Only Love With A Billionaire (Only Us Billionaire Romance Book 4) Page 4

  That wasn’t his department strictly speaking, but he was curious. He’d have to have a word with the remote team. Likely, if the queen knew about Ava’s delinquency, they were already aware and took measures to keep watch over her.

  Instead of telling tales of travel, Ava said, “What will you have me do?”

  “That’s for you to decide and for me to approve.”

  “Can you give me some parameters? Orphans? Animals? Clean water?”

  “I want you to overcome one of your fears.”

  Henry leaned in. As far as he knew, Ava was fearless.

  “You know, I’m not twelve anymore.”

  “I’m well aware, but until you act mature, you’ll be treated well, like a princess and not a queen.”

  Henry fought back a smile of amusement, reminded of how the two used to parry. However, it was as though the queen enjoyed the challenge. With her role, she was likely used to people answering to her every need and request.

  Ava folded her arms in front of her chest. “Emma has the dog bakery. The Dog-Friendly Café or whatever. I'll go see her and find out how I can help.”

  “It’s called the Bark and Fetch Bakery,” the queen said.

  Then Henry remembered, Ava was deathly afraid of dogs.

  “I suppose that’s suitable. But I will be getting a full report and you will need a chaperone.”

  “This isn’t eighteen hundred. Plenty of women travel alone.”

  “I think we’re both well aware of that. But not princesses and not in London. Especially not when we have this problem with Genevieve claiming to be a relative and thus heir to the Concordian throne. She’s been a problem before. There’s no telling what she’ll do.”

  “Why not have her brought in for questioning or arrested?” Ava said.

  “Like you so astutely noted, this isn’t the eighteen hundreds. I can’t just apprehend Genevieve for no good reason. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “Yet.”

  Maybe the queen couldn’t find out anything, but Henry could. He made note to look into that Genevieve person and neutralize the threat if there was one.

  “I do have a certain knack for tracing lineages and family trees. You can rest assured I am conducting a thorough investigation to determine whether Genevieve has any claim to the Concordian throne. I am your ally, Ava, not your enemy.” Beatriz folded her hands in her lap.

  “I know.” Ava’s gaze drifted to the window. “I just don’t want to get married to some random royal.”

  He didn’t want that for her either. It was supposed to be them. Ava and Henry forever. Even though their forever was false because it involved running away since she was of noble birth and he was a commoner. But he didn’t want a hidden life for her either with them on the run.

  “I will ensure that Emma gives you a suitable job at the Bark and Fetch,” the queen said formally, ignoring Ava’s protest.

  The princess stiffened in her chair. Under her casual outfit of a skirt and a light sweater, her muscles firmed as though preparing for battle. Ava would not take the order to get married or else lose her title lying down, sitting, or anything other than fighting. Likely, her relative silence and weak objection meant she was simply plotting her attack. Or her heart was elsewhere. His own sunk into his chest.

  “I’ll appoint a chaperone while you’re at the bakery,” the queen said.

  “I’ll do it,” Henry volunteered.

  Beatriz looked him over as though evaluating whether he was worthy then nodded. “Plus the royal guard will be there,” she said at last.

  “Reinforcements?” he muttered. “I hardly need back up.”

  The queen cut him a glance. “We’re talking about Ava here.”

  Perhaps she too sensed the princess wasn’t putting up the fight they’d expected.

  But if he knew her at all, it was coming and so was her rage against him.

  Chapter 5

  Ava

  Ava counted the reasons why the day had gone from fair to poor. She’d learned that her brother, the queen, and the entire nation of Concordia were plotting against her. Dramatic, yes, but she didn’t want to have to get married because of some silly, ancient rules.

  Genevieve, who’d always been something of a nuisance, particularly when she’d interfered with Oliver and Penny’s wedding, had reared her head again. Her suspicions about Penelope hadn’t been unfounded, but Genevieve of Flushington had her own agenda versus a heart for the common good of the people.

  Henry had returned, stirring up feelings inside of Ava she’d have much preferred remain dormant. Not to mention they were thoroughly confusing. She’d loved him. She’d hated him. She wasn’t sure where she was other than caught somewhere in the middle.

  Also, his father was ill and possibly wouldn’t be around much longer, which was devastating.

  Then Beatriz was insisting she perform more charity work to prove herself worthy of the title she’d had since birth. No, that was a bunch of salami, baloney, or some other kind of salty lunch meat. She was being taught a lesson because the queen was peeved about the various adventures she’d gone on after dodging the royal guards tasked with babysitting her.

  Ava wasn’t a loose cannon. She didn’t put herself in harm’s way or do anything wild or rash. She just wanted to see the world out from behind the royal bubble. She wanted to experience life the way regular people did. People who could go out shopping without an armada of watchdogs or travel without a fleet of protectors who only served to draw more attention to her. It wasn’t that she was ungrateful or spoiled. Rather, she felt conflicted and confined.

  She huffed as she got ready for the day. She puffed when she strode down the hall.

  To make matters worse, the chaperone du jour was none other than the boy who she’d planned on adventuring with all those years ago. And it would be just the two of them.

