Page 20 of Royal Agenda

“She didn’t even look at the two hunky Scotsmen who barged in.” Rosa fanned her face. “She only had eyes for Ryker and his beautiful speeches.”

Harry perked up. “Scotsmen, you say?” He shuffled his tartan-style crocks under the table. “Sounds like my kind of guy.”

“One had a wonderful brogue,” Polly added as she scrolled through her phone. “I got a picture of both of them. They’re big men. Lots of muscle. And they were so polite–once Rosa hit one with her purse.”

Harry frowned. “You hit him with your purse?”

“I had a hair appointment.” Rosa fluffed her light brown hair.

Harry opened his mouth as if to ask for clarification on how having a hair appointment allows you to whack someone with what could be classified as a deadly weapon but thought better of it. “You say there was chemistry between her and Ryker?” he asked Nancy.

“Not that Grace noticed.” Winnie chimed in. “She was dropping Italian phrases like she grew up in Tuscany.”

“You think she really liked him?” Nancy asked, needing the confirmation. “She came home after—with her hair all shiny and stunning—and hardly said a word. I expected to see hearts in her eyes but nothing.” She flattened her hands on the tabletop and blew a raspberry—something she hadn’t done since childhood. The sound startled her—or, more accurately, the fact that the sound came from her startled her.

Winnie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Given the opportunity, he should have expressed interest.”

“I swear my girl has no desire to settle down.” Nancy felt herself getting worked up. “She wants to flit around the world chasing after dead people.”

Walt snorted, stopping Nancy before she got going.

When she was truly upset—and Grace was the cause—her heart fluttered. The doctor assured her that would happen occasionally, but she wasn’t ready to turn in her Secret Seven membership card and take it easy quite yet. She needed to stay calm and matchmake on. “What?” she asked in a pleasant tone.

“It can’t be hard to chase dead people,” he teased. “They don’t run that fast.” He pantomimed, running slowly, and then slumped onto the table as if he were dead, letting out a pathetic moan.

Nancy fought the smile that tried to appear. She glanced around the table at everyone chuckling at his antics and stopped trying to fight it. “Oh, you!” she laughed. Gratitude for her friends filled her up and calmed troubled waters as they shared a laugh.

Don breezed in, carrying a tray. His hair was short—freshly cut as to his reconnaissance plan. He glanced at Nancy and then at the sweets, keeping them above his head and out of her view. She waved him over. “All baked goods are safe from me—for now,” she joked, feeling lighter and ready to face the challenge ahead, for it would be a challenge. “Let’s get this meeting started.”

Samantha clicked away on her keyboard, presumably moving from the task she’d been working on while waiting for the meeting to start to take notes for them. She looked lovely in the diagonal red, white, and blue stripes that twisted around her hips like a moving barber pole. She curled her hair in subtle waves, accentuating her classically beautiful face. Had Nancy still been the CEO of Nancy’s Niceties, she would have used Samantha as a spokesperson. Her gorgeous smile would sell window cleaner in a heartbeat.

They recapped what happened in the barbershop for Grace and Ryker’s first meeting for those who hadn’t witnessed it themselves, and then Nancy opened it up for discussion.

“I’m curious about why she hasn’t wanted to settle down.” Winnie looked from person to person and then focused on Nancy. “Perhaps you should delve into that.”

Nancy nodded. “If she’s not forthcoming with the information, I’ll bring you on board to lovingly interrogate her.” She turned toward Don who had been uncharacteristically quiet up to this point. “What about Ryker? What did you learn from your information gathering haircut?”

He pulled his shoulders back as if reporting in military style. “Ryker can talk his way around a subject as easily as tying his shoes.”

“He wears slip-on dress shoes. Shiny ones,” Walt commented.

“Figure of speech,” Winnie whispered to him.

“I know it’s a figure of speech. We need intel and I had some,” he replied.

Nancy pointed her pen at him. “Noted. Thank you.” He nodded in reply. “Don?”

His thick neck muscles tightened. “Give me fifteen minutes with the guy in a locked closet where no one’s watching and I’ll get him to talk. But this round-about word dance is exhausting.”

“In my experience,” Polly leaned forward, “a man who is smitten doesn’t take much prodding to start talking about his lady love.”

“Does that mean Ryker isn’t smitten?” Nancy asked the group. “If so, we’ll have to find another target and start over immediately. Grace could leave town at any moment. She’s a flight risk.”

Don pushed the dessert tray farther down the table at the exact moment Nancy glanced at them.

Traitor.

“Did we get this wrong? The wrong matches?” asked Walt. They’d originally mis-matched his granddaughter, Avery, and had to do some last-minute matchmaking to get it all worked out. Avery and Tucker were happily together and stared into one another’s eyes with the promise of forever.

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