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“He wouldn’t have kept something like that from you unless he was worried about hurting you.”
“That much is true.” Here Brooke hesitated, unsure how much to explain. In the end, she decided to trust Ariana. “I’ve had a crush on him for years. When I showed up on Ithaca, he told me everything. He didn’t want me to hope for a future we could never have together.”
“Did it work? Did you stop hoping?”
“I’d be crazy if I didn’t.”
Like her brothers, Ariana had her father’s warm brown eyes flecked with gold, but she’d inherited the intensity of her gaze from her mother. “But you two have been intimate.”
Hating to lie, Brooke pretended she hadn’t heard the soft question. Instead she chose a dress at random and announced, “I love this.”
Luckily her selection was a flirty emerald-green dress that she could see herself wearing. Brooke held it against her body. As she looked at her reflection, she noticed the dress had no tags, but Brooke doubted it had ever been worn.
“I’ll take your nonanswer as an affirmative.” Ariana’s musical laughter filled the room. “Try on the dress.” While Brooke obeyed her, the princess continued, “I’m sorry if I was blunt and please don’t be embarrassed.” The gold bracelets on her slender wrists chimed. “My brothers are very hard for the opposite sex to resist. Thank goodness Gabriel and Nic are honorable and not ones to take advantage. Christian is like a child in a toy store wanting everything he sees.”
And getting it, too, Brooke guessed. “Please don’t tell anyone about Nic and me. It’s over and I wouldn’t want to cause any needless problems.”
Ariana nodded. “That dress is amazing on you.”
The empire bodice cupped her breasts, the fabric ending in a narrow band of a darker green ribbon. From there, the layers of chiffon material flowed over her hips, the hem ending just above her knee. Brooke stared at herself in the mirror as Ariana guided her feet into strappy black sandals.
“It brings out the green in your eyes.”
“I feel like a princess.” Brooke laughed. “I guess I should because it’s a dress fit for a princess. You.”
Next, Ariana urged Brooke into a hot-pink sheath with a V-shaped neckline and bands of fabric that crisscrossed diagonally to create an interesting and figure-slimming pattern. It had a sophisticated, elegant vibe that Brooke wasn’t sure she could pull off.
“I understand you are having breakfast with my mother tomorrow. This will be perfect, and I think you should pair it with these.”
Ariana grabbed a box and pulled out a pair of white suede and black velvet lace ankle boots that were amazing, Brooke waved her hands in protest. “I can’t. Those are just too much.”
“You must wear them or the outfit will not be complete.”
At Ariana’s relentless urging, Brooke slipped her feet into the boots and faced the mirror, accepting immediately that she’d lost the battle. “I never imagined I could look like this.”
Ariana’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Why not? You are very beautiful.”
“But not refined and effortless like you and Olivia.”
With a very unladylike snort, Ariana rolled her eyes. “This is just how I appear here in the palace. When I go to Ithaca, I assure you, I’m so different you’d never recognize me.”
“Do you spend a lot of time on the island?”
“Not as much as I’d like. It’s an escape. I go to paint. To forget about the responsibilities of being a princess.”
“I imagine there’s a lot that keeps you busy.”
“It’s less now that Olivia is here.” Ariana selected five more dresses and put them into Olivia’s wardrobe with three more pairs of shoes. “That will do for now, but you will need a long dress for a party we must attend the day after tomorrow. It’s the prime minister’s birthday.”
“Are you sure I will be going?”
“Absolutely. The event is always deadly dull and having you along will make the whole thing bearable.”
While the maids returned the rest of the dresses to the garment bags, Ariana squeezed Brooke’s shoulder. “I am sorry you and Nic cannot see where things might lead between you. I think you would make him very happy.”
“Actually, I drive him crazy.”
“Good. He has always been too serious. He needs a little crazy in his life.” And with that, Ariana said good-night and left Brooke to her thoughts.
* * *
The corridors of the visitors’ wing were quiet as Nic made his way back to his temporary quarters. The tranquillity would vanish over the next few days as guests began to arrive for the week of festivities leading up to the royal wedding. The conversation he’d had with his parents after dinner had highlighted their expectations for him. The women in the dossiers had been invited to the palace. He was to get to know each of them and make his selection.
