I was so tired, but I needed to deal with Princess Ambrose, so as soon as Geoff parked at work, I limped to my office, flopped onto my chair, picked up the phone, and punched in the number I had on file for her.
“Sylvia speaking,” a high-pitched, annoyingly squeaky feminine voice answered.
“Mackenzie Little. I’m calling you on behalf of the Texan congress, who reviewed your letter during this morning’s session. As you have already signed a contract agreeing to the same conditions as His Royal Majesty of Montana, your requests are being denied. Furthermore, if you want to make any requests from the congress in the future, you’re going to have to get a written approval from Their Royal Majesties of Texas. This is an important part of the political season here, as I’m certain someone of your status is aware, so congressional time is restricted to critical matters.”
“How dare you!”
“I haven’t done anything, Princess Ambrose. The congress read your letter and voted. I’m merely the voice of the congress in this matter. The congress did have a secondary discussion, and should you disagree with the terms you already signed, you’re welcome to withdraw from the auction without penalty.”
“You’re doing this on purpose.”
“I’m doing this because I’m required to, Your Highness. I was appointed to head the auction committee after you agreed to participate despite not knowing the full terms, which are currently in progress of being drafted and vetted by lawyers.”
“I don’t care about that,” she snapped.
I wanted to bang my head into my desk until I knocked myself out. “What do you care about then, Your Highness?”
“Winning Montana.”
Had no one told her about the edict barring her from his auction? I could understand why. Still, if she was unaware, I was going to enjoy popping her bubble, and I’d leave the fallout for a certain man in Montana to deal with. “I can’t give you the impossible, Your Highness. You entered the auction as a primary. You can’t enter his auction, nor can he enter yours. That defeats the purpose.”
“Change it,” she ordered.
“I can’t. That requires a motion to pass through the Texan congress, Montana’s congress, and the royal families of both kingdoms.” It wasn’t really a lie; I already had proposals in place requiring those measures to protect His Royal Majesty’s interests.
Too bad I’d learned the truth a little too late, setting myself up for a great deal of embarrassment, as the Texan congress would enjoy bequeathing a bunch of fake goats to His Royal Majesty so he’d take me off their hands and make me Montana’s problem.
And I’d go along with it because no matter how angry I was, I wouldn’t be able to say no. I’d regretted his loss since before I’d known Mireya would be born.
Damn it.
“That’s absurd!”
She had no idea how right she was. “My hands are tied, Princess Ambrose. There will be plenty of suitors who can forward your—”
She hung up on me, and I allowed myself a triumphant laugh, returning the phone to its cradle. As he’d done since I’d humiliated myself fainting, Geoff took a position in the hall beside my doorway, and I had no doubt he’d heard every word of what I’d said.
“She’s blaming me. Aren’t you surprised?”
“I’m not surprised, and as the head of your security detail, I’m concerned.”
“For who? Because seriously, if she shows up here, you’re going to have to restrain me, Geoff. I have a known history of assault when it comes to her.”
“That’s also a concern,” he admitted.
“You think she’s going to try something. To me.”
“I know she’s going to try something. And yes, to you. To her, you’re a direct obstacle for what she wants. No matter how many times you tell her congress has sway over the auction, you’re the organizer. And you do, as you said, have a history of assaulting her.”
“I regret I hadn’t hit her harder.”
“I’m sure a lot of people do.”
“Can I be a pest, Geoff?” I batted my lashes at him. “Pretty please?”
“What do you want?”
“Coffee.”
“Are you going to run out your office and try to find out if you can drive with a boot?”
I widened my eyes. “Was it that obvious?”
“You have work to do, Mackenzie. I run faster than you do, I know where your car is parked, and I can take the stairs faster than you can take the elevator.”
“Really?”
“I’m very good at sliding down railings and jumping down steps.”
“I want to put this to the test.”
“No.”
I slouched in my seat. “I don’t want to deal with a pain in the ass princess. I don’t want to deal with a pain in the ass king.”
“If you try to run, I will catch you, toss you over my shoulder, and return you to your office. Get your work done, Mackenzie. Now is not the time for your flight tendencies to kick in.”
Louisa strode into my office with coffee, which she set on my desk. “I could hear you whining for coffee in the reception. No, you can’t run away from work today. You have a call in twenty minutes.”
“With who?”
“Someone.”
That Louisa hadn’t informed me who wanted to speak to me meant one thing: the father of my daughter had something to say to me. I took a sip of my coffee, looked my boss’s secretary in the eyes, and said, “No.”
“You can’t refuse his calls.”
“Like hell I can’t. And I will, too. I will turn snubbing him into an art. If he wants to talk to me, he’s going to have to walk through that door and face me like a man. And even then, no. I will turn escaping into an art, Louisa. I’m going to practice escape methods with Geoff until I’m a world champion sprinter.”
Geoff stared at me, his mouth hanging open. “What?”
Louisa sighed. “You’re going to cause an international incident, Mackenzie.”
