Royal Date (5 page)

I went on total autopilot. I quickly undressed, figured out how to get the shower to scalding, and took off my bandages. I only clenched my teeth in pain twice while doing it.

Sure enough, the shampoo was apple-scented. It was a much more expensive brand than I normally used, but oddly enough, it gave me a small bit of comfort and familiarity. Once I’d rinsed and dried off with the softest towel in all of human existence, I did my best to rewrap my aching limbs.

Next to the bathroom stood a huge walk-in closet. It was bigger than my bedroom back home. My suitcase was there on the floor. I lifted the lid. Empty. All of my belongings had been put away in the built-in drawers. I had a momentary pang of embarrassment as I imagined someone putting my underwear away.

I threw on a black shirt and the darkest jeans I owned. I wished I could borrow something from Lemon, but all her clothes were too tiny. It was like having Barbie as your roommate.

I came back into the bathroom and twisted my hair into a bun. There was no time to blow-dry it. I didn’t want to examine too closely why it was suddenly important to me to spend some time on my appearance. I wanted to say it was because I was about to meet Nico’s family, but the honest truth would have been that it was for Nico himself.

Grabbing my flats, I did a skipping/running thing putting them on as I went to my bedroom door, ignoring the twinge in my ankle. I stopped in front of the door, trying to calm down. I could do this.

True to his word, Nico stood right across the hallway. He leaned against the wall, texting on his phone, but slid it into his pants pocket when I walked out. He gave me an appraising look and smiled. “You look lovely,
bella
.”

“Thank you?”

I couldn’t even take a compliment like a normal person. I fervently hoped I wasn’t blushing. Nico put his elbow out, looking at me. What now?

After a moment he took my hand and wrapped it around the inside of his elbow and started walking. What was this supposed to be? Why couldn’t we just walk? I contemplated taking my hand off of his arm, but instead held on tighter and hurried to keep up.

I blamed my rising heartbeat and shortness of breath on anxiety over meeting an actual queen. Not on the addictive smell coming from Nico that made me want to bury my nose in his neck to get a better whiff. Not on the large, hard muscles that I didn’t see but could feel flexing against my upper arm. Not on the sexy five o’clock shadow that had just started to form on his strong jaw.

Exhaling a loud breath, I forced myself to pay attention to our surroundings. Nico explained that we were in the family’s private apartments, and they were all connected by drawing rooms and hallways. Everyone had their privacy, but had easy access to one another. He indicated that the guest rooms were in another part of the castle.

“But Lemon and I are staying here.”

I saw his eyes flicker toward me briefly, but he didn’t respond. Instead he kept talking about how things were laid out.

Why weren’t we in the guest wing? Why were we in the family’s personal area? Was that supposed to mean something? I tried to distract myself by making a mental map so that I wouldn’t ever need him to escort me again. This hallway was decorated in different shades of ivory and blue, with artwork that I knew was very expensive from the two weeks I’d been enrolled in Art Appreciation 101.

We came upon a couple of men in dark suits, and they both wore white earpieces. The security that Nico had mentioned. He greeted each man by name as we passed.

Then he pointed out the family’s private kitchen, telling me I could help myself anytime that I wanted as it was always well stocked with their favorite treats and snacks.

“Do you ever cook in there yourself?”

He gave a slight shrug. “If the mood strikes me.”

“Does it ever strike you?”

His eyes met mine, and it was like sitting too close to a fire that suddenly roared to life. I stumbled over my own feet, but he righted me quickly.

“On occasion I have been known to cook.”

He cooked too? Could he at least try to not be like the totally perfect man? “Please don’t tell me you wash your own dishes.” I wasn’t sure my heart could handle it.

Nico looked completely amused. “I am saddened to say that I leave them for someone else. Have I lessened your opinion of me?”

“It’s actually sort of a relief. I was worried you were too perfect. No one would believe anything I said when I wrote about you.”

“Did you hear that?”

“What?”

He looked smug. “That was almost a compliment.”

“Only almost.”

“I am going to consider that progress.”

I couldn’t help smiling back. Nico went on to explain that if I didn’t want to get something myself, I could ring for a servant to bring it for me. Ring for a servant? I pressed my lips together with a suppressed glee. Holy crap, it was like being in a real-life
Downton Abbey
.

But before I could ask him if he had an evil under-butler, he was opening two large doors into another high-ceilinged room that stunned me with its expensive elegance. I saw chandeliers, ivory and silver wallpapered walls, and an enormous, beautifully decorated dark wooden table that had Nico’s whole family sitting at it.

Two men stood when we walked in, and I realized they were identical twins. Lemon was seated between them. Chiara waved at me, and I waved back while Serafina stood in her chair and yelled, “Hello, Kat! Come sit by me!”

“Introductions first,” an older woman said. She sat at the end of the table. “Please sit down, Serafina. Remember your manners.”

Serafina rolled her eyes and slunk back down in her chair.

Nico walked me across the room to the woman who had to be his mother. For reasons I didn’t understand, I really wanted her to like me.

“What am I supposed to do here? Bow? Curtsy? Kneel?” I whispered to him as we got closer to the queen.

He leaned down slightly to whisper back, his breath hot against my neck. It almost felt like a caress. “You’re an American. You don’t have to do anything. She’s not your queen. Just follow her lead.”

We stopped in front of her, and my body tensed. I did not want to mess this up. It struck me how beautiful she was. I could see where Nico had gotten his looks from. There was a regal elegance to her, but also a kindness in her bright blue eyes that made me relax.

