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“You’ve really never been up here before?” Palmer asked.
“No. When we take our annual holiday, we go a few kilometers from here. There’s a nice lake where the boys fish. Victoria and I mostly sit around and read.” She stared out at the city. “When wetookour holiday. The boyswouldfish,” she corrected herself.
“You can still take holidays there. Victoria will go with you.” Palmer tried to make her feel better. “Hey, this is amazing. Thank you for bringing me here.”
Elizabeth turned to her and said, “It’s going to get better, but we should get inside the tent for now. Did you notice the flap up top?”
“No, what?”
“You’re going to like it,” Elizabeth said, smiling at her.
CHAPTER 14
“It’s a skylight,” Palmer said when Elizabeth pulled back a flap at the top of their four-person tent. “It’s going to freeze in here.”
“I did bring a small heater, and you can climb inside your sleeping bag. I’ll close it for now, though,” Elizabeth replied, zipping up the flap that had a screen they could see through but that wouldn’t allow bugs inside. “I promise, you will be warm. You can take off that coat now. You’ll end up overheating if you keep it on.”
Palmer unbuttoned and unzipped her coat, laying it beside the sleeping bag that had been placed out for her already alongside her bag, and she’d kicked off her shoes.
“Palmer, hat, gloves, scarf can all come off, too.” She smiled and removed her own outerwear.
“Are we going outside anytime soon?”
“I thought we could spend some time in here, if that’s okay. I have lanterns, and there’s food. It’s basic stuff for sandwiches, but the guys can cook us something over the fire if you’d like. I can also ask them for coffee.”
“Maybe later,” Palmer replied. “This is nice, Lizzy.”
“That might be the first time you’ve called me that,” Elizabeth said with an appreciative smile.
“Felt a little weird, honestly.” Palmer slid fully clothed down into the sleeping bag, looking up at her. “It’s going to take some getting used to.”
“Well, I appreciate the effort.”
“I think my paper is going to kill me,” Palmer stated out of the blue.
“What? Why?”
“Because I’ve hardly written anything, and I specifically agreed tonight is about you and me as friends, not about the article. They’re paying me to do nothing.”
“You know you can stay at the palace, right? I mean, if you wanted to remain in St. Rais, and tell your paper they don’t need to pay for it.”
Palmer looked over at her, sensing something was shifting between the two of them.
“There are several guest rooms I think you would find adequate.”
Was the Queen blushing?
“Adequateis the Holiday Inn Express, Lizzy. The palace is five-star all the way. Besides, I’m glad to be out of the resort. There was this other guest I kept running into. She…”
“She what?”
“Was verybold; let’s just say that,” Palmer replied, looking away from Elizabeth.
“Bold?” Elizabeth shook her head.
Palmer could see the shadow on the side of the tent made from the lantern light.
“She wanted…”
