Page 17 of Rags to Royals

“But you’ve been trying to talk her into seeing me again and she’s not interested at all?” I ask.

Henry doesn’t look happy about giving me this information and that doesn’t surprise me. Henry is my bodyguard, but more than that he’s my friend and really likes it when I’m happy.He’shappiest when I’m content and having fun.

“I told her who you are. I thought that might help,” Henry says.

“You told her? About Cara?” I ask. I’m surprised. We never tell anyone about Cara. I have literally been incognito for over a decade.

“They’ve been in their hometown for over a year. It’s… not what they’d hoped it would be. I thought maybe the handsome charming prince who could sweep in and change her life angle would help,” Henry says.

My chest tightens. I don’t like hearing that things aren’t good. “It didn’t?”

“It made it worse.”

I sit back in my seat. “Dammit. What are you talking about?”

“Scarlett isn’t who you think she is,” Henry says. “Scarlett was pretending to be Ruby. Ruby is the one who is outgoing, fun, spontaneous, sweet. Scarlett is…serious. A little…”

He trails off and my brows arch. “A little what?”

“Grumpy?” He says it as a question, as if offering it as an adjective in place of other, maybe not as nice, words.

He continues. “She’s trying to live a simple life, keeping her head down in their hometown, trying to start over in a place that doesn’t really want to give her a break. There’s a lot of history. She’s just got a lot going on. You would be a… complication.”

I’m studying him as he explains all of this. It’s a lot to process, but one thing is very clear every time he says Ruby’s name. “Did something happen with you and Ruby?”

He nods. “Yes. But it’s over. It won’t work out between us.” He sighs. “We broke up a month ago. I didn’t think I’d see her again.”

“And now we’re on our way back there.”

He doesn’t look happy as he nods. “Yeah.”

“How well have you gotten to know them?”

“Pretty well.” He hesitates, then meets my gaze. “I’ve been there a few times.”

I feel a stab of jealousy. He’s gotten to know them. All of them. Scarlett as well as her sister and her daughter.

I want to know them. I’m trying to process the idea that I don’t really even know Scarlett, but I already want to know the two people who are the most important to her. I know how important my siblings and my niece are to me, and I want to know that Scarlett’s family is the same.

“You went to try to find Scarlett, but then you kept going back because of Ruby,” I summarize.

He grimaces. “When I first found her, I thought shewasScarlett. I found her at the bar where she’s bartending now, and I assumed she was your girl. I felt terrible about being attracted to her and I tried to stay away. But I needed more information. So I talked to her and, after a couple of visits, finally just asked her about you. I found out Ruby wasn’t Scarlett. And, yes, I fell for her.”

“Why did you break up?”

“I had to choose between her and you.”

I scowl. “What do you mean? Because of the distance? The job?”

He nods. “Yes. To be with you, I can’t be with her. I can’t do my job with you from Emerald, Ohio.”

I nod. I guess that’s true.

He goes on. “But besides that, Scarlett didn’t want you to know where she was. I couldn’t very well be madly in lovewith her sisterand not tell my best friend. If I had to keep them a secret from you, it wasn’t going to work.”

My stomach twists. “She really didn’t want to see me that badly?”

“I think she does, actually,” Henry says.

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