That was not the word Dani would have used.

Max winked and said, under his breath, “Here we go.”

She braced herself and turned to face the room.

“Dani, Sinéad,” her chair said as he approached, “happy holidays.”

“And to you.” Dani’s voice was a little shaky but hopefully not so much that anyone would notice. “James, this is Maximillian von Hansburg. Max, this is James Dodge, the chair of the English department.”

The men shook hands, and Sinéad piped up, “Max is a baron.” She said it loudly enough that she drew the attention of a few of their colleagues clustered near the bar.

Max waved away Sinéad’s declaration even as he lifted his chin. He positively oozed baron-ness.

“How do you know our Dani?” James inquired.

Our Dani. That was rich coming from the guy who had asked her to plan the retirement party for the department’s longtime secretary because “you have such good taste.” Spoiler alert: “You have such good taste” coming from James meant, “You are young and female.” Give her tenure and maybe “our Dani” would annoy her less.

“Our best friends are getting married later this year,” Max said, leaving unspoken the part where his best friend was a princess and the wedding was a royal one.

“Are they? And what brings you to New York so close to the holidays?”

“I’m doing some archival research on an Eldovian woman who spent part of World War II in New York.”

He was? Why hadn’t he led with that when he’d been texting her? Dani had been imagining Max in town for—well, she wasn’t even sure. Having his own personal Christmas spectacular as he banged his way through the Rockettes?

“She was at Cambridge—also my alma mater,” Max went on. “Cambridge, as you may know, was spared in the bombing campaigns because Hitler planned to use it as a second headquarters when he took over Britain. It’s long been known that she welcomed German Jewish children who were part of the Kindertransport into her flat and that she went on to set up a network of students and professors who did the same. She’s something of a local folk hero at home. But it seems she spent some time in New York in 1943 that wasn’t previously known about. I’m here trying to get to the bottom of it.”

Dani had to prop her fist under her jaw and hope she was striking a thoughtful pose instead of an “I am propping up my jaw because it keeps dropping” pose. But at least it was better than freaking out about seeing Vince.

“Fascinating,” James said, and he actually seemed to mean it. “What university are you at?”