“I don’t care. If that smug bastard wants to talk to me, he can come in here and talk to me like a real man, to my face. Geoff, I’m going to need one of those sticks the cops use.”
“A billy club? Why?”
“So when he struts in here like the smug bastard peacock he is, I can bash his legs out so he grovels.”
“I know you dislike royalty sometimes, Mackenzie, but what do you have against His Royal Majesty of Montana? He was so very polite on the phone, and he even made sure he wouldn’t interfere with your schedule at all. He was happy to wait until next week if you were busy. He’s such a gentleman.”
“He’s a daughter charming snake.”
Louisa’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
“In twenty minutes, you said?”
“Yes. He’ll call you.”
I drummed my nails on my desk. “Is there a list of interested and handsome royal bachelors for the final slot in the auction?”
“We have a photo gallery of them, yes.”
Payback would be a sweet affair involving eye candy. “I’m going to need it for this call.”
Geoff hung his head. “You’re planning something.”
“I’m also going to need a handful of single women from the office to help me browse through the offerings. I might have an idea.”
Why only select one eligible bachelor seeking a future queen when I could select more than one? If I played my cards right, I could pick a leader of the pack and keep the main auction balanced and flush out the rest of the festivities with enough gorgeous men to draw attention from wealthy women around the world.
“I know a few employees who are single. What ages?”
“Give me the full spectrum. Geoff, I’m going to need a few extra chairs for this call.”
“You’re playing with fire,” he warned.
“Good. He deserves to get burned.”
“And what about you?”
“You’re joking, right? I’ve already been burned. I’m just making sure I�
�m not some little poppet he can make dance to his tune!”
“You mean puppet.”
I blinked. “Oh. You’re right. I did mean puppet, didn’t I?”
“You’re very pretty, but you’re no little girl,” my bodyguard replied, chuckling and shaking his head. “I’ll get you some extra chairs. Please don’t run away.”
“I can’t run away now. I have a plan. I don’t need to run away when I have a plan.”
“Do I want to know what the goal of this plan is?”
I flashed Geoff my best smile. “I’m going to torture him. I’m going to torture him so much he crawls across the carpet and begs me to have mercy on him.”
“Heaven help him, as he’s going to need all the help he can get,” Louisa muttered and retreated from my office to wrangle a herd of single women so I could teach Mireya’s father a lesson.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The world was occupied by gorgeous royal men looking for a fling or more, and I had an entire binder full of them and four women willing to help me admire the offerings. I tossed every last one of my regrets and hesitancies out the window from page one, which included a spread of twenty-five young men looking to do their royal duty for their kingdom and find a wife.
I had signed agreements from each and every one of them expressing their interest in participating in the auction. Louisa had even sorted them by their interests, ages, and appearances. I had a full spectrum of men, including the ugly, the average and model perfect.
My helpers swarmed my desk and stared at the collection with flushed cheeks and wide eyes.
“These are all princes?” the youngest of my volunteers squeaked, an intern for the marketing department on the third floor. I could probably put Gabrielle on the stage for the princes and get a very handsome charity contribution.
I grinned as it occurred to me I could do just that; I could have the eligible bachelors contribute to charities to cover the entries of interested women from lower castes who couldn’t afford the entry fees.
“Every last one of them.” I flipped through the pages, counting through the spreads. “Seventy-seven of them, ranging in ages of nineteen to fifty-two. He’s a widower looking for a woman, and he requested women over forty only.”
Gabrielle pointed at one of the men. “He’s hot.”
I chuckled. I’d never been a fan of blonds, but I had to agree with her. He’d either been born a beauty or had an excellent plastic surgeon. “His Royal Highness of Illinois.” I flipped through the binder to find out more information about him. “Twenty-one, unconfirmed but suspected empathic leech, other talents unknown. He was, until recently, in a long-term relationship with an elite from his home kingdom. There’s a note his father and mother encouraged his attendance, but he has agreed to participate of his own free will.”
The personal note from him made me laugh. “He says if he’s going to be looking for love in all the wrong places, he may as well help a charity at the same time.”
My volunteers all giggled, and I removed the sheet from the binder and handed it to Gabrielle, who snatched it in her eagerness for a closer look. “He’s even prettier in this picture.”
“You think I should invite this one?”
“Can I be in the office when you interview him?”
I slid the binder in her direction. “I think I can manage something, if I can get your boss to approve a day in my service every now and then. What I need you ladies to do is pick the cream of the crop. Make it between looks, pedigree, and wealth. Pick on your gut instinct.” A quick glance at the clock revealed I had less than five minutes to pull together a list. “I’m expecting a phone call in five minutes, and I need you ladies to be very vocal on how nice the offerings we have to choose from are.”
“This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever done at work,” the eldest of my volunteers confessed, a widowed mother who didn’t even want a new man in her life. She had three sons, and that was enough for her. I appreciated Paula’s candor that she enjoyed being single.
However, I appreciated her willingness to go along with the insanity for no other reason than I’d asked for her help.
The other two young women I didn’t know, but they worked in the marketing department with Gabrielle.