“Mother, may I present Miss Katerina MacTaggart? Katerina, this is my mother, Her Royal Highness, Queen Aria of Monterra.”

The queen nodded at me. “It is very nice to meet you, Miss MacTaggart.”

“Kat, please. Your, uh, Majesty.”

That seemed to please her for some reason. She reached out for my hand, and I gave it to her. She squeezed it. “Then you must call me Aria.” Yeah, I couldn’t see that ever happening. She let go of me to gesture toward the table. “I hear that you are already acquainted with Chiara and Serafina.”

“She’s my best friend, Mamma!” Serafina called from her end of the table.

“This is my eldest daughter, Violetta.” A sullen teenage girl who also had Nico’s blue eyes glanced up at me with a withering look. I saw the earbuds attached to the phone she held under the table. “No technology at the table, please.” Violetta let out a loud sigh as she yanked the buds out and turned her phone off.

The two men were still standing as Nico walked me over to them. “These are my brothers, Dante and Raphael.” They had the same black hair as the rest of their family, but their brown eyes were a lighter shade than the rest. The one called Raphael wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses.

It shouldn’t have surprised me when Dante leaned in to kiss me on my right cheek, then my left. I didn’t think that I would ever get used to that particular European greeting. “Welcome,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“Thanks.”

His twin leaned in to greet me in the same fashion, but added before he pulled back, “Anyone who puts that kind of smile on my oldest brother’s face can call me Rafe.”

Lemon just smiled at me knowingly before Nico led me over to the only empty spot remaining at the table. It was situated near the end of the table with Serafina on my left, who bounced up and down with excitement, and Nico on my right, who sat at the foot of the table. The twins and Lemon sat across from me. I was glad she was in my eye line.

Nico stood behind my chair, waiting. Another situation where I had no idea what, exactly, I was supposed to do. Everyone stared at me as I sat down and started scooting myself in, with Nico assisting behind me. Once I was settled, he walked back to his chair.

In front of me sat several china plates, all rimmed in what I suspected was real gold, with an embroidered ivory linen napkin laid across them. There was a row of crystal glasses in front of me, and next to my plate there were more forks than the Colorado River. I found myself feeling overwhelmed again. Not to mention the fact that I was totally underdressed. The men were all in suits, the women in dresses.

And I was in jeans.

Please, please, don’t let me screw this up any more than I already have
.

Somehow I made it through without doing anything too embarrassing. The only time I seemed to step in it was when I asked about the king joining us. That brought a lot of exchanged glances and a physical, awkward charge in the atmosphere. The queen looked at me for a moment before she said, “He is not feeling well this evening,” and the subject was quickly changed and forgotten.

The food was, literally, the best I had ever tasted. For our main course (yes, main course—we had several courses, including an incredible tiramisu for dessert) we had steak and some kind of roasted potato, which surprised me. The few meals we’d had at the resort before the accident had consisted of one variety or another of pasta. When I pointed that out to Nico, he gave me a boyish grin that warmed my insides. “Lemon said it was your favorite.”

My heart sank. I should have been touched, but I was just sad. He needed to stop being so nice to me. I was not someone who was capable of being nice back to him. This would all end badly.

No matter how attractive I found him.

When we were finished with our dessert and I considered the real possibility that I might never eat again because I was so stuffed, I asked, “Can I help clear the dishes?” It seemed like the polite thing to do.

The queen gave me a sweet smile. “No, dear, but thank you. That is very kind of you to offer.”

The men in matching uniforms who had been bringing in our food all night came in to clear away the dessert plates. I noticed Violetta hadn’t touched her tiramisu at all while I’d had to refrain from licking my plate.

“I understand that Nico plans to give you a tour this evening,” his mother said to me. I felt a little like I’d been on display all night, with just a touch of third-degree interrogating going on by his brothers. All very kindly and nicely done, but there had been a lot of questions. This was a statement more than a question, but it still felt like I was under scrutiny.

“Yeah, he mentioned that.”

“But only if you’re feeling up to it,” Nico said, and I wanted to melt at the look of concern on his face.

“I’ll be fine.” I wanted to reassure him when it probably should have been the other way around. I couldn’t help it. Besides, it was true. I barely even felt the pain any longer, which was probably due in part to the fact that I no longer felt like I was going to die of starvation. The food had helped, as I’d hoped it would.

“Then shall we?”

I went to stand up, and Nico practically knocked his own chair over rushing over to help me out of mine. The twins again got to their feet. Serafina jumped up and threw her arms around my waist, and I put my arm around her shoulders. “Goodbye. I wanted to come with you, but Mamma said I can’t because you and Nico are going to be alone,” she announced in a stage whisper voice. Everyone around the table hid their smiles, and I willed myself not to blush. Had Lemon recruited all of them into her plan to find me a boyfriend?

“Maybe next time,” I said to her. I wished she could come. I was worried I might find myself in need of a chaperone.

“Make sure you show her the moonlight gardens,” the queen said as Nico and I walked to the door. “They’re my pride and joy. After my children, of course.” They all laughed, but I could barely muster a smile as my stomach screwed itself into tiny little knots.

“Shall we?” Nico asked as he opened the door.

I was about to walk around with a too-attractive-for-his-own-good prince in a romantic, darkened castle and go someplace called a moonlight garden. I should have said no. I should have said I was in pain and needed to go back to my room. I should have let Serafina come with us.

But I didn’t do any of those things.