Page 8 of Marrying a Prince

Leo looked at her. "What do you mean? You are a beautiful woman, and he is a disgusting pig."

Heat permeated her cheeks. Did he just say beautiful? "Now I really think you hit your head hard." Desperate to change the subject, she glanced around. "Where's your muscle?"

Leo furrowed his brow for a moment, as if trying to interpret what she meant, and then he laughed. "You mean Filippo?"

Marianna nodded. "Yeah. The guy you have hovering around you all the time."

Leo shrugged. "He's getting me some Jell-O from the cafeteria. I thought I'd take the time to walk around the floor." He cringed as he glanced around. "American hospitals are so depressing."

Marianna parted her lips. "Depressing? It is a hospital. Most people come here because they are sick or to die. What are the hospitals like where you are from?"

Leo squinted as he studied her. "You mean the commoner hospital?"

"Do you not attend the same hospital as your, what do you call them, subjects?"

He shook his head. "No. We have a doctor come to us. Or if it is bad, we go to a private facility in the mountains."

Marianna snorted. "Well, you'd find that hospitals are pretty similar. Maybe you should get out more."

The prince didn't answer. Instead, his face dropped, like Marianna had said something hurtful.

Good going, Mari, she scolded herself.

"I'm sorry. I don't know you. Just forget everything I said. I can be such an idiot sometimes. And if Samson is around?" She shook her head. "Watch out."

Leo studied her for a moment before he nodded. "I understand"—his voice dropped—"perhaps we could help each other out." A look passed over his face. She half expected him to maniacally laugh and rub his hands together. What was he plotting?

"I have an idea," he said, motioning toward his open door with his hand.

Marianna studied him and then followed after. Once they were inside his room, he shut his door. He was wearing a pair of navy silk pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. Definitely not hospital provided attire.

"Did your mom bring you clothes?" she asked, waving at his getup. For some reason, her gaze lingered on the way the material clung to all the right places. Where would one get lounge wear like that?

"She had a maid bring it over."

Marianna pinched her lips and nodded. Of course, a maid.

"Do you not like them?" he asked, glancing down.

Great. Now she was making the royal feel uncomfortable. She shook her head. "No. I just normally see people with the hospital gowns."

Leo wrinkled his nose. "I do not wear clothes that another person has worn."

Marianna snorted. Well, their relationship was off to a great start. Everything Marianna wore, sat in, or used had been previously owned. A result of being in a relationship with a self-absorbed man—he managed to spend all of her savings and then kickedherout of the apartment.

She rubbed her face. Why was she letting Samson consume her thoughts again? She needed to push him from her mind. She'd finally come to a good place and he'd found a way to weasel back into her life.

"Let's get you back into bed so I can check your vitals," she said, waving toward the hospital bed that now had red satin sheets. Man, they really did things different where Leo was from.

Leo glanced over at the bed and then nodded. "Fine."

Once he was situated, Marianna took his blood pressure, his temp, and uncovered his cut to make sure it had stopped bleeding. After recording the numbers on a pad she'd taken out of her pocket, she washed her hands and tried not to stare at Leo as she dried them.

He was incredibly good looking. And the fact that he was a prince made him that much more desirable. Even though that made her sound shallow.

She shook her head. He was just her patient. She needed to remember that. He was going to completely forget who she was when he walked out of this mediocre hospital.

Once she had settled into the chair next to the window, she turned her attention to him. "So?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

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