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“Max?”
The concern in her tone and the uncertainty in her eyes told me the time for stalling was over. With my heart pounding in my chest, I said a prayer and took the biggest gamble of my life.
CHAPTER 6
Mia
At some point during our dinner, Max had changed. He was still the most handsome man in the restaurant, still had me smiling and laughing more than I could remember doing in the last entire year, and when he pulled another rib from the rack and passed it to me, our sticky, sauce-covered fingers meeting caused the same intense spark of desire every previous touch had ignited, but he was different. Something in my gut told me it wasn’t just because he was afraid of losing this silly game. His eyes were on me, but I’d bet my favorite jeweled tiara that he wasn’t seeing me. It was as if his essence had traveled to another place while his body remained seated in the squeaky metal chair across from me.
“Max?” I gently prodded when after several minutes, he hadn’t made his final guess.
He couldn’t be worried about actually having to pay up when he lost, could he? I mean, the man owned a club for god’s sake and even though I’d only gotten a quick glance at his clientele, and, granted, none of them had been wearing a lot of designer clothing, I didn’t think a single person there had ever worried about how much a carton of eggs would set them back. But then, what would I know?
I’d never stepped foot in a market my entire life. Cooked, yes. We had all learned at the feet of some of the most revered chefs in our kingdom how to prepare the finest menu from vichyssoise to perfect towers of tiny eclairs covered in caramel and spun sugar. But heaven forbid, or rather our parents forbade, us from actually venturing out to sort through bins or stalls to seek ingredients for those dishes. Purchasing even as much as a single pat of butter was left to the kitchen staff.
“Look, it’s okay. Let’s just call it a draw. You don’t have to try to guess and I will not only pay for dessert, I’ll share it. Deal?” I asked, sticking my hand out across the table. When he didn’t so much as smirk or even react, I began to get scared. “Max? What’s wrong? Please, stop just sitting there. Say something, anything. Just please come back to me.”
The last plea tugged at my heart in a way that made no sense. I’d just met this man. How could he affect me so much when I knew I was pledged to another? Granted, I had heard nothing from that jerk since the letters got shorter, and then became little more than a scrawled line or two on the back of some postcard from yet another exotic place he’d visited.
Still, I wasn’t positive I was ready to let him go. I might have said I hated him, but Max’s barb had hit closer to the bullseye than I’d let on. Surely I was some sort of lovesick fool for thinking the prince even remembered my name. How I could still care about him was a mystery to me, but beneath the hurt, I could admit I?—
No! It’s time to set childish delusions aside.
Besides, Donny was as spineless as the jellied globs I often poked my finger into when coming across them in the tide pools along the base of the cliffs. Make that lacking both spine and heart. If he cared about me at all, then how could he have basically forgotten all about me while he traipsed around the world.
Like you wouldn’t have done the same thing if you’d been endowed with the family jewels?
I picked up my glass and took a long sip of tea while considering the question that annoying voice in my head asked. I wasn’t talking about any diamonds, rubies, emeralds or sapphires in the royal vault. I had plenty of those. What I lacked were the jewels hanging between my legs which gave men the freedom to roam wherever they wished and play with whomever they wanted.
At the memory of feeling Max’s own personal jewel stiffening beneath my butt when he’d held me on his lap, I shuddered. Forget this little game we were playing. It was harmless. Even if he won, a peck on the cheek could be explained as nothing more than a friendly greeting… or a tender goodbye. But I suddenly feared I was in far more danger than having to explain away a kiss.
Eventually, I’d be forgiven for roping my sister into covering for me while I stole a single night of freedom when supposedly celebrating my twenty-first birthday with her and her husband while he attended some sort of boring conference in Austin. This trip was my first foray out of Emberly Isles in eons, and if it was discovered that I’d snuck out, I wouldn’t be allowed off the estate until my assigned husband finally decided it was time to face the music, do his duty and wed the babe he’d been engaged to regardless of whether or not he’d found another on his little sabbatical from his royal duties.
But if it was learned that I’d not only stepped into a sex club, but was falling for the owner, I’d have to bear witness to the looks of disgust on my parents’ faces and listen to scores of lectures about the evil of such places and the sinful people who played there. Even worse, I’d most likely be forced to undergo some humiliating physical exam from the royal physician to ensure my hymen was still intact. The only saving grace they’d find was that while their princess was a bit sullied, she was still a virgin.
With my offer of a truce totally ignored, I took it as a sign that it was past time to get out while I could. I was about to stand and find a phone when Max’s hand took mine, the sparks popping along my skin as our fingers intwined.
“Are you all?—”
“Emberly Isles.”
What?
It took several seconds for my brain to register what I thought I’d heard, but there was no way I had. My ears had to be playing tricks on me. Surely he’d said Edenderry, Ireland. Or maybe Eritrea which was located on the coast of the Red Sea.
“Wh-what did you say?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“You heard me,” Max said, the blankness gone from his eyes as he locked his gaze on mine. “Your name is not Mia Barr. You are Princess Marceline Isabella Annette Winnifred Debari from Emberly Isles in the North Sea.”
“Ho-how could you possibly kn-know th-that?” How I got the question out when my throat felt as if it had closed tighter than his hold on my fingers, I’d never know.
“I’ve known since I saw you dancing in the street,” Max said.
I flashed back to the Uber pulling away and the joy I felt at having succeeded in my escape. I did remember doing a twirl or two, but I also remembered I’d checked the shadows for any loitering paparazzi.
“There were no cameras?—”
“There are, you just didn’t recognize them as they weren’t held by someone attempting to snap a photo of you.”
