Her Undercover Prince

by Carol Moncado

  Unless his family had fallen on hard times. Or if they’d lost their title for some reason. Then her father would have given him the job, but that would definitely not make him acceptable as a future son-in-law.

  With Martin, Tim and the team would have found something by the time he showed up in a couple of days. If there was anything to find, good or bad, she’d make sure she wasn’t informed. She wanted him to tell her himself.

  Well, if it was bad enough, she wanted security to protect her from him, but if, as she suspected, he didn’t have anything criminal in his background, she wanted to learn the good, the bad, and the ugly straight from the source.

  Jacqueline Grace watched until he rowed out of sight and wondered if she’d finally met the man for her.

  9

  Was there a gym in this place? Dave needed to hit something. Since Martin wasn’t an option, a bag would do.

  Or maybe a long run on the sand.

  Something to get his blood pumping and exhaust him to the point of being unable to think about Jacqueline Grace with anyone else.

  At least their date had been thwarted.

  He wanted her to be happy.

  He just wanted her to be happy with him, not some other man.

  After changing into workout clothes, he found Mr. Rappellino, who pointed him toward the gym. There wasn’t a punching bag, but he did find a treadmill. He ran until he couldn’t think straight.

  Maybe he could talk to King Edward. Ask for his blessing to court Jacqueline Grace. Maybe even tell him everything.

  No. Not until this whole thing was over. Hopefully once they got back from Sargasso he could wrap everything up. Tell Jacqueline Grace - and her father - the whole truth and see if it changed anything.

  But not if she’d already fallen for this drongo.

  Finally, he ran himself into oblivion. If he wasn’t careful, his legs would be too wobbly to carry him. After a long, hot shower, he went to the kitchen where he found his girl eating lunch with Jacqueline Grace and Kiara.

  Maybe he’d take Mary to do something. As long as he wasn’t seen with Jacqueline Grace, there shouldn’t be anyone trying to take his picture, not if the king was right and his face was obscured in the ones going viral. He’d wear a hat.

  Before he could mention it, Kiara said something about going down to the beach to play for a while before nap time. Mary’s enthusiastic response told him what she’d think about his suggestion to go to town. Maybe for dinner.

  Jacqueline Grace and Kirsten took the girls to the beach after lunch. Dave was going to go with them, but Tim called him aside before he could follow.

  They sat in the security office of the other building. Tim closed the door behind them.

  “What’s going on?” Dave asked as Tim sat at the desk.

  “Martin appears to be on the up-and-up.”

  “That’s good.”

  “The king wants to avoid the impression that Jacqueline Grace is dating anyone besides you for the time being.”

  Something unsettling occurred to Dave. “If I haven’t been identified, could she go out with him anyway? We have the same basic physical description. No one would really know it wasn’t the same guy.”

  Tim raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that what you want her to do?”

  Could the security guard have read him that easily? “Not necessarily, but if she suggests it, are you going to let her? I don’t know that I’d want her to go out with any guy we don’t know much about. Part of that whole bodyguard thing.”

  Tim gave him a knowing look. “I’m sure that’s all it is, right?”

  Dave didn’t squirm or respond except to look Tim in the eye.

  Tim chuckled. “Of course. If she asks, the answer will still be no. Her father wouldn’t stand for that. There’s no way to know if there’s another photo out there somewhere that has a good look at your face. If so, and then another picture with another man shows up? Not an option.” He leaned forward, his forearms resting on the desk. “Of course, you could have a long talk with her and... clear the air. Then perhaps she wouldn’t want to date him at all.”

  As Dave walked back up the house, Tim’s words stayed with him. Did the man know more than he let on? Could he know more than Dave wanted him to? It simply wasn’t possible.

  Was it?

  He started for the beach but stopped and went to his room instead. Using his tablet, he pulled up social media and hunted for the pictures of Jacqueline Grace. He needed to be sure no one could recognize him.

  After tapping through all the pictures he could find, Dave felt certain the king was right. Someone who knew him very, very well might suspect, but he doubted even his father would know for sure it was him.

  Maybe he should check in with his father again. Let him know about the pictures so his father could redirect anyone who asked.

  No. His father would likely do that anyway.

  Noises in the hallway told him the girls had returned from the beach and were protesting their nap time.

  Even from their protests, he knew it wouldn’t be long before they slept. He also knew going out there would just disrupt whatever was already in progress.

  After fifteen more minutes of poking around online, he left his room.

  Once again, he ran into Jacqueline Grace. This time, she was dressed in her bathers and some sort of wraparound skirt.

  “Headed to the beach or the pool?” he asked, glad he’d changed back into his bathers after his workout.

  “Pool. I was going to swim some laps then get some sun.” She headed for the stairs without inviting him to come with her.

  “Mind if I tag along?” So he’d invite himself. “I don’t think I want to swim after my run earlier, but the pool itself sounds nice.”

  She shrugged. “It’s a free country.”

  Despite the monarchy, he knew that was true. He followed her to the pool and stripped his shirt off, tossing it onto one of the lounge chairs. Despite being the middle of the summer, the water wasn’t so warm as to be in that spot between hot like a hot tub and cool enough to be just right.

