Courting Royal

Chapter Thirty

The next morning, after a rousing bout in bed, Liam and I both respond to messages on our phones. Considering my current work situation and the fact that I'm banned from checking my old accounts, he has way more to respond to than I do, so I mostly end up just watching him furrow his brow, sigh, and grin in response to whatever it is in his inbox.

He gasps sharply and I immediately ask, "What?"

"I've been invited by the UN to speak about anti-poaching efforts in Botswana."

"Wow!" I say. "That's huge!"

"It is," he says. "Of course, I'll have to talk to Gran about it before I accept, but I can't imagine she'd say no."

"So does that mean you're going to New York soon?"

"Geneva, actually. It'd be at the Palace of Nations."

"Geneva," I say dreamily. "I've always wanted to go to Switzerland."

He leans over to kiss my cheek and says, "Then we'll be sure to make a stop there during the ski trip."

A delighted little shriek escapes out of me involuntarily – I hadn't even thought about the annual ski trip to Chamonix and the fact that I might be going to it.

"Have you planned any travel?" he asks. "I know you said that's something you wanted to do this summer."

"Olly and I are going to go to Paris the weekend he's here," I say a bit tightly.

I haven't wanted to let Liam in on my financial situation, and though this Paris trip is just for a weekend and the reservations for the hotel and our quick flight there were paid for months ago, I'm still really worried about it considering my bank account. Paris isn't a cheap city and Olly has Champagne tastes.

"That's good," he says encouragingly.

"Yeah," I say. "But other than that, no plans yet."

"You should definitely see Barcelona and Madrid," he says. "And once you're in Madrid, Morocco is so close that's there's really no excuse not to go there as well. And didn't you mention wanting to go to Berlin? And Bruges?"

I take a deep breath and then say, "I'd love to see all those places. But first, I need a new job."

"Ah. Right. That."

"Yeah. That," I echo, letting my silence fill in the details for him.

"Any word from the publications you've pitched?"

"Word, yes," I say. "But no bites."

"I see."

I sigh and he says, "I'm sure we can find you something."

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I'd really rather I find my own work."

Liam rolls over on his side and says, "I'm not saying we'd place you somewhere. But surely our PR team or the communications department could put you in touch with someone sympathetic to the family who could maybe introduce you to the right contacts."

"Isn't that sort of the same as you guys find a job for me?"

"Just... know that it's an option, should you need it."

I soften at that and say, "Thank you."

"Of course," he says. "What are you up to today?"

I sigh and say, "Yoga with Daphne. Then I thought I'd hit up the V&A Museum – that new exhibit Emilia opened last week looks amazing. Then maybe I'll....I don't know, explore or something."