Page 95 of Duke, Actually

“But what isthis?” Marie asked, veering over to a corner thatlooked like it was meant to display letters—she assumed including those from Karina Klein to Max’s grandmother. Marie was standing and reading, and she probably knew Max’s grandmother’s name, because it didn’t take her long to catch on.

“Oh my god! Max!”

He smiled and went to stand beside her but didn’t speak.

She kept reading. “Where did you find these?”

“Those are replicas, but the originals were under the floorboards in the attic at the cottage.”

She turned to him, her hands in front of her face with her fingers spread wide. “This was already amazing, but you know this is going to be a revolutionary piece of news, yes?”

“Indeed.”

“And your parents are going to act like they knew all along.”

“I can’t control what my parents do.”

“Marie is right,” Dani said to Max later when they’d broken off into pairs to explore the cavernous space. Leo and Marie were poking around at the far end, out of earshot. “This is amazing. And not just because of the family connection.”

“It’s mostly Seb,” Max said glibly.

Annoyance sparked in her chest. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Was this Seb’s idea? Is Seb a historian? Did Seb find the documents you’re using to bring this place to life?” She snorted. “You are so full of shit.”

He blinked, startled by her outburst, and, after a beat, laughed incredulously.

“What? Has no one ever told you you’re full of shit?”

“Certainly not someone who is going to—I hope—sleep with me later today.”

“Well, this place isyours. It’s just like you.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s stylish and—”

“It’s not stylish. At the moment, it’s merely a bunch of rock.”

“But you can tell it’s going tobestylish.”

He shot her a self-satisfied smile. “Ah, yes. Do go on.”

“I was going to say it’s stylish and slyly smart—the smart part sneaks up on you, which is a pretty good way to organize a museum, it seems to me. But I don’t know. I might have to take it back. I don’t want you to get a big head.”

“Would this be an inopportune time for me to mention that I have procured some condoms? Two of them, to be precise.”

“Two of them?”

“You wanted more?”

“That seems like an oddly specific number. Do they usually come in twos in Europe?”

“They do when you’re begging for a handout from your younger brother, who is so busy banging the head of palace security, he isn’t sure how many he can spare.”

Good for Sebastien. “In this scenario, how does the head of palace security find time to, I don’t know, actually secure the palace?”

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