AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Macey appreciated that Sutton agreed. In his vast travels, there weren’t many corners of the world he hadn’t seen.
The trees thinned and the rear of the castle became front and center in their view. Macey sucked in a breath again, not just because of the insanely beautiful towering edifice with flower gardens and vegetable gardens tiered below the lowest level from this angle, but because the nerves hit her again—she would be living in that castle and pretending to be engaged to the crown prince.
If only she’d had the time to create an artificial intelligence model and dig for every bit of information about Prince Tristan, the royal family, the country of Augustine’s past, present, and future. From the moment she agreed to the job, Liz and Agatha had kept her so busy with shopping, beauty appointments, makeup and hair and manners training, she’d barely been able to get her work done and make sure her assistant Trent was ready for all the responsibility now heaped on him.
She groaned. “I can’t believe I agreed to this.”
“You’ll be ace for this job.” Sutton circled the castle on a road that had far too steep of a drop-off into a crevice with a river running through it. It had to be fed by that lake and waterfall they’d seen.
He drove around to the front of the castle and slowed at the imposing gates. Someone must’ve radioed ahead because the guard simply saluted and the gates swung wide. In front of them was a huge slab of concrete and then a long staircase that arched up to massive wooden double doors. The staircase was bordered by water fountains and statues and landscaped flower beds.
Macey had walked into a fairy tale. She leaned back against the leather seat. “I can’t believe I agreed to this,” she repeated.
A guard gestured to a spot off to the side of the concrete drive where several other vehicles were parked. There was a road that led to eight massive garage doors underneath the castle. That must be where the family and maybe the staff parked. The entire nearby village could probably park their vehicles in there.
“Macey, listen to me,” Sutton instructed, putting the vehicle into park and turning to her.
She looked at him, the man she respected above all others besides her brother Gage. She’d never known a dad and her mom flitted through men so quickly even the ones she’d liked hadn’t stuck around long enough to form a relationship with her. The ones she hadn’t liked, who Gage hadn’t been around to protect her from, were the reason she’d had a secret hiding spot at the top of her closet as a girl, and the reason she’d begged Gage to teach her how to fight. Luckily, she’d been good at evading and hiding and none of them had taken advantage of her. They were the reason she wore thick, Coke-bottle glasses when she had twenty-twenty vision, kept her long brown hair in a severe bun, never wore makeup, and dressed in baggy T-shirts and thick tights that didn’t show her shape. The only time as an adult that she’d dressed in feminine clothing and made an effort with her appearance was when she thought she’d fallen in love with Steve, and look how that had turned out.
Today, at Agatha and Liz’s insistence, she was wearing a classy white silk shirt and a red patterned skirt with heels. Her hair was loose and hung down her back in smooth waves. Too much hair, too fitted clothing … she might as well have worn a sign that said, ‘Attempting to look like a female.’ She’d put on the makeup Liz and Agatha had taught her to use in the Gulfstream’s bathroom before they disembarked at the Traverse airport, the largest Augustine city, half an hour north of this scenic valley. Then she’d put her glasses back on. They made it easier to hide in plain sight.
“You are ace for this job,” Sutton started with. “You’re brilliant, you can fight better than most trained security guards, and you’re poised and confident.”
She didn’t know about the last two. “And you, Gage, Liz, and Agatha don’t want me ‘wasting away my life’ in your basement,” she said before he could.
His bright blue eyes studied her. “You’re invaluable to me, Macey, to all of us, but I was chuffed you were willing to be a field op on this one. You deserve a chance to live a little too.”
He paused. Was this the moment she begged him not to make her walk into that castle? There were other options to ‘live a little.’ She could go skydiving. She could create an appealing profile on dating websites and actually respond to messages this time. She could try sushi. Heck, she’d eat a slab of raw fish rather than pretend she was the right woman to be engaged to a crown prince.
“I know Steve did a number on you …”
Macey’s eyes widened. One of the guys had told Sutton, after that disastrous op, that she’d fancied herself in love with Steve. Sutton had made certain she knew he didn’t blame her for Steve manipulating her for information. Thankfully, he’d never pried into her joke of a relationship with the backstabber. Joke for Steve. Heartbreak for her. Steve had betrayed all of them, almost killing Sutton, Liz, their son-in-law River, and their daughter Ally. The monster had tased and beaten River while his hands were zip tied and had propositioned and threatened Liz and Ally as River fought heroically against several men.
Macey had assured her boss that she was fine. Her silly romance should be the least of anyone’s concern. And shewasfine, but she had scars deeper than anyone except Gage could understand. She’d rarely dated before Steve and since then had made it a rule to not date Sutton’s ops, no matter how kind, handsome, or accomplished they were. No matter how persistently they asked. Since she rarely left the mansion, she didn’t date at all.
And now she was going to pretend to be engaged to the most handsome man on the planet, in her inexperienced opinion? Insanity. She wanted to pull her laptop out and deep-dive search until she was armed with all the information she could find to protect herself. She knew a bit about each of the royal family and the kingdom, but not enough. Knowledge was power, and she felt lacking in both at the moment.
She focused on Sutton, and forced a smile. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“It’s not fine, but you are going to be fine.” He nodded. “I know about your medieval romance obsession.”
Macey’s face flared red. She devoured medieval romance novels on her Kindle.
“Go have an adventure, Macey. You are brave, bold, and beautiful. You’ve trained Trent well; you don’t need to worry about anything at the command center. Gage is ecstatically happy with Cassie; you don’t need to worry about your brother. Have fun. Try new things. It’ll all be aces.” He smiled gently at her.
“I’m not brave, bold, or beautiful,” she said, worrying her lip. Gage and his adorable girlfriend Cassie kept trying to tell her that. Had they shared it with Sutton? Sadly, she didn’t know how to believe any of them.
“Yes, you are. I’ve seen you boldly turn down tough, intimidating men for date requests. Most people would never dream of standing up to them. And they wouldn’t ask repeatedly if you weren’t as impressive and beautiful as you are.”
“Thanks, Sutton.” Emotion clogged her throat. She needed to go face the handsome prince before she started crying all over her well-respected boss. She flung her door open. “Let’s do this.”
“Very brave,” Sutton said. “Now can you please hand over the glasses?”
Macey drew in a breath, praying for strength and bravery. She was putting herself in a dangerous situation; her future fake fiancé was being threatened from an anonymous source and apparently the women who married into this family all died eventually from some curse. The queen had drowned in the lake six months ago. Macey didn’t believe in curses, but luckily the engagement was as far as she’d have to go. No dying for this job.
She studied her boss. Did he understand she wanted to live, wanted to have her own medieval romance, and this castle and this prince might be her chance? But … how could she hand over the glasses? What if she needed them? Would Sutton ask Linus to give up his blanket? Frodo to give up his ring?
“It’s time to show everyone, most especially yourself, how brave, bold, and beautiful you are, Macey. You can’t do that if you’re hiding behind those glasses.” He held out his hand. “Please.”
