Page 96 of Tangled

Tristan extended his hand. “Maxence, old chap! Good to see you.”

The man smiled, and the heavens parted, and the angels sang.Jesus,herkneesactuallytrembled.He said, “Tristan, always a pleasure. You haven’t come round the palace for weeks. How have you been?”

Palace?Colleen’s brain stuttered so much that she barely noted the new guy’s British accent that was identical to Tristan’s.

Oddly identical.

Tristan had said that he knew the new guy, evidently named Maxence, from high school, so the often-discussed English teacher must’ve had a hand in Maxence’s accent, too.

“Can’t complain,” Tristan said. “Max, may I present my girlfriend, Colleen Frost, originally from Arizona.”

Girlfriend?

Before Colleen even had a chance to processthat,the divinely perfect specimen of a man gazed down at Colleen, and a delighted smile spread over his face.

Her brain fizzed like a shorted-out motherboard.

Maxence said, “A pleasure to meet you. My wife is from New Mexico and worked as a nurse in Phoenix.”

Colleen leaped at the easy conversation opportunity because nothing good was going to happen in her head. “That’s great! Which hospital?”

“Good Samaritan,” Maxence said.

“That’s agreathospital. I sprained my ankle really badly my freshman year of college and ended up in their emergency department, and they took x-rays there to make sure it wasn’t broken.Greathospital.”

The demigod’s smile seemed easy. “Where do you live in Phoenix?”

“I live in Tempe, over near Southwestern State University.”

“That’s quite a university.”

Yeah, he knew about it.“Oh, you betcha. It makes Playboy’s top ten list of party schools every year.”

“An excellent course of study for living in Monaco. How do you like it here?”

The people surrounding the three of them had turned inward to watch the new guy talking to Colleen.

Well, of course people were watching. New guy Maxence was so unearthly beautiful that he almost appeared angelic. There was something of the old-time movie stars about him, a classic, sophisticated handsomeness that couldn’t be bought or learned.

Even Colleen was a little smitten, though a part of her mind was hopping up and down and telling her to remember who she came there with.

One of the bodyguards, for that was who those burly guys surrounding him obviously were, leaned toward the new guy and whispered something.

Maxence blinked and looked at the ground, and then he looked back at Tristan and Colleen. “I am late to tonight’s function, so I’m afraid I must depart.” He shook Tristan’s hand again. “Bring her around the palace soon. I’m sure Colleen and Dree would have much to talk about.”

The three bodyguards and two more security guys who stepped out of the crowd formed a phalanx around Maxence, and they spearheaded his way toward and through one of the doors to leave.

The crowd that had gathered around them started talking in flustered excitement and began to disperse.

Colleen covered her mouth with her fingers as she asked Tristan, “So, who was that guy, and why is everybody acting so weird?”

He chuckled and whispered to her, “That was His Serene Highness, Prince Maxence, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, who literally owns the land you’re standing on and the air you’re breathing.”

“Oh.”Her chest fluttered, and the vibrations shook her brain. “He wasroyalty?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Horror.“I made an idiot of myself, talking about how Southwestern State is a party school.”