A Royal Entanglement: The Young Royals Book 2 (21 page)

“You’re cute,” the second girl said, taking a step closer to me.

“And I’m Alex’s boyfriend,” I said.

She shrugged, “So?”

“Tina, please,” Kiki said, exasperated, “Can’t you wait at least until Alex is back with Bradley.”

“Things’ll go faster this way,” she said, taking another step closer and resting her hand on my chest.

I picked up her hand by the wrist and let it drop before taking a large step back, out of reach.

“Alex won’t be going back to Bradley,” I said, only just tempering my anger, “She’s with me now.”

Kiki looked me up and down and shrugged, “I know your type,” she said, “Alex is just a distraction for you and you’ll get bored soon enough.
 
She’s not your type, maybe if you’d known her a few years ago, before she got all stuffy, but the girl my daughter is now is a long way from the women you normally date.
 
It won’t last and the sooner you cut her free the better off everyone will be.”

“And she’s more Bradley’s type?” I asked, angrily.

She smiled at me, her eyes and forehead barely moving with the action.
 
“Bradley needs her and Alex likes to be needed.”

“Excuse me,” I said, “I’m late for an appointment.
 
Lovely meeting you.”

I pushed passed them and out into the fresh air, dragging in big lungfuls of it to stop myself from hitting something.
 
Her parents wanted her to get back with Bradley which was something I just couldn’t understand.
 
She obviously hadn’t been happy with him or she would have married him when she had the chance.
 
And what the hell did they mean by Bradley needing Alex?
 
Maybe they just wanted Alex to move back to America and if she married Bradley, that would be a given.
 
But Alex was happy here and didn’t want to go back to America, so why couldn’t they see that?
 
I knew that this was more about them then about Alex which really angered me.
 
Alex had found a home and a job and a family here in Merveille.
 
She had friends who loved her and a job she loved and I was here, why wouldn’t she want to stay?

I had to find her.
 
Alyssa had said she’d gone to lunch with Bradley, I needed to know that she wasn’t having second thoughts about staying here.
 
I wasn’t prepared to let her go back to a life she had obviously not enjoyed and there’s no way I was letting her go back with her family, they would ruin her, it was a miracle she’d turned out the way she had.

I slid into the car with Dayne and directed the driver to the city centre.
 
Alex was sure to be in one of the restaurants in Calanais and it was suddenly vitally important that I find her.

“What do you know about those people?” I asked Dayne as we drove down the driveway to the gate.

“Not a lot,” he said, “I’m sure Benjamin and Von Bartham have dossiers on them.
 
Should I contact them?”

I nodded, “Yes,” I said, “Actually, I think I should have a meeting with Benjamin.
 
I don’t trust Bradley and I’m starting to think that his showing up here has very little to do with being in love with Alex and more about some hidden agenda.”

“You want him investigated?”

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh, “I need to know why he’s really here and what that means for Alex.
 
The guy just feels…slimy.”

The car came to a stop near the centre square that was surrounded by some of the best restaurants in the country.
 
I waited for the driver to open the door and I stepped out, sliding on my sunglasses and looking around.
 
It didn’t take me long to spot her and what I saw made my blood pressure spike.
 
Bradley was holding her hand and they looked like a couple very much in love.
 
I wanted to hit him and then I saw the photographer and things went to hell.

It started with the flashing of cameras and then there was the yelling.

“Over here, Lord Bingham, look this way!”

I ignored them as I strode angrily towards Alex and Bradley.
 
It may have been the intensity of my gaze on her, but she seemed to sense my attention and turned her head, her eyes finding mine.
 
I watched as they widened and she pulled her hand from Bradley’s and by then I was there, at their table.

“Freddie,” she said, her voice trembling, “What are you doing here?”

I had tuned out the press of photographers behind me, but I could tell by her frightened look and Bradley’s smug one, that they were still there and snapping away happily.
 
I leant down and kissed her cheek, whispering in her ear, “You owe me an explanation.” Then I stood and smiled.
 
“I had a free moment and thought I would come over and say hello.”
 
I turned to Bradley and through gritted teeth said, “Hello Bradley, good to see you again.”
 
I extended my hand and we shook.

He looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary, but there was no way I would feed any of the rumours that were bound to be started because he was here alone with my supposed girlfriend.
 
