Judy waves a hand in a dismissive gesture. "Oh please. Nobody wants a subdued holiday. People say that, but what they mean is they don't want to be too much trouble. We're family. It's our job to make sure you overdo Christmas."
Sam glances at me like she wants me to agree with her "quiet Christmas" idea. But I can't lie. What her parents have suggested sounds like fun. Should I tell them who I am? Well, I suppose it's the right thing to do since I'm having sex with their daughter.
"Your plan sounds brilliant," I say. "But I should tell you about me first. Sam already knows, and I don't want to keep secrets from you lot. You've been very kind to me."
I've decided to pretend Chuck never suggested he might gut me like a carp.
"Are you an ex-con?" Chuck asks. "Whether we're okay with that depends on what you did."
"No, I'm not a criminal." I glance at Sam, who gives me an encouraging smile. Then I face her parents. "I'm the crown prince of Mithoria. That's a principality in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."
Chuck stares at me blankly for a moment, then he starts laughing. "Good one, kid."
"I'm not joking. It's true. My father is Prince Leighton, and my mother is Princess Olivia."
Judy just stares at me.
Chuck brings out his mobile and types on its screen. Squinting, he scrolls through something. Then his brows lift, and he swings his gaze to me. "You're not kidding. I just looked you up online."
Sam believed me without the aid of the internet, but I can understand why her father needed confirmation. He's looking out for his daughter. Chuck must have found the official Mithoria website since I'm not exactly famous to the majority of the world. Paparazzi don't follow me around in hopes of getting a juicy picture. Nobody knows about Mithoria unless they live there or meet someone who does. We're just not that important.
"What's a prince doing in New Hampshire?" Chuck asks. "Wouldn't you rather go for a ski vacation in the Swiss Alps?"
"I hate skiing. And besides, I wanted to get away from all that rubbish."
"What 'rubbish' is that?"
Sam's father doesn't sound annoyed or suspicious. No, he's just asking the sort of questions any parent might want to know the answers to when he finds a stranger sharing his daughter's house. If I were in his place, I'm sure I'd do the same thing.
"Why don't we all sit down?" I say. "Giving you the answers you want will take a while."
"You're not old enough to have a life story so long we need to sit down for it."
Chuck is smirking while he says that, which I decide means he's teasing me. That's a good sign, isn't it? He must not think I'm an arse after all.
I tell them all about me while Chuck and Judy sit on the sofa and Sam and I take separate armchairs, just the way we'd sat earlier. I leave out the boring bits that won't tell them anything about who I am, but I feel like I do need to share my life story with them. Maybe I've only known Sam for twenty-four hours or thereabouts, but I already know I want to see where this thing between us might go. That means getting to know each other, which also means letting her parents get to know me too. I tell them the abridged version of my life, from boarding school to university to my mother summoning me home for the first time.
I hadn't wanted to go back to Mithoria after university. In England, I was just another bloke. People liked me or not based on who I am, not the title I bear. Everyone at boarding school had known about me, but I became just another student at university. That's where I met Reese Dixon, Chance's youngest brother, and everything snowballed after that. I met Reese's brothers, then the Hunters too. Nick and Richard are much older than I am, but we became good friends anyway.
Even when I told them about myself, they treated me like just another member of their circle of mates.
"What did you study in college?" Judy asks.
"I, uh, well…" Stammering is not my favorite way to engage in conversation, but I worry that Sam's parents will think I'm a loser when I tell them everything.Take a deep breath and just do it. "I have a law degree."
"You're a lawyer, eh?" Chuck says. "Not sure how I feel about that."
"No, I'm not a lawyer. I earned my qualifying law degree, but I never became a solicitor."
I haven't even told Sam about that yet. She doesn't look shocked or annoyed. She wears a sweet, soft smile as she watches me and listens to my story.
"A solicitor is a lawyer," I explain. "At any rate, I only studied law because my parents expected me to. I tried very hard to like the law, but I just couldn't commit my life to it. My parents were disappointed."
Chuck narrows his gaze on me, though he's not quite squinting. "What do you do for a living, Ben?"
"I'm a massage therapist at a day spa in Cockshire, England."
Judy's brows shoot up, then she smiles slyly. "Cockshire? That's where you live? Sounds like you work at an adults-only spa."