Читать книгу The Royal Pain - MaryJanice Davidson - Страница 19

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“So.”

“Yeah.”

“How’ve you been?”

“Fine. You?”

“Oh, you know. The usual things. Not much has happened in the four hours since I last saw you.”

“Well, kind of a lot has happened on my end,” Shel explained.

“Yes, I see that,” Alex replied.

“Thanks for coming.”

“Well, I felt it was the least I could do.”

“No, you didn’t have to.”

“It’s all right,” she said kindly. “I felt we had some unfinished business.”

“I kind of felt that way, too. I mean, that’s the whole reason I’m here.”

“I understand.”

Alex could hear the click of heels, and didn’t have to turn away from the bars to know Jenny had entered the small room.

“Oh, dear,” she said, staring at Shel. Her small nose wrinkled, and Alex knew why; she’d seen her fair share of jail cells. They all smelled like laundry soap, sweat, and piss. “Oh, oh dear.”

“Hi,” he said, waving at her from his side of the cell.

Jenny ran a distracted hand through her newly shorn brunette bob. “Oh, Dr. Rivers. Oh, oh, oh.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had to bail out one of your little chickadees before.”

“She hasn’t,” Alex informed him. “But we’ve visited friends on occasion.”

“Royal pals in the clink!” Shel said gleefully. “Film at eleven!”

“What is Dr. Tiegel going to say? What will the press say?” Jenny cried.

“What will my father say?” Alex suggested, because she had a vicious streak and wanted to see Jenny go even paler, if possible.

“Your father. Your father!” Jenny started walking in small, distracted circles. “I will, of course, be blamed for this, and he’s right to blame me, I should have guessed you’d try something idiotic and ridiculous.”

“Hey!” Shel protested. “I just wanted to see your boss again, that’s all. We sort of left on the wrong foot.”

“Actually, the wrong foot was wedged into your big fat mouth,” Alex said helpfully.

“So I thought it’d be cool to sneak in and see you and apologize.”

“Only to be tackled, cuffed, and hauled away by my ever-vigilant security team, then tossed in jail.”

“Look, in the movies it would have worked. It would have been romantic and cool.” He managed to get the sullen look off his face for half a second. “Thanks again for coming down.”

“How could I stay away, once I was told what you’d been up to?” she teased.

Jenny was shaking her head. “Dr. Rivers, what world do you live in?”

“An adorable one,” Alex said, and linked fingers with him through the bars. “You idiot.”

“Aw.” He blushed.

“Stop that!” Jenny snapped. “We have to focus on the PR aspects of this boneheaded stunt, not how cute he looked in his mug shot.”

“So you admit I’m cute!” he said triumphantly.

“No,” a new voice said. “You’re as ugly as the south end of a north-bound skunk.”

Shel waved at the man, a striking green-eyed blond whose shoulder-length hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

“Oh,” Jenny said. She actually dropped her clipboard, which hit the cement floor with a clatter. After a long moment, Alex bent and picked it up.

“This is my best friend,” Shel was gesturing through the bars, “Teal Grange.”

“Oh,” Jenny said.

Alex wrapped Jenny’s fingers around the clipboard.

“Teal, this is the Princess of Alaska—”

“I know who she is, pal. We get People magazine in Minot.”

“—and her majordomo assistant-type gal, Jenny—uh, I can’t remember your last name.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jenny said, clearly dazzled. Teal was only a few inches taller than she was, but powerfully built…his navy tee-shirt bulged in interesting places, and he had the powerful look of a regular lifter. The fluorescent lights bounced off his glasses and made his moss-green eyes unreadable. The scowl, however, spoke volumes.

“Hi.” Teal shook hands with Jenny, who forgot to put hers away. It hung in the air, a small white bird without a nest. “Hi, Princess.”