But the smug grin on her face couldn’t help but break out as she whipped back to me. A smile broke out widely across her face. “Anyone can get a trust-fund brat. Your mother, however, got you a prince.” She grinned, shaking with excitement.
“I’m leaning more toward If Beale Street Could Talk,” I replied, turning back to the television.
“Odette, didn’t you hear me? A prince! He’s Prince Galahad Fitzhugh Cornelius Edgar of Ersovia!”
“Good for him. I don’t care,” I said, pressing play.
“You would be a princess! Not just some wife of a trust fund or rich kid—”
“A prince is actually worse. Why the hell would I want to be a princess?” Did she not see or read all the historical reasons why that seemed like hell? Even if I didn’t have bills and debts to pay, that didn’t seem worth it.
She groaned and held out her hands to me as if she wanted to strangle me. “If not for your face, I would wonder if you were my daughter!”
“Shh...the movie is starting.” I held my finger to my lips.
Instead of getting the hint, she held her phone to my face. There was a picture of a very handsome man with curly bronze hair, a square jaw, broad shoulders, and blue eyes. I could tell he was tall, too. He looked like the type of man who collected pieces of the hearts he broke as souvenirs.
“I can’t see the movie, Mom.”
“I’ve already signed an agreement with them.”
“You did what?” I yelled. “Without talking to me? It’s about me!”
“I knew you would say no!”
“Of course, I would say no!”
“We need the money!”
“So? It’s my life. If you have contacted them about me once, you can do it again to tell them I said no to the agreement.”
“No.”
My head shot to her. “What do you mean, no? You can’t say no.”
“As your mother, I can. I am going to put my heart and soul into this for your own good! So that if it fails, you will have to bury me!” she snapped, rising to her feet.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re a little late putting down your foot, Mom. My answer is no, and it’s not changing.”
“Not if the ‘Queen of Stubborn,’ the ‘Miss Universe of Stubborn,’ has anything to say about it!” she called back as she headed upstairs.
Great, I thought when she disappeared from sight. My mother never missed a chance to have the last word.
A prince? Really? Where did she get these ideas from? Me, a princess? As if.
And where the hell is Ersovia?
“No, don’t even think about it. That’s what she wants,” I muttered to myself. I wasn’t going to think about it. I wasn’t even going to remember his face.
Though...he was cute.
Chapter 4
“Do you feel better?” she asked, kissing my shoulder.
“Yes,” I whispered, leaning back onto the pillows as her fingers brushed my chest.
“I am not just talking about physically,” she replied.
I glanced down at her heart-shaped face and into her mismatched-colored eyes—one hazel and the other a pure blue. Lifting her chin and holding it in place, I leaned in. “Why would you be talking about anything else when our relationship is purely physical?”
“Then why do you always come to me when you want to clear your mind?” she asked, closing the distance between us, but I turned my face and let hers go. Her lips brushed the corner of mine.
“You know why I come here,” I muttered, reaching over to the side of the bed for my almost-forgotten glass of wine.
“Yes, I do.” She snickered and sat up out of bed, not bothering with the sheet to cover herself. “Not only am I divorced but I also can’t have children. Therefore, I can never be anything more for you but something physical. So, I’m safe.”
She had no other reason to say that than to try to make me feel bad. But it was the truth. She was once the Countess of Gormsey. However, when the Count of Gormsey divorced her and ran off with another man, it became clear why he’d married her, even though everyone knew she couldn’t have children because of a childhood accident. You would have thought she would have avoided the nobility at all costs after that embarrassment. But no, there was no party or celebration Sabina Franziska was not in attendance in all her glory.
“Your Highness,” she whispered, leaning closer, her breasts brushing up against my arm. “I know something is bothering you. You are only ever that rough for that reason. You can talk to me, too. I consider you a friend.”
“My father says princes have no friends. We have family, and we have people, and we have servants.”
“You quote poetry to other women, and you quote your father to me. You are hurtful, Your Highness.” She pouted, faking her hurt, and kissed my chest before rising from the bed, brushing her auburn hair off her shoulder. “I’m going to shower. You can debate whether you’d like to join me.”
It would not take much debate. I wanted to join her, but it was almost nine in the morning, which would normally be considered late. However, since I was not in the palace, and had been gone since last night, I was already going to be lectured to death by my mother, father, or brother—or all of the above.
Knock. Knock.
“Sir? You’ve been summoned,” the nervous voice called from the other side of the door.
“The devil hears when you call,” I muttered, finishing off my wine before rising out of bed to grab my clothes.
“And just like that, you’re leaving me.” Sabina frowned, coming out of the restroom with a white, satin robe on.
“Did you not hear? I have been summoned.” I frowned.
“And when the palace summons...”
“I go running,” I finished for her, taking my shirt from her hands.
“I will see you at your next crisis then.” She kissed the side of my face.
I was not sure what to say back to that. If my family had their way, I would be married before the year was over. And the last thing I could have was a mistress, especially one like her. So, I said nothing and stepped away from her to the door. Opening it, I found the blond-haired, freckle-faced palace guard who was more like my stalker, standing at the door, waiting for me.
“Your Highness, we must go,” he whispered, doing his best not to look at the woman behind me. Not because he was being discreet but because Wolfgang, even though he was twenty-three, was greener than all the hills in Ersovia. He was young but not that young. He had been at the palace for a few months as my personal secretary. Why he was blushing at a little thing like this was beyond me.
Eliza was the same age as him, and she knew a little too much about the world.
“Then let us go,” I said, walking out of her bedroom and closing the door behind me.
“Your shirt, Your Highness...”
“She never has anyone here when I call. Do not panic. No one is going to see,” I replied, but even still, he checked around me.
Shaking my head, I buttoned up the rest of my shirt as we walked down the stairs and out into the gardens. From her divorce, Sabina was given different properties around the country. One of them was here—a small, almost-forgotten cottage right outside the city. It happened to be right behind a historic art museum, so even if anyone saw me, I could easily just say I was here for the art.