Page 40 of Royal Icing

Emma’s cheeks flushed, and her posture went rigid.

“You’re not intruding, Flossie,” he said. “I was just chatting with Miss Clark about the ball.”

“Of course,” Flossie said, fetching a bottle and a glass.

The servants were notorious gossips. Even though nothing had actually happened, news of this encounter would be all over the castle by the morning. It figured.

An awkward silence ensued, which was thankfully interrupted by Emma.

“Thank you so much for the advice,” Emma said. “And for the listening ear.”

“It was my pleasure. You’re meeting with my mother tomorrow?”

“Yes, in the drawing room at ten.”

Leo nodded. “It’ll be great. Just leave your gingerbread on a shelf in the pantry. I’ll arrange for one of the maids to bring it in.”

He would be there. And he would make sure his mother picked Emma’s idea. If it pissed off her boss, even better.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

LEO

Leo walkedinto the drawing room at 9:45 the next morning.

The queen looked up from her desk. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here,” Leo said.

“It’s good that you stopped in,” she said, ignoring his comment. “We need to chat. What’s going on with you and the baker?”

Bollocks. Either the servants’ gossiping had traveled fast, or she had actually paused to read the tabloids this week.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

She slid a paper across her desk. The picture of Leo stroking Emma’s hair in the bar was on the front page of a gossip rag. Damn.

“Beatrice brought this to my attention, and then I overheard the servants gossiping. So, what’s going on? And don’t lie, I don’t have time for it.”

The truth couldn’t hurt. At least part of it.

“Emma saved my life,” he said.

The queen looked up at him like he was insane.

“What do you mean?”

“I choked on something in the kitchen. No one else was around. She gave me the Heimlich.”

She leaned forward, continuing to look at him like he was crazy. “You almost died, and you didn’t think that you should mention it to your own mother? Did you see the doctor?”

“I’m fine.”

Not exactly the truth. He’d had more than one nightmare that he was suffocating since the incident.

The queen threw up her hands. “So she saved your life. Why were you out in public with her?”

“I took her to the carnival as a thank you.”