The Wicked Prince

“You have a full staff that wants to help. Genuinely wants to help. They’re all so excited about the baby. Let them do their jobs.” I tried for a comforting smile.

I knew Addie better than anyone and knew how much she hated to have a full staff. She’d come a long way and had certainly gotten used to it, but it was still too much to ask for help when it came to mundane things like carrying a box.

“What’s up?”

“What?” I blinked.

“What’s up? You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

“Do I?” I frowned. “Nothing. I mean, David is coming into town, so I guess my mind is elsewhere.”

“That’ll be fun.” She grinned. “Are you two getting serious?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” She set down the ribbon in her hand and made her way to the sitting area. I followed and sat beside her on the couch. “Let’s talk. I feel like it’s been ages since we’ve caught up, just the two of us.” She slipped her shoes off and put her feet on the coffee table as she waited, then said, “You like him.”

“I do like him. What’s not to like?” I said with a laugh. “He’s handsome, sexy, passionate about a job he does well in.”

“He helps celebrities in crisis, right? That’s what he does?”

“Basically. With Ben, he helped him clean up his reputation.”

“So essentially, what you’re doing with Aramis.”

“More or less.” I tilted my head as I thought about it. “Except I’m trying to find Aramis a good woman to settle down with.”

“Still? Even with this new development and Oscar?” Adeline sounded surprised.

“The Queen Mother still wants him to have a wife.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t want anything to do with her wishes right now.” She scowled. “Besides, my husband is the King and he calls the shots now. We think that particular issue should be put aside for now.”

“I agree.”

“Good.”

“Have you decided on a name?”

“Elias wants to name him after his father, but I can’t imagine why. His father was not very well loved.” She pursed her lips.

“What do you want to name him?”

“Alexander.”

“That’s a nice, strong name.”

“Isn’t it?” She shrugged a shoulder. “Eli doesn’t like it.”

“What names does he like?”

“Louis, Charles, Henry, Philip.”

“Boring names.”

“So boring.” Adeline laughed loudly. “But I guess the future king’s name doesn’t have to be fun.”

“And you can give him thirteen names if you really wanted. I’m sure you can slide one in there that you don’t mind calling him.”

“Very true.” She laughed.

“Where is Elias now? I don’t think I’ve seen him leave your side in months.”

“Meeting with my father and some other members of Parliament.”

“Speaking of boring.”

“Exactly. The only fun thing going on in there are the croissants and hot cocoa Elias decided to provide them with today. I think they’re discussing city planning and street building. All of the things citizens love to complain about but have no solutions for.”

“Well, I hope they discuss a way to rid us of traffic. God knows it’s been awful these days.”

“You live two blocks from Aramis. It takes you two minutes to get to work.” Addie shot me an amused look.

“It took me hours to get all of the Christmas party things together when I was driving all across town. Besides, you know how Aramis refuses to drive after the accident? He fired his driver and has called me no less than ten times in one week to drive him places.”

“Aramis fired Ahmed? When?”

“Who knows. He says he showed up to work late one day.”

Adeline laughed lightly, then a little harder.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ahmed was not fired.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been driving around for us for a month now. Aramis told us he got a new, temporary driver.”

“Meaning me.” I blinked. “Why would he do that?”

“Why would he not?” Addie’s eyes twinkled. “He likes you. You know that.”

“He doesn’t like me. He doesn’t like anyone.”

“He definitely likes you, Joss. He spends most of his days either asking where you are or trying to figure out how to spend time with you.”

He’d never outright told me he liked me. I said this aloud, to which Adeline’s response was a small shrug.

“He thinks you hate him. Why would he tell you he likes you?”

“I don’t hate him.” I felt myself frown.

“It doesn’t matter how you feel if your actions show the opposite.”

I thought of our earlier conversation. He’d always flirted with me, but Aramis was a serial flirt. I never took it to heart because there was no point in it. If that was the case, if I knew that, why in the world was my heart pounding as hard as it was?

Chapter Eight

Aramis

I didn’t like David.

He didn’t seem like a bad guy on paper. It was his job to help people get their shit together and I knew that showed some form of decency. He’d helped my soon-to-be brother-in-law Ben get his shit together when he needed it. I didn’t like the way he looked at Joss or the way he didn’t let her finish her sentences before jumping in with his own ideas. She had her own ideas and they were better than his as far as I was concerned.