Page 30 of Some Like It Royal

“I’ve got you booked on a hopper that leaves in eighty-five minutes. I’ve done remote check-in and sent the boarding passes to your phone. Anything else?” Lucy’s dry voice dragged him back to the present.

“Yep, cancel my appointments for the day and let Martin know I’m going to be unreachable. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

“Really?” The stutter in her voice was very un-Lucy.

“Is that so surprising?” He was the boss and he could take a day off if he wanted.

“Frankly, yes. Do you know when the last time was you took any time for yourself?” She sounded proud in her bemusement.

Second shoe tied, he stood and caught the phone before it fell. “Not off the top of my head, but we don’t have anything urgent enough to worry about a few hours off the clock.”

“No, Daniel. We don’t.” Lucy’s voice gentled. “But it’s been two years. Take the day, I’ll hold all calls. I think this new lady in your life is good for you.”

He paused at those words and cleared his throat. “Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“No rush.” He swore he could hear the smile in her words. “Take the rest of the week.”

She hung up before he could say anything else and Daniel stared at the phone in his hand. Taking the rest of the week off didn’t sound like a bad idea. But first, Sacramento. He knew how to track down lost information in the software world. It was time to help Alyx put together the pieces of her history.

Chapter12

Alyx

Surprisingly—or maybe not that surprising—they sat in first class on a small plane departing LAX for Sacramento. They didn’t have to rush through security—Daniel’s connections earning them a spot in the exclusive line of frequent travelers and high-end customers. They handed over their driver’s licenses, walked through the metal detectors, and were off again. He’d alternated between holding her hand—to keep from getting separated—or laying his palm against her lower back as if to guide her through the lines of humanity streaming in from one gate or rushing off to another.

Daniel turned out to be a terrific traveling companion. He knew all the tricks to weave around the crowds and when the crowd thickened, he charmed a path. At the gate to their flight, he led them right up to the attendant checking in passengers and showed her the boarding passes on his phone and they were whisked up the gangway and into their seats. Daniel flipped open his laptop as soon as they were in the air, then glanced over at her.

“Do you remember the street address?”

“1710 Bonner Avenue.” She never forgot the address or the digits of the family phone number. Her mother’d drilled those into her before kindergarten. With all the addresses she’d had over the years, she’d expected to have forgotten it. But no, she could still picture the white A-frame house, four-foot-white-fenced-in front yard and the driveway with its cracked pavement and grass threading through the seams spiderwebbing the concrete. She’d learned to roller skate on that driveway, falling often enough that by the time she mastered it, her bottom ended up bruised and sore.

Her gaze misted at the memory and she cleared her throat, covering the emotion with a quick swallow of orange juice. “It’s in Woodland.”

“Yep.” He opened a browser window and plugged in the address. “Just want to check our drive time. I’ll rent a car when we get there.” A map scrolled across his screen with their route highlighted in green. “Not bad at all. Hungry?”

The stewardess was heading toward them with muffins. Alyx shook her head, despite the growling cramp in her stomach. The morning rush to race off to the airport on this unexpected journey to the past had knotted her insides. “I’m good. Thanks.”

Maybe she should have said no, or at least put up more than a token resistance. This trip had nothing to do with why he hired her, a job she constantly reminded herself about. Leaning back in the seat, she forced herself to look out the window. The California landscape was nowhere near as interesting as her traveling companion. But staring at Daniel had its consequences. Like forgetting he was an employer and they weren’t really involved.

A warm hand covered hers. She jumped and glanced to her left. His full, rich mouth turned up in the gentlest of smiles. “It’s going to be okay.”

Her heart squeezed and her stomach did a little flip-flop.

Damn, it was easy to forget he was her employer.

Too easy.

“Thank you. I’m worried that this is a waste of our time,” she lied again—the lie much easier to swallow than the raw truth. “There’s a lot of work to do.” She carefully avoided mentioning the wordsprincessorpractice. The whimsical trip to Sacramento to track down her childhood home and the slim possibility of finding treasured memories didn’t fit anywhere in his future plans.

Despite her very real concern, eagerness clawed at her belly. Would the house be the same color? Would the residents have fixed the driveway? Her father’d wanted to. He’d mentioned it every day when he came home from work—swooping in like some hero to scoop her up and spin her in a circle. She couldn’t see his face anymore, but the strength enveloping her in his arms grounded her—filled her with longing. Turning her hand over under Daniel’s, she threaded her fingers through his. He tightened his grip and that same sense of protective power swept over her again.

“I know.” He gave her another one of those endearing smiles, the kind that socked her in the solar plexus and left warm emotion to flow through her body. Her nipples tightened and she forced her gaze to drop to their joined hands. If she looked into his eyes, he might see past all the barriers to the ragged soul inside. The soul that longed to see her home again and the little girl—buried beneath years of carefully built barriers—who wished her parents would be at the other end of this journey.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.The internal voice chided the hopelessly juvenile thoughts. Her parents were dead. They’d died a very long time ago and she’d given up on hoping for a miracle or a fairy tale where they swooped in to find her again.

Why then could she not contain the eagerness flushing through her blood or warming her skin?

“Alyx.” Her name rolled off his tongue, heating her like brandy, but a thousand times sweeter and more provocative. “Knowing where we come from, it’s important.” His head tilted toward her and her throat closed. He was close enough to kiss. The warmth of his breath tickled her cheek. “I can’t promise you we’ll find anything today, but I want to try. And this isn’t about business or deals—it’s just something I want to do.”

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