Royal Bachelor Read Online Free PDF Page B

like the Elmeran women at court?”
    “No.” Luke smiled to himself.
    “Exactly! Oh, your father will be so angry if he ever finds out.” He could hear his mother’s smile.
    He closed Alfred’s laptop, ignoring his cousin’s colorful Elmeran swearing. He didn’t want Alice’s privacy poked. It would have been so easy to submit her name to an agency and let the agency do the work in less than a day or even less than an hour. Instead, he and Alfred had repeatedly resorted to Google. But though there were blogs and endless profiles answering to the same name, none of them were his Alice.
    His Alice. He liked the sound of that. He sighed; he would have to give up the search for now.
    “I can’t live with you like this!” Alfred burst suddenly. “If by Sunday, she still hasn’t turned up, you’ll have to let me—”
    “No. What if I meet her again by chance? I won’t have you knowing more about her than I do, because I certainly won’t look at what you dig up. I don’t want to know her that way.”
    “Sure,” Alfred mumbled with a smirk. “I know how you want to know her.”
    Luke smacked the back of Alfred’s head.
    “I’m going to bed.”
    It wasn’t good for Luke—and everyone else—if he didn’t get enough sleep. What with the tension over Alice and being in this district where people came awake at night instead of the morning, Luke had to take sleeping aids. Alfred seemed used to the noise of the nightlife around him but Luke missed the quiet of his home.
    Alice had been the one good thing in this loud, eccentric city. He certainly didn’t feel like he was on vacation, and he didn’t feel American either. Luke missed home, even though returning meant suffocating, facing roles and responsibilities he should always have been ready for.
    He found himself making the sign of the cross and murmuring to God to please let him see Alice again. It was the first time he’d prayed in a long while. He knew it was a selfish, silly prayer. The prayer of a desperate boy with a lovesick heart. But he bowed his head and asked anyway.
    *
    Saturday was slow. He spent his time wandering the city, alternately walking and taxiing the busy streets. Alfred had been invited to a barbecue. They were keeping it quiet that Luke was here with Alfred, so there was no choice but to let Luke look after himself for the day. If Jules, the rather stiff head of security who secretly wore Sponge Bob boxers, found out, then he would have Alfred’s head. Cousin Alfred was a close family friend of nearly no blood relation who had been brought in as a jovial bodyguard for the young hereditary prince. What could happen to Luke anyway? Luke could hold his own against anyone, even someone twice his size.
    Unknown to him, Alfred had hired a local to tail Luke. He may be a womanizer and a party-whore, but Alfred knew to keep an eye on his friend as he should. Besides, if Luke died, Alfred would be out of a job.
    “Sponge Bob” Jules had stayed in the country at Lucilla’s request, ostensibly to watch over the rest of the Lorignac family. Luke even began to miss the stodgy old man. New York was almost too free; he felt untethered in the big city. Random women at bars could steal his heart, and every time he turned a corner he ran into a new cuisine or culture. As he strolled through neighborhoods he wondered what Jules would have thought up in order to find Alice sooner.
    It was getting dark when he realized there were no more food trucks or street vendors nearby. He’d passed row after row of mouth-watering delicacies without a care, but now that he was in a residential part of the city his stomach grumbled. Damn, he thought to himself, looking around for a place to eat. He wanted to sit down and have a proper meal, not stand awkwardly over a carton of food or shovel a greasy hotdog in his face. Those were all novel and nice, but he wanted to sit down now and scrape silverware over china.
    He hailed a cab back to the apartment only to