Page 33 of Some Like It Deadly
“More than I care to admit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I think that was actually the hardest part of my friendship with Armand to swallow.”
“His security?”
“No. The lies about his security then, later, his security.” Her heart stopped on the wordlies,but she bit into the muffin and waited. Richard had walked over to the sink to wash off his knife and look out the window. “Do you know how I met him?”
She knew some of it. “In college. I thought around the same time he met Anna.” Finishing the muffin, she washed down the last bite with a swallow of coffee.
“Take your pills. We’ll go sit out by the pool and I’ll tell you a story.” A smile eased the fresh tension in his expression. “One very few people have ever heard.”
“That sounds a little personal,” she murmured.Too personal.
“But that’s what this weekend is about.” He loaded up a plate with another selection of muffins, including two of the blackberry she’d eaten. When he stared at the pills on her plate, she sighed and popped both into her mouth.
“Haveyoutaken your meds?” she countered.
“Yes, ma’am, before you got up. Now, grab your cup.” He winked and added a carafe of the coffee to the tray he made up and his own coffee cup. Once poolside, the early morning breeze carrying the scent of the sea wrapped around them. She had toadmit it was a lot nicer in the sun and stretched her legs out comfortably. Richard offered her sunglasses and she slid them on.
“You’re spoiling me,” she accused lightly. She needed to remember that this couldn’t last. To not get attached.Yeah, right.
“I like spoiling you.” He took a seat on the lounger opposite hers and freshened up the coffee cups. “So, Armand and I met during our freshmen year. We were actually assigned to be roommates.”
Curious in spite of herself, she asked the first question that came to mind. “As a prince, I would have thought his security wouldn’t want him sharing his room with a total stranger.”
“He wasn’t acting as a prince then, not yet. Armand told me later that his goal had been to have arealcollege experience—a real American one, anyway. Roommates were part of the package and most freshmen shared their dorm with three other guys. Somehow I thought I’d lucked out to split a room with only one. I found out later his guys were stationed in the room across from ours and the ones on either side. A detail of eight, I think he had. Two others roamed in and out, but the other six maintained pretty constantly—enrolled in classes and pretty much acting like other students.”
“So you had no idea.” That, she’d been well aware, had been the major bone of contention between the grand duke and his fiancée. Anna hadn’t known about his royal heritage and when she did find out—yearsinto their relationship—the lack of honesty split them up.
An ugly warning about paralleling that situation if ever there was one.
“None.” He speared a strawberry and held it out to her. “Someone said these were her favorites.”
Accepting the strawberry, she matched his grin. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” His gaze lingered on her mouth as she took a bite. It was the perfect mixture of sweet and tart and she couldn’t help a little sigh. “And now I need to order you boxes more.”
“Later.” She accepted the offer graciously enough. “You were saying about the grand duke?”
“Call him Armand, at least between you and me.” Richard picked up another muffin. “Because that’s who he is. Anyway, that first couple of semesters he was a decent enough guy. Didn’t make a big mess, pretty generous with the pizza, and he could always get beer—even if he preferred the snooty European brands.” He broke the blueberry muffin in half and spread a little bit of butter on it. “We did well. He didn’t party late and he never had a problem if I brought a girl back. I always returned the favor if he wanted to sneak Anna in.”
Pausing, he considered the muffin and his grin turned self-deprecating. “Of course, I was a monk and only said I was sneaking a girl in if I needed to study.” He dared a look at her as if to see if she bought it.
Amusement bubbled up through her and she laughed. “Of course you did.”
“Good girl.” He winked. “So we go through our freshmen year, just a couple of average guys, struggling with the course load, making friends, and you know…having that American dream.” But his amusement sobered. “For me, it was a bit of a dream. I was a scholarship kid and what the scholarship didn’t pay for, I took part time jobs to cover. I’d worked every summer I was in high school and saved up the money. Mom wouldn’t have been able to afford it and I knew she had Barbara to worry about. Armand was loaded, but he never let on. He paid for more than his part, but he seemed normal—accent and all.”
He finished the muffin and then used a napkin to wipe his hands. When he glanced at her coffee cup, she shook her head.The pain medication eased the constant throb beating in her shoulder in time to her pulse and the sun warmed her legs. Curling on her good side, she watched him. “So when did he tell you?”
“Right after our last final for the semester.” Leaning toward her, he rested his elbows on his knees and cradled his coffee cup. “Anna had a different schedule, but Armand and I had planned to hang out, grab a movie or something while he waited for her to finish. Instead, he brought a six pack and we found a quiet corner of the quad and he told me who he was.”
“Was that weird for you?” She wanted to reach over and brush that lock of hair off his forehead again. To kiss away the tight lines from the corners of his eyes.
“Yeah. At first I thought he was just messing with me, but he gave me proof and while I sat there digesting that I, the scholarship kid and son of a felon, had just spent my entire first year in college rooming with a prince, he asked me for my advice.” Richard shook his head and she could hear the notes of disbelief that harkened back to that long ago conversation. “He wanted to tell Anna, but he wasn’t sure what she would do.
“I told him that everyone deserves the truth, but if he didn’t think she could handle it—and if he wasn’t prepared to lose her when she didn’t—then maybe he shouldn’t.” The advice pinged against her heart.Can you handle the truth of why I came to work for you?“Not my finest hour and Armand was worried that knowing who he really was would change their relationship. He worried it would change ours too. As it turned out, title or not, he really was the same guy.”
“I guess that’s why you two have stayed best friends.” It made sense—she’d seen the two men together. They communicated on a variety of levels and with a familiarity that bridged any social distinction.
“Mostly. Don’t get me wrong, he can be a dick. Especially if he doesn’t get his way. Man is a control freak, but he grew up in a world that demanded it of him. College was the one time I really saw him let go. After his father died and Anna left him, he was a different for too long.” He sighed. “And while I want to kick his ass from here to next week for that security crap, I get why he does it.”
