I eyed the man sitting next to me again with a different thought. Out of everyone in the royal family, Prince James was the savviest. Not just with his people skills—which were excellent—but his ability to work things out in his favor while giving the other person the impression that he completely agreed with them. Even people against his adoption could find no fault with him, which irritated them so, so much.
Prince James had his eyes closed but still asked, “What?”
He seemed to like me being blunt with him, so I tried it now. “Why are you against being king?”
“Too many pitfalls.”
I didn’t see it that way. Not at all. “Prince Victor can’t be dragged out of a gambling den or brothel, Prince Royce only wants to be in his lab, and Princess Helena has the people skills and interest, but no one really takes her seriously. Out of everyone, you’d make the best king by far.”
He cracked open one eye. “I used to like you.”
His grumbling complaint made me grin in return. “Come now, you know I’m right.”
“Bite your tongue. I don’t care if you are.” He straightened, then stretched his arms overhead with a groan. “I’ve been sitting here too long, clearly. To answer you, Edwin, it’s because there are truly too many pitfalls. Plus, time. You do remember I’m still running my business?”
He had a manager—several in fact—who came in and out of this office on a regular basis to get his approval for certain things. So yes, that much was clear. “I do.”
“That takes time and mental capacity. I refuse to give it up. I grew my business from what my grandparents started, and like hell I’ll give it over unless a very compelling reason comes along.I worked like a mad dog from fifteen years old to twenty-four, barely sleeping, to manage it. I won’t give it up.”
“You really took over at fifteen?”
“My maternal grandfather trained me, said I was already doing far better than he and that I possessed the ideas and gumption to take it places. My family didn’t have a good textile factory back then. We’d mostly imported our paper. I discovered that hemp grows four times as fast and makes far more paper than trees, so I set up a business under that premise. It was a learning curve—gods above, was it ever—but we now have a domestic paper supply because of it.”
King’s Paper was a household name. Formal cards, scratch paper, art paper, envelopes, journals—if it had paper involved, it was likely a King’s Paper product. I knew Prince James was filthy rich because of his business, but I hadn’t known he’d set it up himself. It made more sense now why he refused to let go of it.
“I believe, in fact, some of your siblings are my employees.”
Again, something he shouldn’t have known. And yet somehow did. “My youngest brother and two cousins.”
“Aren’t you the youngest child of the bunch?”
“Youngest of seven.” I eyed him suspiciously. “Have you been digging into my background?”
He waved this off. “People talk. I happen to have two functioning ears.”
It sounded legitimate, but I had a distinct feeling I’d just been lied to. “As you say.”
“How did you start here at the palace, anyway?”
“I started as a runner. It was good money, and my parents were barely able to feed all of us. They’re both good architects and make decent salaries, but seven children with all the education and weddings eats up money. I chose to start working earlier because I wanted to attend university and there wasn’tenough money to cover tuition. Because of my parents, I had an education growing up, which turned the tide in my favor when I applied here. Once the palace realized I was completely literate, I was shuffled into a different position. Then allowed to attend university, worked part-time here until graduation, promoted a few times until I came into the secretarial pool.”
“Smart,” Prince James said with a warm smile. “I’m not surprised your intelligence landed you this position.”
I flushed and couldn’t meet his eyes. Why? Why did he have this effect on me? Every time he paid me even the slightest compliment, I found myself wanting to bask in the praise. Not to mention read things into it that weren’t even there. I mean, he flirted—only a blind man wouldn’t notice—but he also acted as if I was somehoweverythingto him, which was ridiculous. He didn’t know me well enough to entertain that idea. I’d become a hopeless case for this man if I didn’t keep my wistfulness in check.
“Did you volunteer to be on my staff?”
“Voluntold,” I admitted wryly and forced myself to meet his eyes levelly. “No one knew anything about you. It was hard to judge if I’d want to work for you or not. Now that I’m here, I don’t regret it.”
“Aren’t I a good boss?”
He was, but I wasn’t feeding his ego. “You’re weird as hell.”
Prince James threw his head back on a laugh. “Ouch, Edwin, you wound me!”
Bullshit. He loved it when I poked at him. “Yes, I can see you bleeding. Seriously, though, I’d rather work for you than any of your siblings. Why won’t you even consider being king? It would take very little work on your part to gather up support.”
Prince James stopped laughing, his expression somehow pained even though his lips still curved upward. “No. You have no idea the disaster that will invite. I’m not taking the risk.Helena will be a decent queen once she’s trained. I’m happy to do the training and support her during her reign.”
