Page 39 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

“And after Kat gets back from her honeymoon in the Maldives,” Lemon said while Kat blushed again, “the king and queen are hosting an engagement party for me and Dante. You’re invited to that, too.”

Oh yes. I’d just ring Jeeves and have him pull the jet around front so that I could attend both events.

Some of that must have shown on my face, because Lemon leaned forward. “Don’t worry about the travel. You’ll stay at the palace, and we’ll send the plane for you if you want to come.”

In what universe did people say things like “we’ll send the plane for you”?

Kat hugged me first. “We’re here for you. You are not alone. We Americans have to stick together.”

Lemon hugged me next, promising to write and call. I promised to answer as I walked them out.

“I know my opinion isn’t worth two plugged nickels, but once I got to know you, I thought you and Rafe would be perfect together. I even tried to set y’all up, but he told me was seriously seeing someone. And that turned out to be you, so I was right.”

I appreciated the sentiment, and that they wanted to fix things, but this wasn’t their problem to resolve. I walked them all the way to their waiting black SUV.

“Call us anytime,” Lemon said once she’d settled in. “We’re here for you.”

“Just don’t call us in the morning,” Kat leaned around her to say.

That made me grin. “I won’t.” I closed their door and watched as the circus of SUVs and bodyguards tried to make their way down the snowy driveway and back onto the main road. Lemon rolled down the window and waved goodbye one last time.

As I waved back, it was odd to think that in some alternate universe we might have been a family. Sisters. I always wanted sisters.

There was a twinge in my heart that felt suspiciously like homesickness.

Chapter 12

That night I had a “family” dinner with Prince Deceiving and Aunt Sylvia. In some ways he was making my life harder by always being around, but in other ways he made it so much easier. I used to feel like a chicken with its head cut off, running around trying to get everything done but never having enough time.

Now with Rafe here we had more money from his rent, we had help with the chores, and he was devoted to taking care of Aunt Sylvia. That was the hardest thing for me to ignore. I absolutely adored my aunt. When I was younger, I had planned to go somewhere far away and exotic for college, wanting to get out of Iowa. She had encouraged me. She wanted me to live my life, make my own choices. But I couldn’t leave her. She needed me, and I needed her. So I went to UI to stay close.

But since he’d arrived, there had been some distance between me and my aunt. In part because she supported his attempts to get my attention, and seemed to really enjoy being around him, but also because Rafe was helping out so much that I realized that a lot of the time we used to spend together she was now spending with him.

And I was grateful for it, glad that I finally had enough hours in my day. That I had some time to myself and wasn’t constantly burning the candle at both ends.

Not to mention that he took up so much room in my head that I had little time to think about anything else. Like whether or not I was being a good niece.

I listened to their conversation, not participating. Rafe had his first meeting with his new employees, and he talked about his plans to train them in front end and back end development, database development, and networking.

Today they had brainstormed ideas for possible phone applications. Using the needs of people in Iowa as his jumping off point, he had invited his team to come up with ideas. They talked about an app that could diagnose blight on crops and suggest solutions, a climate application specifically for farmers that was divided by region, sprinkler calculators to figure out the best path for each field, and maybe even a social networking app that would connect farmers across different counties.

Nicole would probably sign up for that one.

“We’re surrounded by potential market testers,” Rafe said. “None of this is new. We’re just going to make it better. And we’ll have a higher marketing budget and a relatable headquarters.”

I glanced at Aunt Sylvia, but she was smiling at him like he was the awesomest person who had ever lived. She didn’t know as much about computers and software as I did.

“That’s going to take years,” I said. “What if your employees don’t have an aptitude for it?” I mean, if they did, wouldn’t they already be programmers?

“Anybody can program,” Rafe said, raising one shoulder in a shrug. “Some will be better than others based on their natural talents. And if they really can’t get it, we’ll find something else for them to do. At least I’ll be giving them a skill they can use even if ...” His voice trailed off, and he didn’t finish his sentence.

He didn’t have to. We all knew what he’d nearly said.

Even if he left.

He started discussing his plans to build a gaming division in Monterra. He wanted to support his brother’s vision by turning the kingdom into a center for technology firms. He had always planned on creating different divisions, which was why it was so easy for him to start one up in Frog Hollow when he saw the need. He had wanted a company here in the States, and figured Iowa was as good as any other place.

Once we finished eating, I started clearing the plates. He stood up. “Here, let me help you.”

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