“There are hundreds of rooms in the palace.” I broke the deafening silence. “How do the citizens know I’m not staying in one of those?”
Sutcliffe pinched his thin lips together. “It isn’t that simple. You two are under the same roof.”
“But the roof is a mile long,” I argued.
“That is not a defense I can present to the moral citizens of this country.” He glared at me.
“Maybe you should try the immoral ones,” I snapped.
Damon shook his head. “Enough. We need a solution. Molly’s safety is what matters. I’m not going to subject her to the paparazzi. And I want her here.” He looked at me warmly for a brief second.
“What does Isabel do?” I asked. “Has she never had a boyfriend stay over?”
“Princess Isabel isn’t a part of the problem,” Sutcliffe explained. “She wouldn’t think of anything like this.”
“And the princes?” I continued my line of questioning.
“Where are you going with this?” Sutcliffe had lost all patience with me. I realized that had happened the first day we met. An American wandering around the palace looking for the king was the last thing he wanted to deal with.
“The public can’t possibly believe single adults would live lives as nuns and monks. That’s beyond common sense. Hasn’t at least one of them had a girlfriend that was serious?”
I didn’t know if I was prying too much. Poking around where I wasn’t welcome, but this scenario was ridiculous.
Damon scowled. “Dominic.”
“Ok. At least someone has had a relationship. What happened?”
“It is not appropriate to discuss the personal lives of the royal family,” Sutcliffe admonished me. “They should remain private.”
Damon shook him off. “She may ask anything she chooses. That’s why we’re here. Nothing we do remains private. Our personal lives are front page news.” He turned to me. “It didn’t work out with the girlfriend.”
I tilted my head. I wanted more information than that.
Damon sighed. “She left. She couldn’t handle the spotlight. The press hounded her non-stop. It reached the point that they camped out in front of her parents’ house. She couldn’t go to work. She couldn’t go to the market. There was an assault.” His voice was hushed.
“Assault?”
“One of the camera crews pushed a camera in her face when she was visiting her parents. She shoved him out of the way to get in the front door. He filed a law suit, claiming she assaulted him. That was the last straw.”
“Oh my God.”
“It was eventually dropped,” he explained. “But the damage was done.”
“And Dominic? There wasn’t anything he could do?”
He shook his head. “No. He even offered to step away from the crown. But he let things get too far before he even considered that. It was too late. She left the country. She said it was the only way to have a normal life.”
I felt a small hold around my neck as if something had clamped against my throat. The fishbowl the royal family lived in had already destroyed one relationship. Were we next? We were still new. Budding. Growing. Exploring. To even
say we were a we, seemed too new. How would we ever survive anything like that?
“I see.”
Sutcliffe rapped his hand on the table. “What happened to Prince Dominic isn’t our concern.”
“Like hell it’s not,” Damon snapped. “He’s trapped. We’re all trapped. That’s what the crown does. It destroyed him. Look at him now. He drinks the demons away. I don’t even recognize my own brother. It is every bit my concern.”
Sutcliffe lowered his eyes. “I’m sorry, sir. Of course. He’s your brother. His health is the concern on the country.”