Read Online Bad Boy Prince: A British Royal Stepbrother Romance by Vivian Wood - Free Book Online Page B

says, clearing her throat. “You’re working on a fashion line. You can have your office at Canal Place, I’m sure. The point of this isn’t to make a thousand little rules, it’s to keep you out of the press.”
    Prince Archie seems to have calmed himself somewhat by now, and he comes back around to stand behind Mum’s chair with a smarmy smile.
    “I’ve spoken with King Percival at length on this matter, and he agrees. If either of you steps out of line, you’ll be stripped of your title.”
    “You can’t!” I say, shoving out of my chair.
    It’s not as impressive when I do it, being all of five feet. Archie sneers at me, even as he presses a hand to my mother’s shoulder.
    A clear display of possessive dominance, if I’ve ever seen one.
    “I absolutely can, and certainly will,” he says grimly, crossing his arms and giving me a considering look. “Honestly, after all the trouble you’ve caused, your mother is the only reason you’re standing here right now instead of reading a letter discussing your loss of rank. I’m sorry to say that I think you run rather closer to your father’s temperament than your dear mother’s.”
    How dare he bring my father into this?
    I make a strangled sound, anger shaking me to my core. The only thing that keeps me from launching myself at Archie and trying to hurt him is Rex’s hand on my wrist.
    Rex reaches out and grabs me, yanking me a step closer to his chair.
    Prince Archie, the Queen, and my mother all lock onto where his hand grips me. All three of them look at us with such disgust and disdain, like Rex touching me is somehow wrong.
    Like Mum and Archie are the center of the universe, and the rest of us just gravitate around them. They can make all the rules, rewrite history…
    A history they don’t even know about, when it comes to me and Rex.
    Queen Alison recovers first, giving us a forced smile.
    “So. You two are responsible for one another now. Where one goes, the other goes. If one falls from grace, so does the other.” She pauses and purses her lips. “Have I made myself perfectly clear?”
    “Crystal,” Rex and I say in unison.
    The Queen gives us a skeptical look, then shakes her head.
    “You’re dismissed. We will see you both at the charity gala.”
    She stands, and then everyone is standing and bowing, and the Queen’s secretary is shooing Rex and I out the way we came.
    Rex storms off, leaving me to follow in the wake of his furious curses. When we climb back into his car, he pulls out of the front drive with a squeal of tires.
    “Put your fucking belt on,” he grits out.
    “Jesus, slow down,” I say, scrabbling to get the seat belt across my body. “Are you mad?”
    “As a fucking hatter, Kitten. I’d think you’d know that by now,” he growls. “Now be good girl and stop talking to me for a bit.”
    That shuts me right up. I cross my arms and stare out the window, fuming the whole way to Rex’s apartment.
    When we finally walk out of the glass elevator and into the marble foyer of Rex’s apartment, we find several people moving boxes and garment racks inside.
    Some of the same boxes and garment racks I’d never unpacked at the apartment I shared with Charles, it appears.
    “Damn, the palace moves fast,” Rex sighs, skirting two men wrestling an oversized trunk inside. “You have too much stuff, Kit.”
    “This isn’t even a quarter of it, I assure you.”
    I follow the movers and see that they’re putting trunks and boxes in neat stacks in the biggest guest bedroom, the one that could double as a second master.
    I should dig up all my work stuff right away, and have them bring my drafting table over… I think.
    Rex is behind me, suddenly, close enough to send a shiver up my spine.
    “Coffee?” he asks.
    I turn and look up at him, and something electric passes between us.
    “Okay,” I find myself saying, all thoughts of productivity fleeing.
    I follow him back into the kitchen. The apartment is made for