Dree shook her head. “It is weird. It’s not like this is the eighteen-hundreds, and if her father discovered her in your bed, you’d be obliged to marry her. Andshe’s your cousin.”
“Right?The House of Grimaldi is not inbred, like the rest of the European royal families are, because we didn’t marry our cousins. They have all sorts of recessive genetic diseases that we don’t. Royal hemophilia took down more than one royal house.”
Dree leaned back on her hands, the duvet soft under her palms. “This is like a Shakespearean play. Shakespeare always had people hopping into bed with the wrong person and getting caught.”
He nodded. “The bed-trick was one of his most common plot elements. Let’s hope that we’re in one of his comedies and not in a Shakespearean tragedy, where everyone ends up dead at the end.”
“You don’t think she just wanted to sleep with apriest,do you? Some women like the forbidden.”
Maxence sighed hard. “I’ll text her tomorrow and see what she was thinking, but I don’t want to be in a room alone with her.”
Dree rubbed his arm briskly. “You’ll be okay, buddy. I’ll make sure your horny cousin doesn’t get handsy with you again.”
He chuckled. “If that is Marie-Therese’s plan, I’m going to need to station security personnel around my bed while I sleep.”
“But then I wouldn’t be able to sneak in.”
He put his arm around her and nuzzled her ear. “Well then, I guess we’ll have to find another solution.”
“Yeah, this sneaking around is kinda hot.”
Max chuckled. His very minty breath fluttered her hair over her neck and tickled. “And yet, I admit that I am looking forward to settling someone else as the sovereign prince of Monaco, so I can finally abdicate, be laicized, and go on with my life.”
“What are you going to do after that, though?”
Maxence’s warm lips touched her ear, and she could hear the smile in his voice when he whispered, “Run my charities,” as he wrapped his arm more closely around her. “Decide where and how to run projects for them. Even though I won’t be a priest, I can still do fieldwork. The clerical collar gave me some protection, I admit, but my organization would still be associated with Catholic Charities.”
Dree turned on the bed and put her arms around his shoulders. “I mean, what are you going to dofor money?If you’re not going to be the prince and you’re not going to be a priest, don’t you have to get a job?”
He shrugged with a laugh. “My immediate family has private sources of wealth,chérie.It was acknowledged I would not inherit the throne because Pierre was the heir apparent, so they financed a trust fund for me before I was born. And now, as the last surviving member of my immediate family, I’ve inherited Pierre’s portion plus my own. I’m disgustingly wealthy. Billionaires hoard wealth and capital. I assure you, I’m definitely still part of the problem.”
Dree nodded. “Okay, that makes sense.”
His dark eyes creased at the corners as he smiled. “And after the Sea Change Gala tomorrow night, I will call a Council of Nobles meeting within days. After that, I’m done. I’ll probably stay on for six months as a consultant, and I can be with you. We can do what we want.”
Dree twisted to look at him. “So your cousin Nico will be the prince, then.” She’d been taking notes at all the meetings in the office.
Maxence nodded, the smile on his face almost turning into a grin. “I think he’ll do it. After the Sea Change Gala tomorrow night, I’ll know for sure. I promised him I’d stick around to make sure he gets settled into the job, but it will behisjob, not mine. I’ll act as an advisor.”
“And then what?” she asked, straddling his legs with her thighs. Cool air sneaked under her skirt and brushed her bareunder-there.
Maxence wrapped his arms around her and snuggled her against his bare chest more tightly. “And then you and I can sneak away, and the world will never hear of us again. We can do fieldwork for my charities, or we can buy an apartment in New York City or Paris or Geneva and run the organization while we attend parties and balls and lounge all day in bed. We’ll spend holidays with my friends and their wives, either Casimir in Los Angeles or Arthur in London.”
“Wow, Maxence,” she said. “I didn’t know you werethatserious.” This conversation kind of freaked her out and kind of made her all melty, like sheep’s cheese in the oven. When Francis had talked about getting engaged, he’d never talked about how their lives would be. Plus, he’d only hinted at getting engaged after Dree had thrown down an ultimatum because they’d been living together out of wedlock for six months.
He asked, “Would you prefer a new, bespoke engagement ring or one that’s been in the family for generations? My grandmother’s engagement ring is available. It’s a ten-caret Cartier ring with two side stones.”
“Is that . . . too big?” Dree asked. “I’ve never looked at diamond rings other than to cut them off of people’s mangled fingers in the ER.”
“It’s pretty big,” Maxence said. “I think it should do nicely, but I’d better grab it while I’m still the heir apparent.” He tightened his arms around her. “I’ll get it out of the vaults tomorrow morning.”
“You’re assuming a lot,” Dree laughed. “You haven’t even asked me yet.”
“I’m the Pirate King,” Maxence said, smirking at her. “I get everything I want.”
“Right. Kids?” Dree asked.
Maxence’s smile widened so much that he blinked. “Kids, yes. But we shouldn’t send them to Le Rosey. A day school would be appropriate.”
