At His Majesty's Convenience (7 page)

“Awesome.”

Jake's unroyal response made her laugh. “Exactly.” Then she frowned. “Is it always like this when we…make love?”

She could swear she felt him flinch slightly. “Yup. It is.”

“I guess that's good.” She smiled. She must be one of the luckiest people on earth, to have a loving relationship—with really hot sex—with this ridiculously handsome man who just happened to be a king.

She stretched, still feeling delicious pulses of pleasure tickling her insides. She couldn't help wondering how she'd arrived at this juncture. How did she find herself engaged to a gorgeous monarch? Maybe she was from some kind of upper-crust family herself. It was so odd not knowing anything about yourself. She opened her eyes and peered at Jake.

“Will you tell me some things about myself?”

His sleepy gaze grew wider and a smile tilted his mouth. “Like what?”

“My background, the kind of things I like to do, that sort of stuff.”

He frowned, still smiling that half smile. “Hmm, it's hard to know where to start.”

Adrenaline buzzed through her at the prospect of nailing down a few details. “How about at the beginning. Did I grow up in New York?”

“No. You moved there after college.” He kissed her cheek softly. “You came to work for me right after you graduated.”

“What did I study in college?”

“Hmm. I can't remember exactly. I think it was something to do with literature. Or maybe French. You spoke French fluently even though you'd never been to France. I remember that.”

“Oh.” It wasn't so odd that he didn't know what she'd majored in. That was before she met him. “Where did I go to college?”

Jake hesitated, and frowned. “Was it U Penn? Somewhere in Pennsylvania. I'm pretty sure of that.”

“You don't remember where I went to college? You're almost as bad as I am. Where did I grow up?”

Jake licked his lips. His eyes showed a mild trace of alarm. “Pennsylvania, definitely. Philly, maybe. Or was it Pittsburgh?”

“We've never been there together?” An odd knot of tension was forming in her stomach. She propped herself up in bed on one elbow.

“No, our relationship has always been pretty under wraps. The whole professional thing.”

“So you haven't met my family.” Again, unease niggled somewhere deep inside her.

“No. You have parents and a sister somewhere, though. You get together with them for holidays.”

“In Pennsylvania?”

“I think so. You usually took the train.”

“Oh.” How odd that she couldn't remember anything about them. Or Pennsylvania. And it was a little disturbing that Jake seemed to know so little about her. Did they never talk about her past? “What's my sister's name?”

Jake pursed his lips for a moment. “I don't know.”

“I guess I didn't talk about her that much.” Maybe she and her sister weren't close. What a shame. Maybe she'd try to improve their relationship once she got her memory back. “What about my parents? Do you know their names or where they live? We could get in touch with them and see if they could jog my memory back into existence.”

Jake's brow had furrowed. “I suppose we should be able to find that information somewhere.”

“It's probably on my computer if I could just figure out the password.”

“We'll worry about that in the morning.” Jake pulled her closer to him. “Right now let's just enjoy each other.”

Andi let out a sigh and sank back into his arms. “You're right. Why get stressed out over something I can't control?”

But even in his soothing embrace, there wasn't a single second when she didn't ache to recover her memory—and her history. How could you really go forward, or even live in the moment, if you don't know who you are?

 

After breakfast, Jake left Andi in her office to look over her files. She seemed anxious that she wasn't able to do her job since she didn't remember the details of palace life, let
alone any specific events. He mused that he should have been concerned, too, since a key purpose of this whole engagement was to keep her at his side running the show, but somehow the palace was managing to tick along. And he was enjoying her company far more than he'd imagined.

How could he have worked with her for six years and not even know where her family lived? As far as he knew she was born behind the desk in his Manhattan office. And he cringed at not knowing her sister's name. For all he could remember she just referred to her as “my sister.”

He strode to his current office, intent on mining it for the information he should know simply on the basis of their long acquaintance. They spent all day together—did they usually talk about nothing but work?

Andi was always excellent about keeping them focused so no time was wasted. She managed their affairs with such efficiency that there was little downtime for chin-wagging, especially since they'd moved to Ruthenia and tackled challenges higher than the legendary Althaus mountains that loomed over the palace. He'd always appreciated her professional approach to her job and to life in general.

But now he was beginning to realize he'd missed out on enjoying her company all this time. She was much more complex than he'd realized, more vulnerable and intriguing—and not just because of her missing memory. He'd never seen her as a person with emotions, with needs, before, because she'd done such an excellent job hiding that aspect of herself.

And he'd never realized she was so tempting. She'd hidden that, too.

He closed his office door and walked through to the cabinets in the file room, where the personnel files from New York were stored. Thanks to Andi's relentless organization he quickly laid his hands on her file, and the
résumé she'd submitted when she applied for the job as his admin back when he was simply a venture capitalist.

A quick scan revealed that she'd graduated from Drexel University in Pennsylvania—right state, at least—with a degree in business administration and a ridiculously long list of clubs and activities to her name. Apart from some temping in Manhattan, her first job was with him. She'd graduated from North Hills Senior High School in Pittsburgh—ha, right again, maybe he wasn't so bad after all. He had to congratulate himself on being able to pick such a promising employee despite her lack of relevant work experience.

But that didn't solve his current problem of finding out about her past and helping her recover her memory.

Wait. Did he even want her to recover her memory? If she did, she'd surely remember that their relationship had been strictly professional and the whole engagement his invention.

Discomfort rose in his chest, threatening to overwhelm the sense of satisfaction—of happiness, dammit—that had suffused his body and mind since their overnight encounter.

Andi was sensational between the sheets. He'd never have dreamed that his quiet, prim assistant hid so much passion and energy beneath her suited exterior. She even looked different, like she'd forgotten to put on the mask of no-nonsense propriety she usually painted on with makeup and pinned into place with a spritz of hair spray. The real Andi—the one without the mask—was soft and sexy and downright irresistible.

