The Billionaire's Assistant

Chapter 23

Kat blushed and moved on quickly, embarrassed at the speed at which she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "What about you?"

Jove looked equal parts confused and bemused at her nonsensical question and stared at her, waiting for her to clarify.

"What about your dad, I mean," she says in a rush. "Why is he retiring, or, I mean, why does he want to?"

Jove rolled his eyes. "He claims he wants to go home," he responded exasperatedly.

"Home?" Kat asked

"To England," Jove clarified. "He's not English, I'm not English, my grandfather spent all but three years in England before moving to the states with my great-grandparents, but we have holding so," his face darkens with irritation. "England."

"Holdings?" asked Kat timidly.

"Holdings of land," Jove explained. "My grandfather moved back almost twenty years ago, the ancient grump. As soon as my father took over Tillibenton industries. Now, he wants to do the same, I take over, he goes back to claim the Earlship."

"Earlship" Kat blurted "You're an Earl?"

"No, no," corrected Jove. "No. My grandfather is an Earl, Earl of Lancaster."

Kat doubled over laughing despite herself, her hilarity boren of disbelief. Of course, beyond a ridiculously handsome billionaire Jove was also foreign royalty, of course.

"What?" asked Jove, his palms lifted.

"You're.. an...Earl," Kat choked out between peals of laughter, the expression on her face causing Jove to join in.

"I'm not an Earl!" he insisted over Kat's giggles. "I don't care about any of that stuff, but my dad does. He's the Viscount heir to the Earlship, which makes me, his oldest son, technically third in line. So if my grandfather dies, which genuinely may never happen, and then my father dies, I'm technically the next living descendant of the Crouchback line, and I become Earl."

"Crouchback?" Kat repeated, still giggling.

"Edmund," Jove expanded. "Edmund Crouchback, he was the first Earl of Lancaster."

"Oh my god," Kat said, sitting up straight as her laughter stopped short. "Oh my god, I remember this from my antiquities course. Edmund Crouchback was King Henry's son, I don't remember which King Henry but,"

"The third," Jove interjected.

"Yea, the third," Kat continued. "But that means you're a descendant of King Henry."

Jove nods.

"And that means you're a descendant of England's first king, you're descended from," Kat paused as she searched her mind for the name, knowing she'd memorized its spelling for an exam but completely unable to recall it.

"Aethelstan" Jove said, filling in the blank for her.

"Yea," she breathed. "How did you..."

"It's my middle name," said Jove. "And my fathers, and grandfather, and his father. And his fathers actually," he added.

"Really?" asked Kat

"I'm the 5th," Jove said. "There were Aethelstan's in the line before my great grandfather, but he was the first Jovan, Earl of Lancaster."

"So when your father becomes heir, you'll have his title. You'll become..."

"Viscount," Jove offered, filling in the blank for her again. "Yes."

"So your name would be," she stops to think. "Your name would be Jove Aethelstan Tillibenton Viscount of Lancaster."

"Something like that," he says with a smile. "You were mostly right."

"No," Kat insisted, "what is it, tell me."

"Well, you missed some names. First of all, my full name is Jovan, and I have two middle names, Phronesis and Aethelstan. When you're Viscount you say Viscount to the Earlship of Lancaster, not Viscount of Lancaster, and right now I'm neither, I'm heir to the viscount, which makes me,"

He paused as his grin spread wider.

"Which makes me 'The Honorable'. I'm also the 5th in my line with this name, so technically my full name is The Honorable Jovan Phronesis Aethelstan Tilliberton V of Lancaster. You can laugh," he permitted and Kat did so, the overblown and overly formal title loosening her up further.

She realized that she no longer felt nervous, that the conversation between the two of them was flowing more easily and she no longer flushed when he looked her way or said her name.

"What about your name, where's it from," he asked as if reading her mind. "I saw in your file that Kat isn't short for anything."

"Kat couldn't stop the smile that slipped out upon hearing he'd checked her file and covered her mouth with her hand, feigning as if she were scratching her nose.

"Yea," she said finally, the smile on her face undisguised by her voice. "Yea, it's not short for anything, just Kat. My mom liked it. And my middle name is lily, it was my dads favorite flower."

Jove nodded sympathetically at the use of the past tense.

"And it's mine too," Kat continued. "And Prinella is just Prinella, it's my mom's last name."

"Kat Lily Prinella," Jove repeated, and Kat realized that she'd spoken too soon, that the utterance of her full name did in fact renew her telling flush.

"Very pretty," he said, his impossibly blue eyes harboring a near dizzying depth of hue as they pierced hers.

"Thank you," she mumbled, looking away again.

Jove laughed and her ears burned further at the idea that he was aware of what he was doing to her, aware of how he affected her ability to maintain a normal conversation.

"Things will right themselves eventually," Jove went on, slipping back into their earlier topic. "But for right now, we're hiding."

As soon as the words left his lips a timid hand rapped out two tiny knocks on the giant wooden door. "Jove?" A small voice called.

Not Courtney's, Kat thought. Certainly not his fathers.

Jove held one finger to his lips and placed the other on the center of his desk, Kat realizing only after a small screen began to rise that he'd pressed a small button flush with the dark wood. The screen blinked to life and Kat realized they were looking at the outside of Jove's door, that he must have a small, nondescript security camera there to find exactly who wanted to see him. He must've seen me tell Courtney to knock that first day, she thought, wanting to groan.

A young woman around her age stood in front of the door, the typical, wealthy, hyper polished woman of the office. "Jove?" She called again questioningly, flirtily, in Kat's opinion. "Are you in there?"

Jove, still holding a finger to his lips, stood and gestured for Kat to do the same, crossing to her side of the desk and placing a hand on her back to lead her towards the room's far left wall. Kat's heart skipped a beat at the touch despite her disappointment at the pretty girl at the door and her confusion by their dead end path, and she relished the moment guiltily, the feeling of his large, strong hand leading her along.

They reached the far wall and Jove reached out and placed a palm on it, causing the front paneling to slide away robotically and reveal another set of sleek elevator doors. Jove watched her reaction and smiled at her widened eyes, tapping his finger against his lips as a reminder to stay silent.