The Queen's Impossible Boss

CHAPTER ONE

‘GIVEN YOU’VE NOT BOTHERED to reply to any earlier messages, don’t bother coming back at all.’

Jade Monroyale shivered as that stern dismissal echoed in her head, but for once in her life she was going to disobey a direct order. She strode along the Manhattan pavement in her travel-stale clothes, masking her nerves as she wheeled the one small suitcase she’d been able to bring with her. The number of people heading to work was amazing, given it was still very early and so cold her fingers and toes were numb. She’d have loved a hot shower, but, having heard that message only an hour ago, she’d known she had no time to waste. She had to get to the office and fix things.

‘Don’t bother.’

His low tone had been underlined by an edge of danger. Authoritative and uncompromising, his anger had been barely leashed. Jade knew that kind of man well—impatient, dismissive, arrogant. But there’d been another frisson in his voice—a passion that had alarmed her more than the accusation had.

Navigating the subway had been something else. She’d run her sister’s MetroCard the wrong way a few times before figuring it out. Swiping cards through machines ought to be something anyone could do but, as Queen of a prosperous, albeit small, European country, Jade Monroyale had never carried either cash or cards before. Her father had deemed it unnecessary given destiny dictated her future. She was ‘different’, she had a ‘rare duty’...and he’d ensured she never forgot it. But now she felt a very different duty. Her twin needed her help.

‘Juno? This is Alvaro Byrne.’

He’d introduced himself brusquely as he’d left the last of the many messages on Juno’s phone. A couple of workmates and her immediate manager had left several, but Alvaro Byrne—the CEO himself—had left just that last one.

Juno, Jade’s younger sister by a mere two minutes, had lived here in New York for more than a decade, the identical twins separated by much more than their parents’ traumatic divorce. But for the first time Jade was in a position to be able to help Juno. She was not having her sister’s job lost because of a lapse in communication. Her twin hadn’t been able to respond to those calls because she’d been travelling. She hadn’t even heard them. Jade was so glad Juno didn’t understand the degree to which her job was in peril. And if Jade could finesse it, she need never know. All Jade had to do was pull off this impersonation to perfection...

Yes, their twin switch was crazy—especially considering they’d not been together for years and knew so little of each other’s daily lives—but it was worth the risk. Juno desperately needed time in Monrova. While Jade?

Finally, for just a few weeks, she’d be free.

Until last night, Jade had barely left her home. As she was the only heir her father had acknowledged in recent years, there could be no risk of them both being in an accident. So they’d never travelled together. Jade had been strictly limited in where she could go, what she could do. Her entire life had been spent preparing for the role she was destined to fulfil. She’d studied several languages, history, geography, absorbed political and diplomatic theory, mastered manners and etiquette and, most of all, emotional control. She’d learned never to let fear or hurt or anger show—for, according to her father, a monarch must remain impassive in public. That was absolute.

Pretty ironic given that, behind that pretty palace facade, her parents’ separation had been so acrimonious and bitter that they’d forced Jade and Juno apart when they were only eight. Jade, as firstborn, had remained with her father to be groomed as future Queen, while Juno had been sent to the United States with her mother. It was a decision Jade still struggled to forgive, even all these years later. She’d been forbidden to see her mother again. And their authoritarian father had disapproved of their mother’s more permissive parenting style and the defiance that an independent Juno wasn’t afraid to display when she was allowed to visit for holidays that were too brief. Finally, in the summer in which they’d turned sixteen, Juno had stormed from their father’s autocratic displeasure in Monrova, never to return.

‘I expect my employees to be team players and to value their colleagues.’

Alvaro Byrne’s stinging rebuke had stopped Jade in her tracks. Juno had suffered enough thanks to one unforgiving man, Jade wasn’t letting it happen again. Especially not for something so minor. No one was as loyal as Juno, and this jerk hadn’t even given her the chance to explain.

In the past Jade’s only act of defiance had been to stay in touch with Juno after that last fight, despite her father’s ever-looming disapproval. A month before they’d turned eighteen their mother had passed, leaving Juno alone and isolated miles away. Jade had been prevented from going to the funeral and unable to offer any real comfort and Juno had made it clear she had no desire to return to Monrova. Jade had learned to bypass the Internet security wall that had previously stopped her from seeing her sister’s social media postings and they’d video conferenced when they could. Juno had regaled her with tales of her life as the media-dubbed ‘Rebel Princess’ in New York...

But Juno still hadn’t come back when their father had died just a year ago. And while her choice had saddened Jade, she’d understood that some things were so painful they were impossible to overcome...or at least, took a long, long time. So Juno’s surprise visit to Monrova at the weekend had been the best thing ever. And her suggestion of a three-week twin-switch?

Yes, it absolutely was crazy. But Juno needed time in her own country—she needed time to understand the heritage and the life that had been denied her.

