The Prince's Devious Proposal - Holly Rayner Page 0,4

English word “petter.” Naomi repeated it in her mind, familiarizing herself with it. “Who’s calling, please?”

“This is Naomi West,” she said. Then, feeling a bit foolish, wondering if she needed to explain herself, she added, “You, um, sent me some flowers.”

“Ms. West!” Petr exclaimed. His voice was filled with delight. “I so hoped you would call. Or may I call you Naomi? I don’t wish to be forward.”

“Naomi’s fine,” she said, bemused. Even at the height of her fame, no one had called her Ms. West. Fans had often referred to her by her full name, as if she wasn’t a regular person who could just be called by her first name—which she supposed she wasn’t to them. But no one had ever been this formal.

“Wonderful,” Petr said happily. “And I am Petr Agridis, but I hope you’ll call me Petr—but, of course, you already have!” He laughed. “I’m so pleased to hear that you got the flowers. Did you like the arrangement?”

“I did,” Naomi said. “And it was very kind of you to send them.”

“Well, it was only proper,” Petr said. “I could hardly reach out to you without a gift of some kind. It would have been most disconcerting, I imagine, if I had sent a letter to you at work with no flowers.”

“To be honest, it was a little disconcerting anyway,” Naomi admitted. “Not that I’m ungrateful, of course. But to receive flowers from a stranger—I can’t deny, that surprised me.”

“Not unpleasantly, I hope?”

“No,” Naomi said. “Not unpleasantly. But it definitely wasn’t something I expected today.”

“I’m a big fan of yours, you see,” Petr said. “Maybe even your biggest. Oh, I’ve enjoyed your music for years. Well, of course, you know that; you read the card that was enclosed with the flowers. Tell me, did the people at the shop remember to capitalize ‘Starlight Boy’? When I placed the order over the phone, I told them that was important.”

“They did,” Naomi said.

“Thank goodness,” Petr said. “I’m sure you would have understood the reference regardless—it’s your song, after all! But I wanted to be clear.”

“It was clear,” Naomi said.

“I’ve always wanted to meet you,” Petr said. “I hope you don’t think that’s silly—a grown man wanting to meet his favorite songwriter. But you must be used to it. I’m sure you receive messages like that from fans all the time.”

“Not actually,” Naomi said. “I haven’t heard anything from a fan in years.”

“What? I can’t believe that!”

“If you’re actually a fan of my music, you must have noticed that I haven’t released anything in years,” she told him. “My career’s over.”

“Oh, don’t say that. There’s always the chance for a comeback,” Petr said.

Naomi frowned. She was sure his intentions were good, but she didn’t like people telling her there was a chance she could make a comeback. That idea made it more difficult to accept the life she had. It made her long for something that was over. She could deal with the fact that her music career had been a temporary thing. What she couldn’t deal with was the idea that there was something she could do that she hadn’t done that would have allowed her to reclaim it.

She turned her attention to a different question. “How did you know where I work?”

“Oh,” he said. “You’re on the company website. There’s a picture of you on the homepage.”

That was true. It was actually a picture of the whole office, meant to convey the friendly way clients would be treated, but because Naomi’s desk was right up front, she featured prominently.

“You were on our company website?” she asked.

“You sell travel packages,” he pointed out. “I was in the market. Anyway, when I saw you on the homepage, I investigated the section that lists the company’s employees, and sure enough, there you were. Naomi West, Receptionist.” He chuckled. “They should be making a bigger deal about having a famous person on their staff! What a wasted opportunity.”

“No, they shouldn’t,” Naomi said firmly. “I’m not famous. No one even knows who I am anymore.”

“I know who you are,” he pointed out.

It was the kind of statement that Naomi would have expected to find a little bit creepy, but she didn’t. Something about the way he said it made it clear that he was just a sincere fan. She believed him when he said that he had always wanted to meet her.

“All right,” she said. “Maybe you know who I am. But nobody else does. That part of my life is over.”

“Would