Royal Holiday - Jasmine Guillory Page 0,36

will freak out

Probably not a murderer

But he could be a murderer!

Sex! (hopefully)

Sex??? I barely know him!

She tried to come up with a fifth bullet point on either side to break the tie, but everything she thought of seemed very clearly like a secondary point to one of the eight bullet points she already had.

She shook her head and got out of bed. She needed to sit on this for a while. She should take a shower, go downstairs and drink some of Julia’s delicious tea and eat some of those glorious scones she’d been stuffing herself with for days, and put this whole decision out of her mind for now.

She hadn’t dated anyone in a few years, which was probably why a few kisses had gotten her so giddy about a ridiculous idea like staying with Malcolm in England after Maddie left.

Fine, that last point in the pro list was a significant one.

Maddie was busy doing final fittings with the Duchess for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day outfits, and Julia was occupied in the kitchen, prepping for the holiday meals, so Vivian spent most of the day curled up on her favorite chair in the sitting room, reading and drinking tea and eating whatever snacks James periodically set in front of her. She hadn’t had a day where she had literally nothing to do but relax in a long time, and instead of being able to take advantage of it, she kept thinking about Malcolm Hudson.

She’d sort of expected to get a note from him that day, but one didn’t come. Maybe he’d changed his mind, too. Maybe he’d realized spontaneity wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and thought of all the work he had to do, and remembered he barely knew her.

Yes, that was it. He’d decided she shouldn’t stay, either. Maybe they could just both pretend he’d never said anything about it the day before, so they wouldn’t have to talk about it, and they’d just never speak of it tonight, then never see each other again.

Okay, well, that last part was depressing. Plus, avoiding a conversation like that wasn’t really her style. She had to tell him something.

“What do you think, Mom? Isn’t she stunning?”

Vivian looked up at Maddie’s voice and saw the Duchess standing there in front of her in the emerald-green sequined dress. Vivian rose from her chair.

“Wow. Oh wow.” Vivian walked around the Duchess to see her from all sides. Her hair was up in a loose, off-center bun, with long tendrils around her face, she had huge diamond studs in her ears, and she was wearing a diamond bracelet that probably cost twice as much money as Vivian’s car.

Maybe her house.

“You look incredible,” Vivian said.

“She does, doesn’t she?” The Duke came into the room in his tux and smiled first at his wife, then at Maddie and Vivian. “Thank you both, for making my wife so happy.”

The Duchess kissed him on the cheek.

“At first I wasn’t sure about this color, but—”

“It’s perfect,” both Vivian and the Duke said in unison. They grinned at each other.

“Who am I to argue with these two?” the Duchess said to Maddie.

James pulled the car up to the house, and after another flurry of good-byes, they got in to drive the few minutes over to Sandringham House.

“That’s our cue to get ourselves ready for dinner,” Vivian said.

Maddie nudged her on their way up the stairs.

“Speaking of dinner, a little birdie told me that Malcolm Hudson is coming for dinner, too. How did that happen?”

Oops. In the aftermath of Malcolm’s invitation, she’d forgotten to find a way to mention to Maddie that he was coming tonight.

“Oh, I think Julia wanted to—”

Maddie rolled her eyes.

“Mom, stop. You wanted to spend a little more time with the very attractive and accomplished man who introduced you to the Queen. You don’t need to make up a story about this on my account.”

Now might be a good opportunity to tell Maddie that she was thinking about spending even more time with the very attractive and accomplished man who introduced her to the Queen.

No, she’d decided that wasn’t going to happen, hadn’t she?

“Plus”—Maddie grinned at her—“I heard him talking the other day when he dropped you back off here—my goodness, that accent. If I wasn’t already taken, I’d swoon for it a little bit, too.”

He really did have an incredible voice. It wasn’t just the accent, though that was great, too. It was something about the timbre of his voice: low,