voice mail,” she told him with her best sisterly glare. “I’m not finished lecturing you.”
He grinned, then glanced at the display. “Sorry, sis, it’s an Austin number. Might be important royal business.” But when he accepted the call and said hello, whoever was on the other end of the line was silent. “Anyone there?” he asked into the phone.
He was about to hang up when he heard a funny squeak that might have been “hello.”
A throat cleared. “Is this Charles?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Who wants to know?” he responded, then met Lucie’s curious gaze and shrugged his shoulders.
“Hang up,” his sister whispered.
Charles understood her reaction. The caller was likely a reporter trying to track him down, or one of the frequent fame hounds who’d come after his family through the years, especially since their connection to the prominent Fortunes was revealed. Charles, like all the Fortune Chesterfields, had learned to guard his privacy—one more reason the tabloid photo with Lady Caterina irked him.
But something about the way the woman on the other end of the phone spoke his name intrigued him. Her voice was soft, with a sweet Texas drawl and more than a hint of nerves. Charles might be a magnet for women, but the timid girls typically gave him a wide berth.
“This is Alice,” the woman told him.
“Alice,” he repeated, liking the way the two syllables sounded on his tongue. But he had no recognition of an Alice from his past.
“Alice Meyers,” she continued, a little breathlessly. “I’m sorry to call you out of the blue. I got your number from the tourism board office.”
Right. Suddenly an image—a beautiful blonde, with long legs and a shy but sexy smile—popped into his mind.
Alice cleared her throat again. “We met last year—”
“At the tourism conference here in Austin,” he continued. “I remember you.” Charles tried to hide his small smile from Lucie. What he remembered most about Alice was spending a blissful night with her in his hotel room after the conference ended. He’d even asked for her number, something he rarely did after a casual dalliance. But he’d liked Alice Meyers, and he’d thought she liked him. Too bad when he’d come out of the shower the next morning she’d disappeared from his hotel room and his life.
Now, more than a year later, she was ringing him. Charles felt his smile widen. Intriguing, indeed.
* * *
Alice breathed a sigh of relief that Charles remembered her. Of course, she’d known who he was before they’d met at the bar in the conference hotel last spring. Every woman between the ages of ten and ninety knew Bonnie Lord Charlie. But she hadn’t expected him to commit her to memory. Men rarely did.
She’d followed his romantic exploits in the tabloids since their encounter, and it was a wonder Charles could remember what girl he was with on any given night. The man seemed to be the British equivalent of the Energizer Bunny when it came to women.
“Alice, are you still there?” His crisp accent broke through her musings.
“I need to see you,” she blurted, then bit down hard on her lip as silence greeted her outburst. He was bound to think she was a stalker for calling him out of blue and making such a bold request.
“That’s a lovely offer,” he said finally, sounding every bit the aristocrat he was. How was it possible for him to sound more British than before? “But I’m fairly booked on this visit.”
“It’s important,” she whispered, swallowing back the emotion clogging her throat. “I promise I won’t take much of your time.”
“Can you give me a hint what this mysterious meeting might entail?”
“It’s personal and...” She paused, then added, “Please, Charles.”
There was another long moment of silence. Alice checked her phone to make sure Charles hadn’t hung up on her. She wouldn’t exactly blame him. He was handsome, rich, and famous around the world. She was nobody, yet was demanding precious time from him. But even if he said no now, Alice couldn’t give up. Seeing Charles again was too important.
“Tomorrow morning,” he said suddenly.
“Gr-great,” she stammered, shocked that he’d agreed. The fingers holding the phone trembled with both nerves and exhilaration. “We could meet in Zilker Park. Are you familiar with it?”
“I am.”
“There’s a bench under a big oak tree near the entrance of the Zilker Botanical Garden. How about ten o’clock?”
“Very good. I’ll see you in the morning, Alice.”
The way he spoke her name made sparks zing low in her belly. His accent made every word sound like a caress. She shook her head, needing to keep her wits about her. As good a time as she’d had with Charles, she hadn’t contacted him for her sake. “Goodbye, Charles. Thank you.”
As the call ended, she pulled the phone away from her head, her hand trembling as she stared at it. “I did it,” she whispered, glancing at the baby sleeping in the swing in the corner of the room. Her son, Flynn, was a champion napper at four months, which was one of the few things that had made being a single mom a tiny bit easier for Alice.
“Come here and tell me everything.” She turned to see her best friend, Meredith Doan, gesturing wildly from the galley kitchen in Alice’s two-bedroom apartment. Meredith was the only person who knew about Charles, and Alice had confided in her friend only recently, needing an ally to bolster her confidence.
“It went well,” Alice said quietly as she stepped into the small space. “We’re meeting tomorrow morning.”
“You look like you need this,” Meredith said, handing Alice a glass of white wine. “Your face is beet red. Charles remembered you?”
“Yes, after a moment.” Alice took a deep breath, her first since dialing Charles’s number.
“Tell me again how you ended up having an affair with Bonnie Lord Charlie.”
“It wasn’t exactly an affair,” Alice answered, taking a fortifying sip of wine. “It was one night. We met at the annual Texas tourism conference last spring. There was an international focus, so the board invited representatives from several European countries to attend. Charles has ties in Texas now through the Fortunes, so he came from Britain.”
Meredith wiggled her eyebrows. “And you snagged yourself a royal? Nice work, Meyers. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I didn’t,” Alice said quickly. “I don’t. It wasn’t like that, Meredith. It was special.”
“They all are, sweetie.”
Alice knew she would have a difficult time convincing her friend. She’d met Meredith her first day working at the Texas Tourism Board, and they’d struck up an unlikely friendship. Meredith worked in the marketing department and was as outgoing off the clock as she was on the job.
