AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She and T weren’t technically engaged, but that hardly mattered. She was supposed to be with his brother, helping protect his brother. If Ray acted the way he wanted to around her, this fake engagement would be a waste or turn into a scandal almost as bad as his mum’s death. He could see the headlines now:The General Prince Steals His Twin’s Bride. Their family and country needed good publicity, not bad.
His door burst open, and they both startled. She had the presence of mind to focus on her laptop. Ray just stared dumbly as T rushed in. “Hey, you two. How was the afternoon? I wish I would’ve been with you rather than meetings about transportation, road construction, tariffs, and employee benefit disputes.”
“You missed the excitement over here—murder, threats, and curses.” Ray smiled at Macey, and she returned it. The subject matter hadn’t been exciting, despite the labels, because he’d gone over it so many times. Spending time with Macey, though—thrilling excitement.
“See?” T threw his hands in the air. “You get all the fun. Why wasn’t I born second?”
“Sorry, bro.” Ray knew T was just teasing. They each fit their roles well. T was a brilliant negotiator, charming, and had a head for business. Ray had always loved to fight, shoot guns, strategize, and was overly protective.
“There are some benefits to being me. I have the honor of being engaged to the exquisitely gorgeous foreigner.” He winked at Macey and Ray thought he was laying the accent and compliments on a little thick.
“Thank you.” Macey smiled sweetly at him.
Ray’s gut turned over. His brother had hundreds of women pursuing him—thousands—and hadn’t dated anyone seriously since Jennifer had disappeared and Mum had died. Maybe he’d been waiting for a genuine and brilliant sweetheart like Macey.
T couldn’t have Macey.
In lieu of knocking his twin down with one well-executed punch, Ray clenched his fist and watched Macey’s reaction. Instead of blushing like she did when he complimented her, she simply smiled at T. Did Ray dare hope he was special to her? Why hadn’t he gotten brave enough to address the kiss sometime in their hours together? Or better yet, gone for another round?
“Let’s go get fancied up for dinner, Macey. After dinner Ray and I will take you on the VIP tour of the castle.”
“I would love that.” She gave them each her radiant smile. T received it first. Did that matter?
At least he wasn’t having to give her over to T completely, as they would both be by his brother’s side or working together to find solutions like they’d done this afternoon. How was he going to handle it when she had to pretend to be in love and kiss his brother? What if they really fell in love?
T was charming, fun, smart, and the crown prince—women went insane over him. His twin had said he wouldn’t take any liberties with Macey with the fake engagement, but he was probably interested in her. Who wouldn’t be? She was gorgeous, brilliant, easy to talk to, loved weapons, Sutton had said she could fight and shoot, and she was lit up with a sweet innocence and an obvious faith in God. She was perfect … for him. Not for T. Was he being selfish? He always wanted what was best for his brother. Not this time.
They all walked out of his office and toward the east staircase. T explained there were staircases on each end of the castle as well as the famous grand staircase. There were also elevators on each end, but they were slow and they only bothered with them if they had a load to carry. They climbed to the fifth level and walked toward their suites, T telling her some more history of the palace and how each of the family’s suites had a similar two-story design and each suite was almost two-thousand square feet.
“That’s bigger than some people’s homes,” Macey exclaimed.
Ray’s gut churned as he realized where Macey would be sleeping. Each of the family’s spacious suites was made up of an open two-story sitting room and main bedroom, a large bathroom, a walk-in closet, a couple adjoining rooms, and an open loft above the main bedroom. The smaller adjoining rooms were originally used for a servant, nanny, a very young child’s nursery, or even a mistress or two, depending on the current monarch’s moral compass.
Ray and T had discussed the situation before Macey got here and determined that they’d put a queen-sized bed in one of T’s adjoining rooms and move the clothes he used often to the other room. He’d give Macey his main bedroom with the king-sized bed and massive closet. They’d have to share a bathroom, but neither of the brothers thought that would be an issue if they were supposed to be engaged.
The arrangement could encourage gossip within the castle and without about one of the straight-laced Augustine princes sharing living quarters with his fiancée. T hadn’t liked that, but at this point any gossip that got their people talking about something besides T’s death threats, their mum’s death, and the possible resurrection of the curse was a win.
The other advantage they’d talked about, before Ray had met Macey, was if somebody somehow got past his security guards, cameras, and sensors, and came to kill T in his sleep, they’d encounter Macey instead. Sutton had bragged about how highly trained she was, so defending herself shouldn’t be an issue. They honestly didn’t expect someone to attempt something in the night, as the castle was highly guarded and all the staff screened and trusted. Though they often left doors and windows open in the summertime, who could scale the castle walls beside Kiera? Somebody had gotten their mum up in the night and to the icy lake, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, but Ray had upgraded his patrols and his security systems since that night.
They reached T’s suite door. He reached for the handle, and Ray rushed out, “I’m not okay with Macey sleeping in your bed.”
“Excuse me?” Macey and T said at the same time. They were both eyeing him, Macey in wide-eyed confusion and T in narrow-eyed suspicion.
“Macey.” Ray clenched and unclenched his fist. “We planned to have you sleep in T’s bed and him sleep in one of the adjoining rooms in case an assassin came in the night.”
Her eyes got even bigger.
“I know you’re highly-trained, but I’m not willing to risk your life if someone slits your throat while you sleep.”
She touched her throat, and then she pushed her fingers against her nose before quickly removing them. Ray had never seen such innocent beauty. He would protect her. Even if she didn’t need protecting.
“I’ll sleep in T’s bed.” He used his firm ‘general’ voice that nobody argued with, not even his father or twin. “T will sleep in the spare room. We’ll move you to my suite. It’s just next door.”
His brother was eyeing him, and Ray didn’t know that he’d be able to escape the barrage of questions that would be coming after they got Macey settled. T loved to tease him that he was in control of everything. He’d just play this off as another time he needed to know everyone was safe. That was what he did. Make sure everyone was safe, even if he hardly slept, even if he’d failed his own mother.
“I’ll be fine,” Macey said. “You had your reasons for wanting me in Tristan’s … bed.” She studied the floral arrangement in the hall. Ray did not want her uncomfortable. Ever again.
“We had our reasons, but I know T will agree this is smarter. Plus, his reputation as a morally-upright Christian is important to him, and he didn’t like the idea of one of the maids spreading rumors about you sharing a suite with him.” He gave his brother a challenging look.
