“Tristan,” she said. “Do we need to grab the driver?”
Tristan glanced up from where he was perusing his phone. “No, we’re fine.”
“But he’s heading straight for the—Tristan!”
Just before the car slammed into the high block wall, a garage-type door slid upward, and the vehicle careened through.
“Oh, there was a door. I didn’t know there was a door.” Her heart was racing.
Tristan said, “They run a tight ship. They have to.”
The door led to a tunnel, and the tunnel led to an underground parking area. Super sports cars and luxury sedans filled the small lot, which would have surprised Colleen anywhere except Monaco. “Is this like a shopping mall? Or an apartment building?”
“Like an apartment building,” Tristan agreed, and the chauffeur led them to an elevator.
Up they went, several floors, and the elevator doors opened to a long hallway inlaid with white marble. At one end, the hallway opened to a long balcony with doors on one side, and the other side overlooked a central courtyard in the interior of the building.
“Oh! It’s a hotel. Why didn’t you tell me it was a hotel?” she asked.
Tristan led the way, the chauffeur having dropped away at some point. “Because it’s not a hotel. We’re in the Prince’s Palace. We’re having lunch with Maxence and Dree.”
“What?”She backhanded him on the arm.“Dude!I was not prepared for this.”
Tristan kept smiling that smug little smile. “After lunch, we have a private tour of the palace with one of the historians who is in charge of restoration and preservation.”
“Oh,wow.That’samazing.”
Sovereign Prince Maxence Grimaldi and Princess Dree were lovely human beings. Maxence, while still so unearthly handsome that Colleen had a hard time focusing sometimes, was much more relaxed than when they’d bumped into him at the casino. He and Tristan laughed and talked about people Colleen didn’t know, except when they mentioned Micah, so she primarily talked to Dree.
They talked about Phoenix and the best places to eat, and eventually, they ended up talking about family.
“My maiden name is Clark,” Princess Dree said. “My family owns a sheep farm in southern New Mexico, pretty close to the border of Arizona.”
No matter how vast the world was, it was small. “You don’t mean the Clark Sheep Ranch that’s about four hours south of Albuquerque, do you?”
Princess Dree turned toward Colleen, her eyebrows raised.“Yeah.”
“You don’t mean, like,BartholomewClark, do you?”
Princess Dree’s chin dropped. “That’smy dad.”
“Did you ever come with him to Frost Feed and Saddlery over near Winslow in Arizona?”
Dree clapped her hand over her mouth and pointed. “We went there all the time when we went to Winslow to sell sheep! Your hand-made organic sheep dip was the best thing ever. You’re one ofthoseFrosts?”
“Well, I was,” Colleen admitted. “But I’m kind of estranged from my family. They wanted me to work the feed store instead of going off and having a life. They kind of insisted on it, so they don’t talk to me now.”
Dree gathered her in for a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
They chatted and had one of the loveliest lunches Colleen had ever had in her whole life, just enjoying each other’s company while eating the spectacular food. Tristan had not been kidding when he said that it seemed like this staff made the food out of a labor of love, because every dish was exquisitely presented with swirled sauces and perfectly minced herbs as well as tasting freaking delicious.
The tour of the palace afterward was both amusing and informative. The historian who led them around knew the origin and importance of every stick of furniture and rug on the floor, as well as all the stories about the Grimaldi princes and their reigns.
There were, of course, many pictures of stunningly beautiful Princess Grace, the California movie star turned Monegasque Princess.
Tristan elbowed her. “That’s Maxence’s grandmother.”
Colleen nodded. “It shows.”
