Page 36 of Royal Caleva: Luis

“I don’t have to avoid teeth, except of the metaphorical kind, but I, too, have to return to work after our meal.” His rueful look invited her to consider them as equals in their obligations.

Damn, the man is charming on top of being sexy as hell.

“So, a dry lunch for us both.” She somehow felt like she should be serving him and not vice versa. “Can I help you with the food?”

“As soon as we stop.” He reached into the cooler again to bring out another insulated cup, this one clear. “In the meantime, water?”

There was no way not to brush against his long fingers when she took the cup, so she braced herself for the little thrill that shimmered through her. Flipping up the straw, she sucked in a long, cold gulp to counteract her reaction.

The limo glided to a stop.

“We seem to have arrived.” Luis glanced out a window. “Not terribly scenic.”

Eve peered out to find nothing but brick walls on either side of them. Mikel had found a very secure hiding place for them, probably between a couple of the university buildings.

“Let us eat,” Luis said, leaning sideways to press a button. A tabletop unfolded from the limo’s side console.

“Fancy,” Eve said. “The limo must be imported from Des Moines.”

“That is a joke, yes?” Luis asked in a quizzical tone before he pulled another bottle of water out of the cooler and set it on the tabletop.

“Only partly,” Eve said. “I assume you didn’t bring the car with you from Caleva.”

He simply lifted an eyebrow at her.

She pulled the other cooler closer, noticing a coat of arms featuring a fierce-looking Calevan dragon imprinted in gold on the lid. Even the darn coolers were royal. Two plate-sized containers with lids labeled ensalada mixta sat on top, so she slid them onto the table. Luis neatly placed a set of silverware rolled into a teal linen napkin beside each plate.

It was such a prosaic action for someone so…regal that it disarmed her. And that was very dangerous.

She unlatched the cover and lifted it off her plate to find an artful arrangement of multihued greens, colorful vegetables, thinly sliced hard-boiled eggs, slices of cheese, and bite-size cubes of barely seared tuna. “It’s so beautiful I hate to mess it up,” she said.

“My chef would be disappointed if all you did was look at it,” Luis said, unrolling his napkin.

As soon as she had swallowed one perfect morsel of fish, Luis said, “Since our time is limited, I will go straight to my main concern. How is Grace feeling about her meeting with me?”

“That’s a big question.” At least she was expecting it. “She’s excited, and she paid you the great compliment of saying she forgot you were a king.”

His face lit up. His care for his daughter’s opinion warmed her heart and fanned the flare of attraction she was fighting.

“She looks forward to visiting Caleva and wishes she could go sooner.” Eve defaulted to formality to cover her unwanted response to him.

“I am working on that,” he said.

“What do you mean? She can’t change her rotation schedule at this point. It’s pretty much engraved in stone.” It required death or a natural disaster to budge the school on that.

“There are ways to influence such things,” he said cryptically.

She gave him a hard stare as her protective mother bear emerged. “I thought we agreed to keep her new identity quiet for now.”

“Her new identity will not be revealed until she is ready.” He locked his gaze with hers. “I promise you.”

She searched his face—the jut of his jaw, the blaze of his ice-blue eyes, the arch of his dark brows—and decided she accepted his promise. “I’ll trust you on this, but you shouldn’t push Grace too hard. You’re not the easiest father to get used to.”

“You are fierce on her behalf.” But he seemed impressed rather than annoyed by her warning. “Please believe me when I say that I wish only the best for her.”

“The problem is figuring out what the best is,” Eve pointed out.

Luis nodded and turned the conversation to simple questions about Grace’s life growing up, giving Eve a chance to relax and enjoy her salad that tasted as though it had just been plucked from the garden.

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