Page 76 of The Prince of New York

“I have been sprayed a few too many times by male cats,” I informed him in a solemn tone. “And one of those cats shouldn’t have been spraying. He no longer had his balls, supposedly. Let’s just try to find spayed females for the sake of my sanity.”

Madelyn snickered. “That’s the same reason I picked girls for my kitties. I went to meet the kittens when I got Bumble, and Bumble’s father sprayed me. That ended any desire for me to have male cats. The poor breeder was horrified, as he had never sprayed someone like that before. It’s uncommon, but it can happen.”

“What breed is Bumble, anyway? She’s soft, she’s fluffy, and I must confess, I do love her,” I informed her in a solemn tone.

“Bumble is a ragdoll. Back when I was young and stupid, I accepted a bribe of a purebred cat. Mirage is a shelter cat, a ragdoll mix. We’re going to need to get litter boxes and other things for them.”

Monty grinned. “We already have an order in for robotic litter boxes for all the royal suites, as Terry anticipated there would be cats in most suites, either visiting or living within them. California also has the same style of boxes, and all rooms with cats living in them will have special air purifiers to limit allergies in the palace. The monarchs are allergic to cats and dogs, but they’re learning to deal with their allergy medications. Apparently, after a few weeks, both of them stopped mimicking zombies. We will just need a count of animals when the plane leaves.”

“Yes, Bumble and Mirage are expected to come with us,” I said before Madelyn worried. “The new acquisitions, assuming they pass all their health checks, will also be coming.” Aware that Terry worked on better socializing Pink Lady with others, I took the time to pet and cuddle with the squirrel. “And if Terry accompanies us, Miss Pink Lady will be joining us. Won’t you, you sweet little girl?”

Tone meant a lot to animals, and my sing-song method of cooing to her earned me a rodent kiss and some attention.

“Most people would not be letting a squirrel kiss them,” Madelyn stated.

“Pink Lady has her vaccinations, and she’s just healing from her sickness now. I don’t recommend kissing wild squirrels, but Pink Lady is, as her name suggests, alady. And kissing lady squirrels is encouraged. You can pet her, just be gentle with her sides. She’s still a bit tender from when she was first adopted.”

Madelyn approached, and within a minute, Pink Lady had her charmed, too. “I had no idea squirrels could be so friendly.”

“Terry’s an animal empath, and he’s always had a thing with squirrels. I remember when he had his previous squirrel. My parents loved that little bastard. The RPS had a special exemption for him because the squirrel would cause a ruckus if denied access to his favorite human. That squirrel actually was useful, too. He learned who was supposed to be where, and when someone attempted to infiltrate the RPS, his squirrel started screaming because there was someone who didn’t belong among the agents.” I grinned at the memory, which had taken place at an airport. I’d gotten to witness the entire fuss, as I’d been given the job of greeting a foreign dignitary who’d opted for public transportation rather than making use of our airstrip.

Montana had needed to deliver some papers to said dignitary, so we’d had a mixed group of agents, and someone had attempted to take advantage of it.

“Hey, Monty? Remind me to ask Terry how You Furry Little Bastard had spotted that agent.”

“Oh, I know the answer to that. The imposter had a poison, one we’d trained the squirrel to alert on if smelled. Apparently, hehatedthe smell, and while our noses aren’t great at detecting it,hecould without fail. He plans on training Pink Lady to do the same, but that won’t be until she settles and gets used to being an RPS agent. Terry is going to go to California initially, as your sister is pushing to come with you for the first week. He’ll stay an additional week to work on your detail, and I’ll hold down the fort here. He wants me to have more practice. Alfred is going to be around, but he’s an invisible observer, as he wants us doing most of the work. He’s just going to be making sure we don’t screw anything up.”

“That should work. Remind me to thank Alfred later. Where is he, anyway? I haven’t seen him in days.”

“He’s been working from the hub for the most part. In his words, if he comes out right now, after hearing what happened to your girls, heads would roll, and he doesn’t want to scare the agents. Hejustgot the teams settling down, and seeing his temper tantrums would not be good for team unity.”

I could believe that. Terry could terrify; Alfred took his rampages to the next level. As my bedroom had gotten quiet, I checked to discover the girls had passed out and were attached to my sister’s tigers. Eva and Kel handled tucking them in. Their boy spotted me, and he barreled my way, arms held up to be picked up.

I placed Pink Lady on Madelyn’s shoulder before obeying the child’s edict. After a few days of practicing with the girls, I got him settled on my hip to keep his weight from breaking my arms or my back. He gave me a hug, and I grinned at the child. “And how is my favorite brat from Illinois doing?”

“I’m okay. Mommy is upset. Daddy is more than upset. Daddy keeps sprouting feathers.” Langley rested his head against me. “They’re going to make me use my words because I’m a big boy now.”

As a general rule, I ignored what royal parents did with their children as long as nothing seemed amiss. Every now and then, someone commented about Langley’s tendency to use short sentences and easy vocabulary. “Why don’t you want to use your words?”

“I’m not as good at them as Mommy or Daddy, and I am not supposed to use any of the fun ones.”

Ah. Enlightenment struck me. Langley was his mother’s son, and he’d picked up her tendencies—and her vocabulary. “I’ll cut you a deal, kiddo. You show your mommy and daddy you can speak like an adult but without the fun words, and I’ll teach you some fun words in several different languages. If you’re really good at it, I’ll teach you some Arabic. Neither of your parents speak any Arabic, so you would be able to pull some fast ones on them.”

As Langley was his father’s son as much as his mother’s son, the boy lit up at the thought of some Royal trickery. “Really?”

“Really. But you’re going to have to demonstrate how smart and educated you are, even if it’s boring and it’s easier to use short, clipped sentences. Also, I’d like you to keep an eye on my little girls, all right? They’re going to need someone nice to show them the ropes.”

Using a child to settle my children might land me in hot water with his parents, but I’d deal with the fallout later.

“Mommy explained that they don’t know how to play very well, and that they never had anyone to play with them before. Mommy cried.”

Uh oh. Eva only cried when pregnancy hormones were involved—or something wasthatbad. As Eva was crying, there was surely another baby on the way, adding to their flock. And while what happened to my girls counted as that bad, Eva was the kind to ride in, sword out and ready to unleash hell, not cry.

“Again, Eva?” I asked, raising a brow at the woman.

In true Eva fashion, she flipped her middle finger at me.

I laughed. “Just go see Dr. Stanton and Melody before you leave. That way, I earn favor with the physicians despite creating more work for them. I hear they’ll even tell you the gender if you ask.”

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