Page 69 of Trained Royal

Timothy waved his hand. “No, not at all. We’ve finished.”

Patrick dropped to the seat beside Kieren, who looked worn out, and clasped his hand. “Are you okay?”

Kieren nodded, and Timothy said, “It’s been a heavy session.” The man stood. “Remember what I said, Kieren. Day or night.”

“Thank you,” Kieren murmured.

Timothy let himself out, but Patrick focused on Kieren. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Kieren laid his head on Patrick’s shoulder, and Patrick wrapped his arm around him as best he could. Steady breathing puffed against his neck, and he thought Kieren might have fallen asleep as quickly as that, but he spoke softly into the silence.

“We talked about Mum and Dad today.” He blew out a long breath. “They were such good people. Your parents remind me a lot of them.”

“Is that a good thing?” Patrick worried it was too close to home for him.

“It is. Mum would’ve loved you and your family. Dad would’ve pretended indifference, but he would’ve, too. As for Gabby, she would’ve probably tried to hit on one of your cousins.” He chuckled. “Probably would’ve managed it, too.”

It had been the most he’d spoken about his family, other than to explain what happened to them.

“What did they do? For jobs, I mean?”

“Mum was a nurse. She hated the long hours and the politics of it all, but she loved caring for people. Dad was a pilot for a company in London. He was on twenty-four-seven retainer, unless he was on holiday, and got paid extremely well for it. He’d flown the plane hundreds of times. There was no way he’d made an error like they said he did.”

“Was it his plane?”

Kieren shook his head. “The company’s plane. They had several, and they’d permitted Dad to use it for their holiday.”

Patrick said nothing, but the thoughts of what had happened to Freddie flew through his mind. Could there have been something wrong with the plane, and the company hadn’t wanted to admit it? They could’ve easily paid off people to say it was pilot error to ensure they weren’t held accountable for the crash. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do to help find out the truth. Although maybe he could speak to Christian. His cousin’s connections might help, or even Freddie’s connections, because he was sure Freddie had more people up his sleeve than even Uncle Andrew knew about.

“Let’s get you to bed. I think we could both do with a nap,” Patrick said.

Kieren lifted his head, his mouth curved. “A nap?”

Patrick pursed his lips.“Yes, a nap. No hanky panky.”

Kieren burst out laughing. “Hanky panky? Where did you get that from?”

“I can honestly say I have no idea.” Patrick frowned. He couldn’t remember where he’d heard it. “Probably a film or something.”

“If I sleep now, I might not sleep later,” Kieren said.

“Then I’ll wear you out enough later, and you can.” Patrick pecked his lips. “Come on.” He stood, helping Kieren to his feet, and they both staggered to the bedroom. Neither got undressed nor under the covers. Kieren lay on his back, and Patrick snuggled into his uninjured side, and they slept.

****

The days merged, and Patrick grew more concerned about Douglas’s appearance as time went on. The security team had been through every contingency, but something still didn’t feel right. He tried talking Douglas out of it or postponing it, but his cousin wouldn’t hear anything of the sort.

When the day dawned, they made their way to Windsor so Kieren could attend the security briefing. Patrick, however, went to find Freddie and found most of their group waiting for him.

“What took you?” George asked. “I was about to call it and eat your muffin.”

“Nice try,” Patrick said, grabbing the last chocolate muffin from the table. “I bet you’ve already had two if not three.”

George winked. “How is it my fault if my amazing man works at a cafe that sells such delicious baked goods?”

“It’s your fault because you hardly ever share!” Henry said.

“I do!”