The Duke's Boardroom Affair / Convenient Marriage, Inconvenient Husband: The Duke's Boardroom Affair

Four

Victoria felt sick.

Sick in her mind and in her heart. Sick all the way down to the center of her soul. And the more she read, the worse she felt.

She was barely a quarter of the way through the file and it was already undeniably clear that not only had the royal family not stolen anything from her and her father, they had rescued them from inevitable and total ruin.

Had they not stepped in, the bank would have foreclosed on mortgages she hadn’t even been aware that her father had levied against the hotel. And he was so far behind in their property taxes, the property had been just days from being seized.

The worst part was that the trouble began when Victoria was a baby, after her grandfather passed away and her father inherited control of the hotel. All that time he’d been riding a precarious, financial roller coaster, living far above their means. Until it had finally caught up to him. And he had managed to keep it a secret by blatantly lying to her.

She had trusted him. Sacrificed so much because she thought she owed him.

Because of the royal family’s generous offer, she and her father had a roof over their heads. And she had the opportunity for a career that would launch her further than she might have ever dreamed possible. Yet she still felt as though the rug had been yanked violently from under her. Everything she knew about her father and their business, about her life, was a lie.

And she had seen enough.

She gathered the papers and tucked them neatly back into the file. Though she dreaded facing Charles, admitting her father’s deception, what choice did she have? Besides, he probably had a pretty good idea already that something in her family dynamic was amiss. If nothing else, she owed him an apology for her unfounded accusations. And a heartfelt thank-you for…well…everything. His family’s generosity and especially their discretion.

And there was only one thing left to do. Only one thing she could do.

She picked up the phone and dialed Charles’s extension. He answered on the first ring. “Is now a good time to speak with you?”

“Of course,” he said. “Come right in.”

She hung up the phone, but for several long seconds just sat there, working up the courage to face him. And she thought yesterday had been humiliating. Getting her butt out of the chair and walking to his office, tail between her legs, was one of the hardest things she’d ever done.

Charles sat at his desk. He had every right to look smug, but he wore a sympathetic smile instead. And honestly she couldn’t decide which was worse. She didn’t deserve his sympathy.

She handed him the file. “Thank you for showing me this. For being honest with me.”

“I thought you deserved the truth.”

She took a deep breath. “First, I want to thank you and the royal family for your generosity. Please let them know how much we appreciate their intervention.”

“’We’?” he asked, knowing full well that her father didn’t appreciate anything the royal family had done for them.

Although for the life of her, she couldn’t imagine why. Pride, she supposed. Or stubbornness. Whatever the reason, she was in no position to make excuses for him. Nor would she want to. He had gotten them into this mess, and any consequences he suffered were his own doing.

“And while I appreciate the opportunity to work for the Royal Inn,” she said, removing her ID badge and setting it on his desk, “I’m afraid I won’t be accepting the position.”

His brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

She had taken this job only to appease her father, and now everything was different. She didn’t owe him anything. For the first tine in her life she was going to make a decision based entirely on what she wanted.

“I’m not a charity case,” she told Charles. “I owe you too much already. And unlike my father, I don’t care to be indebted to anyone.”

“You’ve seen the file, Victoria. We were under no obligation to your father. Do you honestly believe we would have hired you if we didn’t feel you were qualified for the position?”

She didn’t know what to believe anymore. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”

“What will you do?”

She shrugged. She was in hotel management, and the Royal Inn was the biggest game on the island. She would never find a position with comparable pay anywhere else. Not on Morgan Isle, anyway. That could mean a move off the island. Maybe it was time for a change, time to stop leaning on her father and be truly independent for the first time in her life. Or maybe it was he who had been leaning on her.

“I’ll find another job,” she said.

“What will you do until then?”

She honestly didn’t know. Since the buyout, what savings she’d had were quickly vanishing. If she went much longer without a paycheck, she would be living on the streets.

“I have an idea,” Charles said. “A mutually beneficial arrangement.”

She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that, but the least she could do was hear him out. She folded her arms and said, “I’m listening.”

“You’ve seen the shambles my life is in. Stay, just long enough to get things back in order and to hire and train a new assistant, and when you go, you’ll leave with a letter of recommendation so impressive that anyone would be a fool not to hire you.”

It was tempting, but she already owed him too much. This was something she needed to do on her own.

She shook her head. “You’ve done too much already.”

