Page 56 of Royal Icing

The queen swiveled to look at him like she’d forgotten he was there. She probably had. Her expression was stormy, and she looked annoyed at the prospect of having to reconsider.

“In light of…recent revelations, I’ll give her one more chance. As long as I have your word that there’s nothing going on between the two of you.”

He shook his head. “There’s nothing going on between us.”

It was a snap judgment, and it wasn’t entirely the truth. Especially since he had kissed her and bared his soul to her last night. But this gig meant everything to Emma. He needed to protect her at all costs.

“She ran out into the storm without a coat on and fell into the lake. I pulled her out and helped her get warm. That’s all,” he added.

Another silence fell as she seemed to weigh his words. “Well. I do appreciate you avoiding an international scandal. But you should have called security to handle it. You could have been hurt.”

Leo bit back a retort. If she actually cared if he got hurt, she hid it well.

“Stay away from her,” the queen commanded when he didn’t say anything. “Trouble follows that girl, and we don’t need to give the press anything more to talk about. They should be focused solely on the ball.”

Leo nodded dutifully, but there was zero chance of him avoiding Emma until she left. He wasn’t sure what his feelings were at the moment, but he knew he wanted to get to know her better. She was so refreshingly honest, funny, talented…and maybe a little bit stunningly beautiful.

This conversation needed to end before he lost his shit. “I’m headed into town to check on the shelter. Make sure everyone still has power.”

“You’re not driving,” she ordered. “The roads aren’t clear.”

“No. I’ll take a kick-sled.”

The queen paused. “Thank you, Leo. Be safe. I don’t want to have to send the guard to pull you out of a ditch.”

Huh. That was probably the warmest thing his mother had said to him in a year.

He nodded at her and left. As he passed by the door to his suite, noises from John’s drew his attention.

There was a lot of grunting, some exaggerated moaning.

“Oh, god,” said a female voice. Definitely American. Well, that explained where Maya had disappeared to.

Two hours later, Leo pushed his kick-sled to the front door of their local representative of parliament and chained it to a bar outside.

He opened the door, and a receptionist curtsied and offered him a dozen kinds of tea before nervously dusting off a chair for him to sit on. Leo used the opportunity to glance over the gingerbread blueprints Kat had just handed over. It was totally doable, and with Emma’s artistic flair, it would be magnificent. Her dreams would come true. He would make sure of it.

“Your Highness,” a male voice interrupted.

“Henri.” They shook hands. “Thanks for seeing me. I was hoping we could chat about an upcoming project.”

Henri swept him into his office and closed the door.

“What do you have for me?”

Leo fired up a tablet and handed over the blueprints for the community charity project.

“I want to build this on the massive vacant lot over on the edge of town. The one that backs up to the mountain. But I know it’s going to be a tough sell to my parents.”

Henri swiped through the pictures, then leaned back in his chair. “You’re right. Have you thought about how you’re going to approach it?”

“The best-case scenario would be making them think it’s their idea. But short of that, I’m going to have to convince them another way. May I speak frankly?”

“Of course.” Henri looked a tad surprised.

“You’ve worked for them for a long time. What do I have to do to this project to make them say yes?”

Henri glanced at the tablet again. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to make this project generate income.”