Page 41 of Royal Cocktail

That night, she’d been crammed in with a dozen other students. Not friends so much as hangers-on. She’d kept to herself too much in law school to have made many close friends.

Tonight, she slipped into the limo with only one other person, and she felt so much more special than she had that night.

“Ever made out in a limo?” Leo asked, making her giggle.

“The driver and Jürgen can see us.”

“Not anymore,” he said, pushing the button to raise the privacy screen. He pulled her close and kissed her. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“Are you kidding? This man is like a surrogate father to you. I’m dying to meet him.”

“He’s looking forward to meeting you, too. And, unfortunately, he lives in Tarrytown,” he added, his hand sliding up her thigh and under her skirt.

“That is a shame,” she said, as his fingertip grazed the juncture of her thigh, tracing the elastic of her panties. “We’re practically already there.”

“Not quite,” he said, slipping his finger under and making her gasp.

But she was right—they were almost there, and as the limo pulled in front of Professor Malkin’s house, she was breathing hard. But not quite there.

“You’re a tease, Your Highness.”

“Just a preview of things to come. Literally,” he said, his lips brushing her ear as he whispered the promise.

She giggled, then straightened her skirt just in time for Jürgen to open the door. They slipped out of the car, and she took Leo’s hand as he led her up the sidewalk. The door opened as they approached, and a tall man with a graying beard stepped out to shake Leo’s hand before pulling him into a fatherly hug.

“And you must be Skye,” the professor said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you after so long. Our Leo used to talk about you all the time.”

“Did he?” She shot a mischievous glance toward Leo. “You’ll have … to tell me everything he … said.”

If the professor noticed her slurred speech, he didn’t show it. Instead, he simply took her arm and led her inside. “It will be my pleasure.”

They only had an hour for cocktails and conversation before the limo was set to whisk them to the award venue, but within ten minutes, Skye knew it wasn’t nearly long enough. She was about to say as much when Jürgen pulled Leo aside. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she knew it was bad from the expression on Leo’s face.

“What?” she asked when he returned. She put her hand on his arm and held fast, somehow certain that it would be a mistake to let him go.

“My father,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “He’s had another heart attack. They don’t expect him to survive. I’m so sorry, Professor. I have to go.”

“Of course.” Professor Malkin put his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “If there’s anything I can do.”

“Thank you.” He shook his head. “I wish there was.”

“Sire,” Jürgen said. “The press is already gathering.”

Skye frowned, only then realizing that of course some members of the press had followed the limo to the professor’s house. And if the news of the king’s heart attack was public, the pack of reporters would increase exponentially by the second.

“Skye,” Leo said, his hands on her shoulders. “I have to go. I left you once without saying goodbye. This time, I’m asking you to come with me.”

Her mouth went dry. Outside, she heard the clatter and shouts of the waiting press, already stifling even from behind the closed doors. She felt her chest tighten at the thought of seeing them. At having them shout out to her, even though they cared only about Leo. Of having to move through them. Speak to them.

“I … I don’t think I … can. And … what would I be to you … there?” The new king’s girlfriend? His mistress? She could have no role in his homeland, and they both knew it.

He touched her face. “I want to beg, my love, but I don’t have time to convince you. I need to go.”

She nodded, but didn’t leave his side as he hurried to the door. Maybe she could do this. Maybe she could go with him, and—

Jürgen pulled the door open, and she was assaulted with the cries of reporters and the flashes of cameras. Leo turned and looked at her, and she could see from his face that he knew better than to ask again. She felt trapped. And suddenly the deer in a headlight expression made so much sense.

Then Leo was there, kissing her sweetly. “It’s only goodbye for now,” he said, though she knew that was only a platitude.