He leaned forward in his seat. “You would be the one doing me the favor. I honestly don’t have the time to train someone else.”

“I’ve been here two days. Technically someone should be training me.”

“You’re a fast learner.” When she didn’t answer he leaned forward and said, “Victoria, I’m desperate.”

He did look a little desperate, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that he was doing it just to be nice. Which shouldn’t have been a bad thing. And she should have been jumping at his offer, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that she didn’t deserve his sympathy.

“Do this one thing for me,” he coaxed, “and we’ll call it even. You won’t owe me and I won’t owe you.”

She would have loved nothing more than to put this entire awful experience behind her and start fresh.

“I would have to insist you pay me only an assistant’s wage,” she said.

He looked surprised. “That’s not much.”

“Maybe, but it’s fair.”

“Fine,” he agreed. “If that’s what you want.”

“How long would I have to stay?” she asked.

“How about two months.”

Yeah, right. “How about one week?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Six weeks.”

“Two weeks,” she countered.

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Deal,” he said with a grin.

She took a deep breath and blew it out. Three weeks working with the duke. It was longer than she was comfortable with, but at the very least it would give her time to look for another job. She had interviewed hundreds of people in her years at the Houghton, yet she had never so much as put together a résumé for herself. Much less had to look for employment. She barely knew where to begin.

“I’ll have Penelope post an ad for the assistant’s position. I’ll leave it to you to interview the applicants. Then, of course, they’ll have to meet my approval.”

“Of course.”

“Why don’t we catch an early lunch today and discuss exactly what it is I’m looking for?” His smile said business was the last thing on his mind.

Were they back to that again?

If she was going to survive the next three weeks working for him, she was going to have to set some boundaries. Establish parameters.

“I’m not going to sleep with you,” she said.

If her direct approach surprised him, he didn’t let it show. He just raised one brow slightly higher than the other. “I don’t know how you did things at the Houghton, but here, lunch isn’t code for sex.”

On the contrary, that’s exactly what it was. Practically everything he said was a double entendre. “I’m not a member of your harem.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up. “I have a harem?”

Was he forgetting that she’d listened to his phone messages? “I just thought I should make it clear up front. Because you seem to believe you’re God’s gift to the female race.”

He shot her a very contrived stunned look. “You mean I’m not?”

“I’m sorry to say, I don’t find you the least bit attractive.” It was kind of a lie. Physically she found him incredibly attractive. His personality, on the other hand, needed serious work.

He shrugged. “If you say so.”

He was baiting her, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a response. “Have a list of employment requirements to me by end of day and I’ll see that the ad is placed.” She already had a pretty good idea of the sort of employee he was looking for. More emphasis on looks than intelligence or capability. But she was going to find him an assistant who could actually do the job. And she would hopefully be doing it sooner than three weeks. The faster she got out of here, the better.

“You’ll have it by five,” he said.

“Thank you. I should get back to work.” She still had a backload of e-mail and phone messages to sort through.

She was almost to her office when he called her name, and something in his voice said he was up to no good. She sighed quietly to herself, and with her hand on the doorknob, turned back to him. Ready for a fight. “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” she asked, expecting some sort of snappy, sarcastic comeback or a sexually charged innuendo.

Instead, he just said, “For sticking around.”

She was so surprised, all she could do was nod as she opened the door and slipped into her office. The really weird thing was, she was pretty sure he genuinely meant it. And it touched her somewhere deep down.

If she wasn’t careful, she just might forget how much she didn’t like him.

It was almost four-thirty when Charles popped his head into her office and handed Victoria the list of employment requirements. And early, no less.

“Are you busy?” he asked.

What now? Wasn’t it a bit early for a dinner invitation? “Why?”

“You up for a field trip?”

She set the list in her urgent to-do pile. “I guess that all depends on where you want to go.” If it was a field trip to his bedroom, then no, she would pass.

“I have a meeting at the palace in half an hour. I thought you might want to tag along. It would be a chance for you to learn the ropes.”

A tickle of excitement worked its way up from her belly. Anyone who lived on Morgan Isle dreamed of going to the palace and meeting the royal family.

But honestly, what was the point? “Why bother? I’ll only be working for you for three weeks.”

“Yes, but how will you train your replacement if you don’t learn the job first?”

He had a point. Although his logic was a little backward. But the truth was, she really wanted to go. After all, when would she ever get an opportunity like this one again?

