“I sent copies of all the scripts with the staging. I assume your assistant has read them all.”

“They’ve been read,” he said simply. By him. There was no need for her to know now just how closely he intended to work with her. “They’ve been approved—tentatively.”

“Tentatively.” That had been something that had had her back up for weeks. “I find it difficult to understand why you feel it necessary to have two alternates. From an artistic angle and a practical one, it’s going to be very difficult if we have to switch things around now. We open in three weeks.”

“Time enough to replace one of your productions if we find it unsuitable.”

“Unsuitable? Just who makes that kind of judgment? You?”

He studied his mineral water and said nothing for a moment. There was no one, no one outside his immediate family, who would have dared use that tone with him. Deciding on patience, Alexander wondered if Americans were audacious as a rule, or if she were simply an exception.

“In my capacity as president of the center, the final judgment would be mine.”

“Swell.” She chugged down more soda. “Just swell. Prince or president, you don’t make my life easy. I selected these four because—”

“I’ll listen to your reasons tomorrow. We have a meeting scheduled for—nine, I believe. You’ll meet Cornelius Manderson, who manages the center. My sister will also be there.”

“I can be grateful to have at least one reasonable person around.”

“Eve, you go on the defensive before it’s necessary.”

“Boy Scout motto.”

“Pardon?”

“Be prepared,” she said, and was amused enough to smile. “All right, then, I won’t pick a fight yet. Tomorrow’s another matter. I’m ready to go to the wall on this, Your Highness, and you’re going to find I’m not easy to beat.”

“I’m aware of that already.” And he was already looking forward to it. “Perhaps it would be best if we agreed to keep our personal relationship separate from our work at the center.”

She held her glass in her hand and tried to concentrate on the palace as they rode through the gates. It always gave her a sense of peace and security. But not this time. She shifted a bit in her seat. “We haven’t got a personal relationship.”

“No?”

When she turned her head she was surprised and a bit unnerved to see he was amused. She wasn’t going to find his smiles as easy to deal with as his scowls. “No. What happened the last time was …” Finding no definition available, she shrugged the attempt away.

“Was unfortunate,” he finished, then took her empty glass and set it down. “Unfortunate that it occurred in that manner and ended poorly. Shall I apologize?”

“No, I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Why?”