Christmas With Her Secret Prince

“Mel was coming back from shopping when you and your friend knocked her on her keister,” the sister right next to him answered.

“Frannie!” the other one exclaimed. Thank goodness. Now he just had to keep straight which was which once they stood. “That’s no way to talk to our guest,” she added.

Ray took a sip of his coffee, the guilt washing over him once more. Though technically they hadn’t been the ones to actually run into Mel—the cyclist had done that—he couldn’t help but feel that if Saleh had been paying better attention, Mel wouldn’t be in the state she was in currently.

“She lost the shopping bag in all the confusion,” Frannie supplied.

“I’m terribly sorry to hear that,” Ray answered. “It must have been some dress. I’ll have to find a way to compensate for Mel’s losing it.”

“It’s more what she needed it for.”

Ray found himself oddly curious. When was the last time he cared about why a woman needed an article of clothing? Never. The answer to that question was a resounding never.

“What did she need it for?”

“To stick it to that scoundrel husband of hers.”

Ray found himself on the verge of sputtering out the coffee he’d just taken a sip of. Husband. Mel was married. It really wasn’t any of his business. So why did he feel like someone had just landed a punch in the middle of his gut? He’d met the woman less than twelve hours ago for heaven’s sake. Had barely spoken more than a few words to her.

“He’s her ex-husband,” Greta clarified. “But my sister’s right about the scoundrel part.”

“Oh?” Ray inquired. For the second time already this morning, he felt like a solid weight had been lifted off his shoulders. So she wasn’t actually married currently. He cursed internally as he thought it. What bit of difference did it make where he was concerned?

“Yeah, he took all her money, then left her for some flirty flirt of a girl who works for him.”

That did sound quite scoundrel-like. A pang of sympathy blossomed in his chest. No woman deserved that. What little he knew of Mel, she seemed like she wouldn’t hurt another being if her life depended on it. She certainly didn’t deserve such treatment.

“Before they got divorced, Mel and her ex were always invited to the mayor’s annual charity holiday ball. The mayor’s daughter is a college friend of both of theirs. This year that no-good ex of Mel’s is taking his new lady. Word is, he proposed to her and they’ll be attending as doctor and fiancée.”

Frannie nodded as her sister spoke. “Yeah, we were trying to convince her to go anyway. ’Cause why should he have the satisfaction? But she had nothing to wear. We gave her an advance on her paycheck and told her to find the nicest dress she could afford.”

Ray sat silent, taking all this in. Several points piqued his interest, not the least of which being just how much these ladies seemed to care for the young lady who worked for them. Mel was clearly more than a mere employee. She was family and so they were beyond outraged on her behalf.

The other thing was that she’d been trying to tell him right there on the sidewalk about how important the dress was, and he hadn’t bothered to listen. He had just assumed that she’d hit her head and didn’t know what she was talking about. He felt guilt wash over him anew.

“I still wish there was a way she could go.” Greta shook her head with regret. “That awful man needs to know she don’t give a damn about him and that she’s still going to attend these events. With or without him.”

A heavy silence settled over the room before Frannie broke it with a clap of her hands. “You know, I got a great idea,” she declared to her sister with no small display of excitement.

“What’s that?”

“I know she don’t have anything to wear, but if she can figure that out, I think Ray here should take her.” She flashed a brilliant smile in his direction.

Greta gasped in agreement, nodding vehemently. “Ooh, excellent idea. Why, he’d make for the perfect date!”

Frannie turned to him, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “It’s the least you can do. You did knock her on her keister.”

Greta nodded solemnly next to him.

This unexpected turn proved to take him off guard. Ray tried to muster what exactly to say. He was spared the effort.

Mel chose that moment to step into the room. It was clear she’d heard the bulk of the conversation. She looked far from pleased.

Mel pulled out a chair and tried to clamp down on her horror. She could hardly believe what she’d heard. As much as she loved the Perlman sisters, sometimes they went just a tad too far. In this case, they’d traveled miles. The last thing she wanted from any man, let alone a man the likes of Ray, was some kind of sympathy date. And she’d be sure to tell both the ladies that as soon as she got them alone.

For now, she had to try to hide her mortification from their overnight guest.

“How do you feel, dear?” Greta asked.

“Fine. Just fine.”

“The swelling seems to be going down,” Frannie supplied.

Mel merely nodded. She risked a glance at Ray from the corner of her eye. To his credit, he looked equally uncomfortable.

Frannie stood suddenly. “Well, the two of us should get downstairs and start prepping for the weekend diner crowd.” She rubbed Mel’s shoulder. “There’s still fresh coffee in the pot. You obviously have the day off.”

Mel started to argue, but Frannie held up a hand to stop her. Greta piped up from across the table. “Don’t even think about it. You rest and concentrate on healing. We can handle the diner today.”

Mel nodded reluctantly as the two sisters left the kitchen to go get ready for their morning. It was hard to stay aggravated with those two.

Except now she was alone with Ray. The awkwardness hung like thick, dense fog in the air. If she was smart, she would have walked away and pretended not to hear anything that was said.

Of all the...