  Henry stood waiting for her in an open sitting area adjacent to the hall. He was all grown up yet she felt like she was being treated like a child. All that frustration welled up. She knew better than to have a tantrum and stomp her foot, but she sure did feel like it.

  The fact that Henry had turned into a devastatingly handsome man with a straight nose, full lips, and toned muscles hidden under his suit did not help matters. She groaned at the little flutters in her belly.

  “Good morning.” The words were pleasant enough, but his greeting was strained.

  “Did you visit with your father today?” she asked carefully.

  He nodded. “He seemed like he was going to wake up but—”

  “Listen, if you’d like to stay and be with him it’s no trouble,” Ava said.

  Henry shook his head. “Oh, no. You are not getting out of this.” He ushered her toward the hall. “I know you all too well, Ava. I’m on Queen’s orders.”

  She whirled around, catching the edge of his smirk before it disappeared under that mask he’d learned to wear. It turned out that she didn’t know him anymore because the old Henry would’ve burst into laughter or at least smiled. But that also meant the opposite was true. “You don’t know me, actually. Not anymore.”

  He opened his mouth and closed it as though stopping the retort on his tongue.

  “I see you got your teeth fixed.”

  He hesitated as though struggling between firing back or keeping his mouth closed to keep from giving her the satisfaction of seeing his straight teeth. He relented. “You wear heels now and skirts.”

  “I’m wearing jeans and sensible boots.”

  “Not yesterday.”

  “Interesting that you’re taking note of my attire.” Those pesky little flutters started up again.

  That would’ve been the moment for him to blush if any of the old feelings they’d had for each other remained. His lightly tanned skin stayed neutral. “You hide your freckles under makeup now,” he added.

  “They’ve faded. Why would you care?”

  “Things are different,” he said plainly.

 
“Indeed they are.” She’d have liked to storm off, but she carried herself with the dignity of a princess and wouldn’t let him or anyone else see that her feathers were ruffled or that little fluttering butterflies had taken flight in her belly.

  With each step Henry and Ava took side by side, it was like they were traveling back in time. They passed the blue drawing room (so-called because of a painting on the wall), bringing her back to the time they’d made an addition to the artistry in the form of a faint outline of a ghost. It took the maids about two weeks before they realized it and then the ghost stories and tales of hauntings started.

  Continuing, with Henry matching her stride for stride, they passed the study, where Henry had set off a smoke bomb once to get her to play chess with him on a rainy afternoon. She’d been hoping for something more exciting to result from it.

  If being back at the palace with its many memories had any effect on him, he hid it well. In fact, he seemed rather irritable.

  Then they reached the throne room. Ava slowed. She and Henry had been playmates as young children and they’d sneak into the throne room and pretend to be King and Queen. It turned into a friendship that made them inseparable. They were always joking, laughing, and plotting. Even though Henry had been a fairly scrawny kid, when Ava reached her teens, she imagined he’d be her knight in shining armor. He’d become a man worthy of that title—strong and strapping.

  When they were teens, they’d found themselves standing at the base of the platform, facing each other. It had been late afternoon and the sun cast golden pockets of color on the red and purple carpet. Dust motes danced in the air. The palace was so quiet Ava was certain Henry could hear her heart.

  Their eyes had met. Held.

  They’d leaned in.

  They’d kissed.

  Time had stopped.

  That was when she knew he was the one. He’d always be the only one. That was when she knew she loved him.

  Then he’d left.

  She drew a deep breath and continued walking, not daring to say a word. Ava was all the way down the hall before she realized Henry wasn’t by her side. He stood, leaning against the doorframe as though lost in memory, reverie.

  She studied his strong profile for a moment. If things had been different, if they’d been born into other roles, if they’d run away like they’d promised each other, perhaps she’d still feel the same way. If they were eighteen, maybe he could’ve put himself in the running as a suitor even though he wasn’t of noble birth. They’d have found a way.

  Instead, he’d vanished.

  Even if the embers inside Ava were still smoldering, she wouldn’t let the floaty, swoony, head-over-heels feelings return. Not for him. Maybe not for anybody despite the vows she was soon to take. There wasn’t much she could control in her life, but matters of love, or in her case not loving a man, she’d master.

  At that, the frustration at her situation returned full force. She stomped off toward the awaiting vehicle that would bring her to Emma’s bakery. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to volunteer and help. She believed in service work and was generous with her time and resources. However, she wanted things to be on her terms. Her entire life had been organized by a strict schedule of appointments (as the queen called them), studies (she had an advanced degree in economics), and other royal duties (those involved a lot of polite and stilted conversation).

  As she buckled her seat belt, she realized in recent years, she’d slowly been succumbing to the dictates of her life with a few exceptions when she was able to make an escape. With Henry’s reappearance, that old desire for freedom and command over her time and activities returned.

  He got in the car beside her. A member of the royal guard, wearing a black suit and with a coms unit discretely in his ear sat in the front. The driver pulled away from the palace yet she remained in its bubble.

