Secrets of a Prince (The Princes of New Sargasso #3) - Carol Moncado Page 0,35

a hold of someone besides the kitchen, she just might do it.

Eventually, deciding she’d been left alone long enough that it no longer mattered, Minnie laid down on the lounge where she’d been reading, careful not to mess up any of the pillows or blanket things that had to be there for looks only.

She dozed off, but before she could fully sink into a deep sleep, the door opened and she heard her name being called.

Now what?

Joss walked into the apartment only to be immediately struck by something seeming off.

Minnie hadn’t returned his texts earlier, but he’d figured she was absorbed in her writing or reading, though she usually responded eventually.

Dusk had already started to fall outside, but there were no lights turned on and nothing being made for dinner.

“Min?” he called. “Where are you? Minnie?” He walked through the whole place but didn’t find her.

Or her phone or tablet.

Just a pile of clothes she’d left in the bedroom and an open dresser drawer with the clothes in it messed up.

Fear started to claw at his heart.

He pulled his phone out and called hers. No answer, but also no buzzing in the apartment to indicate it had been left behind.

Where could she be? She didn’t go places since she got here.

A thought roared through his mind. Could her father have found out where she was?

He went across the hall and knocked on the door.

A former member of his security team answered the door. “Your Royal Highness?” She sounded confused to see him. Though she and her husband lived across the hall with their two children, they rarely spoke. “How can I help you?”

“Do you know where Minnie is?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been gone all day. Cliff?” she called.

Her husband emerged from the back bedroom. “Yes?”

“Do you know where Lady Waterford is?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “All I know is that the king was here earlier today. I was told the cameras would be turned off, and I wasn’t to observe what happened. I could turn everything back on in an hour. I have no idea what happened in the meantime. She didn’t leave afterward.”

“Thanks.” Relief started to take hold. Surely his father knew where she had gone.

He needed to talk to his father. He would know what happened.

As he left the building and started for the palace, he called the king’s office, but it went to his father’s assistant who said the king was in a meeting and not to be disturbed.

When he arrived at the palace, he was ushered straight into the office.

His father was on the phone and motioned for Joss to have a seat across from his desk. He spoke French for a moment, listened, signed off, and hung up the phone.

“Do you have something to tell me?” he asked as he leaned back in his chair.

“I think you already discovered my apartment.”

His father waved a hand in the air. “I’ve known about it since you acquired it.”

That didn’t surprise Joss, though it did surprise him that his father had gone this long without mentioning it.

“As long as there was no reason to mention it,” his father went on. “I didn’t see the need to. But that’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”

Joss shifted uncomfortably. “You mean that Min... Lady Waterford has been living there to avoid her father?”

“That’s part of it.”

Which meant he knew about the rest of it?

“I’m talking about what happened in your hotel suite when you went to the children’s library opening.”

Joss’s shoulders slumped. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I’m not so sure. I mean, helping her get away from her father was a good plan, but not sure that was the best way.”

“Especially not without bringing me in on the plan.” His father gave Joss the disappointed-dad look, which was slightly different than the disappointed-king look. “I could have been a big help, and likely found a different way to go about things, but it’s too late now.”

Joss sighed. “I know. We got married planning to separate and get it annulled or divorce or whichever kept Minnie from her father’s control. The vows were super basic with no ‘until death do we part’ or anything of that nature.”

“I know that as well.”

“We’ve talked about changing the terms of the relationship and seeing if we can make a go of it, but my schedule has been so crazy the last few weeks, and she hasn’t left the apartment until today.” He grimaced.