A Royal Entanglement: The Young Royals Book 2 (8 page)

Bradley caught me again, grasping my elbow and turning me towards him.
 
I saw Freddie begin to move towards us and I held up a hand to forestall him.
 
I needed to win this battle with Bradley or he would never leave me alone.

“Alex, wait, please,” he said, and I glanced down at where he held my arm.
 
He loosened his grip and his hand fell away.
 
“Please, Alex, just hear me out.
 
Have dinner with me.”

I laughed and shook my head.
 
“No, Brad,” I said, “There is nothing to discuss.
 
I don’t even know why you’re here.
 
I left you at the altar, embarrassed you in front of your family and all the high-society families you were so eager to impress, and fled the country.
 
It’s taken you six months to find me, although my whereabouts were no secret.
 
I have no interest in marrying you or rekindling our relationship in any way.
 
So I think it would be best for all concerned if you were to just go home and forget all about me.”

“My grandfather died,” he said.

My hand flew to my mouth in shock.
 
Brad and his grandfather had been close.
 
Where Brad’s father had been dismissive and disapproving, his grandfather had nurtured him and his desire to learn all there was about the business that he had started sixty years ago.
 
I reached out and laid my hand on his arm.

“Oh, Brad, I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged.
 
“He really liked you.
 
We had some really long talks after you left and I know I didn’t treat you the way I should have.
 
Losing him, I realised that there are more important things than just making money and proving my father wrong.”

I squeezed his arm.
 
“I liked him too,” I replied, “But I can’t just give up everything I have here because you’re lonely and missing your grandfather.”

“I know,” he said, taking my hand in both of his, “That’s why I want you to give me a chance to prove to you that I’ve changed.”

I stood staring at him was his words washed over me.
 
I had thought I was in love with him right up until my wedding day.
 
I had thought I could spend the rest of my life with him.
 
It was tempting to fall back into the same old routine, it would be easy, but I also knew that it would cost me more than I was prepared to pay.

I tugged my hand out of his.
 
“I can’t,” I said, “There’s someone else.”

I stood with fists clenched and my jaw tight enough to crack a tooth as I watched him put his hands all over Alex.
 
We had spent so many hours together that I had come to feel a protectiveness for her that I wasn’t willing to examine too closely.
 
But she didn’t want me to interfere, so I held my ground.
 
I didn’t trust the guy as far as I could throw him and I worried that he was spinning some fantastical tale in order to get Alex to leave with him.
 
If he even tried it, I would pull out all the stops to prevent it.
 
It was the least I could do for Alyssa.

I breathed a sigh of relief as she walked away from him leaving him standing on the path watching after her.
 
I didn’t take my eyes off him as she walked towards me and it wasn’t until she touched my arm that I turned my head to look at her.

“We need to talk,” she said.

I turned to put my hand on the small of her back and guide her into the house, but she stopped me.

“Not now, tonight.
 
Can you meet me tonight at the Palace?”

“Of course, Alex, anything, you know that.”

She smiled at me and clutched my arm briefly before moving off towards the car.
 
I turned to watch her leave.

“What time?” I called to her.

She turned to look at me but continued to walk backwards.

“Nine,” she replied and then waved before turning around and continuing to the car that was waiting for her.

Bradley brushed passed me going after her, but I grabbed his arm on the way passed.

“Have you had breakfast yet?” I asked him politely.

“No, not yet.”

“Why don’t you come inside and we’ll see what Cook has.
 
I doubt my parents are out of bed yet so there is bound to be a nice spread waiting for them.”

“Thank you,” Bradley said eyeing me, “I should probably try to find some accommodation in town now that the coronation is over.”

“You’re staying then?”

“For a little longer,” he replied.

“You are more than welcome to stay here,” I said, relying on my sense of propriety to not have him tossed out on his ear.

“Ah,” he looked around, seemingly at a loss as to what to say.

“It will probably be a few days before the hotels in town are cleared out, you could stay until then, at least.”

“Okay,” he said, “Thanks.”

I slapped him on the back and turned us towards the house.
 
“Let’s get some breakfast and then I can show you around our fair city of Calanais.”

“So what exactly is the Earl of Avonlea?” he asked as we ascended the stairs.

I laughed, “Good question.
 
How much do you know about the Peers?”

“Very little.”

“Ostensibly, we’re all either related to the Queen or have been given a title because of good works and service to the royal family.”

“And which are you?”

“I come by my title honestly.
 
My father, the Duke of Monterey, was a cousin of the King.
 
He is, in fact, the next in line for the throne, well, until our Queen provides an heir, that is.”

“So your father is the Duke and you are an Earl?”

“That’s correct, although the Earldom is actually my father’s as well, but being his heir, I get to wear the title.”

“None of it makes sense to me,” he said shaking his head.

I led him into the breakfast room and opened the chafing dishes that had been set up on the buffet to keep the breakfast warm.

“Help yourself,” I said, taking a mug and filling it with coffee.

