Read Online The Ambitious Orphan by Amelia Price - Free Book Online Page B

close for Mycroft's usual comfort, although Amelia was sitting
near one edge. Old sofas were never particularly wide.
    “Do they often
keep you waiting?” Amelia whispered a minute later. He nodded.
“That must infuriate you. Don't they realise they shouldn't keep
you waiting?”
    A twinkle appeared
in her eyes, and he saw the corners of her mouth twitch up. He gave
her the smallest of response in kind, but only enough she'd notice.
The last thing he wanted was for the butler to come in and see them
sharing some kind of private joke. It would only fuel their
ridiculous notion that the pair should marry.
    “Good morning,
Myron. Ms Jones, welcome to the palace,” the butler said as he
finally bustled in. Not far behind him was yet another woman with a
tray of tea.
    “Thank you for the
invitation,” Amelia replied, not missing a beat and sounding like
it was an honour. Whether she thought it truly was or not, Mycroft
didn't intend to look her way and find out. He didn't want the
butler to read too much into such a gesture.
    “Well, we've been
hearing lots about you. It was about time we had a chat, I think.”
The butler gave Mycroft a pointed look to let him know it was
considered an avoidable chat.
    Mycroft fought
back an annoyed sigh. They never summoned him to the palace for any
other reason than to complain or try to make some kind of point. By
now he'd have hoped they'd learnt that he never cared what they
thought of him as long as he got the job done in a way he saw
fit.
    Not having any
idea of what they wanted to talk about, Amelia remained silent and
merely expressed the usual politeness when she was given her tea.
She drank first as she should have done when there were just the
two men and her in the room. It was a common mistake for women to
think they should wait for their host. He was glad Amelia didn't
fall into that trap. It only applied if the actual royal family
were present.
    “I understand
you've been undergoing some training, courtesy of Myron here?”
    “Yes. It certainly
helps when terrorists take an interest in you.” Amelia smiled,
almost exactly mimicking the gesture he gave people.
    “I assume he
extended our invitation to join the training system for some of our
most highly prized agents?”
    “Of course,” she
said, lying well enough the butler probably didn't pick up on
it.
    “And?”
    “I'm sorry. I
really don't think it's for me. While under Myron's tutelage, I've
learnt a great deal. Given how well I've responded, I really can't
consider being trained by anyone else right now.”
    Mycroft blinked
lazily, aware she'd managed to work out exactly why he hadn't asked
her in a very short time frame. On the inside only, he felt very
smug.
    The butler frowned
and put down his teacup. For a few seconds no one said
anything.
    “It seems to me
that we don't quite understand each other. It's very important to
her majesty that you be brought in to be trained in some way.”
    “It's quite clear
we don't understand each other. I assure you, if Myron, or I,
wanted me to be part of your training program, I would be
already.”
    “We don't like
loose ends, Ms Jones.”
    “And Myron? Is he
a loose end?” she asked, the fierceness in her beginning to add
bite to her words. Mycroft waited, knowing where she was going,
even if the butler didn't. It was very comforting to see her handle
the conversation so well. Not even the royal family were going to
make her do something she didn't want to.
    “I think we both
know Myron is considered an integral part of our government.
Neither of you would be here otherwise.”
    “Then I am not a
loose end either. I do exactly as Myron instructs me, no more and
no less.”
    “On paper it does
not appear so.”
    “So make a piece
of paper that says so. I will only be trained and commanded by
Myron.”
    “All right. I'll
add a division to our specialist agency group. I assume you have no
objection, Myron?” the butler smiled and he returned the gesture,
even