What would possess Greta and Frannie to suggest such a thing? She couldn’t imagine what Ray must be feeling. They had put him in such a sufferable position.

To her surprise, he broke the silence with an apology. “I’m so terribly sorry, Mel.”

Great, he was apologizing for not taking her up on the sisters’ offer. Well, that got her hackles up. She wasn’t the one who had asked him to take her to the ball.

“There’s no need to apologize,” she said, perhaps a little too curtly. “I really had no intention of attending that party anyway. I hardly need a date for an event I’m not going to. Not that I would have necessarily said yes.” Now, why had she felt compelled to add that last bit?

Ray’s jaw fell open. “Oh, I meant. I just—I should have listened when you were trying to tell me about your dress. I didn’t realize you’d dropped your parcel.”

Mel suddenly realized her mistake. He was simply offering a general apology. He wasn’t even referring to the ball. She felt the color drain from her face from the embarrassment. If she could, she would have sunk through the floor and into another dimension. Never to be seen or heard from again. Talk about flattering oneself.

She cleared her throat, eager to change the subject. Although this next conversation was going to be only slightly less cringeworthy. “I was going to mention this last night, but you ended up staying the night.”

“Yes?”

“I know you paid for my hospital visit. I have every intention of paying you back.” Here was the tough part. “I, um, will just need to mail it to you. It’s a bit hard to reimburse you right at this moment.”

He immediately shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I insist. Please just let me know where I can mail a check as soon as I get a chance.”

“I won’t accept it, Mel.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You don’t understand. It’s important to me that I pay back my debts.” Unlike her ex-husband, she added silently.

He actually waved his hand in dismissal. “There really is no need.”

No need? What part about her feeling uncomfortable about being indebted to him was he unable to comprehend? His next words gave her a clue.

“Given your circumstances, I don’t want you to feel you owe me anything.”

Mel felt the surge of ire prickle over her skin. She should have known. His meaning couldn’t be clearer. Ray was no different than all the other wealthy people she’d known. Exactly like the ones who’d made her parents’ lives so miserable.

“My circumstances? I certainly don’t need your charity, if that’s what you mean.”

His eyes grew wide. “Of course not. I apologize. I meant no offense. I’m fluent, but English is my second language, after all. I simply meant that I feel responsible for you incurring the fees in the first place.”

“But you weren’t responsible. The cyclist was. And he’s clearly not available, so the responsibility of my hospital bill is mine and mine alone.”

He studied her through narrowed eyes. “Is it that important to you?”

“It is.”

He gave her a slight nod of acquiescence. “Then I shall make sure to give you my contact information before I leave so that you can forward reimbursement at your convenience.”

“Thank you.”

Ray cleared his throat before continuing, “Also, if you’ll allow me, I’d love to attend the Boston mayor’s annual holiday ball as your escort.”

CHAPTER THREE

MEL BLINKED AND gave her head a small shake, the action sending a pounding ache through her cheek straight up to her eye. In her shock, she’d forgotten how sore she was. But Ray had indeed just shocked her. Or maybe she hadn’t actually heard him correctly. Maybe she really did have a serious head injury that was making her imagine things.

“I’m sorry. What did you just say?”

His lips curved into a small smile and Mel felt a knot tighten in the depths of her core. The man was sinfully handsome when he smiled. “I said I’d like to attend the ball with you.”

She gently placed her coffee cup on the table in front of her. Oh, for heaven’s sake. She couldn’t wait to give Frannie and Greta a speaking-to. “You don’t need to do that, Ray. You also didn’t need to cover my expenses. And you didn’t need to stay last night. You’ve done more than enough already. Is this because I insist on repaying you?” she asked. How much of a charity case did he think she was? Mel felt her anger rising once more.

But he shook his head. “Has nothing to do with that.”

“The accident wasn’t even your fault.”

“This has nothing to do with the accident either.”

“Of course it does. And I’m trying to tell you, you don’t need to feel that you have to make anything up to me. Again, the accident yesterday was not your fault.”

He leaned closer to her over the table. “But you don’t understand. It would actually be something of a quid pro quo to take me to this ball. You’d actually be the one doing me a favor.”

Okay, that settled it. She knew she was hearing things. In fact, she was probably still back in Frannie and Greta’s guest room, soundly asleep. This was all a strange dream. Or maybe she’d accidentally taken too many painkillers. There was no way this could actually be happening. There was absolutely nothing someone like Mel could offer a man such as Ray. The idea that accompanying her to the ball would be a favor to him was ridiculous.

“Come again?”

“Allow me to explain,” Ray continued at her confused look. “I’m here on business on behalf of the king of Verdovia. He is looking to acquire some property in the Boston area. The type of people attending an event that the mayor is throwing are precisely the type of people I’d like to have direct contact with.”

“So you’re saying you actually want to go? To meet local business people?”

He nodded. “Precisely. And in the process, we can do the two-birds-killing.”

She was beginning to suspect they both had some kind of brain trauma. Then his meaning dawned on her. He was misstating the typical American idiom.

“You mean kill two birds with one stone?”

