A shadow fell over Griffin.

He looked up, just in time for the strange, bizarre woman to drop herself into his lap and wrap her arms around his neck.

He stiffened in shock.

Had this . . . horrible woman really just climbed into his lap and put her arms around his neck? It wasn’t to be endured. He was her employer, first of all, and this wasn’t proper in the slightest. He was also a royal, and no one touched royalty without their permission, even in this day and age. “Miss,” he said flatly. “What do you think you are doing?”

She burrowed her face against his neck. “Told you I needed a hug,” she mumbled. And she snuggled closer, oblivious to his rigid posture.

“Get off me.”

She ignored him.

He looked for the attendant to help him out, but she’d disappeared from her seat, no doubt hiding up in the cockpit with the pilots. Blast.

Griffin was trapped.

He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, trying to think. Strands of curly blonde hair tickled his nose as she nuzzled closer, and he began to feel inappropriately aroused. Her arms around his neck were soft, her hair fragrant, and her slight hip was pressing against his cock. Any red-blooded male would have that reaction, he told himself.

All the more reason to get her off his lap.

So he thought for a moment. What was her name? Nana? Millie? “Get up, girl.”

She gave a small sigh of pleasure and tucked her head even closer to his neck. “Don’t wanna.” Her lips moved against his throat, and Griffin shifted in his seat, willing his cock to quit responding to the touch of a drunk woman.

“What is your name again?”

“Maylee,” she breathed, and her soft breath tickled his skin. “Maylee Meriweather.”

“I need you to get off me, Maylee,” Griffin said, mentally applauding himself at his calm, even tone despite the odd situation. “It isn’t proper.”

Her head jerked up, narrowly missing his jaw, and she peered up at him. As she did, he noticed that her red-rimmed eyes were a brilliant green-brown that seemed to glow in her pale face. Damn it, those were rather nice eyes for a little country bumpkin who wore polyester.

That was another thought he shouldn’t have as her employer, he reminded himself.

“You still gonna get rid of me?” she asked, and her hand began to play with his hair, fingers toying with the base of his neck in a way that sent inappropriate shivers through his body.

Griffin gazed into those big green-brown eyes. He decided to level with her. “This is a very delicate job—”

“I’m good with handling delicate things.”

Great, now his mind was thinking of those small hands playing with his hair and touching all kinds of delicate things. Inappropriate. Inappropriate.

“But this is a job that will require a lot of skill—” Oh, hell, now that was a particularly bad choice of words.

“I have skills,” Maylee said in a husky voice, staring up at him. The side of her breast was pressing against his chest, and it felt a great deal rounder than what that godawful suit led on. “I can file, and take messages and type and I’m a burn talker.”

He was about to scoff at that paltry list of skills when he caught the last part of what she was saying. “A what? What in the devil is a burn talker?”

“It’s me. I’m a healer. If you burn yourself, I just rub it and talk to the burn and make it go away.” And now her fingers were rubbing the exposed line of skin at his neck. God have mercy.

“That sounds ridiculous,” he said, and cleared his throat because his voice wasn’t as convincing as it should have been. “And you should really get off my lap. This is very . . . inappropriate.” He sounded like a stuffy prig.

“Burn talkers are real,” Maylee said in a dreamy voice. “We have great hands. Great at rubbing. I can take the heat out of anything with a touch.”

Good God, his body reacted to that. Did she even realize what she was saying? “You really should get off my lap.”

“You need me.”

He groaned. Parts of his anatomy were agreeing with her, and that was making him furious not only with her, but himself.

She stared up at him again. “Are you still going to get rid of me?”

“I certainly am now that you are flinging yourself all over me,” Griffin began, and glanced down at her upturned face again. There was something else about her deep eyes that was bothering him. After a moment, he realized what it was. Her pupils were dilated to an enormous size. He frowned and grabbed her face, peering into her eyes. That was more than just two drinks. Concern flared through him as he recalled Cade’s horrific recent stories of Audrey’s sister overdosing in front of him. His friend was still scarred from the fact. “Did you take something else?”

“Just a happy pill,” she told him, petting his hair and looking up at him with soft, drugged eyes. “I don’t like flying. It scares me.”

“Damn it. Give me your pill bottle.” He needed to see if she was going to start foaming or convulsing in the next few minutes. This horrible trip was just getting worse by the minute.

“’Kay.” Instead of getting up, Maylee twisted in his arms, mashing her breasts against his chest as she reached behind her. There was no question—she was stacked in the front despite her baggy suit, and she was pushing them against him with enthusiasm.

Griffin closed his eyes and counted backward from a hundred to distract himself as she shifted and twisted in his arms, rubbing all over him.

When he was at seventy-two, she twisted back to the front. “Here you go, Mr. Gryffindor.”

He opened his eyes and flinched. This crazy woman had a purse that looked like a saddle. “This is your handbag?”

“Isn’t it something?” She seemed proud.

“Oh, it’s something,” he muttered. He took it from her and began to dig through the contents, and his hand wrapped around a small pill bottle a moment later. He read the side of it and then looked over at her.

Her face was inches away from his, and she was staring at him, doing that weird, slow blink.

“It says that you’re not supposed to mix this with alcohol,” he pointed out unnecessarily.

“Did you know that you have a really straight nose?” She touched the bridge of his nose with the tip of her finger and then ran it all the way down to the tip. “Like one of them guys on the coins.”

