“I know. Sutcliffe mentioned it more than once.” He was still waiting for me on the other phone. “Do what you can, Kenley. Spin this away from Molly. The cabinet meeting is tomorrow. I need the votes.”
“Yes, sir. I will do everything I can.”
“Do more, Kenley.”
I hung up with her and pulled the Sutcliffe phone to my ear.
“Sutcliffe, I assume you know why I called.”
“Miss Washington, sir?”
He fucking knew why. He wanted me to admit I had been wrong to bring her. That wasn’t going to happen.
“Yes.” I clenched my jaw. “I thought it might take the press longer to show their interest in her, but it was escalated by one picture.”
“I saw it, sir.”
“Everyone has seen it,” I snarled. “Ayla is working with her now, but I need protocols in place when we return tomorrow.”
“I don’t understand, Your Highness, what type of protocols?”
“I can’t let her return to her apartment in the city without security. She won’t be able to go to the library. Her world has just been interrupted. I expect a solution when we return.”
“She’s an American citizen, sir. Maybe she should contact her embassy.”
“This happened on a Galona domestic trip. She’s my responsibility. We are going to provide her royal security. Leave the embassy out of it.”
“Are you suggesting she move into the palace, sir?”
I rubbed the back of my head. “I’m suggesting you find a way to keep her safe. One that will satisfy my requirements and keep the country from imploding with gossip.”
This was a fucking train wreck.
“Your Highness, this is unprecedented. No companion has ever lived at the palace. It’s not possible.”
I exhaled. “Make it possible. Find some historic anecdote. Find a loophole. You and I will meet when I return in the morning.”
“I know my royal history, sir. To even broach this topic without scandal is impossible.”
“Sutcliffe, I’m not asking. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I tossed both phones on the couch and slumped in the chair with my bourbon.
One trip. One tiny misstep and I had done what I avoided my entire life. I had fallen for a woman so hard that I was willing to break every fucking royal rule to have her.
24
Molly
I knew something was wrong the instant I saw him. He was hiding a scowl when he should have been smiling.
Ayla had chosen every inch of my outfit. I knew I looked more supermodel tonight and less princess.
For the first time since I met Damon, it seemed as if he looked right through me. He didn’t seem to notice the subtle dip of the V between my breasts, or the slit that rose to my thigh.
He met me at the car parked at the rear entrance of the hotel.