And yes, there was a selfish element to Jade’s ready agreement. For Jade to have just a little time to herself and live like a ‘normal’ person with relative anonymity? To experience a few of those freedoms that only a city like New York could offer? To have time to herself before fulfilling her late father’s last wish? And Christmas—an actual special, even if alone, Christmas. She’d barely been able to admit it even to herself, but the chance to experience life a little more ‘normal’ had been irresistible.

‘How could you just ignore their calls?’

There was that emotive edge in Alvaro Byrne’s tone that had scalded Jade. It seemed her ‘little more normal’ now included dealing with Juno’s irate boss at work. She was determined to defuse this situation. Duty—responsibility—was everything and right now she was responsible for Juno’s reputation.

Jade had her own challenging choice ahead. She would do anything for her country—even marry the man her father had decided would be the best match for her politically. Since his death, her advisors had unanimously insisted that the marriage was still the best course of action for both Monrova and for Queen Jade herself. If it was, then of course she would do it. But Juno had been horrified that Jade was even considering marriage to King Leonardo of Severene—the neighbouring nation—and she’d wanted to give Jade space to consider everything. Juno had handed over her phone, passport, passwords...and Jade had been swept along by her twin’s insistence and enthusiastic assurance that they could pull this off.

Because she’d not just wanted it, she’d needed it too.

But Juno had said there was no need for Jade to go into her work as she could work from home in this last week before the office closed early for the Christmas break, lessening the chances of someone suspecting their switch. Only when Jade had landed at the airport in New York and turned on Juno’s phone, it had pinged incessantly, signalling an insane amount of messages and voicemails. And this last—from the CEO himself—was the one that spurred Jade’s action now.

‘This is Alvaro Byrne.’

He was CEO of a conglomerate that had started with an eclectic suite of popular apps and mushroomed since to include both property and financial investments. Juno had been recruited to work in the social media marketing arm for the suite of apps, including that original fitness tracking one—Byrne IT. Juno had mentioned a minor issue at work in passing, but when Jade had looked online after hearing those messages, she saw the fuss was more major than Juno had realised and it was only escalating.

On her journey in from the airport, Jade had searched online for any information she could find about the office and her co-workers but there’d been little about the structure. So she’d listened again to the catalogue of increasingly concerned voice messages and memorised the names of the callers—grateful for the disciplined memory techniques drilled into her from a young age. Then she’d coiled her hair into a bun to hide the fact that hers was longer and straighter than Juno’s and hoped that her plain black trousers and white shirt were suitably ‘Juno office wear’. She figured her black coat covered much anyway, and if she could somehow fix this quickly, she could be out of there before the others arrived for the day.

Finally, at Byrne HQ, in Tribeca, she stared through the gleaming glass to the brightly lit, funky atrium of the repurposed brick-fronted industrial building. She shuffled through Juno’s battered wallet to find the office security card. To her relief the door lock clicked when she swiped it through the security pad. So Juno hadn’t been banned from the building, despite the unreasonable rancour in that man’s tone.

She quickly read the signs and ventured deeper into the quiet building. She shivered again, nerves biting. But she had no choice but to ignore their agreement for her to stay away from Juno’s work. She had to fix it so everything would be well when Juno returned. She knew this job mattered to her sister—she’d shut down the social media sites she’d been running for years because she’d wanted to pull back from that public ‘Rebel Princess’ persona. She’d wanted a normal marketing job for a company and to get some anonymity back. So, more than anything, Jade wanted to help her sister keep it.

Those two minutes that separated them as ‘heir’ and ‘spare’ were merely fate, but Jade hated that Juno had effectively been ejected from the kingdom. She knew her father’s hard-line stance stemmed from a deep, devastated hurt, but that didn’t make it okay. And Jade had been too scared to challenge her father on it. Too scared that if she too hurt him, or let him down in some way as her mother had, then she too would be rejected. She’d tried for years to be the perfect princess daughter. Now she had the chance to be a decent sister.

She took the elevator to the sixth floor, grateful for the clear signs. There was a large open-plan area with several desks in groups, separated by a couple of sofas, and a number of glass-walled offices ran along the side. How was she meant to know which was Juno’s desk? She paused, taking in the personal items on each one in the hope she might find a clue. Then she spotted an enormous hot pink coffee mug with Princess emblazoned on the side. Jade smiled the second she saw it, her amusement bubbling up. That ‘own it’ attitude was pure Juno. She wheeled her cabin bag up to the desk, shrugged out of her coat, hung it on the back of the swivel chair and eyed up the computer. All she needed to do now was get online, get a few messages and emails sent and she’d be out of here.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’

Jade wasn’t listening to that icy but irate phone message now, but there was no mistaking that voice. She instantly swung round, drawing in a breath to reply—but then she choked.

‘Oh.’ She gulped, staggered by the sight before her.

First impression? Skin. Second impression? Muscles. Third? Fury—in the heated tension in his tight stance. All of it up close and personal and towering over her.

