“Morning,” she said, with some apprehension. “My father’s looking forward to meeting you today.” That was an utter lie, but she could hardly ignore the odd circumstance of her father being subject to Rigo’s inquisition.
Rigo looked surprised by her utterance. One of his brows lifted slightly, and she regretted her phony pleasantry. Those dark piercing eyes could see right through her. “I’m looking forward to meeting him too,” he said coolly. His tone implied that the pleasure would be a calculated one.
Time to change the subject. “I thought I’d found Francine Petrie on Alvona Street in Casteleone, but she’s moved away.”
His expression darkened. “How did you track her to Alvona Street?”
Panic flared in her chest. She didn’t want him to know that she’d asked her father. “Old phone directory. Out of date.” Squiggles screeched from her bag. Probably playing the role of her conscience. Why did being around Rigo make her nervous enough to tell fibs?
He looked right at her, which made her soul shrink back. “Maybe check a more recent phone book.” One brow lifted slightly.
She nodded. “Sure.” He knew she was lying. Did they even make phone books anymore? “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Aren’t you the perfect lady-in-waiting?” His eyes glittered with black humor.
“And you’re kind of the boss from hell, but I’m trying to roll with it.” She shot him a challenging stare, also with humor. He didn’t like her kowtowing to him, so how did he like her being sassy?
A smile tugged at his reluctant mouth and deepened a stray dimple on one cheek, but barely managed to pull it out of its usual dour shape. “I’ve never been accused of being nice. In my profession a reputation for being an ogre is an advantage. It makes opponents more likely to settle.”
“I can imagine.” Once again being around Rigo was getting her flustered. Her heart beat faster and she could swear her nipples were standing to attention. How could she be attracted to such a beast? If he’d kidnapped her she could at least blame it on Stockholm syndrome, but she’d come here of her own free will.
Or at least her father’s. “I’d better get back to work.”
“Indeed.”
She could feel his eyes on her as she exited, skirt swishing around her ankles. At least he hadn’t said anything about her clothes being unprofessional. At the law firm she’d worked at in Zurich they’d issued a no-ruffles edict after she’d worn one particularly festive upcycled confection. What was the point of living if you couldn’t express yourself? “Right, Squiggles?”
Squiggles wasn’t wild about self-expression. He was clearly happiest when curled up in a bag.
Bella came out to say hello when her father arrived for his interview, then hurried back to her work where she finally finished organizing the Altacord files up to the present day. They were every bit as boring each year, with minimal to no profits regardless of what the world economy was doing. She couldn’t imagine why her dad even bothered with the company. Some years it even lost money, especially in the last decade. Maybe diamonds were going out of style?
She closed up the box, saved her database, then opened a blank version of the same file, ready for her next project. She attempted a few more searches on Francine, using local church archives, and discovered that Francine had been baptized forty-six years ago and was married and then divorced—both a long time ago—but there were no clues to her current whereabouts.
Rigo’s minions had already bought in at least ten file boxes from another Altaleone company called Reisener. A quick glance suggested that it was a vineyard that bottled its own champagne. Yawn! And she wasn’t surprised to see her father’s name on the list of directors. Double yawn.
She was just entering the details from 1971 and counting the minutes until she could go home and see her animals when she heard her father’s voice in the hallway. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”
She heard him stride across the marble floor with even more purpose than usual. Since he made no effort to come into her room and even his footfalls sounded enraged, she decided to lie low.
Rigo swept in, and she avoided looking up for a moment, not wanting to see his face contorted with rage or indignation at her father.
But when she glanced up he was smiling.
“What?” The word burst out of her mouth before she had time to think. She wanted to know what the heck he was smiling at when her father had stormed out of here in a fury.
“Very interesting.”
“My father didn’t seem to think so.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. He’s not happy about someone peeking into his private world, with its stone walls and gates and nondisclosure contracts.”
Her stomach clenched. “What did you learn?”
“Nothing conclusive.” His smile belied his words. “But I’m confident we’re heading in the right direction.”
She wanted to protest that her father couldn’t be guilty of murder, but even the idea of uttering it aloud seemed to incriminate him, so she held her tongue.
Rigo left before she came up with a way to change the subject. She was trying to forget the whole exchange and get back to her files when Beatriz wandered toward her carrying a clipboard. “I’m putting you down as Rigo’s date for the wedding.”
She’d never heard a worse idea in her life. “I don’t think he’ll like that.”
“I know, but we all need to walk in pairs in the procession. He won’t invite someone and he’d have a fit if I set him up with some eligible young damsel, so it looks like you’re the best option.”
“Because I’m not an eligible young damsel?” She wanted to be clear on that. Part of her felt a little indignant.
“You’re palace staff. It would be indecent of him to…interfere with you.”
“Quite.” She sounded as prim as she could. “So I just have to walk in the procession with him?”
“And sit next to him during the ceremony, the dinner, etc.”
