Page 7 of A Princess for Christmas

He barked a laugh. Any amount of money he could name? Maybe four hundred bucks so he could take Gabby to the doctor to talk about her period? Or, no, maybe whatever amount it would take to hire a shrink for him sohecould talk about Gabby’s period?

Or maybe just thirty-five bucks for a case of Moretti.

“Of course we’ll take you,” Gabby said from the back seat.

The woman turned to the serious man, who was still frozen half in, half out of the car. “Really, Mr.Benz, there’s no need for either of you to come. I’m getting on the boat by myself anyway.”

Mr. Benz looked like he was going to object, but the woman lifted her chin a good two inches, turned to Leo, and said, “It will just be me, thank you.” Then she turned back to her companions and said it again, more emphatically. “Just me.”

That last “just me” sounded like an order, but it also sounded like maybe this woman wasn’t in the habit of issuing orders.

“You can sort out the car service and send someone to pick me up,” she added in a mollifying tone.

The man’s nostrils flared, but he backed away from the car. “I must insist on collecting your name and contact information,” he said to Leo.

“Hang on, now.” Leo wasn’t really sure what was happening. He had not agreed to take this woman to Battery Park. If he did that, it was going to be three hours before they got home. They had maxi pads to buy and pasta to eat. And the mutt was going to need to pee—Leo had only been going to pick up Gabby and Max from the play, dip down for a quick architecture tour/sibling bonding sesh, and head back home. Dani would be home soon, and she would start worrying about the damn dog.

Which with anyone else Leo would give a fuck about, but they needed Dani. She was the closest thing they had to family.

The woman with the not-plastic face looked at him and said, “Please.” She whispered it so quietly, he was pretty sure Gabby couldn’t hear. Certainly her dude-posse outside the car couldn’t. And after she said it, she bowed her head and covered her face in her hands. Almost like she was already giving up.

Shit.

Damsels in distress. They did it to him every goddamn time.

He tipped his head back and sighed.

Both Gabby and Miss Cake Topper must have interpreted that sigh as the surrender it was, because they both started exclaiming, thanking him like he had just saved a kitten from drowning or some shit. They didn’t understand that this afternoon,hewas the one drowning.

But, resigned, he pulled out his phone so he could text Dani before they set off—and also to figure out where they could stop to let Max out to pee after they dropped their posh passenger at her yacht since it was going to take them approximately a hundred years to get home.

“You’ve saved me. Thank you.” She spoke loudly enough that she drew the attention of the man she’d called Mr.Benz. He had moved away from the back door of the cab, but now he stuck his head fully in the open window on the front passenger side. He looked at the woman for a long moment and transferred his gaze to Leo.

“I think it important that you know the identity of your passenger, sir.”

Yeah, he wanted to say.That would be good. Because I’m guessing MissCake Topper isn’t actually her name.The woman started speaking rapidly to Mr.Benz in German, but he ignored her, raising his voice so Leo could hear him over the woman’s protests—you didn’t need to speak German to know she was annoyed. “You are transporting Her Royal Highness Marie Joséphine Annagret Elena, Princess of Eldovia.”

There was a squeal from the back seat.

“And in case it matters,” Mr.Benz went on, “I shall inform you that Eldovia has always embraced absolute primogeniture.”

“Absolute what?” Gabby asked.

“It means the firstborn inherits the throne, regardless of gender. No tinkering with succession laws necessary inourcountry.” He sniffed and performed the slightest of shudders. “Her Royal Highness has been heir to the throne from the moment she was born. Which means, my good sir, that you are transporting the future Queen of Eldovia.”

Gabby started shrieking.

For his part, Leo rested his head—it was suddenly too heavy to hold up—on the steering wheel and groaned.

Chapter Two

She had almost made it!

If Marie were a different sort of person, she would have cursed here.Goddammit, she’d almost made it!

She wasn’t naïve enough to think she could pass as a normal person. Not with Torkel and Mr.Benz hovering over her like a pair of helicopter parents at kindergarten drop-off. But she had hoped her rescuer would classify her as merely a run-of-the-mill rich person.

But, really, what did it matter? This man was going to drive her to the boat, and she would never see him again. She had nothing to be ashamed of. She had just given a speech at the United Nations, for heaven’s sake! And done a rather fine job of it, too.

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