“When you put it that way,” she said, pushing away from her desk, “I suppose I should.”

“A car is waiting for us downstairs.”

She grabbed her purse from the bottom desk drawer and her sweater from the hook on the back of the door, then followed him through the outer office past Penelope—who didn’t even raise her head to acknowledge them—to the elevator. He was uncharacteristically quiet as they rode down and he led her through the lobby to the shiny, black, official-looking Bentley parked out front. Not that she knew him all that well, but he always seemed to have something to say. Too much, usually.

They settled in the leather-clad backseat, and the driver pulled out into traffic. She wasn’t typically the chatty type, but she felt this irrational, uncontrollable urge to fill the silence. Maybe because as long as they were talking, she didn’t have to think about the overpowering sense of his presence beside her. He was so large, filled his side of the seat so thoroughly, she felt almost crowded against the door. It would take only the slightest movement to cause their knees to bump. And the idea of any sort of contact in the privacy of the car, even accidental, made her pulse jump.

When she couldn’t stand the silence another second, she heard herself ask, “Not looking forward to this meeting?”

The sound of her voice startled him, as though he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone. “Why do you ask?”

“You seem…preoccupied.”

“Do I?”

“You haven’t made a single suggestive or inappropriate comment since we left your office.”

He laughed and said, “No, I’m not looking forward to it. Delivering bad news is never pleasant.”

He didn’t elaborate, and though she was dying of curiosity, she didn’t ask. It was none of her business. And honestly, the less she knew about the royal family’s business, the better.

The drive to the palace was a short one. As the gates came into view, Victoria’s heart did a quick shimmy in her chest. She was really going to visit the royal palace. Where kings and queens had lived for generations, and heads of state regularly visited. Though she had lived on Morgan Isle her entire life, not ten miles from the palace, she never imagined she would ever step foot within its walls. Or come face-to-face with the royal family.

Charles leaned forward and told the driver. “Take us to the front doors.” He turned to Victoria. “Normally you would use the business entrance in the back, but I thought for your first visit you should get the royal treatment.”

The car rolled to a stop, and royally clothed footmen posted on either side of the enormous double doors descended the stairs. One opened the car door and offered a hand encased in pristine white cotton to help her out. It was oddly surreal. She’d never put much stock in fairy tales, but standing at the foot of the palace steps, she felt a little like Cinderella. Only she wasn’t there for a ball. And even if she were, there were no single princes in residence to fall in love with her. Just an arrogant, womanizing duke.

Which sounded more like a nightmare than any fairy tale she’d ever read.

She and Charles climbed the stairs, and as they approached the top the gilded doors swung open, welcoming them inside.

Walking into the palace, through the cavernous foyer, was like stepping into a different world. An alternate reality where everything was rich and elegant and larger than life. She had never seen so much marble, gold, and velvet, yet it was tastefully proportioned so as not to appear gaudy. She turned in a circle, her heels clicking against marble buffed to a gleaming shine, taking in the antique furnishings, the vaulted and ornately painted ceilings.

Though she had seen it many times in photos and on television documentaries, and on television documentaries, those were substitute for the real thing.

“What do you think?” Charles asked.

“It’s amazing,” she breathed. “Does everyone who visits get this kind of welcome?”

“Not exactly. But I feel as though everyone should experience the entire royal treatment at least one time. Don’t you think?”

She nodded, although she couldn’t help wondering if he had done this out of the kindness of his heart or if instead he had ulterior motives. She knew from experience that men like him often did. How many other women had he brought here, hoping to impress them with his royalty? Not that she considered herself one of his women. But he very well might. In fact, she was pretty sure he did. Men like him objectified women, saw them as nothing more than playthings.

And she was buying into it. Playing right into his hand. Shame on her for letting down her guard.

She put a chokehold on her excitement and flashed him a passive smile. “Well, thank you. It was a nice surprise.”

“Would you like to meet the family?” he asked.

Her heart leapt up into her throat. “The f-family?”

“We have a meeting scheduled, so they should all be together in the king’s suite.”

The entire family? All at once? And he said it so casually, as if meeting royalty was a daily occurrence for her.

But what was she going to tell him? No?

“If it’s not a problem,” she said, although she didn’t have the first clue what she would say to them.

“They’re expecting us.”

Expecting them?