Jade suddenly felt as if she were being incinerated from the inside out. Awareness—purely, mortifyingly, sexual—swamped her, frying her brain. He was huge. Like really, really tall and muscular in a way she wasn’t used to.

Of course, she wasn’t used to it.

The man was gleaming and hot—literally. She could almost see the steam rising from his body. Why—why—was his chest bare? Finally—far too late—she dragged her gaze up from his abs and pecs, past his wide shoulders to the tanned column of his neck, his sharp-edged jaw, grim-set mouth and then there, to the blazing anger in his amber eyes.

‘Juno, right?’ he said tightly. ‘You need to leave.’

This wasn’t the setting for so much skin. That was why she was reacting so primally, right? Frankly she wasn’t used to seeing half-naked men, ever. No matter that it was an office situation, not in any situation was she used to this.

‘You’re...’ she trailed off, forced to swallow in an attempt to ease her dry throat.

‘Still wondering why you’re here,’ he snapped.

Couldn’t the same be said for him? It was ridiculously early and what was he doing here barely dressed? Black sports shorts and trainers were all he had on.

Alvaro Byrne.

Tall, dark and wild. Even his hair was a little long and now he swept it out of his eyes with an impatient hand. The already tense muscles in his chest rippled.

‘Why are you here?’ he demanded. ‘Didn’t you get my message?’

‘I—’

‘Don’t need to be here. Leave. Now.’

Seriously? He wasn’t even going to listen to her? Wasn’t going to take a breath? ‘No. I’m here to—’

‘Why aren’t you moving?’

‘Why aren’t you listening?’

He folded his arms in front of her. The stance just made his biceps pop more.

Jade, who’d held her nerve for so many years, in so many public situations in Monrova, was completely distracted. For the first time ever, her brain slipped into mush territory and her tongue slipped away from her.

‘You...’ It wasn’t good enough. She needed to do better for Juno. She drew a deep breath and began again. ‘You need to give me a chance.’

‘You’ve had plenty of chances. But you haven’t answered any calls or messages for forty-eight hours. And now you walk in here looking...’

Jade tensed warily. Looking what? Had he guessed already?

‘Like butter wouldn’t melt,’ he finished with a growl.

She was buffeted by a wave of relief that she might pull this off. He hadn’t instantly recognised that she wasn’t Juno. She struggled to stare calmly back at him. Never had it been so hard to stand still and stay cool.

‘Forty-eight hours, Juno,’ he repeated. ‘Why didn’t you return any calls?’

It was always best to answer with honesty, right? Or at least with as much honesty as she was able at this point in time. ‘I was out of range.’

‘Really? That’s what you’re going with?’ He couldn’t look more disbelieving. ‘Maybe you should have stayed out of range.’

‘I’m here now.’

‘Why?’

‘Why do you think?’

‘What do you think you can possibly do to make this better?’

She had no idea. Never had she been challenged with such hostility or fury and she was lost for words.

His eyebrows lifted. ‘Way too little, way too late.’

Jade was tired from the flight. Stressed from maintaining a stupid lie for such a short time already. This had been such a bad idea. The little ‘snafu’ that Juno had mentioned had apparently morphed into something bigger. But this—creature—couldn’t be that unreasonable. And she needed to re-engage her brain. ‘I couldn’t...’

‘I’m going to shower and dress,’ he interrupted, apparently bored already. ‘You’ll be gone when I return.’

He’d turned his back on her and was walking away before she could blink.

Jade gaped as she watched him stride through the office. He thought he could just fire her? Be that dismissive? He hadn’t even given her a chance to properly explain, let alone offer a solution. Never had she met someone so unreasonable.

She’d bitten off more than she could chew. She’d been impetuous and foolish and she had no way of pulling this off. But this was for Juno and she had to succeed at saving her sister’s job. She was not giving up.

Alvaro strode through the office to the bathroom and flicked the shower to cold, desperate to regain control over the appallingly base reaction of his body. That woman had walked in here at stupidly early o’clock—wheeling a case, for some strange reason—and frankly almost looking furtive. He’d finished his workout only five minutes earlier and followed her progress from his office. He’d seen her smile as she’d made her way to her desk. A smile of pure joy. Why was she so amused by this situation?

And worse was that he’d been flooded with a heat that was outrageous in its intensity. Anger, right?

Not entirely.

But that visceral betrayal of his body had only exacerbated his anger. He refused to be physically attracted to Juno Monroyale. Hell, he barely knew her. His marketing manager had pitched hiring her to him only a few weeks ago, but he’d been overseas setting up a major deal and hadn’t spent much time in the office since her arrival.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the princess was stunning. Her eyes a gorgeous, bewitching green. Her brunette hair was swept up in a high bun that emphasised cheekbones and plump lips and her pretty little chin tempted him to tilt it upwards so she could take his kiss.