Maid For You 3

Chapter 17

"Well, I mean, it's interesting—that's all," I answered. "I find all this royal marriage type stuff fascinating."

Coleman sighed. "Keep in mind, I am not bound to marry only some royal princess, but here are some of the current Princesses available."

And so, Coleman humored my interest and rattled on about various princesses and his various issues with each one. Somehow, we managed to pass the time quickly, and before I knew it we were entering the François estate. As we drove through the vast property, I saw a peek of the house in the distance through the trees lining each side of the road. When the trees cleared, I realized that the "François House" was not a house, it was a mansion, a palace, a colossal structure. I had never seen a house so big and grand in all my life—it was even larger than the palace, and that place was huge.

"Holy crap!" I gaped. "This place is ginormous!"

"Indeed," said Coleman, pausing the car in front of the giant structure. "The François are crazy rich. I'm sure that if Mercucio had a sister, my parents would find her to be more than suitable for me to wed."

I laughed. "Have they ever considered Mercucio for Calista, then?"

"I think so, but Mama has deemed Prince Nikolas to be the best catch for her," he explained. "Anyways, we'll have to drive around to the pool house, but here is the main house."

"That is not a house," I said. "At home, I have a house. That is a palace, a mansion, possibly a small country."

Coleman chuckled. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself." He started to drive. "So," he began. "When we get there, well, a lot of people are going to be there. And, well, it might look odd if we, you know—"

"I am way ahead of you," I interrupted. "I think it's best that we don't really communicate or hang out together at this party. When we get there we branch off on our separate ways."

Coleman didn't say anything for a second. "Yes, I think that that would be for the best. It isn't anything personal, I just think that we shouldn't, you know..."

"I'm 100 percent there with you," I said. "And if anyone sees us leave this car together, I will be crystal clear that it was nothing more than a simple ride."

Coleman nodded. "I'm glad we cleared this up."

Mercucio's "pool house" was, like the main house, not a mere house. My eyes widened as I took in a giant glass structure looming ahead that connected to a small mansion. A full valet service was set up outside the pool house, though there were a couple of jeeps and several golf carts parked on the grass.

"Wow," I gaped.

Prince Coleman pulled up to the curb, and grabbing my drawstring backpack I got out of the Bugatti and hustled away while Coleman got out to talk to the valet. We were going our own separate paths now and I couldn't be more pleased. A large red carpet on the lawn lead to large glass doors that allowed me into the giant glass structure. As I stepped inside, I immediately saw several large swimming pools and around a dozen hot tubs made up the pool house. I saw what looked like a full-service bar alight in pool house along with another bar-type set up that seemed to be serving food. Men and women all dressed in their bathing suits were sprinkled throughout the place—some swimming, some hot-tubbing, some sitting on the nice-looking pool chairs.

Several servants were at the doors to greet me.

"Hello, ma'am," a servant with a tablet stepped up to me. "Can I have your name?"

"Um, it's Cassie Carmichael. Or, uh, it might be under Cassandra?" I answered.

The servant girl's fingers flew across the iPad as she typed my name in. "Ah, yes, there you are," she said. "Welcome to the party, ma'am!"

"Oh, thank you," I nodded. I stepped forward, and another servant stood in my path.

"Hello, Miss Carmichael," he said. He seemed like a nice, eager fellow. "My name is Janson and I will be here to assist you in any way you might need tonight, as will any other servant."

"Oh, thanks Janson," I said.

"Can I take your...backpack?" he looked at my drawstring bag a little dubiously.

"Oh, um, yeah, that should be alright," I said. "I should just probably get my towel out first."

"We do have heated towels at the ready for whenever you need one," Janson told me. "But, of course, if you would prefer your own towel then you can of course use that."

"Well, I think nice heated towels should work fine for me," I said, smiling as I handed him my bag.

"Okay, Miss Carmichael. If you ever need anything, you can just raise your hand and snap your finger, ask for help, and someone will help you with whatever you might need. Or, feel free to call my name and I will be happy to assist."

I rose my eyebrows. "Oh, wow. Thanks! I really appreciate it."

"It's my pleasure. Have a wonderful evening." Then Janson scurried off with my bag, hopefully not to steal it but I highly doubted it.

"Cassie!" a cheerful voice sang. I saw Mercucio standing a few feet ahead of me with yellow swim trunks and a shark tooth necklace. 

"Hi Mercucio," I said, walking up to him. He shook my hand.

"Welcome to my party, Cassie. I'm sure that servant there gave you the speech, but if there is anything you need just snap your fingers."

"Okay, thank you! And thank you for inviting me!"

"Of course!" he beamed. "Now, I like to greet my guests as they come in, but I'll find you at some point and we can chat."

"Sounds good," I nodded. I then meandered away from him towards the nearest pool. I noticed that all the women had very pretty and classy looking swimsuits, and I suddenly felt self-conscious about my polka dots and pink flip flops, and wasn't super thrilled to take of my swim dress to show off my plain bathing suit. However, I knew I wanted to swim so I took off my swim dress and shoes, figuring I'd find some chair to drape them on.

"Would you like me to take those for you, ma'am?" A servant girl suddenly asked, having anticipated my needs.

"Oh!" I said, surprised. I passed her my stuff. "Um, yeah, thanks."

"And what is your name, for when you need someone to fetch them?" The girl questioned.

"Cassie Carmichael," I said.

"Thank you, Miss Carmichael," the girl nodded.

"Oh, I should thank you!"

"It's my pleasure," she said, quickly folding my dress more neatly than I'd ever folded anything in my life and taking it and the shoes away. It was at the moment that I truly understood how lame the palace staff were in comparison to Mercucio's servants.

I peered into the blue pool water for a moment before plugging my nose and plunging into the water.