Chapter Thirteen
After an excruciatingly long lunch that had felt more like a hostage situation, Rachelle sat across from her grandmother in the back of a Bentley Mulsanne Grand Limousine in the front drive of the palace. Everything she’d held in for the last few hours was ready to burst out, but she struggled to choose where to start her rant. She wondered if Magnus was in a similar state now that he was finally alone with his father.
“Delinda—”
“Since when am I Delinda to you? You’ve always called me Grandmother,” Delinda said. She leaned forward and instructed the driver to take them both to where she was staying.
“No,” Rachelle said. “I’m staying at the Royal Hotel.”
“You most definitely are not. Michael, do not listen to her. I’ll use the drive to talk some sense into her.”
Her driver sat back and turned the engine off. Rachelle turned to meet his eyes in the rearview mirror. Michael drove Delinda when she traveled, but normally he was her house butler—one who had worked for her for decades and become sort of part of the family. Evidently he was not afraid to act as if he were one.
Delinda let out a dramatic sigh. “Rachelle, dear, with your public reputation teetering, do you really believe that the best place for you to stay is a hotel?”
“Magnus—Prince Magnus arranged a suite for me, and I don’t see any problem with the arrangement.”
“She doesn’t see any problem with it, Michael. Rachelle, people will treat you with as little or as much respect as you demand from them. When a man procures a hotel room for a lady, he is asking if she is of easy persuasion; it is best not to prove him right.”
Rachelle fisted her hands at her side. “Why are you here?”
“You heard what I said to King Tadeas: I was concerned for you.”
“No.” Rachelle shook her head vigorously. “You’re not here for me. If you were, I would feel a lot less humiliated.”
“I would think that feeling came from being snuck in the back door like some common whore. Had I not arrived, they might have had you serving the lunch.”
“Stop it, Delinda. I’m not a child who will allow you to speak to me any way you choose.”
“What has come over you, Rachelle? You’ve always been the sensible one.”
“Why?” Rachelle ground out. “Because I never challenged you? I did that out of respect for my mother and because we were in your home. But I didn’t ask you to come here, and I don’t want you here. I don’t know how to express that to you in a sensible way.”
“Michael, do you hear the way she is speaking to me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I don’t know why I try as hard as I do when they are so ungrateful.”
Michael cleared his throat. “Perhaps she is not in need of your assistance.”
“Not in need? Not in need? First, the prince allows high society to call her trash; then he invites her to his bed as if she is. And she sees no problem with that arrangement. Well, you’ll both have to excuse me for believing I am very much needed here.”
Rachelle turned away and saw paparazzi taking photos of them from outside the gate. “Could we discuss this somewhere else?”
“You mean somewhere private or at a hotel where any visitor you have will likely be fodder for gossip?”
“Michael, just drive, okay? My things are already at the hotel. We’ll at least have to swing by there.”
Michael started the car and drove down the driveway. “Of course, Miss Rachelle.”
Delinda clasped her hands on her lap. “I would be cross with you, Michael, if I didn’t know your stubbornness is out of love for my granddaughter. How do we show her that mine is as well?”
Rachelle met her grandmother’s eyes. Love from anyone as controlling as Delinda was complicated. “If you want me to believe that, tell me why you’re really here.”
Delinda looked away, then back. “To help you, Rachelle. I understand how this world works. With a wave of my wand, you could be the most beautiful woman at a royal ball, the envy of everyone, and the only woman Prince Magnus can imagine at his side. You could be queen of Vandorra or the woman who was asked to be and decided it wasn’t enough for her.”
“I don’t want to be queen of anything,” Rachelle protested even as a part of her soared at the idea of Magnus wanting her by his side.
“No? You’d prefer to be used and tossed aside instead? Because that is where this is headed. Not sure? Tell me, what has he done to prove me wrong?”
He helped Eric. He didn’t need to do that.
I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to look at Magnus through her eyes. He wasn’t going to use and toss me aside.
He was—
“I can’t stay at the Royal Hotel.”
“Thank goodness you’re coming to your senses.”
“And I won’t stay with you.” Rachelle turned in her seat to look at Michael. “Michael, could you take me to a modestly priced hotel near the children’s hospital? I’ll figure out how to have my things sent over.”
“Absolutely, Miss Rachelle. I can arrange for your things to be brought to you.”
“Thank you, Michael.”
They rode in silence for several miles before Rachelle said, “You’re not here for me, Delinda, you’re here for you. I won’t call you Grandmother again until you realize that.”
Delinda pursed her lips in thought, then said, “I’m sure you’ll feel quite differently when the prince proposes.”
Rachelle counted to ten—twice.
When Michael pulled up in front of the midrange hotel, Rachelle stepped out of the limousine, relieved that Delinda hadn’t asked about Eric. She didn’t know what she would have said if she had.
Funny how things came full circle. A week ago all that had mattered was helping Eric. Somehow, along the way, Rachelle had begun to believe there was something between her and Magnus that could matter as well. Delinda had brought that to a crashing halt. Even if Rachelle wanted to see him again, it wouldn’t be the same.
Rachelle leaned back into the limo to say, “Go home, Delinda. If you really want to help me, go home.”
Michael closed the door of the limo. “She loves you.”
“Does she? Sometimes I’m not so sure.”
He tipped his head. “I am. She’s here.” He turned to open the driver’s door. “She won’t be forever. Think about that before you push her too far away.”
With only her purse in hand, Rachelle walked into the hotel and checked herself in. A short time later, her suitcase arrived. Her head was spinning with everything that had happened over the past few days.
She didn’t want to view any of it through Delinda’s judgmental lens, but she couldn’t shake the doubt her grandmother had planted. Magnus had taken her to the children’s hospital with him. That was public.
Of course, the visit was all about Eric. My presence didn’t hold any meaning.
He convinced Eric to seek help. Not for me, though. That was probably for Finn.
“When a man procures a hotel room for a lady, he is asking if she is of easy persuasion; it is best not to prove him right.” Delinda’s voice echoed in Rachelle’s mind.
Easy persuasion? First, that was completely outdated and sexist. Labels were for small-minded people.
He just saw me as a woman who dreamed of starring in a porno with him.
Oh my God, I am such an idiot. What did I think a prince would want with me? She changed into workout clothing, found the hotel’s gym, and started running on a treadmill. “I’m not princess material.”
And I hate that Delinda might be right.
Rachelle ran faster. Sweaty and disheveled, she glared at herself in the mirror.
He didn’t ask me on a date. He didn’t even bring me through the front door. He essentially offered me nothing, and I was ready to gobble it and him up.
Sorry, Eric. I usually am the sensible one. You should be my first—and only—priority.