Page 26 of Some Like It Royal

“I kind of like that you still drive yourself too.” It seemed almost surreal to be gliding down the driveway without any bumping along the way. Her old Volvo bounced over every crack in the road.

“I have a car service.” He used a remote to open the gates then close them after pulling through. “But I like driving—it gives me time to think.”

“I used to run lines in the car on the way to an audition. I wouldn’t let myself look at the script—if there was one. But I would memorize the first half dozen lines and recite them in between stoplights. Then whenever I stopped, I would learn a new set and recite those.”

He canted his head, splitting his attention between the traffic and her. “You didn’t have a script at my audition until you arrived at the theater.”

“Nope. I recited Shakespeare.” Delight in the memory. She’d spent six months of her seventh-grade year with Mr. Olsen, a teacher who insisted that when a performer could recite the tongue twisters of Shakespeare in a smooth and conversational tone, then that performer could do anything. Words she took to heart when she had been forced to bid him adieu and moved on to a different set of foster parents in a different school district.

She knew whole passages from Shakespeare and when she had nothing else to memorize, she ran those lines over and over again.

“Seriously?” His grin grew.

“Seriously.” She pressed her lips together. The urge to smile made her cheeks hurt.

“Like what?” He spared a mild look for the car lurching across lanes to cut them off.

“Like…Shakespeare.” Her face warmed, she probably shouldn’t have brought the subject up, but he’d started it by telling her what he liked to do in the car.

“Would you recite some for me?” They were picking up speed as traffic thinned out toward the coast.

She exhaled, watching him from the corner of her eye. “You don’t really want to hear me recite Shakespeare.”

“Sure I do.” His tone a husky tease. “Go on. You can’t tell me you have Shakespeare memorized enough to recite in the car and then not show me.”

Exasperation mingled with pleasure at his interest. Folding her arms, she leaned into the seat and tilted her head to look at him. “This can be no trick. The conference was sadly borne. They have the truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady, it seems her affections have their full bent.” The words rolled off her tongue, gathering force and emotion.

Daniel nodded and motioned with his right hand for her to continue.

“Love me?” She hesitated, locking gazes with him for a heartbeat. “Why, it must be requited.” She turned her head away and looked to watch the ocean out the window. “I hear how I am censored. They say I will bear myself proudly if I perceive the love come from her. They say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry. I must not seem proud. Happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending.”

She paused, stealing a glance at his profile. His grin diminished to the barest of smiles curving his lips and his attention continued to divert from the traffic to look at her. “Is there more?” he asked.

“Of course.” She toyed with the shawl over her arm, her fingers plucking at the fabric.

“Have at it, then.”

“You really want to hear the speech?”

“Yes, I really want to hear the speech.” He tapped the steering wheel. “Ticktock.”

Laughter bubbled up inside her and she relaxed her grip on the shawl.“‘They say the lady is fair. Tis truth, I can bear witness. And virtuous.’”She extended a hand palm-up.“’’Tis so I cannot reprove it. Wise, but for loving me. By my troth, it is no addition to her wit nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her.’”

Curling her fingers into a fist, she pressed her hand to her chest just above the strapless bodice.“‘I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me because I have railed so long against marriage, but doth not the appetite alter?’”She looked at him questioningly. His nod both surprised and delighted her.“‘A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humor? No. The world must be peopled.’”She struck her fist to the flat of her other palm. “‘When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice.’”

She ended the last with a hushed flourish and pressed her fingers to her lips when Daniel applauded with one hand against the steering wheel. “Bravo, bravo.”

He slowed the car and turned into a lot in front of a cozy-looking, wood-hewn building. The valet greeted him at his door with a ticket and a second opened her side of the car. She barely made it to her feet before Daniel swept around to claim her arm and threaded it through his.

They were swiftly shown out onto a deck that overlooked the ocean. The view took her breath away. The water rolled in, foaming gently to lap against the rocky sand below. The sun dipped lower on the western horizon, adding a spectacular array of red, gold and amber to the evening. Surprisingly, the deck was empty save for the two of them and their waitress, who sat them at a table, meant for four, right at the very edge of the deck.

The unencumbered horizon stretched out and she forgot the server was there as she stared across the water.

“Would you care for some wine to begin the evening?”

“That would be lovely—red or white, darling?” The affectation pulled her back to herself and their surroundings more swiftly than ice being poured down her back.

She started to say red, but a glance at her dress and she changed her mind. “White would be lovely.” The last thing she needed was a fat red stain on the very new—very expensive—dress.

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