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T laughed. “I’m the idiot? You’re the only man my fiancée wants.”
Ray sucked in a breath, his stomach lifted happily, but he glared harder.
“The rest of the men can drool all they want. Macey is a hundred percent gone over you. You should’ve seen the way she stared at you as you fought Tiny. That girl is head over heels for you, bro.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now, I set this all up perfectly. Go shower and get in a swimsuit. I’ll grab you some food to wolf down. You’ve got hours alone with Macey in the romance of the spa. Who’s the best brother in the world?”
“T.” Ray groaned and leaned against the nearby wall, banging his head back for good measure as he tried to tamp down the heat T’s plan and vision stirred in him. Hours alone with Macey in the spa. Longing filled him. “She wants to be alone in the spa.”
“No, she doesn’t. And if you’re too slow to see how much she wants you, don’t worry. I’ve got your back, as always. I will make this happen with your dream woman. Macey’s the best.”
Ray closed his eyes, but all he could envision was Macey pinning him to the ground, that enticing smile on her face. T really thought she was waiting for him in the spa?
“T.” He opened his eyes and shook his head. “You’ve got to stop playing matchmaker and face reality. Macey is here to protect you, to find Mum’s murderer, and to distract our people from the threats to you and the sadness from losing Mum. Please stop being an idiot and focus on our family, our kingdom, and your responsibilities. And I will focus on mine—keeping you safe and bringing Mum’s murderer to justice.” He pushed away from the wall and headed for the bathroom.
T grabbed his arm and spun him to face him. “If you miss out on Macey, you will never forgive yourself. Mum would want you to follow your heart.”
Ray’s heart thumped erratically. His brother was probably right about Mum, except she’d told him he could protect everyone. If he fell for Macey he couldn’t … The timing was all wrong. “If I let you get hurt, I’ll never forgive myself. Let’s catch the note writer and the murderer. Then maybe …” He didn’t dare let himself hope or look that far into the future.
“Are you serious?”
Ray nodded. “We’ve set this all up with Macey as your fake fiancée to protect you and to help me find the ‘Enforcer’ and the killer. We can’t mess it up just because I’m … drawn to her.” He was much more than drawn to her, but he wouldn’t admit it to his brother.
T studied him, eyes narrowed. “You want me to act the part of Macey’s fiancé?”
“Yes, I do,” Ray got out through a tightly clenched jaw. Even watching T hold her hand had made his gut churn.
“Great. I’m headed to the spa with my fiancée. I’ll let you imagine the cuddling and kissing that’s going to take place, or you can watch it on all the screens in your office. Keep living in the shadows, protecting everyone else, thinking you can protect everyone in the kingdom by yourself, while I make out with your beautiful and incredible and perfect woman.”
Ray slammed his fist into T’s jaw. T hit the wall and bounced back to jab him in the gut harder than Tiny had. Compounded with all the future bruises he had forming, Ray grunted in pain. It was exactly what he needed to snap himself out of the Macey-induced confusion.
He went for a solid uppercut to his brother’s abdomen. Turnabout was fair play.
The door swung open as T grunted and launched a jab at Ray’s jaw, which he dodged.
“Boys!” Their father rushed into the room and slammed the door shut behind him. “Stop with the constant fighting. We’ve got more important issues at the moment.”
Ray and T both turned to him. Ray didn’t want any other issues. Had word of him rolling around in the dirt with T’s fiancée somehow gotten out? None of the men were allowed personal phones during training, so he’d hoped they were safe from pictures or videos, but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t text or Snap friends or family about it after their shifts.
“What’s wrong, Pops?” T looked relaxed and comfortable, despite the red mark on his jaw.
“Our own news channels apparently started the rumors, and now it’s spreading throughout the world. They’re comparing pictures of the two of you and showing angle after angle of Ray with Macey, claiming, truthfully I might add, that the ‘General Prince’ is the one kissing Macey Clifton and wondering what ‘the hot royal twins’ are trying to pull.” He shook his head. “This was supposed to be good publicity.”
“Crap,” T said, summing it up pretty well. Ray gave him a look. T raised his hands and admitted, “All right. You’re right. I’ll focus.”
“There were three notes found today. Jensen said he sent them to your emails, but apparently you two have been busy.” He gave them a look that made Ray feel like he was twelve and had put a smoke bomb in the ballroom during a party with the British royals. Prince Harry had thought it would be funny too.
He was letting himself get distracted by Macey. He was stronger than that. T wasn’t the only one who needed to focus. In fact, Ray needed to focus more than anyone else.
“Were the notes all the same?”
“No. They all said, ‘Let’s kill Prince Tristan and his American fiancée’.”
Ray’s muscles tightened. Nobody was hurting T or Macey. He couldn’t act on his feelings for her, but he would keep her safe.
“You’ve got a slot on the American talk showJessie. It’s live. Noon pacific, so it’ll be tonight at nine. You’ll do it over Zoom.”
“I will?” T asked.
“Both of you. And Macey. You’re going to convince the world that T and Macey are head over heels in love and Ray has never touched her, kissed her, made googly eyes at her, or has any kind of attraction to his brother’s fiancée. Understood?”
