Page 42 of The Duke's Virgin

Another commotion from up front caught my attention, and I looked toward the front of the cabin, watching as the airline attendants went rigid.

I rolled my eyes and went to look out the window, but before I could, the man in the front seat went rigid, too, and bemused, I watched as he fumbled with his seatbelt, red-faced. “Your Highness,” he stuttered out in German.

I didn’t even have time to puzzle through that before Luka appeared in the cabin doorway. He nodded at the man and waved at him, urging him to stay in his seat. “I’ve held you up as it is.” He offered a nod, and while the man was still stuttering out a comment, Luka started down the aisle.

He saw me only seconds before he reached the seat.

He tensed, but it was so minute, I doubted anybody save me noticed.

I coolly shifted my attention outside.

He slid into the seat, and the airline attendants bustled around him, hovering like honeybees over a flower. After he’d finally convinced them he was fine, and it was just the two of us, I could feel his eyes boring into me, but I didn’t look at him.

“This must seem a little strange,” he said, voice stiff.

“Does it?” I asked musingly.

“I…well. I’m not stalking you or anything. My administrative assistant just purchased the ticket a few hours ago. This is a last-minute trip. I’m…”

Swinging my head around to look at him, I cocked a brow.

“You’re…” I prodded.

He just looked at me.

Annoyed, I huffed out a breath and went back to staring outside. He’d seemed so…down to earth. At least in Monaco. But the moment I’d arrived in Luxembourg, everything about him had changed, and he’d made no attempts to hide that indefinable air of superiority.

I was familiar with it. My parents had it. My uncle even had it, but he still treated people with kindness and respect. My aunt had it, although it was tempered. Aeric had some degree of it, but it came off more as an air of remoteness, which I could understand, and he did let himself engage with others outside the family and his circle of friends.

He wasn’t a complete stick in the mud.

He was…Aeric. And once he got to know people, he let his guard down.

Luka had seemed open and easy in Monaco, but it had clearly been a façade. Now he looked at me with unreadable eyes, and finally, he shook his head.

Disappointed for reasons I couldn’t explain, I focused on the simple task of digging my earbuds out and putting them in.

Once I had my music going, I looked outside.

It was going to be alongflight.

Fourteen

Luka

The cold shouldershe’d given me irritated me more than anything in recent memory, but it wasn’t like I could press for details and ask what the fuck the problem was right here on the plane. Considering how our last encounter had gone, there was anynumberof explanations she could offer on just what the problem was, and an airplane where we were surrounded by others definitely wasn’t the right venue for such a personal conversation.

Still, her silence rubbed me raw, and as I considered how easily we’d talked the night we’d first met, I only became more frustrated. Determined to distract myself, I pulled my phone out and powered up the screen.

It flashed on.

Then a warning came up. Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose.

I’d let the airline check the one bag I’d brought out of habit. The few times I’d ever flown commercial, the bag was always checked all the way through and transferred to my hotel, and I never had to bother with it, but now I wished I’d kept it with me.

I didn’t so much as have a charging cable.

I eyed the TV in front of me, but I wouldn’t be able to turn it on and get any news until we reached the predetermined height. Frustrated, I closed my eyes.

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