Page 63 of Some Like It Scandalous
“You didn’t want this life?—”
“No, I didn’t know what I wanted except for one thing and that’s actually never changed.” She lifted her hands to his face, gentle as a feather, and stood up on her tiptoes. “You. I loved you then and I love you now. I wantedyou—I wanted Charlie. But what I didn’t realize is that I wanted Armand too. I want all of you—not just the pieces. I want to be there when you have to stand up to bullies and I want to be there when you play a video game. I gave up ten years with you because I was stupid, I will not give up ten minutes more because someone else is stupid. I know you don’t trust me or think you can and…”
Tilting his head he watched her fight to find the words and touched his own fingers to her lips. “I know you don’t want to change the subject, but I need the answer to this. Did you mean what you said on that stage? About trust?”
“Yes. It’s a leap of faith—it’s why it’s so hard to get back when you’ve lost it. I thought I lost it when I thought I didn’t know you. I didn’t trust—I didn’t trust that maybe you showed me who you really were all those years and that a title isn’t anything more than a nuisance. I don’t know if I can ever?—”
“Shh.” He dragged her closer and wrapped his arms around her. He didn’t know if he could make that leap—just that he wanted to. “You don’t have to prove anything. Anna, this is amess and I want you safe. I want you safe more than I want my own life.”
“I don’t want to be safe if it means not being with you—that’s not safe, Armand. That’s lonely.” She said “Armand” the same way she said “Charlie,” ripe with lush affection and equal parts exasperation.
“A few months, we just need a few months.” He rubbed her back. “A few months to fix this.”
“No.”
“You’re not going to change that answer, are you?” Wry, he let her go long enough to sweep her up into his arms.
“Nope. You’re stuck with me.”
He carried her back to the bedroom and dropped with her onto the bed. He kissed her nose. “You make me crazy.”
“Well, right back at you.” She ran her fingers through his hair and he dipped his head down to kiss her throat. His lips barely brushed her skin when she gave his head a tug and he winced.
“Oh no.” She smiled. “You see—you came to the party with three other women.” She gave him a little shove. He rolled to the side and she slid off the bed, smoothing her dress, demure as a queen. “Then you stayed to dance with a whole lot more and you still haven’t agreed to not separating. So this—” she gestured to herself, “—is off-limits. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”
With that she swept out of the room. He stared after her and didn’t know whether to laugh or throw something.
What was he going to do with her?
ANNA
Anna barely slept. She’d readied herself for bed, half expectinghim to burst in the door at any moment. But he didn’t. Rising before the alarm went off, she showered and dressed. He would try to tell her they needed to separate for a while, she would say no. He might even order her to leave—but she’d heard his declaration the night before. Yes, he was a royal jackass. But he washerroyal ass.
He loves me. I’m not going anywhere.
The staff came through sometime during the night or maybe in the early hours of the morning. All the debris of her ambush had been cleaned up and breakfast set out, including scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, sausage and fried potatoes. The warmers kept the food hot and she took time to make a plate, and pour a cup of coffee before settling down with her digital tablet.
Setting the scene was important. She opened her email to see a report from Kate waiting for her on the final tally from the gala. The helpful assistant who just happened to also be a bodyguard—weren’t Armand and his men clever?
Armand.She rolled the name around her mental palate. It wasn’t as hard to think of him that way. He was still Charlie beneath. But he was also the prince. The grand duke. The head of his family. She had hours the night before to work into a good steaming mad and time to think. Once she’d got past the jealousy it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Rick knew his best friend and he’d told her to look past the news, what they reported—well, hinted that she should—and he was right.
The prince put on a grand show and she very nearly let him suck her into that vortex.
The door opened down the hall and she sat forward, picking up a piece of bacon and nibbling it as she “perused” the email report. But the first thing she saw were the zeroes and her jaw dropped.
“Good morning— What’s wrong?” Armand’s voice tinged heavy with concern. He walked over to the table and dropped down to crouch next to her.
“Kate sent me a report of last night’s final figures…” She turned the tablet to him. “We raised fifty million dollars.” The figure wasn’t exact, and Kate emphasized that the accountants would give her a true and accurate statement, but fifty million dollars would send a lot of kids to school.
A hell of a lot.
“Congratulations.” Armand kissed her forehead and rose. He walked over to pour himself a cup of coffee. “You were amazing last night, if I forgot to tell you.”
“You did, but with all that cleavage hanging off of you, I’m not surprised you’d forget about me.”
“Anna, it was a diversion.” He sighed. “I did it on purpose.”
“Oh, I know.” She smiled at him and took a bite out of her bacon. “I just haven’t forgotten how comfortable you looked.”
