Page 62 of Rogue Royal

A knock sounded. “Hold up, Z. Someone’s at the door.” He switched off the hob and moved the pasta to a cool one before striding to the door. Flinging it open, he got a glance of Douglas, then his lips were covered and arms banded around him. He tensed for a second before his scent enveloped him, and he slid his arms around Douglas’s neck. The door slamming closed gained his attention, and he pulled back, breathing hard.

“Wow.” He panted. “I wasn’t expecting you for another couple of hours.”

“I finished early. Was too impatient to change.” Douglas threaded his fingers through Mav’s hair, and Mav’s eyelids fluttered.

“Mav!”

“Oh shit!” He laughed as he entered the kitchen. “Sorry, Z. Got an early visitor.”

“I should’ve known. Hi, Prince Douglas!”

Mav rolled his eyes at her, then smiled when Douglas slid his arms around his waist and rested his chin on Mav’s shoulder so they were both in the camera view.

“Hi, Zara. Douglas is fine.”

“I know you are.”

“Jesus Christ, kill me now,” Mav muttered, returning to his pasta.

****

Chapter 22

Douglas

“Hey! That’s not nice, and after everything I’ve done for you, as well. So ungrateful.” Zara fake pouted, and Douglas laughed.

“I can see you’re as troublesome as Mav told me you are,” he replied.

“Being a prince doesn’t make you immune to my retaliations,PrinceDouglas.”

“Zara! Enough. Jesus!” Mav banged the pot on the stove. “At the rate you’re going, he’s going to leave, and you won’t get any of the gossip you’re angling for.”

“Oh! That’s…so…” There was a pause at which Douglas glanced at the phone, thinking it had cut them off, but Zara had a finger tapping her chin with a smirk. She winked and finished, “so true.”

“I’d love to see you interact with my brothers, Zara. I think you’d get on well with George. You seem to have the same sense of humour.”

“Oh, thank you for the interest, but I’m happily engaged to Tex.”

Douglas spluttered. “I didn’t mean…” He saw Zara’s face and laughed before eyeing Mav. “You told me she was a menace, but you never said how much of one she was.”

“You have to experience it to believe it, trust me. There is no way to describe Zara.” Mav’s eyes widened. “Wait…engaged?”

“You did better than Tex said you would. She bet it would take you over ten minutes to figure out what I’d said. I was kind and gave you the benefit of the doubt, but you took several minutes longer than I thought.” She wagged her finger at the camera. “I don’t know if I should be sad about it or not.”

“Oh, my god! When did this happen?” Mav moved closer to the phone, blocking part of the screen.

“This morning. Tex surprised me with breakfast in bed. Isn’t she adorable?” Zara waved and blew a kiss to someone off-screen, her smile so wide it showed how happy she was about the recent development.

“Congratulations to you both.”

Douglas nudged Mav, who seemed unable to talk. “Wow, congratulations, you two. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you! We’ll have to get together to celebrate. Are you going to get up here soon, Mav?”

“Well, ask the centre of attention here.” Mav grinned and thumbed towards Douglas.

“Hey! No fair! You’ve mellowed me, sweetheart.” He pressed a kiss to Mav’s lips, wanting more but knowing they needed to finish dinner and the conversation first.