Working Stiff(132)
But really, nothing had changed.
He was still the same goofball who spoiled her cats. Pirate was currently drooling with contentment on his knee. Seriously, there was a dark spot on Casimir’s pants’ leg under the cat’s chin. He was literally drooling with happiness.
He was still the sharp lawyer whom she worked with, the guy who had torn down a law firm rather than allow their clients to be swindled, and they put on their resting bitch faces together to fence with opposing counsel.
He was still the same guy who could talk to anyone he met, under any circumstances, and have a lively conversation where the other person walked away believing that Casimir was awesome and their new best friend.
That gregariousness and graciousness might have been learned, she realized. Those would be excellent qualities in a royal diplomat, and he had probably been trained as such since he was a little boy.
But Casimir was still the same man.
And Rox was still his same paralegal who was probably the last woman on Earth to sleep with him.
So nothing had really changed.
Other than the fact that Rox really wanted to hide under the table in this private airplane rather than meet his sister, Crown Princess Anastasia the Nefarious, the Warrior Princess who might invade France just for the hell of it.
CASIMIR’S PLANE
When Arthur’s plane landed in London, Rox and Casimir said solemn and refined goodbyes to Maxence and Arthur, who did not nearly kill them by hugging this time, and walked through the jet bridge into the private terminal at Heathrow.
At the end of the tunnel, a squad of commandos in black fatigues swarmed them.
Rox jumped and grabbed Casimir’s arm, fully intending to make a run for it, but Casimir laid one arm around her shoulders and then shook the offered hand of one of the commandos. “Excellent to see you again, Lachlan.”
The man said something in Dutch and smiled grimly as he shook Casimir’s hand.
Casimir spoke Dutch back to him in calm, reassuring tones, and let his hand drop.
The other commandos all faced outward, rifles across their chests and ready.
Rox was not sure how they had managed to get all those guns into England and to brandish them in an airport, but evidently being a royal prince had its perks, like your security didn’t have to worry about those pesky gun laws.
The Dutch commando said something again to Casimir, and the whole group moved like one multi-legged beast through the small terminal and to another gate. Rox hurried to keep up.
Wow, the Heathrow private terminal was so big that it had a lot of gates.
The commandos hustled Casimir and Rox down the next tunnel and through the door of a new jet.
Casimir glanced out the windows as they were walking and said something to the Dutch guy whom he had been talking to, but Rox was too busy concentrating on not getting run over by their heavily armed escort to gawk at the plane outside.
She tried to pause in the doorway to take in the huge body of the airplane that yawned in front of her. This airplane was far bigger than Arthur’s, a jumbo jet that had been stripped of all its uncomfortable seats for commoners and refitted with living room furniture. Conversation groupings surrounded tables. Part of the way back, a wall divided the plane into another section.
When she stopped, however, Casimir tugged her arm, and the guys behind her still pounded their boots on the gangplank.
She and Casimir sat in one of the wide recliners, and the men who were dressed in black and holding weapons pounded past them toward the rear of the plane.
“It seems that my sister sent the large plane that is usually reserved for state visits. I don’t usually travel like this.”
“It’s good that she cares enough to send the very best.” Rox stroked the armrest with one finger. The leather was so soft that it felt like silk bedsheets.
“We’re also going to have two fighter jets escort us to The Hague.”
“I thought we were going to Amsterdam.”
“It seems that the family has decamped to Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague, so we’ll go there. That’s our primary residence anyway.”
Rox looked out the porthole window, which seemed larger than normal airplane windows, definitely wider than normal ones. “Is it normal to have fighter jets fly with you everywhere you go?”
“Not at all. It seems that my sister has been watching the news from America and is not amused by the situation.”
A terrible thought popped into Rox’s head. “Can she forbid you to leave the Netherlands, because she’s the princess?”
Casimir laughed. “No. She probably thinks she can, though.”
The first commando returned and held out a cell phone. “Her Highness would like to speak with you.”
Casimir rolled his eyes and laughed again. “Thank you, Lachlan.”