Page 61 of Duke, Actually
“Yes! Exactly!”
“A baron offset?”
“Call it what you like. And you can rent your apartment out while you’re gone, so you’ll actually turn a profit.”
She paused, imagining a couple of weeks—or more—spent in Eldovia. She’d get to see Leo and Gabby beyond the whirlwind of the wedding. Max Minimus could cavort in actual nature—there would be mountains and the hot spring. She also couldn’t turn her nose up at the cash she’d make doing an Airbnb rental over Thanksgiving.
And there was Max. She’d get to spend time with Max. Nature and money were cool, but the prospect of getting to hang out with Max for an extended period was too good to pass up. “Would you think I was a terrible person if I took you up on this offer?”
“Yes,” he said, totally deadpan. But then he added, “No. You walk to work every day, so that’s as good as buying a carbon offset.
“Maybe Icanbuy a carbon offset!” She wondered how much it would cost to offset a private flight to Eldovia.
“You can’t, but I will.”
She was flooded with affection for her friend. “Max, you’re all right.”
“I’ll try not to let it go to my head.”
“Thank you,” she said, turning serious.
“You’re welcome,” he said, doing the same. “Send me your preferred travel dates—but please come for a nice long stretch if you can; I promise you’ll have lots of time to work—and I’ll take care of it.”
Chapter Twelve
“Oh!” Max was startled as he exited his cottage and almost bumped into Sebastien, who was standing there in the November sunshine with his knuckles raised, poised to knock. “Hello.”
“I was hoping to speak to you.”
“I can’t right now. I’m off to meet Daniela Martinez’s plane. She’s coming for the wedding. She’s Leo’s friend,” he added, though he had no idea why, as characterizing Dani as “Leo’s friend” didn’t begin to cover it.
“I know who she is,” Seb said.
Of course. Everyone knew all the details about the royal wedding. The wedding that was supposed to be Max’s. And chief among those details were the salacious ones—the fact that not only was the groom a nobody from the Bronx, his only attendant was also going to be a nobody from the Bronx. Afemalenobody. Mother had been talking about it nonstop.
“Can’t you just send a car?” Seb asked.
Max studied his brother’s face. His forehead was deeply furrowed. “Is everything all right? Has something gone wrong in Innsbruck?”
“No, no. Everything’s fine. I was merely going to... Never mind. We can talk later.”
“You want to ride to the airfield with me?” The plane was landing on a private airfield an hour’s drive from the estate.
“May I?”
“Of course. I’ll appreciate the company.” Not really, because Max was a selfish bastard and he wanted Dani to himself. But he and Dani had three weeks to talk. Three glorious weeks. He had convinced her to make such a long visit by assuring her she could spend the first half of it working on the estate. Then they’d go to the palace for the wedding, then to Innsbruck to see the mine and have a holiday.
“So you’re having an affair with Leo’s friend,” Sebastien said as their journey got underway. “Is that wise?”
Ah, here they went. “I am not having an affair with her. We’re friends.”
“I thought she was Leo’s friend.”
“She’s not allowed to have more than one friend?” Even with his eyes on the road, Max could feel Seb’s wince, and yes, that had come out a little snippier than Max had intended, but honestly. “I invited her to spend some time here before the wedding, since Mother and Father are away.” Their parents were holidaying on Sardinia and would be back a few days before the wedding, by which point Max and Dani would already have left for the palace—ostensibly because their man of honor and best woman duties required them to be there early but really because therewas no way he was going to subject Dani to his parents. She would meet them at the wedding, of course; it was unavoidable. But their impact would be diluted there—he hoped. “And after the wedding, we’re going to Austria with Leo and Marie.”
“Isn’t that a little odd? You’re tagging along on the honeymoon?”
“Really, it’s them tagging along with us.” He’d mentioned he was taking Dani to see the mine, and suddenly they had extra hangers-on. Marie insisted that they wanted to spend some time with Dani—he knew the feeling—and see the mine project in progress. After a couple of days in Innsbruck, Marie and Leo were going to continue on to a posh Indonesian resort, alone.