Secrets of a First Daughter

by Cassidy Calloway

  The perfect guy. Except…

  “It doesn’t matter anymore,” I said dully. “Max is probably going to get the job with the British SIS division and move to London and date posh British girls with cute accents who don’t have National Disaster as a nickname.”

  “I think Max is smarter than that, Morgan. Give the guy some credit. And trust. In the meantime…” Mom flipped open a compartment in the burled wood panel of the limo and pulled out a brochure. “Here.”

  Le Cordon Bleu. London campus.

  “You should follow your dreams no matter where they take you. Even if you are the president’s daughter.”

  I launched into Mom’s arms and we hugged each other hard.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Parker escorted me back to my unmarked car since Mom would be heading to Buckingham Palace for a long (and guaranteed to be boring) state dinner with the queen. George waited outside the car, her hands folded in the deferential Secret Service stance. Her face, like Max’s when he was working as my agent, gave no hint of her feelings. She nodded to Parker for the handoff.

  “How’d it go?” she asked as she opened the car door for me.

  Agents never opened car doors for their protectees. George was more nervous than she let on.

  “Not bad,” I told her. “I think we’re in the clear.”

  She let out a breath.

  I climbed inside the car and George followed. Hannah was already inside, nibbling on a nail.

  “Well?”

  I gave her a thumbs-up.

  Hannah went limp with relief. “I thought we were in for it. I owe you big time, Morg.”

  “Nah, don’t worry about it. You’d do the same for me if you could.”

  “You’re an awesome friend, ya know?”

  “I know.” We cracked up and hugged.

  “It’s still early,” I said. “And our last night in London. What do you want to do?”

  “To tell you the truth, nothing without Rich. I’m gonna miss him so much.”

  “I miss Max, too,” I said quietly.

  It was too harsh being in London without our boyfriends.

  “Actually, plans have already been made for you both,” George said unexpectedly. “I’ve been instructed to take you to the London Eye.”

  “The London Eye? You mean that big Ferris wheel by the Thames River?”

  George nodded.

  “Wanna go, Hans?”

  Hannah shrugged. “Not really. It’s seems like the kind of a romantic thing to do with a boyfriend.”

  “Mom probably thought it’d be a treat for us, but I’m not feeling it, either, George. Why don’t you take us back to the hotel?”

  George got exasperated. “Come on, girls. Don’t let your crappy love lives ruin your last night in London.”

  “Uh, aren’t you supposed to be making us feel better?” I remarked.

  “So what if you don’t have boyfriends? Go see the sights one last time.”

  “I guess she’s right,” Hannah said reluctantly. “It’d be lame not to see at least one major tourist attraction before we leave.”

  “Fine,” I sighed. “We’ll go.”

  We wove through London traffic and crossed the Thames River to the South Bank. The London Eye glowed blue and white against the dusky sky like an enormous wheel of fire. Slowly it churned in a circle. George instructed the driver to swing the car to a cordoned off area right outside the front entrance. A sign on the entrance said THE LONDON EYE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC.

  Maybe that’s why George insisted Hannah and I go, because closing the attraction would be a major hassle and they wouldn’t have wanted the effort to go to waste. I supposed Hannah and I would go up on the Eye, take some photos of the London panorama, then be whisked back to the hotel for a night of British comedy on TV and a box of Wall’s ice lollies from room service—

  “Oh my god!” Hannah shrieked. “It’s Rich!”

  She’d jumped out of the car almost before it came to a full stop. Prince Richard grinned at her from the platform. He looked so hot in a blue pinstripe blazer and a crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the throat.

  My own heart leapt. Right next to him stood Max in low-slung jeans and a leather jacket.

  I scrambled out after Hannah and headed right into Max’s open arms.

  “I can’t believe you’re really here,” I said. “I thought you wanted to break up with me.”

  He pulled back, genuinely shocked. “Where’d you get that idea?”

  “Uh, when you said maybe we should take a break?”

  “I was trying to give you space,” he said. “You know, from all the pressure you’re under…and…stuff…”

  He trailed off when I started nibbling his earlobe. He was so cute when he got flustered.

  “How about I’ll tell you when I need space,” I said. “Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  “Morgan, guess what?” Hannah yelled from where she was squeezing Prince Richard. “Rich has reserved the entire wheel just for us! Isn’t that awesome?”