“Great.” Her heart plummeted into her belly. Not only would Rigo be grumpy and miserable about having his valuable time wasted—the festivities would no doubt go on all day and all night—but she’d be tormented by her strange and inappropriate attraction to him.
At least his head was so far up his own rear end he probably wouldn’t notice her being weird.
“Have you been to a royal wedding before?”
“I attended Emma and Darias’s wedding last year with my father. I’m sure it’ll be wonderful.”
“I hope so. Sandro and Serena are just too stinking adorable.” Beatriz’s mouth quirked into a half smile. “Though all the planning involved rather makes me want to elope. Anyway, I wanted to get you on board. No need to say anything to Rigo.”
Beatriz was gone before she could protest. Great. Now she was Rigo’s surprise wedding date. That wouldn’t be at all awkward…
When five o’clock finally rolled around she picked up Squiggles and headed for Rigo’s office to tell him she was leaving. As she neared his closed door Rigo’s voice stopped her in her tracks.
“So I asked him about the diamond mine in Africa, and he blustered a little then admitted his ownership.” Bella sucked in a breath. She knew her father owned a part share in a diamond mine in South Africa. She heard another male mumble something. “Exactly. Then when I asked him about the murder there he almost turned purple.”
“Guilty?”
“Of something. The man who died was their top accountant. Maybe he was about to blow a whistle. They blamed it on a local criminal gang, but it seems too convenient to me.”
Bella frowned. What did a mine in South Africa have to do with any of this? Her father rarely went there and even then she suspected it was just to enjoy a safari. He’d hardly get on a plane to go kill someone.
Still, instead of knocking on the door, she turned and fled before someone could open it. She wasn’t sure who the other man was but likely Darias or Gibran. Or maybe Sandro. Perhaps they all thought her fat
her was a vicious criminal with blood on his hands. Maybe they’d talk about him over dinner, speculating on how he’d done it.
Then they’d expect her to sit next to Rigo and smile all day at the stupid wedding.
I quit!
She wanted to yell the words at the top of her lungs.
But Squiggles snuffling in her bag reminded her of how much was at stake. She needed a job to support herself and her animals and she’d better find a new one before quitting this one.
She walked home as fast as she could, clutching Squiggles to her chest so he wouldn’t bump around, wondering who in Altaleone would hire someone who’d left a job at the palace because it “wasn’t working out.”
Her phone rang as she unlocked the door to her house. She glanced at the number then answered with a mix of curiosity and panic. “Dad, what happened today?”
CHAPTER NINE
“A ridiculous example of royal overreach. Rigo Leone’s father would be ashamed of him!” Bella’s father’s voice boomed with outrage.
“Rigo’s trying to solve his father’s murder.”
“By accusing his father’s closest friends?”
“Did he accuse you of the murder?” She held her breath, waiting for his response.
“Not exactly, but he brought up things he has no business prying into. That affair in Kloef had nothing to do with me and he knows it.”
“What affair in Kloef?” Why did she always feel in the dark about everything? “Where is that?”
“South Africa. It was nothing, really.” She heard her father light his cigar. “An accountant was murdered. It’s a lawless place. Like the Wild West. People are killed every day.”
Bella realized she was still holding her breath so she let it out slowly. “Do you own the company?”
“I’m one of fifteen directors. I barely remember the place exists on a day-to-day basis. You need to get your boss to back off.”
“But surely he’ll realize you’re not guilty of anything and leave you alone?”
“Unless he decides to sink his jaws into me and hang on like a pit bull. He’s a dangerous man in the courtroom. Everyone says so. You need to get him off me.”
“How am I going to do that?”
“Distract him.” In the pause she could almost see him puffing on his cigar. “Kiss him. Make him fall in love with you.”
“Dad! I can’t do that. For one thing, he’s a prince and for another, he’s my boss.”
“He’s a man. Don’t underestimate your beauty, Bella.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“To show you how serious I am, if you kiss him I’ll give you a hundred thousand euros.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not. You could use the money for your animal sanctuary. You know I’m good for it.”
“I thought you didn’t want to support me financially any more. Which I get, believe me. I’m mature enough to support myself.”
“This isn’t me just handing you money. It would be payment for…services rendered.”
Her nerve endings snapped in revolt against the preposterous idea. Had she told her father that she’d kissed Rigo at the airport that time? Yes. She did mention it, when explaining that she didn’t think she’d get the job he was so excited about. So now he thought she could just kiss him again…
“I really can’t. I’m his official date at the wedding.”
There was a pause. Then her dad laughed. “Perfect. See? He’s already interested.”
“He had nothing to do with it. His sister Beatriz arranged it and told me not to tell him. I could lose my job.”
“With a hundred thousand euros you wouldn’t need your job.”
Bella bit her lip. Was she losing her mind? This idea was starting to seem less insane. She was planning to quit anyway, and with this money she could probably by a small cottage somewhere in the countryside with room for the animals…
“I still think this is a crazy idea but how would I prove to you that I kissed him? I couldn’t exactly whip out my phone and take a selfie.”
Her father considered this while puffing quietly. “You’d have to kiss him at the wedding, in front of witnesses.”
