Scandal With a Prince (41 page)

For the first time since he’d arrived, Megan wondered how he’d explained his absence from the palace.
 
Since it was the middle of the week, this was clearly no weekend jaunt to visit friends.
 
He must’ve missed a number of engagements.
 
“Does your family know where you are?”

“In bed with a terrible migraine and not to be disturbed on doctor’s orders.
 
At least as long as my secretary can convince them of that fact.”

“And do you have a plan to sneak back into the palace?”
 
He must feel a teenager sneaking back into the house after a night out, but on a grander scale.

His mouth lifted into a half-smile.
 
“I’m not worried about that part.”

She hated to let him go—her entire being wanted to convince him that what they had wasn’t impossible—but she knew from his rigid stance and the determined set of his eyes there would be no dissuading him.
 
Not today.
 
“All right.
 
Do what you need to do.
 
I’ll keep you updated on Anna’s progress as best I can.
 
My parents will be upset that they missed you.”

“One of these days, I’ll meet them.
 
I promise.
 
And sooner rather than later.”

He started to leave, but paused near the door and frowned as if forgetting something.
 
He strode past Megan to the small table beside the bed, grabbed the pad and pen resting there, and scribbled a note.
 
He turned and handed it to her.
 
“Use this.
 
It’s my direct line.”

“Is this your cell phone number?”
 
The number he’d said only his parents and secretary had?

He withdrew a small phone from his pants pocket.
 
“This very one.
 
I should’ve given it to you weeks ago.
 
I don’t want you to go through anyone else ever again to reach me.
 
Call when you know anything.
 
I want every detail.”

“I will.
 
I promise.”
 
She folded the paper and held it to her heart as he snagged his bag from the floor, then disappeared from the room without a backward glance.

* * *

“Mom, Stefano was here, wasn’t he?”

Megan put down the book she’d been reading to Anna—an activity they hadn’t done in years, but it kept Anna from complaining about the taste of hospital gelatin—and said, “I think you’re still confused, honey.
 
Are you talking about Mr. Jones?”

Anna’s eyes widened for a moment, then a grin perked up her face.
 
At long last, color—healthy color, rather than the burn of fever—was finding its way to her cheeks.
 
The sight sent a wave of happiness washing over Megan.
 
“Yes.”

“Well…Mr. Jones was here to visit.
 
He left a few days ago, just before Grandma and Grandpa arrived.”

Anna pursed her lips and nodded, as if she’d just been handed a secret code and was about to embark on a grand adventure.
 
“I wish I could’ve talked to him.
 
But I’m glad he came.”
 

“Me, too.
 
He loves you, sweetie.
 
He’s called the nurses’ station every day since he left to check on you.
 
He even brought a doctor here to work with Dr. Serrano.
 
The two of them worked together to choose the medicine that helped make you better.”

“But I still feel cruddy,” she complained.
 

“I know.”
 
If Anna only knew how sick she’d really been…it was for the best for now that she didn’t.
 
“But if you finish the gelatin and crackers, the nurses said your IV can come out.”

“Good, because I hate it.
 
Needles are gross.”
 
She grimaced at the half-eaten cup of amber-colored gelatin.
 
“Do I have to eat it all?”

“Give it a try.
 
If not, you can try again later.”

She ate another teaspoonful, then pushed it away.
 
“I’ll try in a minute.”

“Whenever you’re ready.”
 
Megan picked up the book again, but Anna had other ideas.

“Mom, you know Marco from my class?”

Marco?
 
She set the book aside and wracked her brain for a Marco from Anna’s class list.
 
“Oh, do you mean Marco Carbone?”
 

“Yeah.
 
Can you let him know I’m in the hospital, but tell him I’m okay?”

“Of course, honey.”
 
Megan smoothed back a stray strand of Anna’s hair.
 
The girl needed a shower as soon as she was able.
 
“Do you want me to let anyone else know?
 
Like Julia or your other friends?”

Anna shook her head, but stopped as if the movement caused pain.
 
“Marco will tell everyone.”

“All right.”
 
Megan adjusted the pillow so Anna could relax against it while remaining upright.
 
“I didn’t realize that you and Marco were friends.”

“We are.”
 
Anna picked up her spoon, but set it down without trying the gelatin again.
 
“Um…he’s kinda my boyfriend.”

At
ten
?
 
Megan bit back her first response, then said, “I see.
 
You didn’t tell me that.”

“It’s no big deal.”

Good
.
 
And thank goodness her parents decided to go to the hospital cafeteria for lunch, because this wasn’t a conversation she wanted them to hear.
 
Megan waited a moment before asking, “What kinds of things do you and Marco do if you’re boyfriend and girlfriend?”
 
They certainly hadn’t gone on a date or done anything together outside of school, not that there’d even been school for a few weeks now.

“The usual stuff.”
 
When Anna failed to elaborate, Megan circled her hand, urging Anna to continue.
 
“You know.
 
We sit together in the cafeteria at lunchtime and we try to get on the same team when we play dodgeball or soccer in gym class.
 
And he’s, like, the first person I’m supposed to text about things.
 
Stuff like that.
 
I don’t want him to think I’m ignoring him because I haven’t texted him in a while.
 
