Page 26 of Her Royal Rebellion

His eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Serious?”

“Yeah, his whole team left.”

He shook his head. “There’s something off about him.”

I filled him in about the information Tomas shared with me.

“So, we know what his real motive is.” He sounded relieved. “That’s one down and three to go.”

“Peter, Lord Philippe, and Lord Marius. Have you found anything else about them?”

“I’m not sure what Philippe has to offer. He’s high ranking, but lower than Isla. He’s wealthy, but again not more than Isla. I’ve run background checks and read every article. I can’t find anything beyond his time at Oxford. He doesn’t have a job or own a company. He seems to be close to the royal family, but other than that, I’m at a loss.”

“Maybe he works under a pseudonym.”

He straightened. “I’ve heard of a nobleman who runs estate auctions under a fake name. Another man was a professor, using his mother’s name.”

“There’s no way of finding out.” I paused. “Have you run an image check?”

“He didn’t appear in anything I could find outside of the expected events and galas.”

I nodded and sighed and fell onto my bed.

“We’ll figure it out, mate. Don’t worry.”

I couldn’t help but worry. I couldn’t let Isla get hurt, let alone stand by while she was forced to marry a man she didn’t love. The night passed slowly while I worried over what to do. I slept for maybe three hours total, and it was a relief when my alarm went off early the next morning.

I dressed in shorts and a t-shirt before sliding on my running shoes and heading for the palace gym. It was one of the only places that the royals and staff shared. Since the king and queen never used it, preferring to take walks as their exercise, there was no need for propriety, and all the guards took advantage of the state of the art equipment.

It was often empty when I arrived at five in the morning, but today I was not alone. I stepped in to hear the steady pounding of feet on a treadmill. I moved to the squat rack on the opposite side of the room and let my eyes trail over to investigate. It was Peter. His headphones were in, so he probably wasn’t aware of my presence.

Since he was in the zone, and I had no interest in talking, I began my workout as I always did. Thirty minutes later, I was in the middle of my last set of deadlifts when he approached. I pulled out my earbuds when he stopped in front of me.

“I need to talk to you.”

I lowered the bar to the ground and stood, waiting.

“I know you and your team are likely investigating me and trying to figure out if I have ulterior motives for being here.”

I didn’t argue. He was there when I told Isla about Jean’s company. He was well aware we were working to protect Isla.

“I want you to know that I already spoke with Isla and told her the truth. I’m not here for courtship or her hand in marriage. I’m here to show my mother I’m trying. She’s been pressuring me to marry, and I took advantage of this chance since it was safe. I knew Isla wasn’t interested in me, nor I in her.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re not?”

He smirked. “No, she’s not my type.”

I highly doubted that. He wasn’t interested in a beautiful, brilliant, kind woman?

He cleared his throat. “No woman is my type.”

Ah. I immediately felt like an idiot. Of course. “Right.”

He laughed. “I’m not ready for my family to know, so I’m here to show my Mum that I’m making an effort. Once I figure things out for myself, I’ll tell her, but this buys me more time. I wanted you to know that I care about Isla and only want her to be happy. I’m on her side.”

“I appreciate you telling me. I’ll keep this information to myself, but I’m glad to know you’ve been honest with her.”

“I always will be. She’s one of my closest friends. I didn’t feel right using her, but I was desperate. While I’m here, I’ll do what I can to help figure out the other suitors’ agendas. I don’t want her hurt any more than you do.”