Page 24 of Cross Me

“Like a Ferrari?”

“Not quite, because a Ferrari probably has a poster of a Bugatti on its wall. And you can’t just buy one. You have to know a guy, be worthy, that sort of thing.”

“Oh, like a Birkin Bag?”

“Exactly.”

I appreciated the translation. My eyes strayed to her midsection, which even under her coat was still deceptively flat. Now that she was pregnant, I wondered what Smith would drive. “Isn’t it a two-seater?”

“Don’t remind me,” she groaned. “He wants to get rid of it.”

“That’s true love—coming between a man and his car.” Alexander had never been one for cars himself, but I had been raised in the States. There, a man’s car was almost as important an extension of his masculinity as his dick.

“What I mean is, he wanted to get rid of it, but I wouldn’t let him,” she added fiercely. “He wants to put it in the garage. He keeps talking about a family car.”

I laughed at the obvious distress in her voice. Sometimes, it was hard to imagine Belle or Smith as parents, even though I knew they both wanted this baby more than anything in the world. “I can’t imagine you in an estate car.”

I’d learned to use the proper British slang when talking to Belle, who had a habit of screwing up her face when I sounded too American. Somehow, though, an estate car sounded even worse than the American term: station wagon. Maybe it was a toss-up.

“The next thing you know I’ll be a footballer mom. Taking the kids to practice and popping the recycling up to the tip on weekends.” She shook her head, sending her blonde locks swinging over her shoulders. “Things really do change.” She bumped against me, her eyes darting to my security team, who were watching us closely. “Oops! I touched you. Are they going to tackle me?”

“Don’t remind me,” I said. We both knew all too well that our lives had changed. My security team was a pretty stark reminder. Despite that, I knew neither of us would change any of it.

“Mind if I join you?” Henry asked as he sidled through the bench seats and came up to us.

“Is everything okay?” I tipped my head in the direction of the racing team who were looking over the car.

“They expected it with the ice.” Henry’s voice was muffled by the scarf he had wrapped tightly around his neck, but there was no denying the excitement in his eyes. It seemed I was the only one out of my element here. I was determined not to show it. This week I’d read up on racing stats, so I had some idea what was going on.

“So who is this guy?” I asked. Given Mary’s demand that the games move forward on schedule, there had been very little time to go over initial invitations if we planned to start in March. A stack of candidates had landed on the desk of my private office yesterday. I hadn’t reached the S files yet. All I knew was that the driver’s name was Anderson Stone. I’d planned to dig into his file before we left when morning sickness had sidetracked me. “I’m afraid I haven’t made it through his file yet.”

Henry waved off my apology with a gloved hand. He tugged down the top of his scarf. “He’s young. Very popular and he’s made his way into the world’s top three. They’re predicting he’ll be number one by year’s end.”

“And he’s hot,” Belle added.

I didn’t bother to hide my surprise. In fact, I did my best to look scandalized.

She shook her head with an impish grin. “I’m married, not dead.”

“He is considered quite attractive,” Henry confirmed. I wondered for a moment if Henry had more in common with Edward than I thought. He was unmarried and of a certain age. I didn’t know him well enough to ask. “It’s one of the reasons why we landed on him, actually.”

“Is that why you’re inviting him first?” Belle switched into business mode. “He would be the perfect face for the new Sovereign Games.”

“That’s exactly what we were thinking. The monarchy is younger now, social media is more important than ever, and if we’re going to get national support for continuing this program, we need to have everyone’s attention,” he said.

I nodded. That made sense. I had worked on a number of similar, but smaller, campaigns. It always worked best when I had a celebrity backing up our efforts. “I’m excited to meet him.”

Henry scanned me for a moment as if trying to ascertain if I was serious. After a moment, he relaxed. “Sorry,” he explained. “My family rarely says what they mean. I can’t tell you how thrilled my mother and I are to have your support on this.”

I didn’t bother to hide my incredulity, it was probably written all over my face. I sincerely doubted that Mary cared how the games continued, so long as they did. But I didn’t kid myself that if she had her way, I would have nothing to do with them.

Henry seemed to sense what I was thinking, and added, “My mother will come around.”

“Miracles do happen,” I allowed.

The car’s engine roared to life again, but this time, Anderson didn’t peel out at speed. Instead he drove it off the track into the pit.

Next to me, Belle released a frustrated sigh. She was probably hoping for more action. I, on the other hand, was happy for the reprieve.