She went from being marginally nervous to shaking in her pumps.

He stepped forward, toward the stairs, but she didn’t budge. She couldn’t. She felt frozen in place, as though her shoes had melted into the marble.

He stopped and looked back at her. “You coming?”

She nodded, but she couldn’t seem to get her feet to move. She just stood there like an idiot.

Charles brow furrowed a little. “You okay?”

“Of course.” If she ignored the fact that her legs wouldn’t work and that a nest of nerves the size of a boulder weighed heavy in her gut.

A grin curled one corner of his mouth. “A little nervous, maybe?”

“Maybe,” she conceded. “A little.”

“You have nothing to worry about. They don’t bite.” He paused then added, “Much.”

She shot him a look.

He grinned and said, “I’m kidding. They’re looking forward to meeting you.” He jerked his head in the direction of the stairs. “Come on.”

She didn’t pitch a fit this time when Charles touched a hand to the small of her back to give her a gentle shove in the right direction. But he kept his hands to himself as he led her up the marble staircase to the second floor, gesturing to points of interest along the way. Family portraits dating back centuries, priceless heirlooms and gifts from foreign visitors and dignitaries.

It all sounded a bit rehearsed to her, but the truth was, as the family lawyer, he’d probably taken lots of people on a similar tour. Not just women he was hoping to impress. And it did take her mind off of her nerves.

“The family residence is this way,” he said, leading her toward a set of doors guarded by two very large, frightening-looking security officers. He gestured to the wing across the hall. “The guest suites are down that way.”

Feeling like an interloper, she followed him toward the residence. The guards stepped forward as they approached, and Victoria half-expected them to tackle her before she could make it through the doors. But instead they opened the doors and stepped aside so she and Charles could pass. Inside was a long, wide, quiet hallway and at least a dozen sets of double doors.

Behind one of those doors, she thought, waited the entire royal family. And what she hadn’t even considered until just now was that each and every one of them knew the dire financial situation she and her father had been in. For all she knew, they might believe she was responsible. She could only hope that Charles had told them the truth.

“Ready?” he asked.

Ready? How did one prepare herself for a moment like this? But she took a deep breath and blew it out, then looked up at Charles and said, “Let’s do it.”

Five

Victoria was tough, Charles would give her that.

Typically when people were introduced to members of the royal family, it was one or two at a time. Victoria was meeting King Phillip and Queen Hannah; Prince Ethan and his wife, Lizzy; and Princess Sophie and her fiancé, Alex, all at the same time.

Everyone was gathered in the sitting room of Hannah and Phillip’s suite, and they all rose from their seats when he and Victoria entered.

If she was nervous, it didn’t show. Her curtsy was flawless, and when she spoke her voice was clear and steady. It never failed to intrigue him how a woman so seemingly small and unassuming could dominate a room with sheer confidence. He could see that everyone was impressed. And though it was totally irrational, he felt proud of her. Hiring her had in no way been his idea. He had merely been following orders.

After the introductions and several minutes of polite small talk, an aide was called in to give Victoria a tour of the business offices and familiarize her with palace procedure.

“I like her,” Sophie said, the instant they were gone. It had been at her insistence that they had hired Victoria in the first place.

Charles nodded. “She’s very capable.”

“And attractive,” Ethan noted, which got him a playful elbow jab in the side from his very pregnant wife, Lizzy.

“Stunning,” Hannah added.

“Quite,” Charles agreed. “And she would have been an asset to the Royal Inn.”

“Would have been?” Phillip asked.

Sophie narrowed her eyes at Charles. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” He held both hands up defensively. “I swear.”

He explained Victoria’s outburst and admitted to showing her the file on the Houghton sale. “She seems to think we see her as some sort of charity case. She has no idea her expertise. Nor does she have the slightest clue how valuable she is. Had it not been for her, I think the Houghton would have collapsed years ago.”

“Then it will be up to you to see that she learns her value,” Phillip said.

Easier said than done when she was suspicious of his every move. “She’s stubborn as hell. But I’m sure I can convince her.”

“Stubborn as hell,” Alex said, glancing over at Princess Sophie. “She’ll fit right in, won’t she?”

Now she narrowed her eyes at him. “Is it so wrong that I don’t want my wedding to be a spectacle? That I prefer small and intimate?”

“You have other news for us?” Phillip asked Charles, forestalling another potential wedding argument.