Chapter 2

“OF COURSE, DR. FUZZENBOMB, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND.”

Nick fought the urge to roll his eyes at the older gentleman. Dr. Fuzzenbomb was the Dean of the Royal Academy and should be respected. However, the pompous older man was mostly made up of hot air and euphemisms that he loved to share in abundance.

Nick seethed that Princess Lia had already gone to the Dean and asked for him to be moved away from her. The last thing Nick wanted was to be at this ridiculous school in the first place. As Nicholas Hamilton Roberto Leham the third, Nick was a prince in his own right.

Although his country wasn’t as large as Hazenbak, the rolling hills and sparkling lakes of Meron were spectacular.

The only reason Nick was even at this wretched place was that he had a penchant for losing stupid bets with his friends. The latest and greatest being a loss between himself and Benedict, Lia’s older brother. Nick knew Benedict from graduate school, and they had something of a running joke between them as to who could pick up the most women.

Nine times out of ten it was a draw. Both men were handsome, titled, and rich. It seemed almost too easy at times, all they had to do was walk into a club and the women would flock, to them. On this particular evening in question, Benedict had gone on and on about his baby sister being in the suds again.

Nick had always pictured little Amelia with pigtails and braids, after all, Benedict seemed the see her that way. And Nick had never met the chit. He stayed away from sisters no matter what their ages might be.

Sisters always meant trouble and were best to be avoided. Nick firmly believed this and could hardly credit his poor luck that had landed him in this situation. Their other friend, Luke, the Duke of Hastings, had suggested to Benedict that he plant someone at the school where his sister was to be banished to.

That way they could keep an eye on her and report back to Benedict if there were any problems. It wasn’t that Benedict was a tyrant. Nick knew that he loved his sister and if anything, he wanted to protect her from their father who was a bit of an ass.

According to Benedict, his baby sister could find trouble anywhere. And the king wasn’t very forgiving of imperfections in his children.

As the drinks were kicked back and the night rolled on the three boys ended up making a bet. The person with the lowest amount of ladies numbers at the end of the night would be the undercover guard for Princess Amelia at the Academy.

It didn’t dawn on Nick until the next morning that Benedict wouldn’t have been able to lose seeing as his sister knew his face. That left him and Luke. But to his utter horror, Benedict had given every last number he had picked up to Luke.

It was stacked against him from the start. He should have known when Luke and Benedict were laughing their asses off the night before that something was up. And now he had to listen to Dr. Fuzzenbomb tell him that Princess Amelia felt uncomfortable with a single male residing on the other side of the wall.

Nick clenched his jaw, “I do understand the concerns that Princess Amelia has brought up.”

Dr. Fizzenbomb went to launch into another long winded retort but Nick stopped him.

“However, I am in no way a threat to a woman. To even suggests such a thing is an insult, not only to me but to my country.”

Dr. Fizzenbomb took a step back, “I would never mean to insult you, Your Highness.”

Nick frowned at the older man, “No one is to know about that. I’m merely Professor Leham while I’m here.”

He nodded profusely, “Of course, Your Highness, I mean, Your Majesty… err, Professor Lehman.”

Nick clenched his fists, “Will there be anything else, Dr. Fizzenbomb?”

The older gentleman knew he was clearly being dismissed.

“Nothing sir, thank you, sir.”

He turned rather swiftly for such a portly fellow and padded off down the drafty corridor.

Nick shut his door with just a bit too much enthusiasm and the pictured shook on the wall. He wasn’t sure who had lived in these rooms before him, but he was guessing a crazy cat woman.

There were pictures of Calicos, Siamese, and even an Egyptian long hair, living framed on the wall. Nick was deathly allergic to cats, even the pictures made him itch. However, he didn’t plan on staying long at the academy.

Surely there had to be a way to get out of this place? Luke would be better at teaching Royal Affairs anyway. Nick had never taught anyone anything, and sure as hell didn’t know how he was going to teach a bunch of snobby royals. From what he had experienced, most royal families were almost impossible to deal with.

Finding friendships with Luke and Benedict had been akin to locating that needle in a haystack. Nick frowned, so why had they sold him out? Stupid assholes most likely thought they were being funny.

A pounding at the door brought Nick out of his thoughts, and he crossed over expecting to see Dr. Fizzenbomb back again.

But instead of the Dean, it was the princess herself. Her hair had escaped from the bun she had tied it in earlier. It seemed almost to be alive, there was so much of it. Long thick red tresses fell upon her shoulders and down her back.

Eyes the color of whiskey with flecks of gold were glaring at him. He fought back a smile. She looked like an avenging fairy with her hands on her hips and her mouth moving a mile a minute.

Shit, what was she saying?

“And furthermore, I will have you know that you haven’t won this round, not by a long shot!”

“Why are you so afraid of me?” Nick genuinely wanted to know. He hadn’t touched the poor girl and certainly didn’t intend to.

She was a sister, and sisters tended to need things like stability and marriage. Two things that Nick was also allergic to.

Puffing up Lia shoved a finger into his chest, “I am not afraid of you! I am not afraid of anything.”

He quirked a brow, not moving back and enjoying the way her cheeks had begun to fill with heat. She obviously was now noticing just how close she had gotten to him.

She cleared her throat and took a step back, “You just stay out of my way!”

Nick smirked, “Gladly, and I expect the same.”

Lia looked thunderous, “I have no desire to have anything to do with you!”

He leaned forward the smallest degree and suddenly the room seemed much smaller.

“But you see, this is my room and you came knocking on my door. So methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

Lia sputtered, “You pompous jackass!”

Nick pushed her further, “Whatever little crush you may have developed on me, Princess, you are going to have to get over. I’m not looking for a happily ever after.”

“Crush? You? Are you insane?” her color had become alarmingly red.

She itched to throw something at him. Nothing would make her happier than seeing him brought low.

Nick walked over to his door, “I assume you are done?” She blinked. No one dismissed her, she was a princess. And yet here was this nobody treating her like she was nothing to him.

It wasn’t that Lia wanted to be something to him. But all the same, she had come over here to give him a set-down and instead she found that she was being asked to leave with her tail between her legs.

Glancing around his room she saw some of the pictures.

“And for your information,” she marched over to the door he held open and looked up into his handsome face. “I hate cats, they are know-it-alls just like you.”

She marched out the door and to her own slamming it behind her. His cat pictures rattled a little and Nick couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped his lips.

Well, at least they had the dislike of felines in common if nothing else. It would seem that the princess was in possession of a rather fierce temper.

For the briefest of moments, Nick mused that the fiery ones made the best bed partners. But he quickly shoved that aside. There was no way in hell he was going to get mixed up with Benedict's baby sister.

Nick had to find a way to extricate himself from this situation and get the hell away from the Royal Academy and their new Manners and Deportment teacher.

With a small smile on his lips, he began to unpack his things, hoping that he would soon be repacking and on his way out of the door.