Gamble on Engagement (16 page)

“No, no,” he said, as if he was doing me a
favor. “Don’t worry about the cost or the equipment or anything.
It’ll all be my treat,” he said. But honestly, I wasn’t sure if I
should be “treated” by the Prince at all. “In fact I insist. You
really need to get the real experiences into the book.” He beamed
again.

“Um… when is all this happening?”

“Well, we’ve got five weeks left before
deadline, right?”

I nodded, doing a mental freak out at how
short a time that seemed.

“So, then let’s fill it up with as much as
we can squeeze in!”

I really could not believe how enthusiastic
he was about all of it. I mean, the most daring thing I’d seen him
do in the almost two months I’d known him, was ride a horse. A very
old, very tame looking horse. Way tamer than the one I got.

“Really?” I said, unable to hide my
confusion anymore.

His smile faded. “Look, I know I don’t
really seem like the daredevil type when you see me in person, but
that’s who the paparazzi have painted me as, ever since I did a
little surfing when I was in Hawaii once.”

I nodded.

“So, I think that’s why I’ve been so…
hesitant about the book.”

“Well, that’s a relief, at least. I’d been
thinking I was just a really bad interviewer or something.”

“No, no. It was all me, I swear. You’ve been
nothing short of perfect.” His smile reappeared.

Which really did nothing to help my comfort
level, given the way he was practically boring a hole right through
me. Something about the way he looked at me was just a little
disconcerting.

I tugged at the collar of my t-shirt even
though a minute ago, it felt just fine.

“So,” he said, and clapped, startling me out
of my sudden claustrophobia, “we should get started right
away!”

“Um… okay… I um, guess,” was the extremely
eloquent reply I gave.

Of course, there were approximately one
billion and seventeen questions shooting through my brain. Was he
serious about the bungee jumping thing, because I really, really
did not like the sound of that? And, how much life insurance did I
have again? And then there was that little issue of when the hell
was I supposed to write the book if he was so gung ho about trying
all these things? But maybe, most important of all: if I was going
to be so busy, when was I ever going to talk to Jake? Plus his
shoot would be over soon, and I just couldn’t bear to tell him not
to come to see me. But… what kind of awful person would I be if I
told him to come see me and then I was off wind surfing with a
Prince?

“So, why don’t you go pack up your stuff,
we’ll just stay in my apartment in London for the next while.” He
set down the book he’d been holding. “I’ve got a few things to get
together myself.” He turned to head out of the room.

I couldn’t help but wonder how often he used
those whitening strips on his teeth. It had to be a lot. “Okay,” I
said, wondering if I was supposed to pack absolutely everything, or
what.

“Oh,” he said, turning back around. “And
feel free to grab whatever you like from Melania’s old room. You’ll
need swimsuits and athletic clothes and stuff. And of course
disguises.” He grinned again and walked out.

I admit it, my heart started to race
thinking about the giant closet again. And this time I wouldn’t be
under so much pressure to pick just one thing. I officially had
permission to go crazy in there. I mean, what else could “grab
whatever you like” mean?

The question now was, how much time did I
have? Also, how on earth did one bungee jump in a friggin’ wig?
Perhaps that would be a hat day or something.

I also had to find out if there was any
extra luggage hanging around. I don’t care what it took, if I
couldn’t find a nice little (okay big) suitcase to fill, I’d use
plastic shopping bags if I had to.

I mean, it was probably sacrilegious to put
designer into a plastic grocery bag, but if it was that or nothing,
I choose plastic baby!

But thank God, it didn’t come to that.

In Melania’s stuff, I actually found some of
the cutest luggage. It was a dark pink set with lighter pink spots.
To be honest, it was a little over the top, but it was just so…
fun.

An hour—and one pink luggage set (large
case, carry on, and overnight bag) stuffed very full, not to
mention five boxes containing various mannequin heads with wigs,
‘cause you can’t just toss those in a bag—I went back to my room to
pack my own things. Which were dismally boring in comparison of
course, but they were my things nonetheless. And honestly, I didn’t
even want to leave them at the castle for fear of tainting the
beauty of the place.

