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“You and me both.” She was sorry she couldn’t spend more time with him, but Augustine was tied up with Jane’s murder in her mind, life-changing trauma she’d rather bury and escape from—again. “How far to Bad Ragaz?”
“About forty minutes. It’s a nice drive through a long mountain pass and then just south. Most of our country is surrounded by mountains, except on the northern hilly passes to southern Germany.”
“Augustine is a gorgeous country.”
“It is.”
She’d avoided Augustine for so long. Who knew a gem like Prince Steffan had been waiting in the one place she’d never planned to return? Too bad she really had to stay away now. She never wanted to see Treven Rindlesbacher again—or meet his parents.
They drove in contemplative silence toward the mountains. The road became a two-lane highway, and the sun hid behind the mountains as they passed border control, only a relaxed Swiss guard waving them through on this side. On the other side … Augustine guards in gray with enormous guns. They looked to be taking their duty seriously, searching an SUV trying to enter the country. The driver looked concerned and annoyed.
Steffan drove through a narrow mountain pass. Jagged mountains studded with pine trees and blanketed with mossy greenery framed the road, a dancing river off to Hattie’s side. They both slid off their glasses.
“So you’re a prince who decided to become a doctor?” Hattie broke the silence, wanting to know more about him, despite knowing it wasn’t smart to forge a deeper connection. “That’s very noble.”
“Thank you. I always wanted to become a doctor, especially an E.R. doc, but my dad wasn’t thrilled with the idea at first. It’s not exactly commonplace to walk into an emergency room and have a prince treat you.”
“True. I’m sure the single ladies are breaking bones just to say hello.” She studied his strong jawline and the way the smooth muscles in his arm flexed as he navigated the corners.
He grinned at her. “Not breaking bones, but we have had a few cases where we could find nothing medically wrong with a young lady except a worrisome case of ‘batting her eyelashes like a toad in a hailstorm’ as my sister-in-law Aliya would say.”
“I’m sure more than a few.”
He only smiled.
“Aliya’s from Georgia?” she asked.
“Yes. How’d you know that?”
“Social media.”
He said nothing. She wondered if the royals didn’t love their lives being splayed online.
“So who talked your dad into letting you become a doctor?” she asked.
“My mum.” He smiled, but it was sad. “She could talk our Pops into anything. He’s softened a lot since she died.”
“Oh …” Her stomach churned, and the twisting mountain road had little to do with it. She’d seen speculation that the queen was cursed or had committed suicide. “I knew that from social media too. I’m sorry for your loss.” She hated when people said that line to her about her parents. Which was silly, as what were people supposed to say? But her own loss just made her feel more lost.
He shrugged. “You wonder if it ever gets easier.”
“It doesn’t,” she ground out.
His gaze darted to hers, wide-eyed and compassionate.
“The road,” she reminded him.
He focused, but his arm muscles were more pronounced as he gripped the steering wheel. “You lost your mum as well?” he asked softly.
“Both of my parents, actually. On their yacht in Hurricane Fiona.” She spit it out before he had to wonder or ask. She didn’t tell him they, and her aunt and uncle, Sadie’s parents, had been racing to St. Kitts to help those who would be devastated by the coming hurricane. They liked to be on the ground and be able to instruct their disaster recovery teams on what to bring and how to best help. They hadn’t made it to land when the hurricane struck ahead of schedule.
“Hattie. I’m very sorry,” Steffan interrupted her musings.
“Yeah. Well. You understand.”
“It was hard enough losing my mum. I can’t imagine losing both of my parents.” There was a respectful pause, and then he asked softly, “What gets you through?”
She wished she had some deep insight to share, but all she’d done was travel and plan trips that were busy, active, and fun from eyes open to eyes closed. She’d started down that path when Jane had been murdered and only become more committed to escape when she lost her mom and dad.