  “I thought we needed to celebrate,” Richard said with a cheeky smile that could melt the Eye’s steel struts. “Grandmum decided that she didn’t have the right to dictate who I date, and that she trusted my judgment in that respect. I think the president must have said something to her. She’s usually not so flexible.”

  “Oh, really?” I winked at Hannah. “That’s fantastic news. Mom comes through again.”

  “I have good news, too,” Max said. “I was offered a job with MI6.”

  “That’s so…great, Max.” I gave him a squeeze, keeping a brave smile on my face. “When do you start?”

  “Soon.” He brought his head down to mine and murmured, “Disappointed?”

  “A little.”

  “Don’t be. I’m assigned to their Washington, D.C., division.”

  “Max!”

  This time my hug nearly strangled him. Now that Mom had given me the green light to tell the world about Max, Brittany Whittaker’s evil blackmail scheme fell apart. What’s more, now that I’d finally come clean to Mom about what I wanted to do with my life, I could start looking at culinary schools once I got home. Everything was starting to fall into place.

  We boarded one of the Eye pods and settled in for a slow ride on the biggest bicycle wheel in the world. The spectacular view of nighttime London took my breath away—as did Max’s kisses every couple minutes or so. Richard and Hannah snogged their lips off for most of the ride. I snuggled into Max’s arms for the slow revolution over London, and reveled in feeling his heart thumping steadily against my back.

  I sighed. Life was just about perfect for the moment.

  “Uh-oh,” Max said as we headed downward to the landing platform. “Media.”

  Ugh. Moment over.

  A huge gathering of camera crews, paparazzi, and spectators waited below. George and the prince’s bodyguards had launched into crowd control. Flashes were already going off and we hadn’t even gotten off the Eye pod yet.

  I turned to Max. “It’s okay if you want to sneak away. I know you’re sick of the media zoo.”

  “I have a better idea.”

  Max took me firmly by the hand and helped me out of the Eye pod. Camera flashes bathed us in electric light.

  “No more secrets,” he said. “How about we really steal Brittany’s thunder by giving the London paparazzi an exclusive?”

  “What sort of exclusive?”

  “Let’s show them how much I love Morgan Abbott.”

  “Love?” Was I really hearing this? “You…are in love with me?”

  “Totally. One hundred percent head over heels in love with you, Morg. Have been ever since you led me on that goofy chase around the White House.”

  “Are you sure? I mean, life with me is one disaster after another. Then there’s the whole being a celebrity, and the security issues—”

  “Morgan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re babbling a
gain.”

  “I am?”

  He walked me to the edge of the Eye platform, in full view of the media and onlookers who had gathered to celebrity stalk. He took my face in his hands and gave me the most awesome kiss of my life. I barely heard the screams from the crowd, I was so in the moment.

  When the kiss ended, I heard the crowd gasp again.

  Prince Richard had taken Max’s lead and was kissing Hannah, too.

  And since we were being honest…

  “Hey, Max,” I whispered. “I love you, too.”

  The smile that lit up his face was brighter than the neon lights radiating from the London Eye. But mine felt even brighter.

  Like my future.

  About the Author

  Cassidy Calloway lives in New Jersey with her fat cat named Kennedy, but she loves visiting Washington, D.C. She wanted to be president of the United States when she grew up but decided to write about it instead. She has a passion for designer shoes and white-chocolate gingersnaps.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Also by Cassidy Calloway:

  Confessions of a First Daughter

  Credits

  Cover photograph © 2010 by Gustavo Marx/MergeLeft Reps, Inc.

  Cover design by Alison Klapthor

  Copyright

  SECRETS OF A FIRST DAUGHTER. Copyright © 2010 by Working Partners Limited. Series created by Working Partners Limited. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Calloway, Cassidy.

  Secrets of a First Daughter / by Cassidy Calloway.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: High school senior Morgan Abbott, the daughter of the president of the United States, tries to hide a secret romance and stay out of trouble on an official visit to London.

  ISBN 978-0-06-172442-8

  [1. Presidents—Family—Fiction. 2. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 3. London (England)—Fiction. 4. England—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.C13457Se 2010 2009049485

  [Fic]—dc22 CIP

  AC

  FIRST EDITION

  EPub Edition © July 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-201110-7

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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