Ways To Ruin A Royal Reputation (Mills & Boon Modern) (Signed, Sealed…Seduced, Book 1) by Dani Collins (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

She ached to talk to Bea and Clare. What must they be thinking of her? She’d told them she was dropping everything for a big fish client with a substantial budget and an “unusual request.” Would they question her tactics in getting Luca’s business? They had stood by her last time, but they would be fully entitled to skepticism of her motives, especially since her actions were jeopardizing their livelihood along with her own.

Amy’s mother was likely having fits, too. Even without a call or text, Amy knew what Deborah Miller was thinking. Again, Amy? Again?

She felt so helpless! Crisis management was her bread and butter. She ought to be able to do something. As she paced off her tension, she took some comfort in methodically thinking through her response.

In any emergency, there were three potential threats to consider. The first was physical safety. This wasn’t a chemical spill. Innocent bystanders weren’t being harmed. She forced herself to release a cleansing breath and absorb that tiny blessing.

The second threat was financial loss. She sobered as she accepted that she would take a hard hit from this. There was no way she was taking Luca’s money now. That meant all of the expenses for this trip along with the travel home were hers. She had reassigned several of her contracts to other agents at London Connection so she had lost a substantial amount of income. There would be costs to salvaging London Connection’s reputation and, since this was her mistake, she would bear that, as well.

How would she pay for it all?

Here was where panic edged in each time she went through this exercise. She was standing hip deep in the third type of threat. Her credibility was in tatters.

She looked like a woman who slept her way into contracts and had no means to spin that impression. In fact, somewhere in this palace, a team of professionals exactly like her was deciding how to rescue Luca from this crisis, and Amy knew exactly the approaches they were taking—deflect the attacks on him. Blame her. Claim she had seduced him. Say she had set him up for that photo to raise the profile of London Connection.

Heck, the headlines she’d glimpsed before losing her connection had already been suggesting she’d had something to gain. They only had to build on what was already there.

What if they found out she had a history of inappropriate relationships?

Her stomach wrenched so violently, she folded her arms across it, moaning and nearly doubling over.

Luca wouldn’t hang her out to dry like that. Would he?

Of course, he would. The teacher, Avery Mason, had. The headmistress and her own parents had.

In a fit of near hysteria, she barged out of her suite to the hall.

She surprised the guard so badly, he took on a posture of attack, making her stumble back into her doorway, heart pounding.

She was so light-headed, she had to cling to the doorjamb. She sounded like a harridan when she blurted, “Tell the king I’ll set my room on fire if he doesn’t speak to me in the next ten minutes. Punch me unconscious or call the fire brigade because I will do it.”

The guard caught the door before she could slam it in his face. He spoke Italian into his wrist. After the briefest of pauses, he nodded. “Come with me.”

Now she’d done it. He was taking her to a padded cell. Or the dungeon.

Yes, that kind of dungeon.

She sniffed back a semihysterical laugh-sob.

He escorted her through halls that were familiar. She was being taken to Luca’s office. The scene of their first criminal kiss. And their second.

People filed out as she arrived, but she didn’t make eye contact. She stared at the floor until she was told to go in. She went only as far as she had to for the door to close behind her.

“Will you introduce us, Luca?” a woman asked.

Amy snapped her head up to see only Luca and his sister were in the room.

Luca was as crisp and urbane as ever in a smart suit and tie, freshly shaved with only a hint of fatigue around his eyes to suggest he’d had a long day. His gaze sharpened on her, but Amy was distracted by his twin.

Sofia Albizzi was a feminine version of Luca, almost as tall, also athletically lean, but with willowy curves and a softer expression. Where the energy that radiated off Luca was dynamic and energizing, Sofia’s was equally commanding but with a settle-down-children quality. She wore a pantsuit in a similar dark blue as Luca’s suit. Her hair was in a chignon, and she offered a calm, welcoming smile.

Amy must look like a petitioning peasant, slouched in her shawl and slippers, hair falling out of its clip and no makeup to hide her distress. She felt awful coming up against this double barrel of effortless perfection. She wanted to turn and walk back out again, but Luca straightened off the edge of his desk.

“Your Highness, this is Amy Miller. Amy, my sister Sofia, the queen of Vallia.”

“Queen?” Amy distantly wondered if she was supposed to curtsy.

Sofia flicked a glance at Luca that could only be described as sibling telepathy.

“My new title is confidential,” Sofia said. “Only finalized within the last hour. There will be a press release in the morning. I hope I can trust you to keep this information to yourself until then?”

Amy choked on disbelief. “Who could I tell? You’ve cut off my online access.”

“We did do that,” Sofia acknowledged. “The prince said you understand the importance of limiting communication during a crisis, so we can project a clear and unified message.”

Prince. He’d been dethroned. By her. She was definitely going to faint. Amy blinked rapidly, trying to keep her vision from fading as she looked between the two.

Sofia came toward her, regal and ridiculously attractive while exuding that consoling energy. “I appreciate how distressed you must be, Amy. It’s been a trying day for all of