Page 66 of Royally Benevolent

“Of course. I hope it helps. When you get home, take a long bath. And if you can get a massage, do it. I should take my advice, but timing. I’m sorry for multitasking.”

“It’s okay. You’d rather spend the day with Theo, I’m sure.”

“Yes. But… I wanted to talk to you. Tomorrow night, I’m free. I was wondering if you might want to do something.”

I did. I wanted to doeverything. But as I struggled to move my head one way or the other sufficiently, I didn’t think it would amount to much.

“I’m so sore.”

His face fell. “Oh, of course, sure. I’m… I just thought I would ask.”

“I want to,” I said. “But I won’t be much fun like this.”

“Sure. When you feel up to it, I’d like to do something. If you’re still okay with it?”

“I would be,” I assured. “It’s not that I am opposed. I want to be mobile—fully mobile.”

“We would both prefer that, I think.”

I wouldneedto be fully mobile for our next meeting. His gaze gave me goosebumps. This manwantedme. I’d thought Guy wanted me, but it wasn’t like this. Wyatt made his intentions clear, not with fanfare but with a look like he wanted to devour me. I bit my lip involuntarily and looked down. My face flushed bright red.

By now, we’d returned to Neandia—headed to the palace to drop me off. Wyatt insisted I make it home first. I hated that the trip was over. My freedom waned once more. While abroad, I’d been important and independent. Now, I returned home under my sister’s enormous shadow. I was untouchable once more.

The palace gates loomed large as I returned to my gilded cage. A footman rushed to open the door, but Wyatt leaned to kiss me beforehe did. It was a fabulous, slow, sweet kiss. Whatever pain ailed me fell by the wayside as he brushed my hair back. Then, the world returned to normal as he retreated. At least, I think it did for him. I sat there like an idiot, trying to speak English and failing miserably.

“Bon soir.” I made a face.Bon soir!? It’s not even noon yet!

To make matters worse, Alexandra stood in the service entrance doorway with Christophe holding onto the hem of her dress. She looked perplexed but also somehow impressed. Grieg followed, running up to Christophe.

“Are we macking in the car now?” she asked.

“Macking?” I asked as the gate shut.

“Old-timey slang that Rick uses,” Alexandra said. “Making out. Snogging.”

“Sorry. I didn’t think he’d go for it,” I said, mortified.

“It looked like a hell of a kiss.”

It was.

“I… some things happened while I was away.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I didn’t go away with thatintent,but things… some things--“

“Auntie, I wuv you,” Christophe attached himself to my leg.

“Aww, thank you, darling,” I responded. “I love you, too. And your little ears arefartoo precious to hear anything more.”

“Oh, really?” Alexandra looked excited. “Well, I’m about to drop him with Rick. We can catch up.”

I followed her to Rick’s office, where he was on his computer watching a video recap of a Swedish reality show he didn’t actually watch. I blamed Ingrid for this problem. She’d caught him up to speed one night, and he’d gotten addicted to videos of people gushing about couples on the show or dispelling rumours. He also lived for the conspiracy theories.

“There’s my littlemudlvarp,” Rick cooed.

“When you call him that, it makes me feel ill,” Alexandra groaned.

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