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“Again?”
“He likes to be thorough. Especially now that the gala’s around the corner and your guests are starting to check into their hotels.”
“Could have been an email, but alright.”
“That’s what Charlie said.”
“But I want to get all dolled up,” she insisted. This was the first time I’d ever heard the duchess sound so… whiny. I was used to prim and proper Duchess Arianna. Right now, she felt more like a friend who was, understandably, bored out of her mind.
“You want to get dolled up?”
“Yeah! I want to put on my nicest dress and go to the bar at the restaurant downstairs and see if we can get some handsome strangers to buy us a few drinks.”
“And that’d be fun for you?”
“It would! It’s a little game I like to play. Back in Coselia, I’m instantly recognizable. Abroad, not so much. Not unless you’re a big fan, of course. So, what I like to do from time to time is…” She waggled her eyebrows at me, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. “I play pretend.”
I couldn’t help but giggle. “Oh? Is that so?”
“I give a fake name, fake backstory. Acting, really. It’s the most liberating experience if you know what you’re doing.” Arianna took a sip of her champagne. “Come on. A little fun in Macau before we go back to business. The trip’s over in a few more days. We might as well enjoy ourselves a little.”
“I don’t know if the guys would appreciate it.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “They can come along if they want. I figured they’d have to accompany us anyways. May as well have your boy toys there to keep the creeps away.”
I blushed at the word, so casual rolling off her tongue. “They’re not boy toys. They’re—”
“Oops, did I strike a nerve? Sorry, Sam. I didn’t mean anything by it, honest.” She smiled sweetly. “Sounds like you really like them all, huh?”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“Oh, how I wish I could find myself a man who looked at me the way they all look at you.”
“Well… Maybe we’ll find Mr. Right for you tonight when we go downstairs.”
Arianna gasped, beaming brighter than the Macau skyline. “Really?”
“Go get dolled up,” I said. “And I’ll go inform the guys.”
* * *
I’d never doneanything like this before. The last time someone dragged me out to join them for drinks this close to Valentine’s Day was back in college. The restaurant had been decorated accordingly, with pink and red heart-shaped streamers everywhere. There were single roses on every table, along with flickering tea lights to add to the ambiance. Even the menu was Valentine’s Day themed, from the appetizers intended for two right down to the chocolate mousse desserts in the shape of hearts.
It was fun.
“Clarisse,” Arianna introduced herself to a gentleman at the bar. She exuded confidence. Everything about her ensemble screamed class and wealth and poise. She had on a red mini dress that I doubted the Coselian court would consider appropriate for a woman of her station, but she looked absolutely killer in it.
The man smiled charmingly. A businessman, by the looks of his tailored suit, he looked to be in his late thirties. He had kind eyes, an almost trustworthy air about him. “Alexander,” he answered, shaking her hand.
“American?” she asked, noting his lack of accent.
“That’s right. Seattle, born and raised.” Alexander leaned a bit to look me in the eye. “And who might your lovely friend be?”
Arianna bumped her shoulder against mine. “This is my little sister, Rachelle.”
Oh, okay. I guess I’m Rachelle tonight.
I smiled easily. “Lovely to meet you, Alexander.”
