Page 48 of The Billionaire's Royal Secret

As the festivities rolled on around him, he grabbed a seltzer and parked himself at a large window overlooking the city. Lights blanketed the landscape in front of him like diamonds on black velvet.

“You have that faraway look again.”

He twisted to face his mother as she offered him a concerned smile. “I’m okay. I’m not drinking.”

“I didn’t say you were, but…”

“But you wanted to know because of what Stephen said this morning.”

She glanced down at the champagne flute in her hand. “Your behavior has been…concerning. You’re rarely home. You’ve been secretive.”

Nate slid his eyes closed as his mother’s hand wrapped around his arm. “Nate, we’re not accusing you of anything. We’re just concerned, that’s all.”

“It’s not what you think,” he answered.

“Dad says your project is going well. Are you logging some extra hours at the company?”

“No,” he said, flicking his gaze over the city’s landscape again. “Actually, it is something I want to talk about now that I’m ready.”

Victoria flicked her eyebrows up and nodded. “Of course.”

“I…I’ve been seeing someone.” He flicked his gaze to her features to gauge her reaction. They remained neutral.

“I like her a lot. More than a lot.”

“Well, I would love to meet her,” his mother answered.

“And I would love for you to meet her. After what happened with…” He puckered his lips, staring into the seltzer in his glass as his lips refused to form her name. “I’d love for you to tell me what you think of her.”

“We should invite her to dinner.”

“Uh, well, that’s going to be a problem because I…have managed to screw up yet again.” He licked his lips as he shook his head at himself. “And I don’t know how to fix it or if it’s even fixable.”

Victoria’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Nate drew in a deep, shaky breath, each inhalation like drawing a bowstring tight. “The thing is,” he began, his voice low, “I couldn’t bear the idea of repeating my history with Chloe. So, I…tried to protect myself.”

“Of course, you did. It’s natural to be cautious.”

“Yeah, well, I took caution to an entirely new level.” He raised his gaze to his mother’s. “I lied to her about who I was. Told her my name was Nate Parker, and that I was just a lab assistant at GenoTech.”

Victoria fluttered her eyelashes as a soft half-laugh escaped her. “Nate…”

“I know. I know, I just…thought if she thought there was no money involved…you know, I could tell if she liked me for me.”

“And?”

“And she doesn’t seem to care about any of that stuff. She happily went for hot dogs in the park, and pizza with Maddie–“

“With Maddie?” she questioned.

“Yeah, the night you sent her with me.”

His mother tilted her head back, a knowing expression crossing her features. “Oh. You were going on a date, and we sent your sister with you.”

He lifted his shoulders, an amused grin on his features. “Ellie didn’t mind. She hit it off with Maddie. I think they’vebeen texting for weeks, actually. She was very nice about it. And she was very nice about other things, too.”

“Other things?”

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