A Merry Royal Layover

By Teri Wilson

From the USA Today Bestselling CHRISTMAS ACTUALLY anthology!

When a veterinarian traveling to a remote European village to volunteer at an animal shelter during the Christmas holidays gets an unexpected first-class upgrade, she meets a charming stranger in the airport lounge who may or may not be the country's crown prince. 

This sweet holiday royal romcom novella has Love Actually vibes, a baby sloth-loving Prince Charming, a snowy Christmas Eve at London's Heathrow Airport and more! 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teri Wilson
• Release date: Oct 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201558390

Book preview

A MERRY

ROYAL LAYOVER

Illustrated baby Christmas sloth

Chapter One

Illustrated Heart Christmas Lights

Hugh Grant is a total liar.

And before you ask, yes. That Hugh Grant.

Honestly, he had me going there for a while. His narration in the opening and closing scenes of Love Actually makes Heathrow Airport in London look like some kind of dreamy, romantic paradise during the holidays. But the scene that welcomes me as I disembark my plane from Texas and stumble my way through the international arrivals hall on Christmas Eve doesn’t resemble a romcom in the slightest.

It’s chaotic, and not in a good way. Where are the love birds greeting each other with tackle hugs and the kids welcoming parents home with posters and messages drawn in brightly colored crayons?

My carry-on bag slips off my shoulder, landing hard at the crook of my elbow. I tug it back in place. Above all the bustle and the constant hum of flight announcements and luggage wheels rolling across the smooth tile floor, a sense of despair hangs in the air. The atmosphere is much more Emma-Thompson-crying-in-her-bedroom-to-Joni-Mitchell than the aforementioned Hugh Grant dancing to the Pointer Sisters at Number Ten Downing Street. Lines snake for miles at the customer service counters. Every chair in the seating area is taken. Groups of frustrated travelers hover around the screens that show all the updated flight information.

I’m still a good twenty feet away from the closest monitor—how long is that in meters? They use the metric system here, right?—but I can already see the bold red lettering that has everyone so upset.

Flight cancelled...flight delayed indefinitely...bah humbug. 

That last one isn’t real, but it might as well be. Clearly the incoming snowstorm is wreaking havoc on all the connecting flights—mine included, probably.

I glance up at the cheery message painted on the wall beside me. Welcome to Britain, it says, splashed across the Union Jack. It would be the perfect spot to snap a selfie to send to my royalty-obsessed twin sister back home in Houston. But from the look of things around here, I should probably check on the status of my connection to Caldavia before I do anything else.

I can’t get anywhere near the flight monitors. The crush of people is just too intense, so I drag my bags to the Union Jack wall and try to make myself as small as possible while I dig around in my purse for my cell phone. Sure enough, I’ve got a flurry of texts and email messages from my airline. My flight to Caldavia has been delayed indefinitely due to inclement weather. The airline will let me know as soon as a departure time becomes available.

Ugh. I knew I should’ve flown out of Texas a few days earlier. My family really wanted me home for the holidays, though. We managed to compromise, and I stayed until Christmas Eve morning.

The past few years, I’ve been so busy with veterinary school and my internship at a small animal clinic that I barely had time to sling back a gingerbread latte on Christmas morning before slipping back into a lab coat and tending to sick puppies and the huge number of pets that always get boarded over the holidays. This Christmas was supposed to be different—my one chance for a real holiday break before starting work as a full-time veterinarian.

And then I’d seen the holiday job posting for the Pet Rescue Trust of Caldavia. Although, can you really call it a job when there’s no salary? Technically, it’s a volunteer vacation—six days, spanning from Christmas Day to December 30th, tucked into a quaint European village with free room and board, tending to a bunch of sweet shelter animals. How could I possibly pass that up? It sounds perfect, especially considering I’ve never set foot outside the United States before.

I look around and my heart sinks all the way down to my cute ballerina flats. This grand adventure is getting off to an awfully rocky start. I have a sudden longing for my mom’s homemade peppermint patties and our traditional family Christmas Eve movie night. Am I even going to make it to Caldavia, or am I going to be spending Christmas in this airport madhouse?

My phone pings with another incoming text and for a delusional moment, I think that maybe it’s from the airline and my flight will be taking off soon.

No such luck. The message is from my dad.

Hi honey, Just checked your flight status and it looks like you’re stranded in London for a while. I snagged you a pass for the first-class lounge so you’d have someplace to hunker down. Merry Christmas.