Compromising Kessen (Vandenbrook #1)(4)

Some things she would never understand, nor did she want to. She glanced back down at her book and bit her lip. She could finish packing later. Right now all she wanted to do was find out if the duke chose the servant girl over the princess.

She threw on her fuzzy boots, grabbed her book, and let herself out onto her balcony. It gave her a grand view of the mountains, a view she would never tire of. She sat in her chair and began reading. “The duke was distressed indeed to learn the identity of the servant girl was, in fact, the princess herself! A switch had been made, a switch of identities.”

Kessen yawned. So the duke got what he wanted after all. The servant girl was actually a princess, and they lived happily ever after. Puke.

That was entirely unrealistic she thought, yet she couldn’t help the sigh that escaped her lips.

London.

In two days.

London, England.

May God save her … forget the queen.





Chapter Two


Kessen woke up groggy. Proving her theory that nothing good ever happened after ten o’clock. She had stayed up and purchased the next two books in the duke series on her e-reader only to find she couldn’t sleep until everything was resolved.

All in all, she had gotten around two hours of sleep, and it was definitely showing all over her face. She needed to go tanning; she looked like a ghost. She should probably have her roots done as well as her nails. Who knew what the spas were like in London, or if they even had them. After watching some made-for television movies on BBC, she had her doubts.

Kessen went into her large gleaming bathroom and showered before putting on her comfortable sweats and bounding down the stairs. She grabbed a breakfast bar, her new PDA, the keys to her sports car, and ran outside. She needed a spa visit and a coffee. She quickly dialed Nick’s number and waited for him to answer.

“It’s too early,” his voice scratched on the other end. Nick was like a brother to her, and consequently one of the dearest friends she had in this world, not to mention ridiculously attractive and altogether in love with her other best friend, Sammy, who was equally beautiful and charming. They lived down the street from her and were just as much a part of her family as her own father. The wedding had taken place just a few months ago and had been partially paid for by her dad.

He would never admit to how much he actually needed Nick to run the HR department in the local branch of Newberry and Co.

“I’m going to London,” she blurted.

Her revelation was met with a long silence before Nick finally said, “I’ll be right there.”

“I’m going to the spa.”

He mumbled something under his breath she could only assume to being appropriate for her ears, and hung up.

It left her smiling. Nick hated the spa, mainly because Sammy loved the spa and often forced him to join her there so she could show him off to all the nice old ladies who worked there. He usually escaped with only having to succumb to a pedicure, but he considered it a knock to his manhood.

But he loved Sammy. So although it nearly killed him each time she asked, he would often accompany his wife on spa day. He just refused to enjoy it. In fact, though he wasn’t one to drink, he consumed a ridiculous amount of champagne while he sat in the plush chairs, as if someone was purposely torturing him.

“Inside, he probably likes it—though he’ll die before admitting it,” Sammy had told Kessen one day.

Kessen merely glanced at Nick and tried not to smile; he returned a searing glare that said, “I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.” She had turned back to Sammy and nodded. “Oh yes, I think you’re right.”

Nick had stopped talking to Kessen for two days, but finally broke his oath of silence when she promised to fake an accident during his next spa outing.

Thus the reason Nick was not happy about having to meet Kessen at the spa today.

Kessen drove through Boulder with a vengeance. She pulled her car into the first open space she could find and slammed her door. The receptionist, noticing her strained face, smiled tightly and pointed a perfectly manicured nail towards the waiting area.

“Coffee?” she asked, getting out of her seat.

“Yes.”

Kessen waited for five minutes before Nick came bounding through the door. It was obvious she had woken him up. His brown Twilight-styled hair was mussed all over his head. His designer faded jeans and muscle shirt were wrinkled and mismatched.

She shook her head at him and smiled. “You, my friend, do not match.”

He mimicked her words with his mouth before sitting down in a huff. “It’s not like I had many options this morning. It is laundry day, and it’s not every morning I get a call at the crack of dawn from my best friend telling me she’s going to London.” He turned towards her and scowled. “You despise London. What gives? Don’t tell me your father is singing the national anthem over you again. He’s been humming it at work lately, too. I think it’s gotten worse since—”

He didn’t finish the sentence. Tension hung in the air like a cloud. What he meant to say was since Lady Newberry’s death, but the guilty look on his face told Kessen he felt bad for bringing it up.

When the receptionist set the coffee in front of Kessen, Nick grabbed it before she had a chance.

“Nick, I swear I will cut your lips off if they touch that blessed drink before mine do.”