Page 9 of Royally Wed
“It was lovely meeting you. I have wardrobe fittings this afternoonand papers to sign, so I should get back to my room.” He accidentally bowed again.
Damn it.
He turned to say good-bye to the queen, but Princess Amelia tugged on the sleeve of his suit jacket. “Excuse me. Yourroom?”
Asher’s gaze flitted to her fingertips, still resting on his forearm. The queen cleared her throat, and Princess Amelia snatched her hand back.
“Yes, darling,” Her Majesty said.“There’s not an available hotel anywhere in London. Everything is booked solid. Your wedding is bringing more tourists to England than the Olympics did five years ago. So out of necessity, Mr. Reed will be our guest for the duration.”
“Our guest?” The color drained from the princess’s face.
“Yes, I’m staying in the Blue Room.” Asher assumed there was only one room by that name in the palacesince James, the royal page who’d gotten him settled in the wee hours of the morning, had called it that. And the room was definitely blue. Very, very blue, from the robin’s-egg walls to the plushpowder-blue carpet.
Princess Amelia gaped at her mother. “TheBlue Room? As in, the bedroom right next door to my mine?”
Until that moment, Asher had been blissfully unaware of his room’s proximityto hers. It wasn’t as if he’d been given a map of the palace or anything. Although a map would have been nice. Buckingham Palace was enormous.
Instead, he’d been assigned a liveried page to escort him wherever he needed to go. This morning, his escort knocked on his door and informed him that he’d been granted another private meeting with the queen.
The monarch had been waiting for him whenhe’d arrived the night before, but their meeting had been brief. Asher had been so exhausted he barely remembered it.
Now here he was, shin-deep in corgis and face-to-face with the bride-to-be, who clearly didn’t want him anywhere near her suite, much less sleeping in one of its bedrooms.
“Mr. Reed, please excuse my daughter’s rudeness.” The queen smiled politely at him, then turned sharp eyeson the princess. “Darling, must I remind you yet again that we’re preparing for a royal wedding?Yourwedding. The Blue Room is the only vacant room in the building. I’m aware that Eleanor had planned on using that room, but in light of the conversation we just had, I’m sure you’d agree she’d be better off staying in her father’s block of rooms at the Goring Hotel.”
Asher didn’t know who Eleanorwas, but at the mention of her name, the princess grew very still.
“Right,” she said woodenly. She gave him a sideways glance. “Please accept my apology, Mr. Reed. I hope you’llfind the Blue Room comfortable. We’re pleased to accommodate you.”
Clearly. She was oozing pleasure.
Asher would’ve rolled his eyes but he thought it might get him thrown out of the country. “I appreciate it, and Iapologize for the intrusion during such a stressful time.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Ahappytime, not a stressful one.”
“Of course.” Asher nodded. Even if he hadn’t recently found her weeping in the Abbey, he wasn’t sure he’d believe her.
Not that he cared. Why should he? He didn’t even know Princess Amelia.
Except last night, it almost felt like he did.
But this wasn’t last night.
“Because I’mhappy.” Princess Amelia smiled a little too brightly. “Obviously. I’m getting married. Duke Holden and I are very much in love.”
“Glad to hear it.” There was an edge to Asher’s voice that he hadn’t intended.
What was wrong with him? He didn’t have the vaguest idea who Duke Holden was. Asher had had enough on his mind lately without leafing through gossip magazines.
And was he really havingthis conversation in front of the queen of England?
Indeed he was.
Her Majesty lifted a brow at James waiting just inside the entrance to the sitting room, then smiled. “Mr. Reed, thank you for stopping by this morning. Now that you’ve met the princess, we’ll let you get back to business. We wouldn’t wantto keep you from your rehearsal.”
He was being dismissed, which was just as well sincehe’d managed to tick off the princess with no effort whatsoever.
Welcome to England.
