She was getting annoyed. Every time she and Max talked about this wedding, going all the way back to their first conversation about it at The Nutcracker, he had assured her he would look out for her. Not that she needed him. Mr. Benz was hovering and could be hailed. But Mr. Benz could not buoy her the way Max could. She brooded as she reviewed her notes. When the royals and Leo—did Leo count as a royal now, even though he’d declined the formal title?—entered to a great big cheer, there was still no Max. After the new couple was seated, Marie leaned over Leo and Gabby to speak to Dani. “Do you know where Max is?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t.”

Marie frowned, and once more, Dani surveyed the ballroom. He was nowhere. But his parents were here, which both relieved and annoyed Dani. If they were here, it meant they weren’t somewhere else being beastly to him. But that also meant he was AWOL for no reason.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Mr. Benz, handing her a microphone.

“I thought the baron was going first?” she whispered. Her protocol lessons had taken—she’d been instructed to address Max as Lord Laudon and refer to him as “the baron” when in public.

Which was fine. Because that was what he was. It was good to remember that.

“There’s been a slight change of plans,” Mr. Benz whispered. “Lord Laudon is delayed, so I think it’s best if you go first, which means you need to welcome everyone and thank them for coming before you start.”

Great. Winging it at the royal wedding.

“I have the utmost confidence in you,” Mr. Benz added, and when she turned to look at him, he smiled sincerely. He seemed to mean it.

She wondered what the delay was if it wasn’t Max’s parents. It wasn’t like him to—

Oh, but there he was. Slinking in a side door.

With Lavinia.

Which was fine.

Lavinia was a nice person.

She was also quite the sight to behold, dressed in a long, jade-green column of a gown with matching emerald earrings. Her hair was done in an elaborate updo.

Max had his head bent as they walked so she could speak into his ear, and whatever she was saying was making him smile.

Well, crap.

Dani had been thinking it wasn’t like him to go missing from a responsibility, but that wasn’t right, was it? It wasn’t like the Max she knew. But it was like the Depraved Duke to be late to the royal wedding reception because he was busy chasing after a goddamn cousin to the Austrian archduke who also happened to be an extremely nice person.

“Unless you feel you can’t?” Mr. Benz prodded.