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Okay, what is that?
I lean back in my chair. I’ve never seen Jonah in love. Not in all the years I’ve known him. This is…fascinating.
“Am I interrupting? Would you like me to leave you alone?” I ask dryly.
“Actually—” Jonah starts.
“Of course not,” Linnea says over him.
Jonah chuckles and I get the impression they will be picking that conversation up later when they are alone.
“We were discussing how Torin is going to show the king that he’s fully committed and going to give Cara his heart,” Linnea says.
Jonah’s thumb is stroking up and down the side of Linnea’s neck.
I watch that, and the rest of his body language. He’s standing close, his body angled toward her. He’s all about her. When he first told me about his feelings for her, he’d said they’d fought it, him even more than her, but he finally just couldn’t any longer. Being without her, seeing her with other people, not being there when she needed him, when she was upset or hurt or sick, was harder than anything that could happen if they were together. He was willing to do anything. Even risk upsetting our friendship. Or angering the king.
“What does that mean?” Jonah asks. “Fully committed and going to give Cara your heart? You’re here. You’re stepping up. What the hell else does he want?”
“He wants proof,” I say, my thoughts spinning. “He wants to see evidence that I’m here to stay.”
“Okay.” Jonah looks down at Linnea.
She’s watching me with a frown, but not saying anything.
But these two have given me an idea.
“Yes. But I think I know how to prove to him that I’m here to stay. That I’m putting my heart into Cara.”
“Okay. How?” Jonah asks.
“I need a wife.”
When I say it out loud, it seems like an even better idea.
There is a long pause. Neither of them say anything.
Then Jonah says, “No.”
I frown up at him. “What?”
“No. You’re not marrying Linnea even if it’s fake.”
I shake my head, frowning. “I’m not talking about Linnea.”
He scowls at me. “Then who?”
“Someone special.” My thoughts are spinning. Oh, yes, I like this. “Someone who will see Cara for the amazing place it is, with lots of potential for more. Someone who will commit themselves to our country in a way that will impress my grandfather the way Linnea has. Someone so incredible, that I can convince my grandfather, and the media, she is the reason I’ve been going back to the States so often for the past two years. Someone who I can seem so in love with that the king will believe I’ve brought my heart here and that I’m ready to settle down, put down roots, and truly stay.”
I pick up the bottle of lavender oil and take a long inhale.
Jonah and Linnea are both watching me with wide eyes.
“But…” Linnea starts. “You are ready to settle down here and put down roots…right?”
“I am. But the king isn’t seeing it. Me saying it is obviously not enough. So I need to give him something more apparent to prove it.”
Yes, this is a good plan.
