Page 13 of Palace of Betrayal

Dropping back to her normal height and taking his hand, she walked with him to the door, leaning into his body like a lover offering comfort, acting out her part for the cameras. This didn’t feel like acting though. She genuinely wanted to comfort this man she’d known less than twenty-four hours.

At the door he turned and lifted his hand, brushing her hair from around her face. He was tall and she angled her head up to him as he looked down at her like a lover with other things on his mind.

Running his thumb over her bottom lip and sending sparks of desire shooting through her body, he frowned. “Will you be okay while I take care of some things?”

Bebe nodded, knowing he was asking for more than just the cameras and bugs. “Yes, I have a few errands to run in town.”

Leo nodded and then dropped a sweet kiss on her mouth. It was innocent enough and yet packed with feeling. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

Leo gave a short nod, squeezed her hand, and left the room, the quiet click of the door closing behind him.

Leaning against the door, Bebe laid a hand over her heart which was beating wildly in her chest. How was she going to keep things professional when she had to pretend to be his new lover? With every touch, the lines were blurring wildly. For the first time in her life, she had no idea how to stop them.

Five

“Son, are you listening to me?”

Leo shook thoughts of Bebe out of his head as he focused on his father. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you’d bring your young lady to dinner tonight.”

Leo rubbed his chin, his head tilting to hide his expression from his knowing father. They may have had issues and an outstanding conflict between them, but his father still knew him better than most. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea given what’s happened.”

“Nonsense, it’s exactly what we need. This family has suffered an incredible loss today and perhaps some light would be good.”

“I’m not sure Uncle Alwyn would agree.”

“Just the three of us then?”

Leo narrowed his eyes at his father, who seemed to have aged since the news this morning. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing. Can’t a father meet the woman who has his son so distracted?”

“I’m not distracted. I’m in shock from everything that happened today, including the two new appointments to the staff.”

“Yes, well, I didn’t have much choice about that. Mallory’s son was injured in an accident and she needed to be with him.”

Leo loosened his tie, hating those social dictates that made him wear one inside his own home when meeting his own father. “That’s awful. Poor Mallory. And Brody James, where did we find him?”

“Mallory recommended him actually.”

“Hmm.”

“What does hmm, mean? Spit it out.”

The King was sitting catty-corner to him in his favourite large, brown leather armchair in his private study. The view out over the gardens was one he knew his father loved. Many a time he’d find his mother in here reading as his father worked, and over the years it had become the place his father retreated to.

“Nothing, just with everything going on I’d prefer not to have anyone we don’t know around the palace.”

“Well, that may be the ideal, but this is the situation, so we need to deal with it. Our people are looking to us for comfort and we must show them hope and brightness. If it comes out that this was anything other than an accident, our subjects will be afraid, and I won’t allow that for them.”

His father was acting like they were under attack, making León wonder if his father knew more than he was saying. “Have you heard something?”

His father lit a cigar and Leo tried not to let his disapproval show that he was still smoking after a warning from the doctor about his health. The last thing his old man needed was a lecture, so he bit his tongue.

Smoke billowed out around him, the sweet smell so familiar and, in a way, comforting. A reminder of his childhood and the safe, protected feeling he’d had before it went to hell. “Just that the authorities believe it was a bomb.”