“Lovely. Can you get off my lap while I look up side effects of this on the Internet? No? Figures.” He picked up his smartphone and typed with his thumb, while she played with his hair and ran her hands all over him. He had the biggest cockstand at the moment, thanks to her careless touches and wiggling, but he suspected she wouldn’t notice a thing . . . which was good, because he was rather chagrined about it himself.

It seemed that alcohol combined with her anxiety drugs made the effect that much stronger. Lovely. That explained her bizarre actions, at least.

“Your hair’s funny,” she breathed into his ear, and gave a soft giggle that made his cock twitch all over again.

He flicked his phone off and frowned at her. “Funny?”

“It’s like it’s spackled down. That’s funny.” Her fingers played at the crisp lines of it. “I bet it’d be pretty if you didn’t put so much hair goop in it.”

“The last thing I want is to be ‘pretty’,” he told her in a tight voice. “Now. Come on. Stand up.”

Though she protested (and if he was honest, so did his cock), he managed to get her to stand upright. He got up and when she put her arms up around his neck again, he figured that was a good thing, and lifted her into his arms. Carrying her to the back room, he laid her down on the narrow bed he kept there for overnight flights . . . like tonight’s.

“Ooo, is it nap time?” Maylee’s drawl seemed to get thicker with every word she spoke. “You going to come sleep with me, Mr. Gryffindor?”

“No,” he said in a firm voice. “You are going to lay there and sleep, and when you are no longer out of your mind, we are going to discuss what we’re going to do with you. Understand?”

“You’re not very nice,” she muttered as he laid her on the bed. She wiggled into the pillows. Her skirt hiked up, showing far too much tanned thigh, and he felt himself break out into a cold sweat.

He was definitely going to kill Gretchen when he got back.

He averted his gaze and pulled a throw blanket over her legs so she was modest. “Sleep. We’ll talk later.”

“Not tired,” she said, and then ruined it by yawning hugely.

“Stay there anyhow,” he commanded her.

It didn’t matter, because she was already drifting off to sleep. He watched her for a minute longer, completely confounded by the entire situation. Then, rubbing his face to refocus, he left the small room, shut the door, and returned to his chair.

And picked up his phone so he could finish his text to Hunter. Your girlfriend is dead to me.

Sorry man. Maylee was available, though.

She’s rotten. She’s wearing a polyester zip-up suit. It’s disgraceful. I’m supposed to mix with royalty this week with her at my side?

There was a long pause, and then Hunter responded. Gretchen says that you’re a snob. And Maylee is very sweet and hardworking. We didn’t lie about that. She was also the only one available at the last minute, so take what you can get.

I am not a snob. Well, he was, but he didn’t give a shit, really. And she’s going back on the first flight I can dump her on.

Suit yourself, Hunter texted back. And a moment later, another text came through. SNOBSNOBSNOBBYSNOB.

Griffin rolled his eyes. I hate you, Gretchen. Give the phone back to Hunter.

He got nothing but a smiley face in return.

* * *

Any plans of dumping Maylee at Heathrow were discarded when the woman continued to sleep all the way through the fueling stop. Griffin briefly contemplated waking her up and leaving her at the airport as soon as she woke up, but he wasn’t entirely sure how long she’d be unconscious. If it was six hours, he didn’t want to loiter on a runway.

He could just as easily leave her at the airport in Bellissime, after all.

So they flew on toward his home country, and Griffin napped in his chair since the bloody woman had his bed. When he awoke, he smoothed down his hair with gel and then, an hour out from the landing, he changed clothing into a dark navy jacket with his family’s crest on the pocket. He refused to sash-up and go full regalia simply because they were leaving the airport, even though he knew there would be photographers waiting to see his exit from the plane. A jacket and tie would be fine.

Except that he couldn’t make his blasted tie work.

Normally Kip was on hand to tie it for him, and in his daily life, he preferred to have no tie at all. But now? To show up in his home country for a royal wedding with his collar open? He would never hear the end of it. So he stared at the mirror and cussed to himself as he tried to tie his bow tie, over and over again.

And failed each time.

* * *

Maylee woke up, confused as to where she was. The lights were off and she was lying in a bed, but she could hear the roar of a plane engine. These things did not make sense. She sat up in the bed and felt around until she found a bedside lamp and flicked it on, staring at her surroundings.

She was in a small room in what must have been the back of the plane. A picture on the wall of a family crest, complete with unicorns and dragons, stared back at her. She blinked rapidly, trying to recall how she’d gotten into this room.

The last thing she remembered was taking her pill. Oh, dear. Had she even met Mr. Griffin? Her mouth had an awful taste in it, and she licked her lips. Why didn’t she remember anything? Her bladder made its need known, and she got up from the bed, noticing that her shoes were gone. When had she lost those? That made her panic a little, but a quick check showed she was still wearing her cotton panties and her dress was intact. That was good, at least. Maybe those drinks Megan had given her were stronger than she’d thought.

She found a bathroom off to one side of the strange room and gasped at her reflection. Her hair was practically standing up on end, frizzy curls everywhere. Drool tracks lined her mouth in several directions, and she had bags under her puffy eyes. She looked awful. Maylee turned on the tap, scrubbed her face, and wet her hands, trying to tame the worst of her curls. Oh, God, she really hoped Mr. Griffin hadn’t seen her like this. He’d think she was a tumbleweed.