Royal Seductions: Secrets: The Duke's Boardroom Affair. Michelle Celmer

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,”