Page 38 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

“We’re good,” Kat responded. “Oh! Offering guests drinks. I need to be better about remembering that.” When I met her in Monterra during the show, she’d told me a bit about her background. I knew she’d grown up mostly in a trailer park, was homeless for a while, and then ended up in foster care. I could only imagine how difficult her transition would be from regular girl to queen of an entire country after her fiancé became king.

Lemon asked about my aunt, and the conversation took off from there. Lemon showed me her engagement ring and told me how Dante had proposed, including a charming story about how the men in their family knew when they’d found their true loves because of a gypsy. She also filled me in on her former friend and field producer Taylor Hodges, and how Taylor had conspired to keep Lemon in the dark about both brothers being on the show. Kat told me about the details of her upcoming wedding, which was only a couple of weeks away. She was getting married on Christmas, and apparently there had been less planning and strategizing involved with the invasion of Normandy.

A beep sounded from Lemon’s phone. She picked it up. “Rafe will be back soon. We have to go.”

“You don’t want to stay and see him?” I asked, confused.

“If he finds out we’re here, he’ll be madder than a wet rooster in a tote sack.” That made me smile. I’d missed her Lemon-isms.

“Yeah, this is our stealth mission. None of them know we’re here,” Kat added. Laddie had moved onto her lap and was snoring. She petted him absentmindedly.

“We’re supposed to be in Paris getting this one lingerie for her honeymoon,” Lemon said as she elbowed Kat. Kat blushed, and I was glad to finally meet someone who had the same issue with blushing that I did.

“And with Iowa obviously being on the way you thought you’d swing by?”

“It was important to me that I apologize,” Lemon said. She pulled out a compact, checking her bright red lips before putting it back in her purse. “And I thought with Rafe being here that you might be open to ...” Her voice trailed off at my expression. “What? What is it?”

“Maybe you should stay until he gets here so that you can take him back with you to Monterra.”

Kat and Lemon exchanged serious and heavy glances, again seeming like they could communicate telepathically. “What the frak? You want him to leave?” Kat asked, sounding really confused.

Hadn’t she watched the show?

“You haven’t forgiven him?” Lemon asked, just as confused.

Obviously Rafe was not making regular reports home on his lack of progress here. “No.”

“But hasn’t he explained?” Lemon went on.

“No. And I’m not interested in his explanation.”

She wasn’t going to be deterred. “Out of anyone, I understand where you’re coming from. We were both lied to and deceived.”

“Dante didn’t lie to you. Taylor did. Rafe lied to me. Deliberately and repeatedly.”

“But that was only for Dante’s benefit!” she protested.

I let out a deep sigh. It was bad enough he was winning over my whole town. I didn’t need his future sisters-in-law here fighting his battles. “Whatever’s happening with Rafe and me is between the two of us. I understand that you care about him, but he’s a big boy and I’m a big girl.”

“That means ‘stop giving me your opinion.’” Kat smiled. “I always liked you.”

I smiled back to let her know the feeling was mutual.

“Besides, with that whole software company thing, I don’t think you’re getting rid of him anytime soon,” Lemon said.

“What software company thing?” Kat interrupted.

Lemon raised an eyebrow at her. “You know how he was planning on starting up a software company in Monterra? He transferred his plans here instead. I told you about this already.”

“You did not. When?”

“This morning.”

Kat let out a big sigh of disgust. “You know I can’t hear anything before noon!”

There was another beep from Lemon’s phone. “We really have to get going.”

They both stood, and I stood up with them. “I wanted to give you this,” Kat said as she pulled something from an inner coat pocket. She handed me an obviously expensive cream envelope. I lifted the flap, and the interior was lined in a red satin. I pulled the card out far enough to see that it was a wedding invitation. “We’d love it if you’d come.”

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