Page 25 of Falling for the Queen Mother

The conversations with his kids had gone well. In fact, if Nate had to guess, the first one texted the others that he would be calling, everything was fine, and once the last one had been contacted to get to the group chat so they could all squeal over it together.

Of course, his first conversation had been with his hopeless romantic, author daughter. She could barely contain her glee at the idea of her father being part of a plot that belonged in an HEA TV movie - and even warned him that she might put this into a book one day.

He could see the texts now:

Dad has news!!! He's calling all of us. Let us know when you get the news but don't spoil it for Dad telling the others!

OMG! I'm still on the phone with him! Can't believe it!

Does he have a girlfriend? I knew he'd find someone some day!

Can't tell you! Just wait your turn!

/eye roll emoji or gif/

The last one would have come from his oldest son. He'd been the most cautious of the kids, though his concerns seemed to be less about the relationship itself and more about the loss of privacy and the significant public scrutiny likely to come with the announcement. Not for himself, but for Nate.

His kids knew the order he called them had more to do with timing than any sort of preference over which child he liked best. Time zones and work schedules factored into it far more than anything else.

The texts likely would have woken his oldest son up earlier than normal which was also why he was the last one Nate called. As soon as he answered, Nate knew his son had a head's up and was far more awake than he normally would have been at that time of day.

But now that those calls were over, what was he supposed to do? He could go back to the archive, but unless there was something questionable, there wasn't much for him to do there. Should he find Alaina? He checked his email but nothing there gave him an idea of what he should do next.

A knock on the door answered the question for the moment at least. When he answered it, he was both surprised, and not, to see his new son-in-law.

"Come in, sir."

"Thank you." King Frederick entered alone, despite a member of his security team being with him.

"It is your house." Nate couldn't keep his amusement out of his tone.

"True," the king acknowledged. “As my mother likes to remind me, it belongs to the people. But I would never force my way into a guest's quarters without a very good reason."

Despite his desire to not antagonize the man, Nate said the first thing that came to mind. "You came in the other day."

"I did. I had my reasons for it, most of which I have not fully discussed with either of you." He held out a file folder. "The statement to be released tomorrow evening is in there. Please look it over."

He suspected the king meant after he left, but Nate opened it immediately. After quickly scanning the page, he went back and read it more slowly.

Nate closed the folder and handed it back. "I don't love it, but that has more to do with the situation than it does with the actual statement."

"My mother said much the same."

"I'm not surprised."

King Frederick motioned toward the sitting area and took a seat without waiting to see if Nate was going to as well. "I would like to have a talk with you. Not in the offices. Nothing official. Just as a man whose mother's heart is involved."

"I doubt her heart is involved. Maybe someday if things had been allowed to progress naturally, but not as things are now." Nate took his second favorite seat in the room - the king had taken his favorite one.

"Not her heart in a romantic sense, but her emotions. She's struggled since the death of my father. She has a few good, close friends, but she seems guarded even with them." The king straightened his tie. "She needs someone she can count on."

"Don't we all?" Nate shifted in his chair, leaning forward to look more directly at the king. "I have no intention of hurting your mother. Will this relationship turn into a second great love match for both of us? I have no idea. I would like to at least be friends. As for the legality of the marriage and the long-term outcome of it, that remains to be seen. A comfortable friendship that keeps each of us from being alone is an intriguing possibility, at least from my perspective."

"I suppose that's the best any of us can hope for at the moment. I don't relish any of this. I don't want to force the two of you into a relationship beyond what you'd prefer to have. I wish it wasn't going to become as public as it's about to, but I suppose it's better than finding out a year or two from now when one or both of you are already in other relationships. It would still be legally binding, but a much messier situation."

"It would be, though I know I had no intention of starting a relationship with anyone. Things can change, of course, but it's been even longer for me than it has for your mum, and neither of us has so much as thought about a relationship with someone else until we met. That doesn't mean we would have ended up in one."

The king nodded. "I know. We are where we are, though." He sighed. "I know we're in the middle of this search for missing artwork, but I think it would be advisable for the two of you to consider getting away from here for a while. I wouldn't recommend leaving the country, but getting out of the city."