“It’s nice to finally hear how you reallyfeel, Aristide,” I said silkily in French as I stepped in front of Hannah, shielding her from whatever was to happen next.
“Like I care what you think. You’re just a little soldier playing at politics. You won’t be able to maneuver through this week without me. You can’t make me leave.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Your replacement is already on his way. And since thispretender princedoesn’t needtwo assistants, Nicolas will escort you out.”
Nicolas jerked his chin at me and grabbed Ari by the arm.
“Oh, and Ari, I’m sure you signed an ironclad nondisclosure agreement when the palace hired you. We will enforce it if you choose to do anything…foolish. Nicolas, please have someone monitor his packing and make sure he is taken care of for his flight home. We wouldn’t want him to have anydifficulties.”
Nicolas firmly escorted a still-protesting Ari out of the room. After the door slammed shut, I turned to Hannah with an apologetic smile. “Je suis désolé.Some personnel issues.”
“What the heck was that about?”
“I just fired my assistant.”
“For walking in on us?” Hannah’s eyes widened. “It was an accident, Luc. Is he going to be okay? How will he get home? Or get another jobafter being fired by a prince? This is just another example of how we will never work. You fire people with the blink of an eye. I could never—”
“It wasn’t an accident.” I cut into Hannah’s babbling. “Ari has always addressed me in French, but suddenly, the morning I have you in my bed, he speaks in English. And I’ve told him countless times to call me Luc, ormonsieurif he was uncomfortablewith being on a first-name basis with me. He did neither. I believe the whole scene was orchestrated on purpose. I’ve suspected for some time that he was spying for someone within the palace. Now I just have to suss out who.”
Hannah bit her lip as she looked at me with wide eyes. “Is this a regular day for you? Firing employees? People spying on you? This is your world?”
I inclined my head asanswer. To be honest, I was afraid if I said the words she’d use them as a reason why this wouldn’t work between us. “Come, let’s order some breakfast and discuss all this once our bellies are full.”
After we ordered our food, we were interrupted again by a knock at the door. Knowing it was too soon to be our food, I left Hannah sitting on a sofa as I crossed the room.
As if my morning couldn’tget any worse, I opened the door to find Dimitri. I really liked the guy, don’t get me wrong, but he was another lie that I’d have to explain to Hannah.
Fuck me.
Could this day get any worse?
“What is it?”
“Nicolas wants someone in the room with you while he and a few others escort Aristide to the airport.”
“Of course he does. Come in. We might as well get this out of the way now.” I heldthe door open for Dimitri to enter, and Hannah gave a cry of delight when she saw him.
“Dimitri!” Hannah rushed to my side. “It’s so good to see you. Have you heard from Rach…” Her words faded away as she looked from me to Dimitri to the earbud visible in Dimitri’s ear. Then she swung her angry eyes back in my direction. “Was it all an act? Something to reel in the clueless girl you really wanted?”
“No, I wouldn’t—”
But Hannah cut me off. She swung around to face Dimitri. “Did he feed you lines? Did he tell you to say the foot rash thing?”
Dimitri’s face slowly turned a bright shade of red. “I—ah, no. That was all me. He didn’t even tell me to hit on Rachel. We saw the two of you across the room and I really liked her, andMonsieur,well…” He paused and looked at me uncertainly. I gavean aggrieved sigh and shrugged, so Dimitri went on. “Monsieurliked you, so we approached your table. The only thing he made me do that night was dress down to fit in at the bar. The rest—the foot rash thing—was all me.”
“Oh.” Hannah turned to me and bit her lip. “I’m sorry I assumed…It’s just, I don’t even know what to say. This whole thing is so crazy. So Dimitri is your…”
“Dimitri is partof my security team on this trip. Although when we’re back home in Monaco, we both serve in theCompagnie des Carabiniers du Prince,a branch of our military. Pretty much the entire point of the division is to protect the royal family and other government officials. My position is mostly ornamental.”
Dimitri leapt to my defense. “Oh,monsieur,I wouldn’t say—”
“Thank you, Dimitri.” I lifteda hand. “But Hannah deserves to hear the entire truth from me. Can you please let room service in when the food arrives?Merci beaucoup.”
Leaving Dimitri at the door, I escorted Hannah back into the main salon. “I think we’ve had enough drama for one morning, don’t you?”
Hannah collapsed onto the sofa with a soft laugh. “Don’t blame me. I think it’s you. Drama seems to have a way of findingyou.”
I looked at Hannah with a sober expression. “You’re not wrong. Again, I’m sorry for not telling you about my title. At first it was just a lark, but then…then we became something more, and I didn’t know how to tell you. I’d hoped that it wouldn’t be a deterrent. No one has ever been repelled by my title before.”
