To Kiss a King (Royal Scandals: San Rimini Book 6) by NIcole Burnham

Author:NIcole Burnham [Burnham, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781941828526
Publisher: Nicole Burnham
Published: 2020-07-27T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Claire thanked her driver, Fabiano, who offered her a hand as she stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the Royal Theater.

“You’ll call afterward, Ma’am?”

“I will, thank you.” She had checked with the theater the previous day to see what time the performance would end, but wasn’t certain when she’d want to leave. Would King Eduardo have events to attend afterward? Would he need to network with Royal Foundation staffers, or meet the cast after the show? It wouldn’t be uncommon for him to do so and she wasn’t sure whether she should accompany him or not.

Fabiano was a friendly, squat, and heavily-muscled man in his fifties who’d grown up only a few blocks from the ambassador’s residence, and had worked on the embassy’s transportation staff for nearly thirty years. He’d been the one to drive Claire and Karen to the palace the night of her credentials ceremony, and he assured Claire that he was used to uncertain timing. “There’s a café two streets away where I go whenever I’m on call in this area,” he’d told her during their drive. “The owner is a cousin who allows me to park in his service alley on the condition I stay long enough for dinner. This qualifies.”

Unfortunately, scheduling Fabiano meant involving Karen. Claire had waited until she and Karen were the last two people in the office on Thursday night before mentioning that she had an invitation to the final performance of La Traviata and needed to arrive twenty minutes prior to the curtain.

“Why twenty? Are you meeting someone? Should I arrange any security?”

“I’ll be seated in the royal box. I’m arriving at the twenty-minute mark to meet an escort for security purposes.”

They’d been partway to the elevator. Karen had stopped walking in the middle of the hall. “You’re going to the opera. In the royal box.”

“Yes.”

It must not have come out in as offhand a manner as she’d hoped, because Karen had slow-blinked her disbelief. “Nothing came across my desk. Was I away when the call came through?”

“I received an invitation at the residence.”

It was the closest Claire could come to making it sound official.

“That’s odd. Did it come from the palace? Or from King Eduardo?”

Claire had gestured toward the elevator and started walking again, keeping a few steps ahead so that Karen couldn’t read her expression. “The performance is a fundraiser for the Royal Foundation. Apparently Princess Isabella usually accompanies the king. Since she wasn’t planning to attend this year, he asked if I would.”

Everything she said was true, but it wasn’t the whole story. Karen seemed to sense it. As they’d stood waiting for the elevator, Karen had changed her line of questioning to ask whether Claire had an appropriate dress unpacked.

“I have the green gown I wore to the Kennedy Center Honors a few years ago. That should work.”

“Oh, I’ve seen photos of that. It will be perfect.” They’d fallen silent until they were in the elevator, then Karen had asked, “I assume you haven’t shared

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