“Wait until you find out who we’re going to be talking to on the phone. Geoff, close the door please.”
My bodyguard sighed but obeyed.
“Who is it?” Gabrielle chirped, looking up from the binder.
“His Royal Majesty of Montana, and our goal is to make it clear he’s not the only desirable being invited.”
Four pairs of wide eyes stared at me.
“Pretend you’re absolutely not impressed by him. Ideally, you’ll make commentary about the eligible bachelors while I pitch this additional secondary auction.”
“This is so cool,” Gabrielle whispered. “We’re going to be on the phone with a king.”
A tap at my door drew my attention, and Jessica waved at me. I sighed. “And you’re about to be in the same room with a queen. Do not scream, please. Or squeal. Actually, you can squeal, but only about men in that binder.” Lifting my hand, I waved her in.
“Hi, Mackenzie and friends,” Jessica sang out, striding inside and closing the door behind her. “Did I miss it?”
“Ask Geoff to get you a chair.”
“I’ll stand, it’s fine. I’ve been sitting all day.”
“You haven’t missed the call, and if you’re going to be in here bothering me, you need to join the ladies in admiring the royal offerings for our auction. His Royal Highness of Illinois has several fans.”
“He’s a little devil, but he’s the sweetest devil on the wrong side of the Mississippi,” Jessica announced. “If he were a few years younger, I’d consider a petition for Laurette from him. Why are we gossiping about the royal offerings?”
My volunteers gawked at the queen, but as directed, none of them squealed. Grinning, I pointed at the binder. “I have a proposal for His Royal Majesty of Montana, and it involves my lovely volunteers confirming there are plenty of fantastic young men I can headline in a secondary auction, including His Royal Highness of Illinois.”
My phone rang, and Jessica perched on the edge of my desk, took the binder, and flipped through it.
I pressed the speaker button, and Jessica picked that moment to declare, “You know, Mackenzie, I think you’re right. Some of these royals are breathtaking. I bet that stud from Illinois would love to get in on the competition for you.”
I cleared my throat. “Mackenzie Little’s office, Mackenzie speaking.”
“Good afternoon, Mackenzie Little,” my daughter’s father murmured, his tone dangerously close to a purr. I scowled at his well-aimed barb of using my full name. “I’m glad I was able to get a hold of you on such short notice.”
He hadn’t gotten a hold of me yet, not in the way his subtle deepening of his tone implied he wanted. “It’s perfect timing. I have a proposal I want to pass by you, one that’ll push Texas and Montana to the center of the global stage for the auction.”
“Don’t underestimate the influence of your auction already, Mackenzie Little.”
“Had I known His Royal Majesty of Illinois was so pretty, I would’ve made him the prime candidate for the auction. He’s going to inherit a kingdom, he’s wealthy, he has a reputation for being charming and outgoing, and he’s an unconfirmed but probable empathic leech. He’s going to draw women from around the world hoping to be his one and only. Once I add in a secondary auction for nine other princes, Texas will be in the spotlight. Ladies, who do you think our number two pick should be?”
“His Highness Augustus Kalrisim of Italy,” my volunteers chorused.
Jessica threw her head back and laughed. “Your team is brilliant, Mackenzie. What an excellent choice. He’s a widower, he’s been interested in finding a new wife for years, and he has an excellent bloodline. Maybe I should trot you out in front of him. He’d probably pay a fortune for a cha
nce to date you. His daughter’s one of your daughter’s classmates, and I’ve already gotten several calls asking if she’d like to visit Italy over one of the breaks. I told him I’d talk to you. He’d be honored to host both of you for a weekend so he can show you his kingdom.”
My eyes widened. “Me? Go to Italy?”
“Perfect. I’ll let him know you’re interested.”
“You’re an evil woman, Jessica,” William Dylan Niell complained.
“Yes, I am. Good ideas and excellent job performance deserve a reward, and Miss Little trounced Her Highness of New York this morning.”
“I see. Should I be concerned?”
I smirked. “Only by the competition, Your Royal Majesty. I’m not even sure how to describe them. Ladies?”
Gabrielle sighed. “Incredible.”
Her friends chorused, “Sexy.”
I prayed Paula was a lot more rude about it. She canted her head at me, and I nodded so much Jessica reached over and held my head steady.
The older woman chuckled. “I’d risk adding a fourth kid to the mix for one of these men. Where’d you find them, Miss Little?”
“Heaven, I think. Actually, Jessica found them for me, didn’t you?”
“I may have played a small role in the collection of incredibly sexy princes for your enjoyment.”
I smiled at the queen. “And I’ll have to work with them all intimately to plan the auction, won’t I?”
I even added a hint of Texas drawl, just enough to make it indecent.
“Over my dead body!” my daughter’s father snarled before hanging up.
Victory was sweet, and it belonged to me. I threw back my head and cackled. “Thank you, ladies. You have made my week.”
Gabrielle glanced at the queen and bit her lip. After some thoughtful chewing, she asked, “What just happened?”
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