Sadly, that meant I had an embarrassing
amount of luggage.

I couldn’t bring myself to make one of the
workers carry six cases, so I quickly took out my daily essentials
(underwear, toiletries, etc.) and stuffed the pink overnight bag
even fuller, hoping I would have everything I needed, and praying
that there would be no explosions of my underwear all over the
place if the zipper were to break.

Which would just be my luck.

I stood in the entrance hall waiting for
Leo. The car was already pulled around the front of the house and
my luggage safely tucked inside. I was kind of glad, because I
didn’t necessarily want to let him know I’d stolen the pink
luggage, along with practically an entire wardrobe of his
ex-girlfriend’s things. I mean, he gave me permission and all, but
I’d taken quite a bit. Not that anyone would ever notice anything
was missing considering the sheer volume of it all, but still.

“Hey,” Leo strolled in with the tiniest
little wheeled suitcase I’d ever seen. Seriously, it was like it
should belong to a child.

“That’s it?” I asked, before I could stop my
giant mouth from its usual flapping.

But Leo just smiled his smile in that way
that he did, and said, “I’ve already got just about everything I
need at the flat.”

“Oh right,” I said, stupidly, now even more
self-conscious of how much luggage I’d brought. I mean, I’d pretty
much packed enough for the entire five weeks, but he might have
just meant we’d be in the city for a week, then go somewhere else.
I had no idea.

Much to my dismay, Leo insisted on putting
his teeny tiny little bag in the trunk by himself so there was no
getting around him seeing what I’d brought.

And since he didn’t say anything when he
climbed into the car, I chose to believe I did the right thing. I
mean, I was sure I probably hadn’t, but there was nothing I could
do about it at that point.

Leo chatted away most of the ride into
London, thank goodness, and didn’t even pause as we passed the
field from the other night. When we arrived, as expected, Leo’s
flat was absolutely gorgeous. It was the penthouse suite with an
amazing view of the Thames, and by the time we got there, the
nighttime view of the area was insanely spectacular with all the
lights of the city reflecting off the water.

The apartment was sparsely furnished, though
it had every amenity you could ever need, including, I noticed as
he gave me a tour of the kitchen, a cappuccino machine that would
make Starbucks jealous. I absolutely loved everything about Leo’s
apartment, but I had to admit, it felt a little un-lived-in, almost
unloved or something.

But I’m sure it was just because Leo hardly
spent any time there. It’s not like he could take care of a bunch
of plants or anything.

“How long have you had this place?” I asked,
kind of wondering what the heck we were supposed to do now that we
were alone in his apartment.

And I was suddenly very aware of how alone
we were.

“A few years…Dinner?” Leo asked.

“Um, sure,” I said, not knowing exactly what
he was asking. I mean, I knew he was asking if I wanted to eat, I
just didn’t know if he meant go out, or eat in, or what, and I
really, really didn’t have the energy to get all dressed up in
disguise.

“What’s your favorite? Pizza? Chinese?
Italian?”

Whew. Looked like take out, it was. “I could
really go for a great piece of pizza,” I said, smiling sheepishly,
hoping I wasn’t looking totally lame for wanting a simple
slice.

“Oh thank God,” he said. “I was really
hoping you weren’t going to say something fancy, ‘cause sometimes a
guy just needs a giant piece of greasy pizza.”

“Amen.”

The pizza got there quickly and Leo just
happened to have a fabulous bottle of Cabernet hanging around.
Okay, he had an entire wine collection hanging around, and Leo was
in the mood for Cabernet. I mean, I didn’t really know all that
much about wine, so I was game. I was pretty sure there wasn’t a
“perfect pairing” wine to go with pizza anyway.

I had to admit, the wine/pizza combo was a
lot better than I expected. I didn’t really think they would go
together, but the wine actually made the pizza taste better. I
mean, I knew wine was supposed to open up your taste buds or
whatever, but I swear, it was one of the best pizzas I had ever
had.

“How about a movie?” Leo asked as we were
finishing up.