  Ava wanted to ask Henry what it was like for him to return, and a million other questions about where he’d been, but the stone-faced mask that he’d constructed during his absence was like an order not to ask because he wouldn’t answer. Plus, they had company in the front seats.

  Henry glanced over his shoulder at the vehicle behind them. “Is this really necessary?” Apparently, his ability to keep his expression blank didn’t prevent him from asking questions.

  “What do you mean?” she asked. “I already told you that you didn’t need to come.”

  “No, I mean the backup. We have a squad behind us.” He thumbed the rear window. “Excuse me, why such heavy protection?” Henry asked the guard in the front

  “Queen’s orders.” The guard’s voice was a monotone.

  “Why is that exactly?” Henry tilted his head in Ava’s direction with a wry smile.

  “I suppose for the same reason I’m being forced to do charity work today.” Ava gazed out the tinted window.

  “It’s not for the benefit of those involved and your own enrichment?” Sarcasm cut into Henry’s voice.

  So that was how it was going to be? They were going to parry? They’d both trained in fencing and she knew her opponent well. She lengthened her spine and lifted her chin.

  “You know I’m very generous. Remember, it was my idea to build wells in Uganda.” She pressed her lips together, referencing their great escape and the many plans they had once free of the palace and its trappings.

  “That was the third leg of our trip, right?”

  Let the fencing bout begin.

  “Where did you end up going?” he asked as though not quite realizing she’d prepared for battle.

  “Over the years, official charity work took me to seventy-four developing countries.” The challenge in her voice was fierce.

  “Unofficial?” he asked. He obviously gleaned that she’d gone off the map a few times, as did the queen. If they were fencing, he’d have made his lunge forward.

  She would’ve deflected with her epee, a kind of fencing sword. “I helped deliver a baby in a market in Paraguay, though that was more happenstance than an organized relief effort. I also bought enough food to feed a camp of homeless kids in Indonesia.”

  “So your solo travel was more for your pleasure.” He deflected.

  “I wasn’t staying at a spa or luxury resort. I had a backpack and my wits. It seems you forget what it’s like living in the palace bubble.” At that, Ava’s epee would’ve made contact.

  “So you admit it.” Henry was good at fencing and with a flick of his wrist, he’d have dodged his opponent.

  “I hide nothing.” It wasn’t surrender, but the truth. Mostly.

  “Then why’d you sneak off?” Once more, he attacked in their imaginary fencing bout.

  “Why are you being so difficult?” She lunged and struck.

  He shrugged, lacing his sword with hers. “It seems you forget what it’s like hanging out with me,” he said, echoing her words.

  She was skilled and used the riposte technique, successfully returning the parry. “If you recall, you’re the one who made it so we haven’t hung out in a while.”

  If he weren’t so self-contained those words would’ve probably caught him off guard, but he too was skilled. They were well matched.

  They continued to parry, back and forth.

  “I have nothing to hide, Henry, but you do. If you weren’t helping people get fresh drinking water, exploring Mongolia, or trekking through Central America, what were you doing?”

  “How do you know I wasn’t in all of those places?”

  “Because I looked for you.” She retaliated with a well-timed counter thrust.

  He winced as though not expecting that move, but he quickly recovered. “Maybe I’m good at not being found.”

  “Perhaps you have something to hide.”

  He held up his palms. “Nothing to hide.”

  “So, where have you been, Henry Park?” The bout concluded as her imaginary epee thrust into his chest. She had him right where she wanted him, cornered.

  “Working.”

/>   “Why did you leave?”

  He swallowed.

  “We were going to explore the world together. Remember?”

  “Of course I remember.” He leaned in and met the sharpness in her eyes with softness in his. It was an unexpected move. He was unafraid. Perhaps he really had nothing to hide. “I distanced myself from my father because I refused to be in service to the royal family.”

  She’d seen his eyes in every kind of situation.

  Being caught by Livingston for one misdeed or other?

  Being summoned by the queen?

  Missing school work?

  Being reprimanded by his father?

  Check, check, check, and check.

  He may have worn his mask well, but it didn’t hide the truth in his eyes.

  “That’s only part of the story.”

  He shrugged. “I’m good with numbers and computer programming. I became an investor.”

  She didn’t have a specific reason not to believe him other than that she’d known Henry Park better than anyone else in the world. Something about his story didn’t add up. “I suppose you always were a nerd.”

  He snorted.

  “You’ve missed a lot.”

  Their eyes held. She tried to read what he wasn’t saying. What he was hiding.

  A moment passed then another.

  Ava felt her surroundings, the car, and her grasp on her fencing sword release. If they’d been in the fencing hall it would’ve clanged on the ground.

  His dark eyes pinned her in place.

  Something flared inside. A sharp inhale escaped from her mouth. She was defenseless. With that one look, he thrust his weapon into her heart.

  The car stopped. Her door opened. She dropped back into reality.

  As Ava and Henry stood on the sidewalk, she resolved not to give in so easily. She wouldn’t let him win. Not without a fight.

  “Where have you really been, Henry?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer and strode down the sidewalk to the bakery.

  Chapter 6