Once safely behind the locked door of his home office, Pax dialed the phone number at the bottom of the letter from Princess Cordelia. He took a seat in his brown leather desk chair as he waited for the call to connect.
"Her Royal Highness, Princess Cordelia's office. This is Mary, how may I assist you?" A soft, pleasant English accent greeted him on the other end of the line.
"Uh, yeah, my name's Paxton Raney. I got a letter from Princess Cordelia about performing at the Royal Rock Show," he spoke awkwardly.
"Of course, Mr. Raney. Please, hold one moment while I see if Her Royal Highness has time to take your call."
Pax had to chuckle when he noticed that Princess Cordelia's hold music was his son, In My Country I'm Strong.
***
Cordie and James were going over plans for the Royal Rock Show's opening sets and worrying over whether or not they had an opening act when a knock came on her office door.
"Come in," Cordie called.
The door opened and her private secretary, Mary, appeared. She gave the royal siblings a quick curtsey before getting down to business. "Mr. Paxton Raney is on the phone for you, ma'am."
Cordie's heart rate sped up and James started quietly laughing to himself, but she hadn't the foggiest clue why. She took a deep breath before picking up the phone that sat on her desk. "This is Cordelia," she tried to sound as business-like as possible.
James was still laughing. "What's wrong with you?" Cordie silently mouthed the words but her brother ignored her.
"I'm gonna be completely honest with you, ma'am. I have no idea what to call you," a deep voice laced with an American southern accent turned the princess to goo. "And nice choice of hold music. It's good to know that you're a fan."
"Bullocks!" Now she knew why James was laughing at her. He had changed her hold music again. She grabbed the red stapler off of her desk and chucked it at him as hard as she could.
"Ow! No! Staplers hurt!" James rubbed his elbow where she had managed to strike him. "It was just a joke."
Cordie heard a deep laugh on the other end of the line. Great. Now Paxton Raney was laughing at her. James was so bloody dead.
"I'm sorry for my language, Mr. Raney. My hold music is usually I Vow to Thee My Country. My brother just fancies himself a comedian," she explained with a blush that she was very thankful that he couldn't see. "And you may call me Cordie, although I admit that I'm having a similar problem as you. I don't know how to address you."
She heard him laugh again. "Cordie, if you cured, I didn't catch it. And I'm the last person you ever need to apologize to for cussin'. You can call me Pax."
Was it normal to get chills when a man said her name? She needed back-up if she was going to avoid making a fool of herself. "Listen, Pax, my brother, James, is here with me at the moment. Would it be alright if I put you on speakerphone?"
James mouther 'coward' at her but she ignored him.
"Sure, darlin', go ahead."
Cordie hit the speaker button and hung up the handset.
"James here," her brother spoke up to announce his presence in the conversation.
"The comedian?" There was still amusement in Pax's tone.
Cordie rolled her eyes as James answered, "Guilty."
"Cordie," Pax addressed her. "I got your letter and I'm curious what all you are asking me to do."
Finally! Something she was comfortable talking about. "Well, since America will be hosting the Royal Rock Show this year, we are holding the concert on Memorial Day weekend. Since you are a Mississippi native, we were hoping you'd be willing to sign up as our opening act.
"And we have to warn you, the Royal Rock Show does not pay celebrities to appear because it's a charity event," James advised.
"While I normally don't play for free, I guess I can make an exception." It sounded like he was agreeing. "It's for a good cause and my nieces would disown me if I said no. I'll do it."
Cordie had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep from squealing in excitement.
"That's bloody brilliant, mate. Listen, I need to steal Cordie on unrelated business. Let me give you her mobile number. You can give her a ring later this evening to work out the rest of the details." James rattled off his sister's number before Cordie even knew what hit her. Then, he ended the call…or so it appeared.