A waiter thoughtfully brought a chair for me and then rushed away to get me a place setting.
 
I settled the chair close to Alex and sat, angling my body towards her and away from the photographers who had been corralled behind the restaurant barriers.
 
A glass was placed on the table in front of me and someone poured me some wine.
 
I took a sip and studied Alex.
 
She looked guilty and that made me want to punch something really hard.

“Alex and I were just discussing some mutual friends,” Bradley said, settling back in his chair and looking entirely too comfortable for my liking.

I raised an eyebrow at him, “Oh really?” I said, “Anyone I might know?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Bradley said with a shake of his head, “It was a couple we met when we were in Australia during our engagement.”

“He’s an artist,” Alex supplied helpfully, “He has an art exhibition here in Calanais.”

I smiled and nodded, “Ben Donovan and his lovely wife Claire.
 
Yes, I know them.
 
It was me who invited him here, actually.”

Her mouth dropped open in surprise.
 
“I did not know that,” she said, “We only met them once, at his gallery on the Sunshine Coast.”

“We should invite them to the estate for dinner, or the Palace maybe.
 
Alyssa does love his work.
 
He gifted her a rather large landscape for the coronation.”

Alex’s eye lit up.
 
“That sounds wonderful.
 
I’d love to reacquaint myself with them.”
 
She pulled out her ever present tablet and sent of a quick email to the Queen.

I turned my attention to Bradley who no longer looked as confident as he had before and I felt a slight lifting of my mood.
 
Maybe Alex hadn’t been as into him as it had looked.
 
Maybe I was making more of this little get together than it warranted.
 
Or maybe I was winning.
 
I liked that thought the best.

“Did you know the press would be here?” I asked Bradley and something shifted in his eyes.

Alex looked up and stared between the two of us.
 
“Did you Bradley?” she asked.

Bradley’s head snapped back and then he moved his glass so that it was directly in front of him before lifting his hand to his mouth and rubbing his lips.
 
He looked Alex directly in the eye and said, “No, I didn’t know they would be here.”

I had to hold in my derisive scoff.
 
I did not believe him, nor did I trust the man.
 
I reached over and took Alex’s hand in mine, entwining my fingers between hers and placing our joined hands on the table so the paparazzi could see.
 
Until she told me the deal was off, I would make sure everyone knew we were together and that I was not the least bit threatened by Bradley Corsair.

“You would never guess who I ran into on my way over here,” I said, turning my attention away from Bradley and onto Alex.
 
“You parents and your sisters.”

She blanched looking for all the world like she had seen ghost and I had to hold back a chuckle.
 
After meeting her family, I now understood her reticence towards them.

“Wh-where did you see them?” she stammered before reaching for her glass.

“At the Palace,” I said, picking up my glass and taking a sip.

She choked on her wine, coughing into her napkin and then looked at me with a mixture of panic and fear in her eyes.

“I need to go,” she said, jumping to her feet and reaching for her handbag, knocking over her glass of wine in the process.

I stood too and put an arm around her, pulling her into my side and steadying her.
 
I felt her still and then slowly melt into me as she took a couple of deep breaths.
 
Waiters were rushing around, cleaning up the mess, and paparazzi were snapping away with the cameras, but my world seemed to come to a standstill as Alex stood close to me and soaked up my strength.
 
Instead of making me feel depleted or weakened, I felt powerful.
 
I tightened my arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

“Come on,” I said, “I have a car waiting.”

Freddie was angry but I couldn’t put my finger on why.
 
Maybe it was the horde of photographers that had found us, that was the only explanation.
 
There was no way he could be jealous about me meeting with Bradley, our relationship was fake after all.
 
If I was honest with myself, I wanted him to be jealous.
 
It had thrilled me the way he had stormed up to us and claimed possession of me with a kiss.
 
I was a modern woman with modern sensibilities and I knew that I shouldn’t want to be possessed by a man, that I shouldn’t want to feel the security of his staking his claim in front of another man, but somehow I did.
 
Nobody had ever made such an overt fuss over me before, no man had ever publicly claimed me.

But it was all fake, wasn’t it?
 
Freddie had done what he did because of the paparazzi, not because he was jealous.
 
He’d turned up and walked up to our table to shoot down any rumours about me cheating on him.
 
Freddie couldn’t actually
be
jealous, could he?