  Rather than going down the steps at the end of the pool, he’d chosen to go in on the side where a seat had been built into it. When he stepped off, it was deep enough to go over his head. He let himself sink to the bottom then pushed back up and catch the seat with his hands, hoisting himself back onto it.

  With water running down his face, he used his hands to push his hair back. Leaning against the side of the pool, he propped his elbows up and let his legs float level with his hips.

  Jacqueline Grace lived up to her name as she dove into the deep end. She’d shed her skirt leaving a modest one-piece in its place.

  Dave knew his weaknesses, though. He probably shouldn’t have come in the first place, but the soak was just what he needed. He just couldn’t let himself stare at her.

  He was better than that.

  She was worth more than that.

  She deserved someone who saw that her beauty went far beyond skin deep.

  Had she ever swum so many laps? Jacqueline Grace didn’t think so.

  Dave wasn’t doing anything to unnerve her, except for being there. Every time she stopped for a moment or glanced at him as she turned her head to breathe, his head was back with his eyes closed.

  At least before he’d taken his shirt off she could imagine the six-pack abs she’d felt were simply a product of her imagination. No longer.

  But if he wasn’t going to stare at her, the least she could do was give him the same courtesy.

  Finally, she stopped and walked to the stairs using her towel to wrap around her before going to her lounge chair. She discarded it to sit down with her ereader and get back to the book she’d started on the plane the night before.

  She wouldn’t stay out too long, certainly not long enough to bother refreshing her sunscreen after her swim.

  The door to one of the rooms above her opened. “Jacquie?” Kiara’s sleepy voice drifted down. “Mary cryin�
��.”

  Jacqueline Grace grabbed her sarong and stood, tying it around her waist as she started for the door. “I’ll be right there.”

  She glanced at Dave to find he hadn’t moved. He must have fallen asleep. She left him alone for the moment, going inside to find Mary curled around a stuffed animal sniffling.

  Jacqueline Grace knelt next to her, brushing her hair back off her face. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  “Wan’ my mama.”

  It was the first time Mary had mentioned her mother in the days Jacqueline Grace had known her. She continued to softly brush her hair back. “I know you do.”

  “I love Daddy, but wan’ mama.”

  “I know.” Jacqueline Grace didn’t know what else to say.

  “I have lotsa daddies, but I love this one most.”

  Lots of daddies? What did that mean?

  She heard Kiara talking on the balcony but couldn’t make out the words. As she tried to comfort Mary, prayers winged their way heavenward.

  A minute later, Dave rushed in. Out of the corner of his eye, she noticed he hadn’t taken the time to dry off or even put his shirt back on.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, his question directed at either one of them.

  “She misses her mother.” Jacqueline Grace moved back as Dave closed in.

  He picked Mary up and took her onto the balcony, settling into one of the seats. It wouldn’t matter that he was still wet out there.

  Mary curled into him as he pulled her closer. Jacqueline Grace couldn’t hear what he said, but she seemed to calm down and eventually went back to sleep. Kiara had already curled up on the bed, dozing back off.

  Once Dave laid Mary down, he motioned for Jacqueline Grace to follow him into the hallway.

  “Has she done that before?” Jacqueline Grace asked him when he pulled the door mostly closed.

  He leaned against the wall and ran a hand through his hair. “A few times. Mostly she’s had trouble sleeping at night, but the last incident was several months ago. Honestly, at her age, I wondered if she’d forgotten her mother.”

  “Was she abused?”

  Dave shook his head. “Not really. I mean, not physically. She wasn’t neglectful, per se, and I’m not sure Mary’s old enough to have been emotionally abused, but what do I know?”

  Jacqueline Grace leaned against the opposite wall, wishing she had a better idea how to help. “She said something about having a lot of daddies.”

  “I got the impression her mother knew who her father was, but she had a series of boyfriends before me. They’d stay for a month or two. Mary would call them ‘Dad’ because that’s what her mother told her to do. Her mother thought it might help one stick around. It didn’t. I went on two dates with her. We met at a restaurant. She wasn’t drunk. She dressed nicely. Her car was older but clean. There weren’t any ‘I’m a serial dater and about to abandon my kid with you’ signs.”

  He started walking toward the stairs. “The day after our second date, she called me, panicked. Her babysitter had backed out at the last minute, and she needed someone to take care of Mary. When she hadn’t come back by the next morning, I started looking around. Her room had clearly been emptied of most of her clothes. She didn’t have a toothbrush in the bathroom.”

  Back outside, he grabbed his shirt off the chair and sat down. “I called in a few favors and gained temporary custody. No one knows where her mother went. She’s just gone.”

  “When was that?” They sat down in their lounge chairs.

  Dave leaned his head back. “A little over a year ago. About the time of the Games of the Sargasso Sea. Your brother’s sister-in-law was still all over the news but hadn’t been found yet. The house where she was held wasn’t too far from Mary’s. Since then we’ve lived in my bungalow. I couldn’t pay the rent on both places and didn’t want Mary to remember where her mother had abandoned her.”

  “You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty for someone her mother dated twice.”