“You’re not eating?” he asked.

“I’ve already eaten, but don’t let that stop you.”

He nodded and began filling his plate.
 
“So Alex is a Lady…?”

I sat and sipped my coffee before answering.
 
“Alex explained none of this to you?”

He shook his head.
 
“I’d never even heard of Merveille, let alone that she was part of the royal family.”

“Yes, well, we are small,” I said, annoyed for no good reason.
 
“Alex’s mother is the daughter of a minor Earl.
 
Her father has no rank or title, but because she is the eldest she is entitled to being addressed as ‘Lady Alexandra’.”

“So she’s not in line for the throne or anything?”

I chuckled, “No,” I replied, “Not unless the three hundred and forty two peers in front of her succumb to a deadly virus.”

Bradley joined me at the table, his plate piled high with eggs and bacon and everything that the buffet had to offer.
 
He dug in, eating thoughtfully.

“How is it possible that you were engaged to Alex and didn’t know any of this?” I asked.

He shrugged, “She doesn’t talk about her family much.
 
I’ve only met them once or twice.
 
I think she’s embarrassed by them.”

“Embarrassed?”

“They’re not what you would call discreet.
 
Alex has had to do a lot of damage control in the past to keep the antics of her younger sisters out of the papers.
 
They style themselves after the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian.”
 
At my confused look he said, “Young, good-looking party girls famous for being famous. And her parents aren’t much better.”

Now it was my turn to be confused.
 
How did I not know this about Alex?
 
She’d done well to keep any of this from reaching the papers here in Merveille, not that her parents were important, but the press here liked to embarrass the royal family whenever and however they could.
 
It seemed that Alex and I did have some things to talk about.

“So how did you manage to track Alex down?” I asked as Bradley scraped the last morsels off his plate and drained his cup of coffee.

“Her mother contacted me and told me where to find her.
 
She forgot to mention the whole coronation thing though.”

After breakfast, Dayne met with us and we headed into Calanais proper.
 
It was Merveille’s largest city, the capital.
 
Set on the banks or Lac Merveilleux, it was a pretty town, popular with tourists in the summer months.
 
The myriad of alleyways and narrow lanes were cobblestoned, and the buildings harked back to a simpler time.
 
There were coloured shutters and window boxes overflowing with greenery and the odd late summer bloom.

The marina was full of yachts and catamarans and the waterside cafes and bars spilled out onto the sidewalk with brightly coloured umbrellas.
 
This late in the season they would normally be less busy than we found them, but with the coronation, the city had exploded with visitors.
 
Bunting was strung across the streets, gaily pronouncing the new era that we found ourselves entering.
 
A female Head of State was nothing to sneeze at, especially in a country like Merveille.

I directed us into a busy cafe where the owner nodded to me.
 
It was my favourite place for coffee and I found us a table out front so we could look out over the lake and the marina.
 
A waitress came to take our orders and then I sat back and let the weak sunshine warm me.

“You grew up here,” Bradley asked.

“I did,” replied, “But I left to attend university in the States and then stayed there to build my company.”

We discussed business and discovered that we have mutual business acquaintances.
 
I got a better feel for the man and who he was, but it didn’t endear him anymore to me.
 
The man was bland, a carbon copy of just about every other middle management American businessman I’d met.
 
He had no business being with someone like Alex, he would smother that spark that I’d recognised in her and that would just be a tragedy.

Dayne took a phone call and then gave me a look before speaking.

“Your father needs to see you,” he said, “In his office.”

I rolled my eyes and finished my macchiato before I stood.
 
“Unfortunately,” I said to Bradley, “This is where I leave you.
 
Dayne can show you around and take you back to the estate when you’re ready.”

He stood and extended his hand, which I took and shook.
 
Very gentlemanly of me.
 
I slid my sunglasses on and set off across the street towards my father’s offices.
 
As well as being Duke of Monterey, a title that had been bestowed on my family for our loyalty to the usurper king in the war of independence, my father also ran a multi-billion dollars real estate business.
 
And by real estate, I didn’t mean the type where you go to buy a house.
 
My father’s company owned shopping malls and skyscrapers all over the world.

I stepped into the centuries-old stone building that had been in my family since before Merveille had won her independence from France and greeted the security guard behind the desk with a wave.
 
The outside of the building had not changed in all the years since it had been built, apart from the odd repair, but the interior had been completely gutted and remodelled and looked more like it belonged in one of the steel and chrome towers that my father owned in New York.

I took the elevator to the top floor and flirted with my father’s secretary before entering his office.
 
The view looked out over the lake with the snow-capped mountains making it look more like a postcard than reality.
 
My father sat behind his desk, head down and a pen in his hand as he flipped through the pages of a document on his desk.
 
Surprisingly, my mother sat flipping the pages of a magazine on one of the sofas.
 
Both looked up at me as I walked in and I had the uncanny feeling of having walked into a trap.