"I'm not." At least, not anymore. "We only met two days ago."
"She's pretty. Has a kind smile."
Calling Libby pretty was the understatement of the century. She was gorgeous. Exquisite. A thousand times more beautiful than Isla Martin could ever hope to be. "It doesn't matter. I don't plan on ever seeing her again. Now, how can I help you prepare for your trip?"
Stefan let the subject drop, and they spent the rest of lunch discussing how to convince the scientist Stefan would meet with in the States to share his research. By the time they'd finished, it was time for Alex to meet with his parents and Maggie.
Maggie's office was large and spacious, but still somehow managed to feel cramped and chaotic. Papers were strewn about her desk and filing cabinets were crammed full, the drawers half-open and papers spilling out. Alex had no idea how she kept on top of everything, but she was extremely good at her job. Kind of unfortunate for Alex, really. Not a single blog post or mention on social media got past her.
Maggie rose as soon as Alex entered her office. Her frizzy red hair seemed more unmanageable than usual and framed her head in a halo. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and cleared her throat. "Your Highness."
"Maggie." Three chairs were already positioned in front of her desk. He picked the one closest to the door and sank into it. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the incident yesterday. I thought you deserved at least one night of sleep." They both did.
"I'm not here to judge your personal life, Your Highness. But I can't do my job if I'm not kept informed."
He hated this. Hated the public backlash, the constant meetings, the worry lines around everyone's eyes. Hated feeling like a child. He was thirty years old, for heaven's sake.
The door opened again and Alex rose as his parents entered.
"Good, you're here," Geoffrey said gruffly.
Alex dropped a kiss on his mother's cheek. "Where else would I be?"
Geoffrey grunted, running a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. "Well, let's get down to business. I've got a lot on my plate today."
They all took their seats and turned their focus to Maggie.
"How bad is it?" Nicolette asked. The Galian accent was definitely present today.
Maggie leaned forward and Alex saw a sparkle in her eyes. "For once, something might actually be going our way."
Wait. What? Alex ran a hand through his hair, mimicking his father's action of a moment before. "I'm sorry, I think I heard you wrong. Did you say something is going right?"
"Well, so far it's not going wrong." Maggie pulled up something on her computer, then turned the screen so they could see. Alex leaned forward and his parents did the same.
It was the article Dennis had shown him this morning. The image of Kenzie mid-vomit was front and center. Alex looked away. Talk about embarrassing.
"The article was published at one twenty-three this morning. By around four a.m. it had been picked up by every major online gossip magazine. Local news stations ran the story during the six o'clock time slot, and again at nine. You were mentioned on three morning talk shows in Durham."
"Fantastic," Alex muttered.
Maggie ignored this and continued. "The article was pretty unflattering, as you can imagine. They really went overboard with the vomit-themed analogies."
"Naturally," Nicolette said, her voice clipped.
Maggie nodded. "By eleven o'clock, the story had officially gone viral. That's when things got interesting." She scrolled to the comments section of the article. "Not long after the story aired on morning talk shows, moms started jumping to your defense. They're pretty upset with some of the snider lines in the article."
Geoffrey leaned forward, peering closer at the screen. "They aren't mocking Alex in the comments?"
"Oh, there's plenty of that. But look at the replies." Maggie clicked on a particularly mean comment, which had nearly a hundred replies. "These moms have all been thrown up on by their babies and really resent the inference that being vomited on by an infant somehow makes you a bad person. In fact, they apparently find the whole thing quite adorable."
"Adorable." Alex rubbed a hand over his jaw, feeling the bristle of his beard beneath his hand. "So they like that Kenzie threw up all over me?"
"I'm as surprised as you are." Maggie clicked to another comment. "Comments like this one are all over the place, on multiple sites. The moms love your face in this photo."
For the first time, Alex really looked at himself. His mouth was opened in an o, his eyebrows raised and eyes wide.
"He looks surprised," Nicolette said.
"Exactly." Maggie leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, a self-satisfied smile on her face. "Surprised, but not disgusted. He's not trying to pull the baby away. He's just dealing with it."
He'd dealt with it by handing the baby back to Libby approximately two seconds later, but either the girls hadn't gotten a picture of that or the magazine editor hadn't thought it was worth using.
"Well, crisis averted then." Nicolette let out a sigh of relief. "Good. If you lay low for a while, Alex, perhaps the public will move on to more interesting scandals."
"It's not just Alex they're talking about." Maggie zoomed in on the photo, focusing on Libby. She was in the background of the image, a little out of focus. But it was still easy to see that her eyes danced with amusement. She held a hand over her mouth as though trying to suppress a laugh. Alex's mind flashed back to that moment. She'd definitely found the whole thing amusing.
"The mystery woman?" Nicolette scoffed. "The papers love to jump to conclusions. But Alexander isn't dating anyone. Are you?"
"No," he said honestly. He'd thought about dating Libby for half a second, maybe, but that would've been insane.
"Well, everyone is enchanted by her," Maggie said. "She comes up over and over again in these discussions."
The knot in Alex's stomach tightened again. Sure, Libby had chewed him out yesterday. But he'd deserved it for lying about his identity. Okay, not lying. Withholding the truth. Whatever Libby said, there was a difference. Still, he didn't want to cause trouble for her. "What's everyone saying about her?"
"That the whole situation is adorable. People are speculating that she's your new amour. A single mother."
Nicolette groaned, putting a hand to her forehead. "What a disaster that would be. Alexander knows better than that."
"And what's wrong with a single mom?" Alex demanded. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he had to jump to Libby's defense.
"Too many complications."
"Nicholas is engaged to a single mother," Alex shot back. "And Kara's a wonderful woman. She'll make a great queen."
"Yes, well, Nicholas got lucky." Nicolette turned to face her son. "Who is this woman? It's time you tell us everything."
Alex glared at his parents, but finally relented. If he didn't tell them, they'd just get the story from Finn. "Her name is Libby. She's a nanny, not a single mom. A really good one, from what I could tell."
"What do we know about her?" Geoffrey asked.
"Security is tracking down everything on her as we speak," Maggie said. "They already have a basic background check, but now they're digging deeper."
"Where are you going with this?" Alex demanded. "I helped her out of a tight spot while she was on a tour of the palace, then we met for coffee yesterday. Trust me, she never wants to see me again."
"That's going to be a problem," Maggie said. "Because right now, everyone loves her. And they love the idea that the two of you might be dating. Public opinion is finally starting to change."
Nicolette dropped her hand. "You can't be serious."
"I'm quite serious," Maggie said.
"You mean this is reflecting positively on me?" Alex said.
"Yes, Your Highness. People love the idea that you might be dating this commoner. They love imagining you helping her take care of the baby. For the first time in months, the chatter about you is more positive than negative."
The room grew quiet as Alex mulled over what Maggie had just said. The hum of her computer filled the silence, and a ceiling fan clicked overhead. People liked the idea of him dating Libby? Well, that was great and all, but it wasn't anywhere close to the truth.
"I'm not sure what you're saying," Alex said.
Maggie placed her hands flat on the desk and leaned forward. "If I may be frank, Your Highness?"
Alex nodded.
"We need to jump on this horse and ride it into a new image for you. One that reflects more favorably both on you personally, and the royal family as a whole."
"So I'm supposed to, what? Tell everyone I'm dating Libby?"