Page 74 of Royal Caleva: Luis

Luis scowled at the phone. Eve, not Grace. Mikel could not possibly know that he and Eve had slept together. Or maybe he could. The man had eyes everywhere.

The fact that both of his closest advisors were on their way meant the issue was serious enough that it couldn’t wait until he arrived at Castillo Draconago.

He got up to shower.

Half an hour later, Luis was downstairs in his office, dressed in a pale blue shirt and gray suit trousers. He would add the tie and suit jacket in the car while en route to the palace. As he waited for Mikel and Bruno, he scanned through his meetings for the day, growling in annoyance over yet another session with the group complaining about the U.S. military base lease. The problem with many of the noble consejeros was that they had too much time on their hands, so they wasted Luis’s.

He was surprised to notice that the newcomer, Felipe Camacho, was no longer listed as part of the delegation. Camacho seemed like a crusader, and that type didn’t usually give up once they had a perceived conduit to the king’s ear. At any rate, Luis would instruct Bruno to foist the group on someone else.

As though his thought had conjured him, Luis’s assistant entered the office with Mikel right behind him.

“Su Majestad.” Bruno bowed. “My deepest regrets for impinging on your private time, but this involves your family.”

Mikel slid in silently with his trademark half bow.

“What is this urgent problem?” Luis asked.

Bruno tapped at the tablet he held before placing it on the desk in front of Luis. “La Voix plans to run this photograph in their morning edition tomorrow.”

The photo was of Eve and Luis strolling on the beach, the champagne bottle in his hand. Eve’s red hair flew like a banner in the wind, and she was laughing. They looked so normal, two people enjoying each other’s company in a beautiful, wild setting. Luis met Bruno’s gaze. “I’ve been photographed with women before. What is the problem?”

“Read the caption, Señor,” Bruno said.

“‘Does the king have a new girlfriend? Who is the mysterious redhead who has our sovereign drinking champagne while walking barefoot on the beach?’” Again, Luis looked up. “We just ignore it as always. Eve will not be bothered by it since they don’t name her.”

“I am concerned about Odette Fontaine’s possible reaction,” Mikel said.

“Joder!” Luis swore as the import of Mikel’s words hit him. “Do you think she will recognize Eve as Grace’s adoptive mother? After all, the photo was taken from a distance, and it has been more than twenty-five years since Odette met Eve. Hostia!” Luis cursed again as a memory surfaced. “Odette traveled to Iowa three years ago to find Grace. She might have seen Eve too.”

“That is my fear,” Mikel said. “Not to mention that some zealous reporter will ferret out Eve’s identity soon enough.”

Luis was long accustomed to the public constraints of being the head of his country. However, this was one of the times when he wished his private life could be private.

“Can you lock down Odette’s access to outside media?” Luis asked.

“Yes, but unless we put her back in solitary, other inmates may talk about it. It is almost impossible to be sure she will not find out about the photo,” Mikel said.

“Bruno, persuade La Voix to kill the photo for now,” Luis said. “We will promise them access to a much bigger story in the near future.”

“Grace’s story,” Bruno said with a nod of understanding. “Do you have a sense of Señorita Howard’s feelings about claiming her place in Caleva?”

Luis thumped his fist on the desk in frustration. “I wanted to let her make the choice at her own pace. She should be allowed time to sort through the implications so she never regrets her decision.” He had also caused an upheaval in Eve’s life, one that could change her future almost as much as her daughter’s.

But Luis knew this was a ticking bomb, and they were running out of time to avoid an explosion they couldn’t control.

“I need to speak with Eve,” Luis said.

“Por supuesto. Of course,” Mikel said, but he and Bruno did not move.

“I will see if she is awake,” Luis said with a sigh of resignation as he picked up his phone to text Eve.

She responded almost immediately that she would be there in fifteen minutes. Luis put down his phone and looked at the tablet again.

“Send me a copy of the photo, por favor,” he said, returning the tablet to Bruno.

His assistant sat and swiped at the tablet. “It should be on your secure phone now.”

“Su Majestad, I offer my apologies for this invasion of your privacy at Casa en las Nubes,” Mikel said. “I believe the photograph was taken from a boat that never should have gotten that close. I have added an additional patrol to prevent this from happening again.”

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