so highly of him when he told me they were teaming up to kick off their fitness initiative in Surrey next week.
Clementine heads towards the door, and soon, I hear it open.
“Hello, Clementine, sorry I’m late,” I can hear him say. “These are for you.”
“Oh, they are beautiful, thank you,” Clementine says.
Both Bella and I are looking towards the door, and as Clementine pulls it wide open, I can fully see Camden handing a bouquet of flowers to Clementine.
“Please, come in,” she says.
Whoa, I think as I watch him, TV doesn’t do Camden Tremblay justice.
He looks as if he is one of those footballers who could model on the side. He has dark brown hair that is styled with product and swept away from his face. Even from here, I can see he has chiselled features—strong jawline, flawless nose, full lips. His smile is bright as he talks with Clementine, and I watch as he slips out of his black leather jacket and hangs it up on the coatrack. He has on a slim-fitting white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, one that stretches across his body and reveals arms that are inked down to his hands.
“My God,” Bella gasps, her voice a whisper, as if the words slipped from her mouth without thinking, “he’s beautiful.”
I glance at her, and her blue eyes are wide and wholly riveted to Camden Tremblay. Her face is one of wonderment, and she’s staring at Camden as if she had never seen a man in her life until he walked into the room. As they come closer, her eyes never once drift from the footballer.
“Camden Tremblay,” Clementine says, stopping before us, “I’d like you to meet Xander’s date, Poppy Davies.”
“Hello,” I say, rising and extending my hand to him. “Nice to meet you. Xander has told me a lot about you.”
His blue eyes light up in amusement. “Oh, no, I’m afraid of what he has said. But whatever it is … it’s most likely true.”
I laugh. I can see why Xander likes him.
Then his eyes shift to Liz.
“This is Liz York,” Clementine says as Liz gets up.
“Your Royal Highness,” Camden says, shaking her hand. “Pleasure.”
“Oh, you can stop with that nonsense right now,” she tells him, laughing. “Call me Liz. Please.”
“Liz,” he says, grinning.
“And this is Isabella York,” Clementine continues.
I watch as a pretty flush creeps up Bella’s pale skin. Camden’s attention shifts to her, and their eyes lock.
“Your Royal Highness,” he says, taking her hand. “It’s a pleasure.”
Bella is staring at Camden as if she is unable to take her eyes off him.
“My friends call me Bella,” she says softly.
“Then I hope I may call you Bella, too,” he replies, his eyes locked on hers.
Ooh! I can’t help but feel a tingle of excitement for Bella.
And maybe, just maybe, much in the same way fate brought me to Xander behind the gates of Kensington Palace, fate has brought Camden Tremblay to Bella York, too.
Chapter Nineteen
Toxic
“May I get you something to drink?” Clementine asks Camden. “Beer? Wine? Mango margarita?”
Camden’s eyes briefly move from Bella to his host. “Is the margarita frozen or on the rocks?”
“Frozen, but I have a cocktail shaker if you want one on the rocks,” she says.
“I prefer on the rocks, no salt,” he says slowly.
Lord. He’s so sexy the way he says it that I swear it’s as if he’s Bond saying, “Shaken, not stirred.”
“But please, you don’t have to make one on my account,” Camden adds.
“Oh, no, I don’t mind at all,” Clementine says, heading to her cupboards and retrieving a silver cocktail shaker. “When I first moved to the UK, I lived with a lovely woman named Jillian, and she taught me all about cocktails. I think I’ve mastered the on the rocks margarita thanks to her.”
Jillian. Xander said that was the name of his decorator.
“I know they probably aren’t the same person, but Xander mentioned his decorator was named Jillian.”
“That’s her,” Clementine says, her face lighting up. “Same person. She is lovely and like another grandmother to me. A very hip, cool, fashionable grandmother. And a former interior designer, so that’s why she was a natural to help Xander.”
We all sit back down, but I notice Camden doesn’t make a beeline to the patio to be with the guys. Instead, he pulls a high-back stool out and positions it so he can see Bella directly. Then he sits down, as Britney Spears’s song “Toxic” fills the air around us.