That was stupid of me. So fucking stupid, risking Cara’s safety last night. These past few years, I’d spent so much time hating the paparazzi in the US that I’d forgotten the ones in London were even worse. And I’d planned to bring my kids here? What the fuck had I been thinking? You’d think I would’ve learned my lesson after what happened with Lisette.

“This is nice,” Cara said. As usual, she was trying to make the best of things.

I forced myself to respond in a casual tone. “What’s nice?”

“Eating here in your suite. The food’s as good as the restaurant, plus we get to be alone.”

I downed some coffee to keep my expression neutral. She’d loved having breakfast in the restaurant yesterday. It was a gorgeous place with an omelet station, a champagne fountain, and a pianist. Somehow, I doubted that she preferred sitting up here with a pissed-off prince. The bacon wasn’t even as crispy today.

“Was everything all right when you talked to Gretchen last night?”

“Yes.” Apparently, that wasn’t enough, because Cara was looking at me expectantly. “She said everything is fine. Wilhelm thinks the falcon will come today.”

“I bet Derrick didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Probably not.”

Cara’s smile confounded me. How could she be so cheerful after what happened last night? It must’ve been very frightening for her. And I’d heard the questions those vultures had called out. They’d all but accused her of being my dirty little mistress.

That’s what I got for thinking it would be okay to bring her here. For thinking I could invite a beautiful woman on a date like a normal man. And god, she’d sure looked incredible last night. She was beautiful all the time, but last night she’d been stunning. Seeing her slim figure in that tight dress had taken my breath away. And then they’d sullied it by trying to shame her. By scaring her.

“So what’s the plan today?” she asked.

“What would you like to do?”

“Anything,” she said, her smile brightening up the already sunny day. She seemed to think it was her job to cheer me up instead of my job to protect her. Which was a job I hadn’t done very well recently. But that all changed now.

“How about a movie?”

Cara’s smile faded by a few degrees. “Okay… there’s that cinema over in Leicester Square where they have all those premieres. I believe it’s not that far from the National Gallery. Maybe we could go there afterwards.”

“I was thinking about staying in. Watching a movie here.”

Her face fell. “Because of what happened last night?”

She knew the answer, but I nodded anyway. “I’m sorry, I know you wanted to do some sightseeing.”

She sighed. “I wanted to spend the day with you.”

“And we can. Here.” The look of disappointment on her face was killing me. “What happened last night… that’s just how it is when I travel someplace like the UK or the US. When I first arrive, it’s a madhouse. Then eventually it’ll die down, but then there’ll be a slow news day, and something will happen and the media attention will flare up again. Or if it doesn’t, they’ll make something happen. Anything to get a story. What you saw last night was nowhere near as bad as it could’ve been.”

Cara set her napkin on her plate and went to look out the window. “I understand what you’re saying, but… it just seems like such a waste. I’m in an amazing city. I’m with an amazing man. I want to go on an adventure with him, not hide out in our rooms.”

“And we would, if it weren’t for those vultures out there. They’d follow us everywhere until the novelty of seeing me with you wears off.”

“So… if it weren’t for the vultures, we could spend the day together exploring the city?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a hat? Maybe some sunglasses?”

I shook my head, seeing where she was going with this. “It won’t work. That barely works in Falkenberg. Whenever I do that, it feels like half the people recognize me but are too polite to show it. There’s no way a flimsy disguise like that would work here.”

“You think that would be the disguise? That’s just to get us out of the building, not to parade around downtown London. You need to trust me—don’t you have any idea who you’re dealing with?” Cara’s blue eyes danced.

Confused and amused at the same time, I shook my head.

“A born and bred theater nerd,” she said. “I’ve seen this play a million times. If the evil vultures won’t let us go to the ball, I know exactly what we need.”

“What’s that?” I was curious in spite of myself.

“A Fairy Godmother.”

Trusting Cara was an interesting experience. It involved my donning a low cap and sunglasses and her hiding her blonde hair in a scarf. It also involved ditching our security staff, taking a tenth-floor walkway to another hotel, hurrying out a back exit, and climbing into a waiting car.

That same car was now darting through the Saturday morning traffic while Cara looked eagerly out the window. She was perfectly calm, as if smuggling people out of the heart of London was an everyday occurrence for her.

Our driver was a tall, lanky man with a gray coat and cap much like the ones my driver back home wore. He was apparently a man of few words though once, at a stop light, he’d picked up his phone and typed a message on it. A moment later, Cara’s phone had chimed.

I was pretty quiet too, trying to let my curiosity about Cara’s plan crowd out the anger that had filled me all morning. This adventure, or whatever Cara wanted to call it, might just be what I needed to forget last night. Unless it didn’t work, of course. All it took was one person to tweet that they’d seen us, and the vultures would emerge.

The driver pulled into an alley behind a tall concrete building that didn’t look very impressive from the back. He hurried around to let us out, not looking at either of us. Instead, he led us up a ramp and unlocked a plain black door.

As soon as we entered the large, empty space, the driver hurried down a hallway and called out “five minutes” before disappearing around a corner.

“Three!” Cara shouted after him, a smile on her face. “I promised him we’d do this right.”

She pulled the scarf off her head and stuffed it in her purse. Her slim fingers glided through her hair, making it bounce around her shoulders.

“So… do you and your friend often kidnap royalty?” I asked with a smirk.

Cara laughed. “This isn’t a kidnapping, it’s a rescue. There’s a subtle difference.”

Whatever it was, it was impossible to stay pissed off when Cara was in this kind of mood. Her smile was infectious, and her blue eyes sparkled. This beautiful young woman was like no one else I’d ever met.

“Are you ready?” she called down the hall where the driver had disappeared.

“Not yet,” came a panicked voice.

“It’ll be just another minute,” Cara assured me.

“What will be another minute? Where’d the driver go?”

Cara bounded over to me, mischief in her eyes. “Remember how when I first arrived in Falkenberg, the handsome fellow who picked me up at the station wasn’t a real chauffeur?”

“I have a vague recollection of that, yes.” Her smile widened when I winked.

“Well, that guy isn’t a real chauffeur, either.”

“I suspected as much when he picked us up in a turquoise mini cooper.”

She grinned, put her hands on my shoulders, and leaned up to plant a kiss on my cheek. “I’m glad you’re not crabby anymore.”

Before I could respond to that, the disembodied voice floated out to us once more. “Okay! I’m ready for my close-up!”

Cara grabbed my hand pulled me forward. Before we reached the hallway, the man from before sprang out, struck a pose, and froze in place, looking at us expectantly. He was wearing a purple suit, the jacket of which was covered in sequins. His shirt was black silk. On top of a mass of black curly hair perched plastic purple sunglasses. His eyes were rimmed with gold liner, and his smile was almost as wide as his face.

Cara stepped in between us, her posture straight. In a loud, official voice, she said, “I’m pleased to announce the arrival of His Royal Highness, Prince Nickolaus of Falkenberg. Prince Nickolaus, may I present to you the one, the only… Frankie-The-Fairy-Godmother.”

“My liege,” Frankie said, holding his hand to his heart and bowing low.

It looked like it was going to be an interesting morning.