  “I couldn’t abandon her to the system. The foster care system is far better in San Majoria than many places, but I didn’t want that for her.”

  She reached over and rested a hand on his arm. “She’s blessed to have you.”

  “I’m the blessed one. I can’t imagine my life without her. She might not be my biological child, but I can’t imagine loving a child that is any more than I already love Mary.” He gave a wistful smile. “I remind her we’re fair dinkum. It’s Australian for genuine. She and I. We’re fair dinkum.”

  Jacqueline Grace felt half a smile slide onto her face. “Whoever you end up with someday, whoever Mary calls mother for the rest of her life, is a very lucky lady in more ways than one.”

  She just wished there was a chance it could be her.

  10

  The warmth on Dave’s arm didn’t come just from the sun. Jacqueline Grace’s hand still rested on his forearm. He didn’t want her to move it.

  He’d abandoned almost everything when Mary became his ward. It had even occurred to him to get his father to help him, but in the end, he hadn’t needed to go that route.

  Quite simply, Mary was the best thing that ever happened to him.

  Telling Jacqueline Grace about the summer before reminded him of the suspicions he’d had at the time. It wasn’t anything he could put his finger on, but something made him wonder if Mary’s mother had been involved with the disappearance of Gracie, Prince Kensington’s sister-in-law. She’d known Isaiah. He couldn’t explain the feeling he had, but he might mention it to Tim.

  Jacqueline Grace removed her hand. “I don’t think I’m going to take Kiara to the festival tomorrow night after all. I found out my father has arranged for us to visit an orphanage in Ravenz-by-the-Sea. We’ll be spending the night near there then visiting with Queen Christiana and Duke Alexander the next morning. I’m not even certain I’ll be back for my date with Martin.”

  That news surprised him more than the news of the secondary trip did. “I didn’t think you were allowed to go out with him.”

  “He’s coming here. We were going to have dinner on the beach.” She groaned. “I don’t even know how to get a hold of him to let him know I might not make it.”

  How disappointing. “When do we leave?”

  “First thing in the morning. We’ll stop about halfway for breakfast then continue to Ravenz-by-the-Sea. We’ll help organize their rummage sale, eat lunch with them, help some more, then take a helicopter to Corsisnos and the capitol city of Pagosa. We’re staying at the palace overnight.”

  Another palace with another royal family. What could go wrong?

  He simply nodded until another thought occurred to him. “Is this one of those official visits where there’s pictures and publicity?”

  “At the orphanage or the palace?”

  “Either.”

  “I’m sure there will be some photos taken at both places, but neither will be announced or have news coverage that I’m aware of.”

  Good.

  His phone buzzed with a text message from Kirsten that Mary was awake and asking for him, though she wasn’t crying. He left Jacqueline Grace sitting outside.

  The rest of the day was spent separately. Even dinner was eaten apart from the princess and her ward.

  In the morning, they assumed their usual spots in the SUV. Mary and Kiara whined about not having their scones for breakfast. Mrs. Rappellino put some in a container to take with them for a snack later.

  When they reached the orphanage, Dave was impressed with how modern it seemed and said so.

  The director explained. “A few years ago, this area was hit hard by a Medicane...”

  “A what?” Jacqueline Grace asked before he could go on.

  “It’s basically a hurricane, but the water isn’t quite warm enough for it to officially have that designation.”

  She nodded, being plenty familiar with the damage hurricanes could do.

  “Half the town was isolated when the bridge
collapsed. The old orphanage was flooded and not in the best repair even before that. Thanks to a grant and some fundraising done by Princess Anastasia of Montevaro and her husband Dr. Jonah, we were able to build modern, state-of-the-art facilities and expand our services.”

  He gave them a tour, meeting a couple of the younger children who weren’t off on a three-day-trip to a resort on Corsisnos. In the winter, there was skiing, but in the summer other activities abounded.

  Dave wondered if they could go there instead of the palace. It sounded much more fun.

  They spent the morning helping sort clothes into piles by size. Even the girls helped once they were told what to do. They knew enough of their numbers and letters to be a big help.

  When lunch rolled around, they ate in a dining hall that was more dining room than cafeteria, though significantly larger than most dining rooms.

  There were only about six kids there, all between the ages of three and six. Mary and Kiara loved having other kids with them. Both of the girls, along with several of the other children, napped while Dave and Jacqueline Grace continued to organize.

  “So you won’t keep the clothes for the children here?” she asked the director as she helped carry a table across the room where the sale would be held.

  “Anything that’s left we probably will, or we’ll send them to a sister orphanage on the other island. For the most part, we have what we need right now, but we do try to keep an assortment on hand for when children are placed in care with only the clothes on their backs.” They set the table down.

  Jacqueline Grace started to arrange the clothes meant for that one while Dave went to help with another table.

  “Most of our children here are short-to-medium term temporary placements. Perhaps their only parent has died and there’s nowhere else for them to go for the next couple of days. Princess Anastasia adopted a little girl from here. Her father had died several years earlier. Her mother was quite ill. We took care of Staci whenever her mother was in the hospital.”

  “That’s one happy ending.” Could it be called a happy ending when she’d been an orphan - no matter who adopted her?