I shrugged. “I guess. As long as we don’t
have to go out, because it’ll take me an hour just to get into
disguise.”

He chuckled a little. “I still can’t believe
Miranda made you sign a contract that you couldn’t be seen with me
in public.”

“Eh, it’s probably for the best anyway. The
paparazzi are already all over you, and apparently me too. If we
were seen together, all their heads might explode.”

Leo chuckled. “Not to mention Jake probably
wouldn’t like it very much.”

And that, my friends, is how you totally
throw a giant elephant into a room.

Why on earth did he have to bring Jake up?
Especially when even I wasn’t completely sure what was going on
with him. I mean, I was like, ninety percent sure everything was
okay, I just… I just wish I could get a hold of him. I cleared my
throat and smiled. “I’m sure he’d be fine. He’s not really the
jealous type.”

Which, of course, was a total lie.

“You know what? I think that wine made me
sleepier than I thought. Maybe I’ll just head to bed.”

Thankfully, if it bothered Leo, he didn’t
let on. Just went about like nothing unusual at all had occurred.
“Probably a good idea, I want to get started fairly early tomorrow.
Get a firm plan on our activities for the next week or so.”

“Great,” I said, trying my best to smile,
still bothered by his bringing up Jake, although I was immensely
relieved that tomorrow was just going to be a planning day and we
didn’t have to actually start with the fear inducing—and let’s face
it, probably vomit inducing—daredevil stunts that he was so gung ho
about all of a sudden.

And as I pulled out my computer to get some
work done—since, you know, I wasn’t actually ready for bed yet—I
found myself focused on something other than what I should have
been.

I swear, I just wanted to get rid of the
melancholy that had washed over me, but before I knew it, three
hours had passed and I’d completed another thirty pages on my silly
Prince/love child story instead of the damned biography.

~ 14 ~

Morning came way too friggin’ fast. I mean,
Leo thought I’d gone to bed three hours earlier than I actually
had, but still… who in their right mind wakes up at six o’clock on
a Saturday if they don’t absolutely have to? But apparently the
answer to that question is Leo. I mean, I guess he didn’t have a
real job to go to or anything, so Saturday probably didn’t mean
anything much different than Tuesday or even Sunday to Leo, but I,
for one, was still firmly planted on a working woman’s schedule
even though I hadn’t actually had a nine to five job for a while
now.

“Are you ready for the day of your life?”
Leo asked?

“Uh, I know I’m no prince or anything fancy
like that, but I think even I’ve had a day or two that can outshine
a day of organization.” I smiled and sipped the cappuccino that the
lovely robot coffee master contraption had made for me. I still
couldn’t figure out why Leo needed me up so stinkin’ early.

“Planning? Oh no, we’re way beyond planning.
I was up for a couple hours last night and managed to book us in
some times for white water rafting. We’ll be hitting the water by
nine.”

I did my best to keep the coffee in my
mouth, I really did, but then I just started choking and ended up
spitting it all over the place anyway, hacking away for a good five
minutes. When I was finally finished, Leo just looked amused and
not the least bit concerned for my safety.

“How’s the cappuccino?”

I sighed. “Great. Thank you for asking.”

“So you’re all ready for today then?”

I smiled, and even though I was about the
last thing away from being ready, I knew I had no choice. No matter
how much I wanted it to, this biography was not going to write
itself, and the Prince was suddenly bound and determined to show
his previously non-existent “wild” side to the world. So therefore,
I apparently had to show my wild side to the world. Except that,
you know, I couldn’t really, since I’d have to be all in disguise
and stuff.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, as if I didn’t have a
care in the world. This whole kamikaze thing was beginning to feel
almost like a dare. And I had never really been that good about
backing down from a dare.

No matter how in over my head I got.

I knew it wasn’t the smartest way to be, and
yet, do you think I could do anything about it?

Not in a million years.

Leo looked a little surprised, and I
couldn’t help but wonder if he was scared too, and was depending on
me to force him to back down from doing this stuff, but I was far
too determined for that. He composed himself fairly quickly though,
and headed off to get ready.