Desire stirred inside him again, tightening his muscles. Blood rushed to his groin as he thought about her in his arms that morning, scented with passion as well as her usual floral fragrance. He put the résumé back in its file.

Maybe her memory wouldn't come back and they could start over from the night he'd found her dancing outside, freed of the inhibitions and anxieties built by a lifetime of experience. He couldn't help believing that the woman who'd shared his bed was the real Andi, and that she'd been hiding inside all this time, waiting for a chance to be free.

 

Andi let out a cry of sheer joy. She'd finally cracked the password on her computer. A cryptic penciled list in the drawer seemed like a meaningless string of words—until she started typing them in one by one.

Queen
had proved to be the key that unlocked her hard drive, and possibly her whole life. Funny! She must have picked it because she knew she soon would be queen.

That thought stopped her cold for a second. Queen Andi. Didn't quite sound right. Still, she'd get used to it. And maybe Andi was short for a more majestic name, like Andromeda or something.

Her heart raced as the computer opened her account and laid a screen full of icons out before her. Yikes. So many different files, some with the names of countries, some of companies. She didn't know where to start. A sound issued from the machine, and she noticed that the email icon announced the presence of fifty-three messages. She clicked on it with a growing sense of anticipation, and scrolled back to the last one she had opened. Eticket confirmation.

Frowning, she opened the email, which revealed an itinerary for Andi Louise Blake—apparently she wasn't really named Andromeda—to travel from Munich to New York. The date listed was…yesterday.

Her blood slowed in her veins and her breathing grew shallow.

Obviously she hadn't gone on the trip, and if it was a business-related one, surely Jake would have mentioned it.
Munich—the nearest international airport, perhaps?—to New York, where she used to live…

She had been planning to leave.

Head spinning, she sat back in her chair. Why would she leave, if she was in love and about to get engaged?

She should just ask Jake about this. Why get all worked up when it could be a business trip that just got canceled at the last moment, maybe due to her loss of memory, or their engagement?

Andi glanced down at her ring with a growing sense of unease. She never had figured out why her clothes were creased as if they'd been packed. She must have changed her mind and unpacked at some point, but when? And why did Jake not know about her plans to take off?

Had she issued an ultimatum and forced him into proposing to her?

She swallowed, then started to chew on a nail. Her stomach curled up into a tight ball. Maybe she should see what else was going on in her email before she spoke to Jake.

It was hard to read with so much nervous energy leaping through her system. Her eyes kept jumping around on the screen. Most of the emails were business related—responses to invitations, scheduling questions, orders for supplies and that kind of thing.

Then one titled What's going on? from a Lizzie Blake caught her eye. Blake—the same last name as her. What
was
going on? She clicked on it with her heart in her mouth.

 

Andi, I know you told me not to email personal stuff to this account, but I've tried calling you and you won't call back. We saw a news story on TV yesterday saying that you're going to marry Jake Mondragon,
your boss. Is this true? How come you didn't tell us? I thought you were getting ready to quit from the way you've been talking lately. Mom is pretty upset that you'd keep something like this from us. I remember you saying years ago that your boss was hot, but you never mentioned dating him, let alone getting engaged. Anyway, get in touch ASAP and let me know if I need to find a dress for a royal wedding. XX Sis.

 

Andi sat back, blinking. She had a sister called Lizzie. Who knew absolutely nothing about her relationship to Jake. And who'd been calling her but not getting through. She
must
have another phone somewhere that she used for personal calls.

She scanned the rest of the emails, but nothing else looked truly personal.

Where would she keep another phone? Brain ticking fast, she hurried back to her bedroom, glad she didn't run into anyone in the hallway—especially Jake.

A pang of guilt and hurt stung her heart. She was avoiding him. Only this morning they'd lain in each others arms and she'd enjoyed such contentment and bliss that she hadn't even minded about her memory being gone.

Now she was racked with suspicion and doubt. She locked her bedroom door behind her and started to go through the closet and drawers again. Finally, in the pocket of a black pair of pants she found a small silver phone. The pants showed signs of being recently worn—slightly creased across the hips and behind the knees—so maybe she had them on just before she lost her memory.

She flipped the phone open and pulled up recent messages. There were three from Lizzie and one from her mom, who sounded noticeably upset. Her voice, with its
hint of tears, struck a sharp and painful chord deep inside her. On instinct Andi hit the button to dial the number.

“Andi!”

“Mom?” Her voice shook slightly. “Is it really you?”

“Of course it's me. Who else would be answering my phone?” A bright laugh rang in her ear. “What the heck is going on over there?”

Andi drew in a steadying breath. “I don't really know, to be honest. I lost my memory.”

“What?”

“Jake found me dancing around outside and I couldn't remember anything at all. I didn't even remember you or Lizzie until I saw her email and found the messages on my phone.”

“Oh, my gosh, that sounds terrifying. Are you okay?”

“More or less. It's been strange and kind of scary, but I'm not sick or injured or anything.”

“That's a blessing. Has your memory come back?”

Andi blinked. A blurry vision of a face—an energetic woman with short light brown hair and bright blue eyes filled her brain. “I think it's coming back right now. Do you have blue eyes?”

“Of course I do. That's where you got them from. You forgot my eye color?”

“I forgot you even existed. I didn't know my own name.” Other images suddenly crowded her brain: a man with gray hair and a warm smile, a blonde with long curls and a loud laugh. “But it's coming back now that I hear your voice.” Excitement crackled through her veins. Finally she had an identity, a past. The details crashed back into her brain one after the other—her childhood home, her school, her old dog Timmy…