Page 76 of The English Queen

Louis chuckled. “I told you she’s wild. She also occasionally smokes a cigarette.”

“Next, you’ll tell me you are the owner of a lower back tattoo,” Rudy joked.

“No. It would probably have given my mother a heart attack. The smoking we don’t speak of, but Louis finds it downright scandalous. He’s so sweet and innocent. He has also not lived in Paris long enough to take up a social smoking habit. Tell me, Mr. Heinz, what was my future husband like in university?”

“Oh, mijn maanstraal, please!”

“What does that mean? I’ve heard you call her that several times now.”

“It’s a pet name,” Louis said, about to die of embarrassment.

“He calls me his moonbeam,” Beth said, sweetly. “No, please, go on, Rudy, answer the question.”

“You’re terrible,” Louis shook his head.

“Okay, take it out on me later.” Beth sipped her champagne.

Louis both wanted to die and carry her off her over his shoulder. It was exactly the sort of conflict she enjoyed sowing.

Rudy choked on his drink, “Do you two need… some time.”

“No, we’ll go home soon enough.”

“Someone should cut you off, Beth.”

“Oh, I’m not drunk, darling. I’m cheeky.”

“Uh-huh,” Louis said.

“Louis was a good boy,” Rudy said. “He could have exploited his title and appealed to girls. In high school, he was tall and not even all that handsome—”

“I was awkward.”

“So was I, go on,” Beth said.

“I do not believe you were as awkward.”

“What, do you recall me from this period of time?”

Louis blushed. “God, no. I was engaged to someone else, for starters. Two, I wasn’t interested in Robbie’s teenaged sister. That was a million years ago.”

“It was about ten,” Beth laughed. “But go on.”

“He was loyal. People liked Louis. He is a good guy. A little hard to warm up at first. He could never convert. I all but handed him a woman who was DTF… you do know what this means?”

“Of course, go on,” Beth said. She looked like she was observing a brilliant scientific presentation.

“Well, he would tense up, freak out, and say something to her that was…”

“Off-colour?” Beth stared at Louis.

“Oh, yeah. What did he say to you? How did you meet? At a royal shindig like this?”

“No, God no.” Beth shook her head.

“It was at a bar with friends in Paris. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I froze and patently insulted her dear mother thinking I was being funny. I was not.”

“He invited me out on what I thought was an apology mission to keep the peace and what he believed was a date. Oh, I loathed him. I read him as condescending and haughty. I frustrated him. And somehow, a few weeks later, we ended up in bed together. Although, I should button up my lips because I see the Cardinal over there.”

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