Page 11 of Royal Agenda

Liam grinned while giving her an overly enthusiastic thumbs up.

Ryker turned his head to hide his smile. In the mirror, he caught the mystery woman studying him. When their eyes met, she grinned back as if they shared a secret laugh. His pulse thrummed, and he forced himself to look away. He felt the same buzzing sensation threaten to overcome him, and he leaned into Mack.

Mack shoulder bumped him away and glared at him like he’d lost his mind. “What’s going on here?”

Polly took the cape from Rosa and wrapped it around the stranger as she explained. “Grace had an appointment to have her dreads washed out, but the salon has no record of it, and they’re overbooked today.”

“Aye!” Rosa threw her hands up. “My wash and style starts in one minute.” She rushed to the door where Liam, Sweetie, and Bear formed a solid wall. When Liam did not move, she smacked him with her purse. “You don’t stand between a woman and her hair appointment.” She raised her purse again.

Liam had the decency to flinch.

Mack waved to him to let her out. Rosa was not a threat unless she had a brick in that purse. Which she might, considering the way Liam rubbed his arm after she left.

“You’ve met Nancy, right?” Mack asked Ryker, pointing at Nancy.

Ryker nodded. “She is the resident I told you about who suggested I add beard care to my services.” Nancy had not only suggested beard care—she had also suggested ear waxing but the idea made Ryker shudder. Not because he thought men should have ear hair but because he imagined the experience to be quite painful. He promised to maintain their ear hair in other ways and she had backed down.

“And you know this woman?” Mack asked Nancy while pointing to the stranger.

Nancy lifted her chin slightly. “This is my granddaughter, Grace. She’s been in Mexico and needs a makeover.”

“Grazie, nonna,” Thanks grandma, she mumbled sarcastically in Italian and then winked at Ryker, probably thinking he was the only one in the room who spoke Italian. He glanced around. Okay, so he was the only other person in the room who spoke Italian.

Why was she interested in him?

“How do you know Italian?” Ryker asked point blank.

She lifted a shoulder. “I have a propensity for languages. I lived in Italy for a year, researching a family line for an illegitimate, first-born son to inherit his title.”

Ryker sucked air through his teeth. “Octavio,” he whispered.

Her eyes lit up. “Yes! How did you know that? Do you read Modern Genealogists?” She turned to her Grandma. “They dedicated an entire issue to the story, and Octavio did interviews on news channels worldwide.”

“I’m afraid I missed that one,” Nancy lifted a shoulder.

Grace’s face fell. “I’ll get you a copy.”

Her disappointment was a knife to his heart.

Ryker quickly put the pieces together. Octavio was his roommate when he had studied abroad. He was a good man with a sweet mother who had been seduced by a man of title and money. When she told the duca she was pregnant, he denounced her and the child and married a contessa with a considerable fortune. Octavio wanted justice for his mother, who never got over her broken heart and went after the title, the land, and the money that should have been hers.

He was happy to hear his friend had succeeded in his quest.

“Have you read the magazine?” Grace asked him with hope in her every word.

He could not tell Grace personal details. As far as she was concerned, he graduated from the closest barber school and nothing more. “I must have read about it online. I have a molto bene memory.”

She nodded, but the look on her face said that she did not quite believe him.

Mack ran his fingers through his deep red hair. “What do you think about taking on a new client today, Ryker? She can have my appointment—unless you think I’m too shaggy.”

Ryker considered Grace. The granddaughter of a resident explained why she was in the building, and apparently, she traveled. Though her connection to Octavio was suspicious. What were the odds that this woman would know his university roommate?

He would feel better about having her here if he did not feel so nervous around her.

“Perhaps you wait, Mack. Ladies first.” He motioned to the chair for her to sit down. He could question her while he worked. It was unlikely that Nancy’s granddaughter happened to be a spy. However, it was equally as unlikely that Don’s grandson, Sean, was on a secret mission for the US Government—yet he was. Ryker would leave nothing to chance.

His hands shook, and he placed them on the back of the chair. He was not scared, and yet he trembled at the idea of touching Grace. Once he crossed that line, he would not be able to go back. That is why there were so many rules for royals. Rules like they cannot travel together or walk behind one another but off to the side without touching. Rules were not meant to fence him in but to protect him. However, he had never considered the idea that they would protect him from himself as the shark swimming inside his chest very much wanted to be closer to Grace.

---