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Griffin glared at his brother, who had a penchant for chasing the skirts of any female servant in his household "She’s my assistant"

"She looks like a poodle with all that hair It’s quite fascinating"

"Don’t even think about it, George"

George raised an eyebrow at Griffin "Ah Is that why she’s your assistant?"

He knehat George was i and he wanted to punch his brother in the mouth "No, she’s reat at her job? That wasn’t true She was decent, and her friendliness smoothed over a lot of proble her froant brother nored hie chuckled and moved forward to his seat "Let me know if you’re interested in a swap yourself, little brother"

Griffin glared at his brother, stepping forward and leaning in to whisper to George despite the photographer’s protests "You cannot be attracted to her," he told his brother "You just compared her to a canine"

But George sietic"

"Viscount Montagne Verdi, please straighten," the photographer was saying over and over again, waving his hand to try and force Griffin back into line Everyone was staring at hihtened,on just a sec," Maylee said, and stepped forward She rushed to Griffin’s side and squeezed in next to hiaze or she’d have flinched away As it was, she trotted up to him, flipped one of his medals over, and smoothed the braid on his shoulder Then, she beaht as rain Can’t have you looking all raggedy in the faain

"We can’t have that," Georgewhen they took the photographs

As soon as the portraits were finished, Griffin pushed away from the others and ht sant, Mr Griffin--"

He grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her away from the others "Please co on the ry strides

Griffin dragged her down to the end of a nearby hall, away froh he was sure quite a few people stared at them when they left He didn’t care So an out-of-line e a lover

For a moment, Griffin felt so completely smothered by the entire situation he wanted to turn around, exit the building, and head straight onto the next flight back to the States

When he finally stopped and turned around, her wide-eyed surprise irritated his with you again" He raised a finger "First, it is Lord Montagne Verdi, or ne Verdi You can also use Mr Verdi, since you are American It is not, and has never been Mr Griffin I ao over it once nored it and ticked up another finger "Second of all, do not, I repeat, do not interrupt me in front of the queen, the crown princess, and any other royal personages so you can straightenIt iave a jerky nod and said nothing, her eyes huge in her pale face

"Next, you are here to do a job So is the photographer So is the chauffeur I a you to stand around and talk to the

"And finally" he trailed off and tried to think of so out of his syste So he focused on her hair because of George’s lewd co with that, please A tousled look is not appropriate for palace visits"

Her hand touched the curls springing out of her scarf "I’ed at the tight collar of his unifors in ne Verdi" Her voice was so quiet and stiff that it didn’t even sound like her Her gaze was averted, and he knew that if he made eye contact with her, she’d probably be teary-eyed

And that made him feelshitty

He stalked away, furious with herand hinore his e all over decorum sioing around and adjusting people’s ties or calling people by the wrong title

Then againAlexandra had probably coached Luke for hours on how to act in front of her fa situations with other faue

Which ain He stopped just as he re-entered the portrait gallery He should go apologize to her and explain that how they acted in private wasn’t the same as how she should act in public or in front of the queen

"Darling, is everything all right?"

His mother Griffin turned to the Princess Sybilla-Louise "It’s fine, Mother I was just educating my assistant on proper ain"

She looked down her long nose at him "Does she truly call you Mr Griffin? That’s so improper"

"I am told it’s a form of respect in Southern states, but yes, it’s a bad habit of hers One I intend she correct" He offered his mother his arm and led her back toward the others "Don’t worry about it"

"You know, darling, you’ve let your staff become far too familiar"

"It’s fine, Mother"

"I have my equerry spend a few days with all of my new staff so he can educate theht do her good Oh, but then you only keep the bare bones of staff, correct?" She sniffed "That irl’s manners No one to show her how to be a proper servant You should really hire someone to take her in hand"

"It’s handled, Mother" He was barely paying attention He kept thinking of Maylee’s flinch as he’d laid into her He hadn’t been wrongexactly But he could have gone about it in a much kinder fashion

She’d been so excited to be at the palace, and here he’d yelled at her more or less in front of everyone She had to be huize later In private

When he finally eed from the portrait session, Maylee was nowhere to be found The photographer hadn’t seen her since Griffin had forcefully corrected her, and no one in his family would remember her, since employees--even bad ones--tended to blend into the wallpaper as far as they were concerned