“But why? What do you get out of it?” She squinted as she tried to figure out his line of reasoning.
“I hardly think he’d kiss my daughter then send me to prison for murder.” His voice sounded confident.
“You don’t know him as well as I do.” She shook her head. “Even if I was crazy enough to try to seduce him, what if he rejects me, then fires me?” From where she stood, that was the most likely scenario.
“I need you to try. Do it for me. He’s going through the entire financial history of my companies, and you don’t seem to be able to do a damn thing to stop him.”
“But why do I need to? Are you hiding something?” She grew increasingly suspicious as they talked. Her father sounded like a madman clutching at straws—a guilty man. “You didn’t kill his father and grandmother, did you?”
“Of course not!” Her father’s voice exploded out of her phone. “But that doesn’t mean I want him digging into my business, either. Staying wealthy in this era of take-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor isn’t easy. You’ve lived a very comfortable life from the fruits of my labors in the past, and you can continue to do so if you can get him off my back. If not...”
He paused to pull on his cigar. “If not…what?” Her heart pounded.
“Don’t fill your head with information that can do you no good. A public kiss wins you a hundred thousand euros to fund your zoo.”
“It’s not a zoo, it’s a—”
“I have to go make some calls.” He hung up before she could reply. She realized he was probably calling some cronies to warn them what had happened. Maybe his fellow henchmen in the mysterious Cross of Blood society. They were all perfectly ordinary Altaleone citizens from what she could tell. Fabulously wealthy, yes, but hardly involved in some kind of criminal underworld.
Right?
And the idea of kissing Rigo? Ha. That would go down as well as if she tried to kiss a Nile crocodile. It was different at the airport because they were total strangers. Now he was her boss. She’d probably get her head bitten right off.
She knelt down on the floor and let her dogs and Ari run toward her and shower her with kisses, then she went into the bedroom and picked up a rather skittish and aggravated Martini. “What am I going to do, guys?”
With the money there’d be no more breaking the landlord’s rules.
And the idea of kissing Rigo again held a strange appeal. Even though they’d only kissed that one time, her body responded to him whenever he entered a room. His mouth could be hard and judgmental but also expressive and sensual. She had an odd feeling that another kiss with him would be downright explosive.
It couldn’t go anywhere, of course, but if she could pull it off she could leave the palace and get on with her life. Maybe it even would get him off her dad’s back. Altaleone society was small and close knit and family honor was taken very seriously. Rigo would move on to a more likely target, find the real killer, then soon enough he’d be back in New York, and she’d be running her animal sanctuary.
Then they could all live happily ever after.
Unless she blew it all—her job, the money, her reputation as a semi-sane person—with an ill-timed pass at the least romantic man on earth.
Rigo and Darias mounted their horses in their palace stable yard. Rigo’s was a big silver-gray mare, and Darias was on a solid chestnut. The groom swore they’d been in regular work, but Rigo wasn’t so sure. They were his dad’s favorite horses, the only two who hadn’t been sold due to sentimental reasons. Beatriz was obsessed with her own horse—you’d think she was training for the Olympics—and never rode either of them.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this. I haven’t ridden in years.” He was wearing some of his father’s riding clothes, which didn’t fit too well.
“On horseback?”
“Fastest way to get away from here. Our cars could be bugged. As could the palace garden. And there are certain matters I know you want kept secret.”
“Ah. Let’s wait until we’re further away.” Rigo squeezed his horse into a trot. Funny how you didn’t forget how to ride. He used to hunt with his dad when he was a kid. They trotted up the lane until the horses were warmed up, then eased into a steady canter.
Soon they were racing. “Why are you so competitive?” he yelled as Darias pushed past him.
“Why are you?” Darias yelled back as he spurred his horse into the lead.
“There’s no help for us. Let’s slow down and talk.” They eased down to a walk and gave their horses a long rein. Rigo was surprised to find he felt exhilarated after the gallop.
“Francine changed her name,” Darias said, easing alongside him. “Petrie was her married name.”
“When was she married?”
“Before she made her move on you. She was divorced by then. In the last year she went back to using her maiden name, Delvalle.”
“How did you find that out?”
“I went through some of dad’s private effects. There were boxes of old paperwork stored up on the top floor. He’d been sending money to her for years. The money went directly into a bank account, but it wasn’t a direct deposit so it stopped as soon as he died. I had Gibran’s expert find out the owner of the bank account and voilà. In the last year it changed from Francine Petrie to Francine Delvalle.
“I bet she wasn’t too happy to see her gravy train come to an abrupt end. Maybe that’s why she had to move. Bella said she was living on Alvona Street in Casteleone until recently but is gone from there now.”
“I’ll bet that’s why. And she never came forward to ask for money.” Darias stroked his horse’s neck.
“That would have taken more nerve than even she has. I can hardly believe that Dad was cheating on Mama with her the whole time. Any idea where she is now?”
Taming the Royal Beast (Royal House of Leone Book 6) Page 6