Secrets of a Prince (The Princes of New Sargasso #3) - Carol Moncado Page 0,40

seats near one end of the table. Once she took a seat in the last chair next to his mother, Joss sat between her and Caleb.

The queen reached over and covered Minnie’s hand with her own and squeezed gently. “Welcome to the family, my dear.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Minnie didn’t say much the rest of the meal, speaking only when directly questioned by her mother-in-law.

The crown prince left first. He hadn’t said much more than Minnie. That left just Princess Lydia plus Caleb and Rosie and their parents.

“Lydia, I believe it’s about time for you to meet with your teachers.” The king smiled kindly at his only daughter. “I’ll be in to check on you later.”

“Yes, Papa.” She stood, made her belated curtsy and then hugged her father before leaving.

As soon as she was gone, Caleb turned to Joss. “Care to tell us what’s going on?”

Joss shrugged. “Minnie and I eloped a few week ago. That’s all. We’re planning a small ceremony along the same lines as yours but in a different part of the gardens before we go public sometime soon-ish.”

“That doesn’t actually tell us anything,” Caleb pressed.

“It tells you all you need to know,” the king told his son. “Minnie is your sister-in-law.” An unspoken threat of “be kind” hung in the air.

Caleb’s stony glare didn’t change. “I need to get going. Rosie and I have a meeting to get to.”

The king raised an eyebrow. Minnie took that to mean the meeting they needed to get to wasn’t nearly as urgent as they intimated it would be.

“I’m sorry my children aren’t as welcoming as I’d hoped they’d be,” the king told her, his face sad.

“I don’t blame them. I haven’t always been the most kind to them, especially Kari.” She regretted the things she’d said and her attitude the summer before.

“They’ll come around,” the queen promised.

“I hope so.” She’d need to do some damage control with most of them at some point or another.

Kari was the one she needed to do the most with. “When will Gideon and Kari be back from their honeymoon?” she asked.

“A few days. They went to San Majoria for Miriam’s service. It would have been difficult for me to get there in time with the state plane already overseas with Caleb. They and Caleb, who was already in Athmetis, attended on my behalf. David, of course, was there as her son-in-law. Gideon and Kari are staying a couple of extra days in Sargasso because of it.”

“How’s the family doing?” Minnie asked.

A troubled look flashed across the king’s face, so quickly Minnie wondered if she’d imagined it. “About like you’d expect. I’ve spoken with Edward briefly a couple of times. He’s not yet back to work fully, but it’s only been a few days. He’s grief stricken. She was the love of his life and had been for thirty years.”

Minnie pushed her food around on her plate with her fork as the others talked around her.

When they were finished, the king and queen excused themselves, leaving her alone with Joss.

He held her chair for her as she stood.

“That could have gone worse.” She waited for him to leave so she’d know where to go.

“It could have gone better.” He held open the door to the hallway.

“Also true.”

“For the time being, you likely need to spend most of your time in the apartment.” His voice was tinged with regret for her. “I hate that for you, but it’s probably best for now.”

“I know. But you’ll be there every evening” She grinned at him. “And I won’t have to cook any more, will I? How does that work?”

He chuckled. “If we’re not eating with the family, we work with the head chef. It’s not quite like a restaurant where you can order anything you want, but there’s usually plenty of options. I’ll show you how later.”

“Thank you.”

They came to a stop at the door to his apartment.

“I’m sorry I have to go,” he said. But then he leaned in.

And kissed her.

The last thing Joss wanted was a confrontation with his brother, but it was bound to happen sooner rather than later.

“You married her?” The door between their offices opened as the words came out.

Joss took a deep breath and prayed for patience as he spun in his chair. “You mean Lady Waterford? Princess Minerva? Minnie? Yes. I did.”

“Why?”

“Why does it matter? I did. I made a choice to marry her. I’m daily making the choice to remain married to her, which makes her my wife and your