t like she had anything better to do.
She wrote something about wool.
Maxence pressed the button on the desk phone and put in an order for refreshments. He sneaked a glance at the man and said to the duchess, “Again, it is certainly a pleasure to finally meet the woman who tamed the savage rock star, Xan Valentine.”
Xan Valentine?
Dree looked at him.
One of her friends had ordered a Killer Valentine concert on pay-per-view for a house party. The lead singer of the rock band was namedXan Valentine.
When Dree looked at the guy again,yeah—oh my God, yeah—thatwas Xan-freaking-Valentine the rock star who was sitting down on that chair just past the woman,right there.
This was so weird. Dree had steeled herself to meet royals and rich people, but she’d never thought a rock star was going to sit six feet away from her.
But the admin outside the office had said this guy was the Duke of Valentinois, a Monegasque nobleman, not a rock star.
He couldn’t beboth,right?
Dree must have something mixed up.
This was all tooweird.
“Hi there.” Duchess Georgie of Valentinois had caught Dree staring at her husband.
Dree perked up, and she tried not to think about the rock star sittingright over there.“Hey! Are you American?”
Georgie smiled at her. “I grew up in Connecticut, but I did most of my bachelor’s at Southwestern State in Arizona.”
Dree dropped her stylus but caught it on the bounce.“Really?I worked over at Good Sam in Phoenix up until just a month or so ago.”
Georgie’s brown eyes lit up, and her whole face lifted as she grinned. “You’re kidding! How did you gethere?”
“Long story. Really long and weird story.” She caught Maxence looking at her from the corner of her eye. “And it’s nothing. Boring. I should stop talking now.”
Georgie frowned at Maxence. “What, you don’t let your admins talk to people?”
Alexandre laughed. “Being the first in line for the throne changes a guy, huh, Max?”
Max said, “It doesn’t matter what my hypothetical number is in the line of succession, or yours, for that matter.”
Xan-freaking-Valentine nodded. “Not since the damn Council can elect anybody they want to and force them to be the monarch.”
“Well, one can always abdicate and renounce one’s place and citizenship. That’s been my plan for years.”
Georgie crossed her legs. “I still don’t get this. When we got married, Xan told me that he was number three in line for the throne, but he would never be in any danger of getting tapped for it. But that’s why we had to call his uncle and get permission to get married.”
