the bedroom ahead of him, then suddenly stopped at the sight of the woman sitting on the patio tiles in jeans and a pale orange, short-sleeved cotton top.
“Hi, Zoe,” she spoke in English with a smile. Dottie had put on sneakers and her hair was loose in a kind of disheveled bob that revealed the light honey tones among the darker swaths. “Do you think your daddy can catch this?” She threw a Ping-Pong ball at him.
When he caught it with his right hand, Zoe cried out in surprise. He threw it back to Dottie who caught it in her left. Their first volley of the day. For no particular reason his pulse rate picked up at the thought of what else awaited him in her presence.
“Good catch. Come on, Daddy.” Her dancing blue gaze shot to his. “You and Zoe sit down and spread your legs apart like this and we’ll roll some balls to each other.” She pulled a larger multicolored plastic ball from a big bag and opened those long, fabulous legs of hers.
Alex could tell his daughter was so shocked by what was going on, she forgot to be scared and sat down to imitate Dottie once he’d complied. Dottie rolled the ball to Zoe, who rolled it back to her. Then it was his turn. They went in a round, drawing Zoe in. Pretty soon their guest pulled out a rubber ball and rolled it to his daughter right after she’d sent her the plastic ball.
Zoe laughed as she hurried to keep both balls going. His clever little girl used her right and left hand at the same time and sent one ball to Dottie and one to him. “Good thinking!” she praised her. “Shall we try three balls?”
“Yes,” his daughter said excitedly. Their guest produced the Ping-Pong ball and fired all three balls at both of them, one after the other, until Zoe was giggling hysterically.
“You’re so good at this, I think we’ll try something else. Shall we see who’s better at jumping?” She whipped out a jump rope with red handles and got to her feet. “Come on, Zoe. You take this end and I’ll hold on to the other. Your daddy’s going to jump first. You’ll have to make big circles like I’m doing or the rope will hit him in the head.”
“Oh, no—” Zoe cried.
“Don’t worry,” Dottie inserted. “Your daddy is a big boy. It won’t hurt him.”
So their visitor had noticed. Was that a negative in her eyes, too?
Zoe scrutinized him. “You’re a boy?”
“Yes. He’s a very big one,” Dottie answered for him and his daughter laughed. Soon Zoe was using all her powers of concentration to turn the rope correctly and was doing an amazing job of it. After four times to get it right he heard, “You can jump in anytime now, Daddy.”
Alex crouched down and managed to do two jumps before getting caught around the shoulders. He was actually disappointed when their leader said, “Okay, now it’s Zoe’s turn. How many can you do?”
She cocked her dark brown head. “Five—”
“Well, that’s something I want to see. Watch while we turn the rope. Whenever you think you’re ready, jump in. It’s okay if it takes you a whole bunch of times to do it, Zoe. Your daddy isn’t going anywhere, right?”
She didn’t look at him as she said it. He had a feeling it was on purpose.
“We’re both in your hands for as long as it takes, Dorothy.” He’d read the background information on her and knew it was her legal name.
“I never go by my given name,” she said to Zoe without missing a beat while she continued to rotate the rope. “You can call me Dottie.”
“That means crazy, doesn’t it?” he threw out, curious to see how she’d respond.
“Your English vocabulary is remarkable, Your Highness.”
“Is she crazy?” Zoe asked while she stood there, hesitant to try jumping.
“Be careful how you answer that,” Dottie warned him. “Little royal pitchers have big ears and hers seem to be working just fine.”
Alex couldn’t help chuckling. He smiled at his daughter. “She’s funny-crazy. Don’t you think?”
“Yes.” Zoe giggled again.
“Come on and jump.” After eight attempts accompanied by a few tears, she finally managed a perfect jump. Dottie clapped her hands. “Good job, Zoe. Next time you’ll do more.”
She put the rope aside and reached into her bag of tricks. His daughter wasn’t the only one interested to see what she would pull out next. “For this game we have to get on our tummies.”
The speech therapist might as well have been a magician. At this point his daughter was entranced and did what was suggested without waiting for Alex. In another minute Dottie had laid twenty-four cards facedown on the floor in four rows. She turned one card over. “Do you know what this is, Zoe?”
His daughter nodded. “Pig.”
“Yes, and there’s another card just like it. You have to remember where this card is, and then find the other one. When you do, then you make a book of them and put the pile to the side. You get one turn. Go ahead.”
Zoe turned over another card.
“What is it?”
“Whale.”
“Yes, but it’s not a pig. So you have to put the card back. Okay, Daddy. It’s your turn.”
Alex turned over a card in the corner.
“Tiger, Daddy.”
Before he could say anything, he saw their eyes look to the doorway. Alex turned around in frustration to see who had interrupted them.
“Hector?”
“Forgive me, Your Highness. There’s a call for you from Argentum on an urgent matter that needs your attention.”
Much as Alex hated to admit it, this had to be an emergency, otherwise Bari would have sent him an email. Barisou Jouflas was the head mining engineer on the island of Argentum and Alex’s closest friend since college. He always enjoyed talking to him and got to his feet, expecting an outburst from Zoe. To his astonishment, Dottie had her completely engrossed in the matching game.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Dottie nodded without looking at him.
“Bye, Daddy,” his daughter said, too busy looking for a matching card to turn her head.
Bye, Daddy—Since when? No tantrum because he was leaving?
Out of the corner of her eye Dottie watched the prince disappear and felt a twinge of disappointment for his daughter. They’d all been having fun and it was one time when he hadn’t wanted to leave, she felt sure of it. But there were times when the affairs of the kingdom did have to take priority. Dottie understood that and forgave him.
He might be gone some time. Dottie still had other tests to do that she preferred to take place outside the palace. Now would be a good time to carry them out while
