Page 5 of Royal Bosshole

JAMES

I was up late that night, sitting in my study with a whiskey in hand. It was past ten, but I still sat up checking my phone. I was surprised that she hadn’t called yet. Lily Jones’s coffeeshop was in trouble. Everyone in town knew it, but it kept chugging away, and I knew it was because of that recipe. Whenever we did customer surveys at all our branches throughout New Orleans, people always mentioned that.

Now that it was closing in on October, pumpkin-spiced lattes were the thing customers wanted to buy, and they weren’t coming to us for them. I had to have that recipe. Lily had to come and work for me if it was the last thing I did. I was not a quitter. I’d tried other things such as getting people to act as customers to try to sneak the recipe or get hired to work in the back, I’d even bribed a few former employees, but nothing had come out of that. It was the only thing left, and if I could convince her to give me the recipe, then all would be well.

My phone rang, and I jumped, my heart racing, but when I saw it wasn’t her, I was a little disappointed. Picking up, I took a breath, preparing myself.

“Hello, Father.”

“Son. How are things in America?” He sounded a little distant, and he coughed in the background.

He’d been ill for a few years now, and things weren’t getting any better. His lungs were just getting worse.

“Same as always,” I said, eager to keep the conversation short. I always felt guilty talking to him. A son disappointing his father and the entire country was not something I wanted to keep remembering. “How are you?”

“Same as always,” he replied cagily. “You found her yet?”

I sighed and rubbed a hand over my forehead. “I’d have called you if I had. You know that. This means just as much to me as it does to you.”

“Does it?” he asked, and anger flooded through me.

“How can you ask me that? I am a prince of Lenovia, just as you are, and I have just as much knowledge of duty as you do. I cannot be the reason our country gets annexed by Mandovia. Once I find her, I will marry her and do my duty. The first thing I will do is change this stupid law. We are in the twenty-first century! Who thought it was a good idea to have a person required to marry a royal from the neighboring country in order to be king? It’s fucking madness!”

“Language,” my father said sternly, and I threw back the rest of my whiskey.

I sighed, surprised at my sudden rant. “I’m sorry. I just get angry about the whole thing. I mean, look at you. You never got to be king because of it.”

“Son…”

I stood and started to pace. I had been born and raised to the fact I was not free to choose who I would marry. My marriage had been arranged for me long before I was even a possibility. As had all the others that were crowned king before me. My ancestors made sure of it. So, I didn’t believe in love.

No, that was a lie. Having watched my parents live their happily ever after, even without the titles of king and queen, I had living proof it existed, but I couldn’t afford it. Not if I didn’t want to be the reason Lenovia no longer existed. My father had been the only one with that luxury, when he failed to find the woman that should have legally married him. He got to choose who he spent his life with. But I couldn’t. I was our kingdom’s last hope, and the clock was ticking so fast.

I couldn’t let our people down like that. We were Lenovians, but because of this stupid law, if I didn’t find this elusive lost princess of Brauchenstein, we could be losing our country, our identity. I was already aware of what life had in store for me and I had made my peace with it, regardless of any foolish notions a younger me might have nursed of a loving wife and a happy family. This was about Lenovia, not me.

“No, our people should not have to lose their country because of this. After the war, when Brauchenstein was annexed by Germany, the bloodline of those royals was lost to you. You couldn’t be what you should have been by birthright, King of Lenovia. All because you didn’t marry the right woman.”

“Your mother was not the wrong woman.”

I sat down again, as the image of my mother’s smiling face flashed across my mind. “I know that. Not what I meant. I only mean to say that I will do whatever it takes to change this law. To save the kingdom from complete extinction. Besides, doesn’t everyone deserve to marry for love? This law makes it so that the firstborns in our family have to choose between love and country. Why can’t we have both?”

I sighed.” Whatever, We know this is where her family fled to, and so I’m in the right place. I just need more time.”

“All right. I didn’t mean to rush you.” He stopped, and I could hear another burst of coughing. “But you know that the plans are being set in motion by Mandovia. They know they are rightfully allowed to annex by the end of the year.”

“I know, Father.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I needed another whiskey. I was not usually so self-indulgent, but it had been a weird day.

“How’s the business?” he asked, and I got up again, heading to the bottle to pour whiskey into my glass.

“Good. I think I have made some headway on finding the secret recipe I told you about. I just offered our competition a job.”

“Oh? Keeping the enemy closer, are you?”

“Exactly.” I grinned, and I remembered the way Lily had looked so coldly at me when I’d handed her my business card.

It was as if she could see right through me and my motives. Well, I was going to have to figure out a way to avoid suspicion. Charm usually worked with people, but I knew I might have to think of something better.

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