“You changed drivers?” Maylee whispered to Griffin, curious.
He shot her a quick look of satisfaction. “Mr. Sturgess will be unavailable for the rest of our visit.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“Yes, quite,” Griffin said in a voice that didn’t sound displeased at all.
As they got into the limo, Maylee slid over on the seat, tugging at her bust line to make sure that her dress didn’t expose anything. She smoothed her skirts and waited patiently as Griffin got in, checking her earrings and necklace again to make sure she still had them.
When he got into the limo, his pocket buzzed. Griffin pulled out his phone and then made a grunt as if he was in pain.
“What is it?” Maylee asked. “Is everything okay?”
He showed her his screen. “They uncovered a marble column and some tile work. They think it might be part of a floor.” The picture he showed her looked like a bunch of broken stonework, but she’d take his word for it.
“Your archaeological dig in Spain?” she guessed.
He nodded, staring at the picture. There was a look of intense longing on his face. “I wish I was there.”
“If it makes you feel better,” she told him, “I wish I was there, too.”
He looked over at her, surprised. “You’re not enjoying yourself here in Bellissime?”
Maylee sat, tongue-tied. She wasn’t sure what to say. She could tell him that she enjoyed his company but she found the whole wedding and society thing stressful? That she constantly felt like she was never good enough? That she kept waiting to slip up again and it made her so nervous that she’d almost thrown up in the sink before putting on her pretty dress? Would he be insulted that she didn’t want to be here? So she thought carefully, and then answered, “There’s just . . . so much going on.”
“True.” He looked down at his phone again and sighed. “I imagine it’s a lot calmer in Spain. No one’s mother to complain that you’re letting your staff become too familiar and too complacent.”
Her tongue glued itself to the roof of her mouth. “Your mother said that about me?”
His expression became a little distant, as if he’d revealed too much. “I wouldn’t read that much into it, Maylee. My mother is affectionately referred to as a harridan and not so affectionately as a royal bitch. No one likes her, not even the common people. Not the queen, not even her sons. She is a stickler for the old monarchy, and Alexandra and her family are more progressive. Don’t worry about it.”
Maylee swallowed hard. “Should I be wearing this jewelry, then? Won’t your mother think that’s too familiar of me?”
“I don’t care what my mother thinks.”
Oh, lordamercy. Was he setting her up to fail? So Her Royal Highness Sybilla-Louise would cut Maylee into itty-bitty chunks with her tongue? That sick knot lurched in her stomach again.
“Really,” he said again. “It’s fine, Maylee.”
“If you say so,” she whispered. It occurred to her that it was the first time he’d called her anything but Miss Meriweather.
She had no idea what that meant, either.
Chapter Nine
The limo pulled up to the palace, and slowed to a crawl as it waited for its turn at the front of the opulent building. As it inched forward, Maylee grew more and more nervous. They’d passed the gates where paparazzi hovered. The grounds themselves swarmed with people dressed in finery, and the stairs leading to the massive doors of the palace were carpeted in red.
Maylee was pretty sure she was going to puke on that nice red carpet.
“Are you all right?” Griffin asked her for the second time in the last minute.
“Just a little . . . scared.”
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” he said in a soothing voice. To her surprise, he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her an awkward hug.
It was strange to have Griffin comfort her, but welcome. She huddled a little closer. “I’ve never been to anything like this. Well, I mean, we had prom back home in Pine Valley, but they held it at a Best Western. This is a bit different.”
His mouth twitched. “Just a bit.”
“I’m scared,” she whispered. “I’m afraid I’m going to mess something up.”
“I’ll be with you,” he told her reassuringly, and that heavy arm over her shoulders squeezed her again.
“Aren’t you supposed to go and hang out with the royals?” she asked him. “And I’m supposed to go hang out with the staff?”
“Mmm, something like that.” He leaned a bit closer, and she blinked up at him, startled at how attractive he was in the dim light of the car. Not that he wasn’t normally attractive, of course. But the way he normally looked at her—like she was a bug for squashing—was gone. In its place was a warm, appealing gaze. “Tell you what. I’ll steer you to the appropriate people so you don’t get lost. Is that a good compromise?”
It was. “I’d really appreciate it so much, Mr. Griffin.” Then she wouldn’t have to worry about smiling at a duke to be polite and having him look at her like she was garbage.
The limo stopped and the driver got out. Maylee’s stomach lurched again, and she gave Griffin a terrified look. He smiled down at her, encouraging. “It’s going to be fine. No one’s going to be paying a bit of attention to you, Maylee. They’re all here to see my cousin and the famous actor she’s marrying.”
She relaxed a little at that. He had a point.
The chauffeur opened the door to the limo, and a voice began to ring out over the crowd. “Griffin, Viscount Montagne Verdi.”
Heads turned just as Maylee slid out of the limo. Her eyes widened, and her stomach felt like it was trying to make an escape from her gut.
But Griffin was right there, shielding her from prying eyes as she got out of the car. She tugged at her low-cut bodice again to make sure everything was proper, touched her jewelry, and then smiled at Griffin when she noticed he was fighting a laugh at her actions. “Easy for you to laugh,” she muttered, but she put her hand in the crook of his arm that he offered.
And they went in.
***
Griffin wasn’t surprised to see that the party was wall-to-wall. Everyone who was slightly anyone in Bellissime and several surrounding countries had been invited, and no one wanted to miss out. As soon as they entered the room, the temperature went up by a few degrees simply from the crush of bodies, and he heard Maylee’s uncomfortable gasp as they made their way in.