He smiled again, wider this time, causing Mel’s toes to curl in her slippers. “Correct. Though I never did understand that expression. Who wants to kill even one bird, let alone two?”

She had to agree.

“In any case, you help me meet some of these local business people, and I’ll make sure you stick your ex-husband.”

She couldn’t help it. She had to laugh. This was all so surreal. It was like she was in a completely different reality than the one she’d woken up in yesterday morning. “You mean stick it to.”

“That’s right,” he replied, responding to her laugh with one of his own.

For just a split second, she was tempted to say yes, that she’d do it. But then the ridiculousness of the whole idea made her pause. It was such a harebrained scheme. No one would believe Mel and someone like Ray were an actual couple. An unbidden image of the two of them dancing close, chest to chest, flashed in her mind. A curl of heat moved through the pit of her stomach before she squelched it. What a silly fantasy.

They clearly had nothing in common. Not that she would know with any real certainty, of course. She didn’t know the man at all.

“What do you think?” Ray prompted.

“I think there’s no way it would work. For one thing, we’ve barely met. You don’t know a thing about me and I don’t know a thing about you. I have no idea who you are. How would we even begin to explain why we’re at such an event together?”

A sly twinkle appeared in his eye. “That’s easy to fix. We should spend some time getting to know each other. Can I interest you in breakfast? I understand there’s an excellent eating establishment very nearby. Right downstairs, as a matter of fact.”

Greta seated them in a corner booth and handed him a large laminated menu. The giant smile on the older woman’s face gave every bit the impression that she was beyond pleased at seeing the two of them at breakfast together. Though she did initially appear quite surprised.

Well, Ray had also surprised himself this morning. He’d had no idea that he’d intended to ask to take her to the mayor’s ball until the words were actually leaving his mouth. Saleh would want to throttle him for such a foolish move. Oh, well, he’d worry about Saleh later. Ray’s reasons were sound if one really thought about it. So he’d exaggerated his need to meet local business leaders, considering he already had the contacts in Boston that he needed. But Mel didn’t know that or need to know that. And what harm would it do? What was so wrong about wanting to take her to the ball and hoping she’d have a good time there? Between the terrible accident yesterday and what he’d found out this morning about her past history, she could definitely use some fun, he figured. Even if it was only for a few hours.

Why he wanted to be the one to give that to her, he couldn’t quite explain. He found himself wishing he’d met her under different circumstances, at a different time.

Right. He would have to be a completely different person for it to make an iota of difference. The reality was that he was the crown prince of Verdovia. He’d been groomed since birth to be beholden to rules and customs and to do what was best for the kingdom. He couldn’t forget this trip was simply a temporary respite from all that.

This ball would give him a chance to do something different, out of the norm, if he attended as an associate of the royal family rather than as the prince. After all, wasn’t that why he was in the United Sates? For one final adventure. This was a chance to attend a grand gala without all the pressures of being the Verdovian prince and heir to the throne.

He asked Mel to order for them both and she did so before Greta poured them some more coffee and then left their booth, her smile growing wider by the second.

“All right,” Mel began once they were alone. “Tell me about yourself. Why don’t you start with more about what you do for a living?”

Ray knew he had to tread carefully. He didn’t want to lie to her, but he had to be careful to guard his true identity. Not only for his sake, but for hers, as well.

“You said something about acquiring real estate for the Verdovian royal family. Does that mean real estate is your main focus?” she asked.

Ray took a sip of his steamy beverage. He’d never had so much coffee in one sitting, but the Boston brew was strong and satisfying. “So to speak. I’m responsible for various duties in service of the king. He’d like to expand his American property holdings, particularly in metropolitan cities. He’s been eyeing various high-end hotels in the Boston area. I volunteered to fly down here to scope out some prospects and perhaps make an agreement.” Technically, he was telling her the complete truth.

Mel nodded. “I see. You’re definitely a heavy hitter.”

That wasn’t an expression that made immediate sense to him. “You think I hit heavy?”

“Never mind. Do you have a family?”

“My parents and two younger sisters.”

“What would you tell me about them?”

This part could get tricky if he wasn’t careful. He hated being on the slim side of deceitful but what choice did he have? And in the overall scheme of things, what did it hurt that Mel didn’t know he was a prince? In fact, he’d be glad to be able to forget the fact himself for just a brief moment in time.

“My father is a very busy man. Responsible for many people and lots of land. My mother is an accomplished musician who has studied the violin under some of Europe’s masters and composes her own pieces.”

Mel let out a low whistle. “Wow. That’s quite a pedigree,” she said in a near whisper. “How’d you end up picking such a high-profile career?”

He had to tread carefully answering that one. “It was chosen for me,” he answered truthfully.

She lifted an eyebrow. “You mean the king chose you?”

He nodded. Again, it was the complete truth. “There were certain expectations made of me, being the only son of the family.”

“Expectations?”

“Yes. It was a given that I would study business, that I would work in a career that led to the further wealth and prosperity of our island kingdom. Otherwise...”

The turn in conversation was throwing him off. Mel’s questions brought up memories he hadn’t given any consideration to in years.

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