to pat Genevieve’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Theo wasn’t allowed to come, Genny. Now I’ll feel guilty every time I get to kiss Elias on this trip.”
“And well you should,” she snapped back tartly.
Christian threw up his hands. “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” he snarled. “I didn’t turn Theo away. In fact, I made a point of inviting him. He’s attending a conference on some forward-thinking agricultural crap. Genny knows that.”
“Indeed I do. However, two important points: you did make an exceedingly snarky comment about the nauseatingly-in-love couples. One for which you deserve a bit of payback. And two—I like to poke at you.”
“See?” Kelsey piped up. “Brother and sister squabbling over nothing? This is already an authentic road trip.”
The king burst out laughing. It took a couple of seconds, but eventually everyone in the car joined in, even Marko and Clara. Which was a shock. The bodyguards almost never revealed any reaction to their protectees.
Mallory didn’t want to risk losing momentum. She jabbed Christian on the sternum. “You should sing.”
“Professionally? Sorry, I’ve already got a job that allows me to dress well and be a recipient of constant applause. Plus, I’ve got way better job security.”
With exaggerated patience, she clarified slowly. “You should sing now.”
“You’ve lost your mind, woman.” He shook his head. “I mean, why?”
“To start a new family tradition.” Good grief, she wasn’t asking him to orate Beowulf.
He crossed his arms, huffing. As well as giving her a significantly annoyed side-eye. “I’m not singing.”
“Trust me, Mallory. None of us want that,” Genevieve said with quite a surprising amount of fervor.
Thank goodness, Kelsey was always guaranteed to back her up against the rest of the world. “If it was good enough for Captain von Trapp and his family fleeing the Nazis, then it’s good enough for the House of Villani as we roll out of Austria.”
“All we’re fleeing is the threat of Christian’s bad voice kicking off a rockslide.” Genny shuddered. “Marko, you’re the one concerned with keeping all of us alive. Say it’s out of the question for security reasons.”
A rich baritone suddenly flowed over the teasing bickering like syrup over glass.
It was “Edelweiss.”
And it was the king singing. He started in what Mallory guessed was German, and then switched to English after the first phrase. He must’ve remembered that he had two language-challenged Americans in the car. By the second phrase, Kelsey and Elias had joined in. Then Genny laid her head on his shoulder and also started singing.
Christian’s hand shot out to grab Mallory’s. He didn’t just hold it; he squeezed it like a lifeline. Her knuckles felt like they were about to crack. It didn’t matter. She wanted to share this victory with him.
Speaking softly, she murmured, “This was what you hoped for, wasn’t it? When we talked up on the tower. You said you’d do something drastic to get through to your dad.”
“Yeah. It was a long shot. I wanted to remind him there are worthwhile things outside his suite. That there are a million reasons to rejoin the world. I figured his family might be the most important one. The, ah, emotional fulcrum to lever him out.”
“That was brilliant.” Mallory wanted to hug him. She settled for putting her other hand on top of his. Maybe he’d feel her squishing her pride into him? Okay, that was beyond silly. But he beamed at her, with that full-out smile that made women the world over yearn for a chance to be his bride. So maybe he got it, after all.
“What’s that saying about inspiration?” he asked.
“Ninety-nine percent perspiration, one percent inspiration.”
Christian huffed. “Well, in my case, it was ninety-nine percent desperation, one percent inspiration.”
The singers moved on to “My Favorite Things.” Evidently The Sound of Music’s popularity was just as big on this side of the Atlantic. Hopefully they’d work their way through the entire soundtrack so that she and Christian could continue talking, semi-privately.
“How’d you do it?” Mallory was genuinely curious how he’d gotten through to the man who’d ignored him—and the rest of the world—for almost three months. She also guessed, however, that Christian very much wanted to share the whole tale of his brilliance. After all, a win always got sweeter with each retelling. “Bribery? Or did you threaten to ride his favorite stallion?”
After leaning forward to check that all the rest of the passengers were absorbed in the sing-along, he twisted to face her. “Nothing like that. I knew it had to be drastic, remember? Bold. Balls to the wall.”
“Christian!” Mallory