I mean, because it’s summer, so really all we do is text.”

Megan couldn’t help but smile at that.
 
“His number’s on the class roster at home.
 
When I check in at home again, I’ll let him know.”
 
When the time was right, she’d ply Anna with more questions about how she ended up with “kinda” a boyfriend and what that meant.

Anna exhaled and settled deeper into her pillow.
 
Megan resumed reading, but only made it a few paragraphs before Anna asked, “Is Mr. Jones your boyfriend now?”

Megan carefully kept her smile in place, though the question struck her like a knife to the heart.
 
Ever since Stefano walked out of the apartment, she’d been in agony.
 
Watching him leave the hospital after refusing to acknowledge his feelings for her felt even worse.
 
“No.”

“Do you like him?”

“Of course I do, but things are a little different for adults.
 
We don’t have dodgeball teams.”

Anna seemed to digest this.
 
In a matter of fact tone, she said,
 
“He hasn’t asked you out, has he?
 
You know that you can ask him out if you like him.
 
It doesn’t matter who asks anymore.”

Megan stifled a laugh.
 
“I’m aware.”

“You should think about it.
 
He might be too chicken to ask you, but I think he likes you.
 
Sometimes guys don’t want to be the one to ask.”

Not if they already asked once and the answer took so long he decided it was impossible.

Megan forced back the thought as she leaned forward and tucked the sheets tighter around her daughter, then tweaked her nose.
 
“I think you need to focus on getting better.
 
Anything else is a waste of your energy.”

Anna giggled, then glanced toward the door.
 
“The nurses can’t hear me, Mom.”
 
Despite her assertion, she lowered her voice.
 
“But if you married him someday, wouldn’t it be incredible?
 
Not just because we’d get to live in a castle—I mean, castles are cool and all—but I bet it has space like Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Minnesota, so we could have a dog.
 
Wouldn’t a dog be great?
 
And I really like Mr. Jones.
 
He’d be an awesome dad.
 
Like, a real dad in our house, instead of a dad who visits.”
 

Now she was really glad her parents went to the cafeteria.

Megan started to speak, but before she could get out the first syllable Anna added, “I know you’re going to tell me it’s silly, and I shouldn’t get focused on it or anything, but it’s fun to think about what it might be like, isn’t it?”

“It’s not silly,” Megan said on a sigh.
 
“We all like to daydream about living in a fairy tale.
 
It’s human nature.”

“Do you?”

“Sometimes,” she admitted.
 
She leaned forward and smoothed the sheet covering Anna’s upper body.
 
“Right now, though, you need to have some real dreams.
 
Sleepytime dreams.
 
Your body still needs rest so you can get out of the hospital and enjoy your summer.”

“Then school again.
 
Somewhere.”
 
She let out a monster yawn before asking, “Do you know where we’re going yet?”

“No.
 
But there’s still time before I need to get you registered.”
 
Some.
 
“In fact, as soon as you go to sleep, I have a call to make about a job.”

“Is it a good one?”

“It could be.”
 

“Okay.”
 
One side of her mouth hooked up as she turned to her side and closed her eyes.
 
“I hope it’s somewhere sunny.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She ran her palm over Anna’s hair, tossed the half-eaten gelatin cup, then left the room with the image of Anna’s trusting smile warming her heart.

Chapter Thirty-One

Never in her life had Megan turned down a job offer.
 

For the first few years after she’d graduated, she’d been thrilled to have a job, period.
 
Then, when she’d been offered the business development position at the Grandspire, she hadn’t bothered to interview anywhere else.
 
The warm welcome she’d received from Ramon and the rest of the staff was the stuff of her dreams.
 
They’d made her feel part of the hotel and the city.
 
They’d given her a home and gave Anna the same love they lavished on their own children.

Even as she stepped out of the white Mercedes taxi and smoothed her hands down the front of her favorite navy suit, Megan found it hard to believe she’d actually turned down her second job offer from the Grandspire.
 
Jack Gladwell was likely the only person more stunned than she.
 
When she’d hung up the phone after thanking him for the job offer, his patience, and for the generous bouquet he’d sent Anna while her daughter was in the hospital, she’d fully expected to be sick to her stomach.
 
Instead, her veins thrummed with a burst of energy, as if she’d just stepped off a Venezuelan zipline platform to soar over the jungle canopy and enjoy a view only the hovering birds usually experienced.
 
It was, in a word, exhilarating.
 

After she’d left her parents and Anna in the suite and boarded the flight to Sarcaccia this morning, however, doubts crept in.
 
This risk wasn’t Megan’s alone to take, no matter how right it felt.
 
There was Anna to consider.
 
Though Anna had only been out of the hospital a few days and had several weeks of summer vacation left—time which she should be using to fully recover—Anna was already asking when she’d know about school.

Megan blinked in the bright sunlight before ascending the wide steps into the Ristorante Villa Enrica, a picturesque white stucco building clinging to a cliffside above the Mediterranean Sea, and told herself not to think about the Grandspire and the what-ifs.
 
She needed only to concentrate on today’s job interview.
 
If she didn’t get this position, she’d need to start her job hunt from scratch and hope she landed a position quickly enough to register Anna for school.