Highness—er, ma’am,” she said as she smoothed a hand down her jeans. “At least I changed into my clean clothes,” she chortled. “Wouldn’t want to mess up this white couch by getting grease stains all over it.”
“It’s entirely my fault, babushka,” he quickly said to Natalia. “Please forgive me.”
“Bah.” She waved a hand away. “It is fine. We are just … friends having tea, are we not?” she said to J.D.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Like, going out for coffee, right?” She chortled. “Oh! By the way …” She handed the paper bag to Natalia. “Here. I got these for you.”
A white brow rose. “For me?”
“Yeah. They’re Blackstone souvenirs. I wasn’t sure if you’d have time to go shopping, so I got you a bit of everything just in case.”
Ever gracious, Natalia accepted the bag. “How kind of you. May I?”
“Go ahead.”
Natalia reached into the bag and took out the contents. “Oh … my …” The first thing she took out was a camouflage T-shirt that said “I love Blackstone” with a heart symbol instead of the word love. It came with a matching trucker cap. There were more fridge magnets, stuffed toy cat, and a keychain. “Er … thank you so much, my dear, you are so thoughtful.”
If the image of his grandmother wearing the ridiculous hat and shirt hadn’t made him smile inwardly, he would have groaned in embarrassment. “Er, yes, why don’t we let Orson take those away.” Far, far away.
Natalia stuffed everything back into the bag, and Orson rushed over to take it from her. “I’ll keep this one here, though,” she said, placing the stuffed cat on her lap.
The beaming look on J.D.’s face made his heart clench. It was obvious she had taken that as a sign of Natalia’s approval, and Cam sighed with relief.
Natalia nodded at Orson when he reappeared. “Orson, please have the staff begin the tea service.”
“Right away, ma’am.”
She turned to J.D. and Cam. “Now, you two are mates, correct? And you are a shifter? Tell me, how did you know my Aleksandr was your mate? Was it when you met? What happened?”
“Well, that’s one hell of a—uh, heckuva story,” J.D. said, snorting. “You see, I was stealing some candy from—”
“J.D., she doesn’t need to know all the details of our meet-cute.” He emphasized the last word, to remind her of that conversation they had after said meet-cute.
“Our meet—oh. Right.” She winked at him not-so-inconspicuously. “Ma’am, I didn’t know you knew about mates. You’re human, correct?”
“Oh, yes. And of course I do.” She clapped her hands together. “I was recently informed of the existence of mates. As you know, Aleksandr’s dear cousin, King Aleksei, met his own fated mate in Queen Sybil. The strength of their union is renowned. Such a happy couple, and they produced the most adorable prince.” Her expression brightened. “Oh my, and it must be fate that my Aleksandr should find his own mate here as well. Had I known, I wouldn’t have objected to him coming to Blackstone so much. And I can’t believe it took you so long to meet.” She tsked. “All this time wasted.”
“It was only a few months, babushka.”
“When you have as little time left as I, a few months is a lifetime. If you had met her the moment you stepped off the plane, she might already be breeding—”
“Babushka,” he warned, as gently as he could.
Thank goodness Orson, his under butler, and the maid arrived with the tea service. They set down cups, a teapot, cream, and a tiered tray filled with various savories and sweets, plus plates of scones and pots of jam and clotted cream.
“Wow,” J.D. exclaimed. “Great spread. I thought we were just drinking tea,” she snorted. “I even practiced lifting my pinkie and everything.” And to show them, she took a teacup and saucer, put it to her lips, her pinkie lifting into an exaggerated position. The clattering sound of the cup hitting the saucer when she put it down made Natalia start, her hand going to her chest.
“Uh, J.D., love,” he said gently, taking his grandmother’s delicate, hundred-year-old china away from J.D. “It’s only a myth that that’s how you drink tea. You don’t have to do that.” Dear Lord, please don’t, he added silently.
“Oh. Sorry,” she said sheepishly at Natalia.
Cam cleared his throat. “May I pour you some tea, babushka?”
The rest of the tea proceeded without much incident. Cam tried his best to steer the conversation away from J.D., so she wouldn’t feel like she