Recklessly Royal(75)

“Someone that could make large sums from selling the pictures.”

“A hotel employee?” I shook my head. “Can we call the hotel and figure out who it was?”

“I’ll have someone look into it.” Selene took a sip of her tea.

“Not Tabitha.” David’s voice brooked no argument.

“Okay.” Selene watched him carefully. She wasn’t used to taking orders from people other than the royal family. “Why?”

“She tried to insist Cathy go to the auction last night after she dropped the bomb about the pictures in the car.” His voice was a growl. “Cathy had a panic attack.”

“Are you okay, dear?” Selene looked at me with worried eyes.

“I’m better this morning.” I took a deep breath as if to prove it. “David kept me calm.” I smiled over at him. “But I think I ruined this dress.” My smile turned into a frown as I looked at the material hanging around my legs. There was mascara on the pale pink skirt.

“You still look amazing.” He reached out and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

“I hate that I wasted the dress.” I sighed. “I had been saving it for a special night.”

“Playing Crazy Eights wasn’t a special night to you?” He mock-frowned. “I’m heartbroken.”

“Oh hush.” I pushed at his shoulder. “Chadwick will be glad you loved your new tux so much that you slept in it.”

“Remind me to thank him for insisting on the extra tight pants. They were so comfortable last night.” The snark was palpable.

Selene was watching us with a small smile. “Not to interrupt your adorable banter, but what do you want me to do with Tabitha?” From the sound of her voice, she had a few ideas of her own.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. The truth was that despite the laughs we had shared, I’d be just fine if I never saw her again. But that seemed unfair. She had done her job for the last two weeks, even if she was a bit confused about what that entailed.

“I’m going to say something that Cathy will probably disagree with, but I think it should be said.” David turned to look at me. “I don’t trust her. I’ve been thinking about this all night and I don’t see why it couldn’t have been her that leaked the photos. Somehow the media has been following you relentlessly since she started working for you. She could be leaking information.”

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions.” I shook my head. “The media could have simply found us at the movie theater, and let’s not forget that with Alex and Sam being out of the country, they needed somewhere to focus their attention.”

“I happen to agree with David.” Selene cleared her throat. “It would be almost impossible to prove, but I can’t overlook the fact that she has ignored your basic needs. She should have approached you with the information about the pictures in a much better way.”

“She’s only been working for me for a couple of weeks. She couldn’t know how it would affect me.” I frowned. I was defending her, but I remembered some of the evil, hate-filled looks Tabitha had shot my way. Especially when I insisted on going home the night before.

“Anyone would have been upset about the pictures. And she shouldn’t have insisted that you go to the auction when you were obviously distraught.” David wrapped his fingers around mine. “Give her a different job, demote her without calling it that. Put some distance between you both. Don’t let her put you in a bad position.”

“I’ll tell her that I’ve decided to let Selene pick up some of the work,” I said. “To keep you from tormenting the nurses.” I shot my old friend a look.

“Honesty is the best policy.” Selene shot me a devilish smile. “She’s still going to suspect that she’s in trouble.”

“Good.” David was obviously not on Team Tabitha.

I slapped his leg. “If she is leaking stuff, we don’t want to alienate her.”

“Friends close, enemies closer.” David nodded his head.

“Exactly.” Selene sipped more of her tea. “I’ll take care of Tabitha.”

“What about me?” She walked out into the living room, still wearing her dress from the night before and carrying her shoes.

“Where have you been?” Selene set her cup down on her saucer. “You should be up dealing with today’s turn of events.”

“I was busy this morning.” She shrugged, and one of her breasts almost popped out of her dress. “A friend came over.”

“You invited a friend into my home?” I stood up, shocked.