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The pressure in his chest eased. Crisis averted. Though, if he’d thought about it, he would have realized that Dani and his mother had more in common than their monikers.
Something vibrated against the table and Dani picked up her phone. “I need to respond to this. It’s an SOS from my assistant about arrangements for her arrival in a few days. Would you two please excuse me? It was a pleasure meeting you, Calanthe.”
“You, too, dear.” His mother smiled. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of one another.”
Dani stood and squeezed his shoulder before leaving the room, her phone already to her ear.
Jameson turned back to his mother. “Is there anything else you’d like to share with her? My childhood crush on Scarlett? My first pet? Want to break out the old home movies? Look at my primary school report cards?”
“I haven’t seen that look on your face... ever.”
“What do you mean?”
“That sparkle of excitement a person gets when they meet someone they sincerely care about.”
“I’ve dated women I’ve cared for. What about Imogen?”
“Lady Harrington? She’s a lovely young woman and perfect onpaper, but she doesn’t affect you like this. You look positively electric. And that’s why I mentioned your father. I did that for you,” Calanthe said.
“For me?”
“Yes, because you weren’t going to.”
“Why would I tell Dani about my childhood and our family?”
“Because it’s important for you to open up when you’re in a relationship.”
“Mother, I don’t want you getting the wrong impression. Dani and I are not in a relationship. It’s not serious. She’s leaving when the celebration is over.”
“And you’re just going to let her go?”
He didn’t answer her. “For someone who’s usually more guarded, I’m surprised you said as much as you did.”
Calanthe looked at him with a tenderness he remembered from his childhood. “When I saw the two of you together, admitting how much you liked each other, it was more intimate, more touching than watching the vows at Lord Portwith’s wedding last year.”
He scoffed. “You’re exaggerating.”
“You may have started out convincing yourselves it’s not serious, but I don’t think either of you believes that anymore.”
He tried to laugh off what she was saying, but the chuckle stuck in his throat.
“I hate to burst all of your romantic notions, but it’s not in the cards for us. We enjoy spending time together. That’s all. And in two and a half weeks, she’s going home, and I’ll never see her again.”
Calanthe stared at him before nodding. “Then I apologize. I got it wrong. Probably for the best anyway. If Marina thought there was the possibility of you being in a relationship with an American entertainer... she’d hit the palace roof.”
He shook his head. “Technically I’ll need her approval to marry, but she doesn’t have a say in who I date.”
“My darling, you have no idea how important this is, do you? Marina loved two things in this world: the monarchy and John, and with John’s passing, it’s all on the Crown. Her children are a disaster, save one, but Catherine can’t take the throne. It’s going to be that ridiculous Julian. And now with whispers about abolishing the monarchy or, at the very least, reducing the amount the public spends on them, she will do anything to ensure that doesn’t happen on her watch. And you’re the key to that. She needs you. And if you get caught up in a scandal and ruin her chance to save the House of Lloyd...”
She reached out and covered his hand with her own. “Just promise me you’ll be careful. I don’t want you to be flattened in service to Marina’s ambitions.”
