“What was that all about?” Lacey asked, coming up behind me. “Do you need me to crack some skulls?”
“You sound like me,” I said, hugging her around the waist.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said. “Now, forget Lady Bellatrix Hyphenate Whatever, and let’s give the Wales brothers a night they’ll never forget.”
We did our best, and I’ll wager Freddie returned the favor: I caught him the next morning tiptoeing out of Lacey’s bedroom. She immediately extended her trip—blowing off the beginning of her med-school semester in a giddy lather—and he rebooked the penthouse, and the two of them embarked on a full-fledged fling. Lacey particularly enjoyed the covert shenanigans of sneaking in and out of bars to avoid the paparazzi, although once she mistimed her exit and got caught in a shot with Freddie. Fortunately, he was blocking most of her body and all of her face, except for her ear, and a couple of curls. She bought four copies of the story, even though it included shots of him with two other girls under the headline FRISKY FREDDIE BLAZES THROUGH BLONDES.
“Isn’t it funny?” she’d said brightly. “It’s the perfect souvenir for when I’m back at school dissecting kidneys, or whatever, and I want to remember what it was like to be in Prince Frederick’s little black book.”
“That little black book is more like an encyclopedia at this point,” I said.
She grinned. “At least I’ll go down in history.”
Nick wasn’t as amused.
“You don’t think you’re being bit careless?” he asked Freddie one night shortly after Lacey returned to the States. The brothers were teaching me cribbage at Kensington. “You’ve spent the last fortnight leading around half of London, including my girlfriend’s sister.”
“Beats hiding girls under a blanket in the car,” Freddie said. “How long can you keep pretending you and Bex aren’t actually together? I’m even bringing Fallopia to Klosters and we barely know each other.”
“Then why bring her?” I asked.
“Her name is Fallopia. Father will hate her,” Freddie said patiently, as if this were too stupid to be discussed.
“It’s none of my concern if you burn hot and fast with these people we’ll probably never see again,” Nick said. “But Lacey is someone we care about. I’ve no interest in denying you the great love of your life, but if she’s not, then—”
“It was two glorious weeks, and everyone went home with a smile,” Freddie said.
“Then what about the next time she visits? And the one after that?” Nick asked. “What happens if Bex and I get found out? Leading Lacey on is one thing, but carrying on with her would make both Bex and Lacey look bad. The last thing we need is that stodgy old Mail columnist squawking that they have a royals fetish.”
“I know you’re the heir and I’m the spare, Knickers, but that doesn’t mean you’re also meant to be my nanny,” Freddie said. “Let me have my fun.”
“Not everyone would call baiting the press fun,” Nick said curtly.
“Screw Prince Dick.”
“I don’t mean him.”
“Why are you always bringing her up?” Freddie asked hotly.
“Why are you always forgetting?” Nick slapped his cards down on the floor.
Freddie slammed down his cards, stood, and angrily swiped his coat from the back of a flowered armchair. He disappeared out the door of the apartment with a bang.
Nick rubbed his eyes. I crawled over and hugged one of his knees to my chest.
“Lacey knows it was casual,” I promised. “And nobody recognizes her, and nobody even knows about us. They won’t put two and two together that she was out with Freddie. “
“It’s just…” He let out a frustrated breath. “We have to talk about something, and this isn’t the way I’d wanted to do it.”
My mind flashed to his arm around Ceres at Plush. My stomach sank. I really hate We have to talk. It never goes anywhere good, and for me, it brings back memories of the day Mom sat me and Lacey down on the couch and said We have to talk because Dad had a heart attack. I will never forget the sensation that if I opened my mouth, my own heart would come up out of it and land on the coffee table.
I steeled myself. “Talk about what?”
Nick tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear and tugged on it gently. “Well, you may not want to after that display, but I rather thought I’d like to bring you on the family Klosters trip at New Year’s.”
The longer I sat there in shocked silence, the more Nick’s amusement turned to nerves.
“Obviously, you don’t have to,” he said, fidgeting. “I just enjoyed your parents, and—”
“Yes, of course, yes. I want to,” I said happily. “You just caught me off guard.”
His face was a picture of relief. “I wanted it to be a surprise,” he said, folding me into his arms as we leaned back against the faded green love seat. “I did not want it to seem like Freddie goaded me into it, because he didn’t.”
“I believe you,” I said. “I’m just…I’m totally excited, but I also want to throw up a little. Is that lame?”
“I’d be worried if you weren’t slightly jittery,” Nick said. “It’s not like Father recently hit his head and woke up all cuddly.”
I snorted.
“Definitely do as much of that as possible,” he teased.
I elbowed him, he tickled me, and we spent a few minutes poking at each other and laughing until he finally caught both my wrists and gave me a long kiss.
“London stresses me out,” he said when we broke apart. “It’s full of people who want something from me, or expect something.” He smiled. “But Klosters is like Oxford. Ten minutes with the cameras and everyone leaves us alone.”
“Is there ever a time when you’re not looking for everyone to leave you alone?”
Nick rolled onto his back, carrying me with him until I was straddling his chest. “Right now?” he said, and tugged at my jeans with a wicked gleam.
I grinned and uncurled myself. “Race you to the Howard Bedroom. Last one there gets the lumpy side.”
“Oh no, that’s not on,” he said, leaping to his feet. “I know another secret passage you’ve not seen,” he shouted, tearing off in the other direction.
And indeed, I slept on the lumpy side. It was worth it.
*