Secrets of a Prince (The Princes of New Sargasso #3) - Carol Moncado Page 0,56
advice from the PR team or stylists, please call them.”
Joss nodded and stood to walk his father out.
“Stay close to her as much as you can,” his father told him as he stepped into the hallway. “I have a feeling this is going to be more difficult than she realizes.”
With that his father walked off.
Joss suspected his father knew something more that he couldn’t tell Joss and Minnie about.
What could it be?
Minnie pushed her plate away and stood. “I need to get ready. I need to change into something else. I don’t know what. What do you wear to see your criminal father?”
Joss wrapped his arms around her and just held her for a minute. “I’ll call the stylist and ask her to come help you pick something out. I have no doubt you’d choose something amazing, but this way you don’t have to.”
She nodded against him. “Thank you. That would be a huge relief. One less thing for me to choose. And thank you for the ring. I do love it.”
He kissed the side of her head and told her his plan to give it to her the day before.
“That would have been nice, but this was kind of nice, too.”
After another minute, he let her go. “We need to get ready, but you’ve got this, Min. I’ll be there with you. Nothing can happen.”
Nothing physical anyway. Joss just prayed she’d be all right emotionally when it all ended.
21
The drive ended much too soon for Minnie’s taste - but if she had her way, they’d keep driving to the family’s beach home or somewhere equally distant and private.
Instead, fifteen minutes after they pulled out of the palace grounds, the car stopped in front of the New Sargassian Bureau of Investigation headquarters.
At least a dozen reporters and cameras stood on the sides of a cleared walkway to the front door.
“Are you ready?” Joss asked her.
Minnie took a deep breath. “I don’t think I have a choice.”
He squeezed her hand. “Not really. I’ll stay with you as long as I can.”
“I know. Thank you.” She needed to remember to hold his left hand with her right. To flash the ring somehow by brushing her hair back or gripping the strap of her crossbody purse she hadn’t wanted to wear but had been encouraged to for that very reason.
She sucked in a breath. “Let’s do this.”
A member of the palace security team opened the door. Joss climbed out first, buttoning his suit coat as he waited for her, his wedding band clearly visible.
He held out his left hand for her right one to help her out of the car.
Grateful for the dark sunglasses, Minnie gripped his hand tightly as they walked to the door. She kept her head up no matter how much she wanted to try to hide.
Inside, she relaxed slightly but not too much. They were met by an official, a senior one judging by the amount of gray at his temples, and the thought that she was officially a member of the royal family.
A statement and three photos from the wedding the day before were being released any minute after a technical issue of some sort prevented their release earlier in the day.
“Your Royal Highnesses, please come with me.” Clearly, he’d been informed.
They were taken to a waiting elevator. With a key inserted into one of the openings on the control panel, they were whisked up several floors without stopping.
“Sir, you’ll need to wait here,” the man told Joss. “Ma’am, please come with me.”
With a sudden jerk, she pulled her new rings off and held them out. “I don’t want him to know yet. Not unless I’m ready to tell him.”
Joss nodded and took them from her. “I’ll keep them safe.”
“Thank you.” Minnie also handed him her bag then followed the official to a room on the right side of a one-way mirror. Inside sat her father, wearing a bright blue jump suit.
“Are you ready?” The official asked the question quietly, though Minnie wasn’t certain she really had the option to say no.
Inside, she sat down while the official gave a few ground rules - no physical contact, no obligation to answer any questions, no passing of items.
She sat there and stared at her father, waiting for him to start the conversation. He stared back, clearly trying to intimidate her.
It would have worked a few weeks earlier, but something had changed.
Finally, he broke the silence. “I didn’t think you’d come.”