Royal Holiday - Jasmine Guillory Page 0,57
is it? Are we running late? I take really fast showers.”
The smile on his face was so wide and warm she felt it down to her toes.
“It’s only nine, so we have plenty of time. We can toss your suitcase in the boot of my car and bring it to my flat afterward.”
She smiled back at him.
“Perfect.”
A little over an hour later, they drove down the wide street with parks on each side that led up to Buckingham Palace.
“This is called the Mall,” Malcolm said. “On days like Trooping the Colour—the Queen’s official birthday celebration—and other big royal events, people line it on all sides. It’s pretty stunning.”
Vivian looked around and smiled.
“We have a Mall in our nation’s capital, too.”
Malcolm glanced over at her with a grin on his face.
“Where do you think you got the idea?”
She continued, as if he hadn’t said anything.
“Though ours leads up to a center of democracy, not monarchy.”
Malcolm laughed out loud.
“Sometimes, progress isn’t all bad.”
They got closer to the palace, and Vivian looked up at the enormous stone building. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to get to go inside. Malcolm pointed to the top of it.
“No flag—that means, if we had any doubt, that the Queen is not in residence.”
“Oh good, I don’t have to worry about running into her again. I don’t think I’d be able to keep myself from curtsying a second time if we were inside a palace, and my American ego can’t handle that.”
Malcolm was still laughing as the car slowed, and he . . . Good lord, he just pulled right up to the gates of the palace.
When he said they’d drive there, she’d thought . . . Okay, maybe she hadn’t thought about it at all, but she definitely didn’t think they would just drive up to the actual gold-tipped ornate gates of actual Buckingham Palace like they belonged there.
But then, she supposed they did.
Vivian looked around, and there was a crowd of people standing by the gates, staring into Malcolm’s car. She kept herself—barely—from giving them a beauty pageant wave, and instead looked straight ahead. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face, though.
Malcolm held up his badge to show the guards, and they glanced at it and waved him through.
“I can’t believe I was just in a car that drove into Buckingham Palace,” she said. “I didn’t take any pictures because I didn’t want to embarrass you, but please know I wanted to.”
He put his hand on hers and smiled at her.
“I’m honored by both parts of that sentence.” He lifted her hand and brushed it against his lips. “I’m glad you’re enjoying this.”
She really wanted to lean over and kiss him, but restrained herself. They were in the parking lot at Buckingham Palace; it didn’t seem to be quite the appropriate place for that. She squeezed his hand instead.
“Will there be scones?”
He laughed and turned off the car.
When they walked into the gleaming red, white, and gold state dining room, Vivian stopped and turned around in a circle, her eyes full of wonder.
“All state dinners are held here, as well as other formal dinners,” their guide said.
“Wow,” Vivian said. She looked overhead. “These chandeliers alone are worth this whole tour. And the ceiling! With the gold accents, it’s just stunning.”
Malcolm looked around and smiled.
“This place really is so awe-inspiring; it’s good for me to stop and remember that.”
She’d asked the guide in advance if she could take pictures and had taken a few in every room. He kept waiting for her to take a selfie with him, like she’d done in all of those places in London with her daughter, but she never did.
When they walked out to his car in the palace parking lot over an hour later, she beamed at him.
“Thank you. For arranging that, for letting me spend so much time there, for you and Geraldine answering all of my questions, for everything.” Her eyes crinkled, and her smile got sly. “I would kiss you right now for all of that, but I’ll wait until we’re a safe distance away from the palace.”
Before he could help himself, he glanced back toward the palace to see if anyone who knew him was around to hear that, and she laughed out loud.
“I love how tense you get at the mere suggestion of kissing in public. I seem to remember you were a little different on Christmas Eve.”
His cheeks got warm when he thought about how he’d kissed her at the party, in