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Who was she kidding? It would never work. Not only was it not in Chad’s nature to be true to one woman, just like her dad, but he was also constantly pursued by women.
Prince Tristan and Jennifer were both giving them welcoming smiles, but there was something in their eyes. The crown prince was Chad’s best friend and he and his fiancée had clearly never even heard of Hope. She shouldn’t be surprised, but it still stung.
“Hope and Faith, this is my closest friend from secondary school on up, T—some people call him Crown Prince Tristan—and his lovely and sweet fiancée Jennifer Shule.”
Hope and Faith both tried to bow, but the couple waved that off with a laugh. Instead, the prince and his fiancée each shook their hands.
“We’re thrilled to have you here,” Prince Tristan said graciously. “And if you can settle this guy down, that would be miraculous and very overdue.” He slugged Chad in the shoulder before stepping back to his fiancée.
Hope’s hopes took a nosedive. Settling Chad down would be ‘miraculous.’ From his best friend’s lips. Why had she let herself get so invested in Chad’s every look and touch and honey-sweet words? He was a schmoozer. She was too analytical and business minded to be schmoozed and tricked by him again.
“On the contrary, my friend,” Chad said. “As you know, I’ve dated half the women in Europe simply to ascertain I found the best one. The perfect one for me.” His gaze was sincere, but how she could let herself trust a player? He said it himself; he’d dated half the women in Europe.
“That’s … wonderful,” Jennifer said, giving Prince Tristan a look and an elbow in the side. She was clearly trying to be discreet, but it hadn’t worked. “We look forward to getting to know you both better. Welcome to Augustine.”
“Yes, welcome,” Tristan said. “We’re headed out on a romantic hike to the waterfall where Jenn fell head over heels for me and dared me to have pity on her fragile heart and pledge my love and devotion to her forever.” His accent was lyrical and appealing, but not as appealing as Chad’s.
“Oh boy.” Jennifer rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Truthfully, he dared me to jump in the freezing cold waterfall pool and when I bravely accomplished the task, he begged me to love him because he was so impressed.”
“That actually soundscloserto the truth, but not quite how I recall it.” He winked at them and grinned at his fiancée.
“I’ll give you closer recall.” She elbowed him in the side again, this time more obviously.
The prince only chuckled. “We’re off to escape the pre-wedding craziness. Sadly, it’s not our wedding yet.”
“Sadly,” Jennifer agreed drily. “You’ll survive two more months, my Big Bad Wolf.”
“Two months and fifteen days,” he grumbled. “Who cares about a romantic Christmas wedding? I only long to be married to you.”
Jennifer gave a tinkling laugh, then turned to them again. “We’ll see you at the wedding in a couple hours.”
“See you then,” Hope managed.
Faith hadn’t said a word the entire time.
They walked past arm in arm. Faith could hear Prince Tristan let out a sexy growl. “I’ll show you the Big Bad Wolf.”
“I’m planning on it,” Jennifer responded.
They exited through a side door of the garage.
“My apologies. They’re deeply in love and overly flirtatious with each other,” Chad said. “You’d think a crown prince could read his crowd,” he added in a mutter that sounded disappointed and not like him at all.
Prince Tristan and Jennifer’s flirtations were what he was sorry about? Not his best friend saying Chad settling down would be ‘miraculous’? She didn’t know about Chad, but she hadn’t seen many miracles in her life. None, actually. She’d prayed for one of her parents to stay with them and had rarely heard from either of them since she was fourteen. She’d prayed for a miracle when Grace had been abducted by Zeus and all that had turned up after weeks of miserable anxiety was her sister’s dead body. She would continue to believe and pray, but miracles weren’t meant for her.
“That was … that was …” Faith’s eyes were wide as she pointed shakily at the exterior door Prince Tristan and Jennifer had exited through. “The crown prince! He’s so dreamy.” She put a hand to her heart. “Excuse me. I’m having a heart attack.”
Hope smiled. She appreciated Faith’s wonder and dramatics, and the break in tension. Why meeting the crown prince and his future bride and seeing how cute they were together had given her tension, she wasn’t sure. Oh yeah. Neither of them had appeared to know who she was, despite Prince Tristan being Chad’s ‘closest friend,’ and Chad kept throwing out lines like ‘love of my life.’
Why did he have to torture her? She supposed part of the responsibility and blame was on her. She should never have accepted his invite and jumped off the cliff. How was heaven supposed to catch her when she didn’t think logically and let Chad charm her into imagining he could care as deeply for her as she did for him?
Thoughtless and shortsighted. Hope worked every day to be neither. After this trip, she needed to demand that Faith not tell Chad when they came to their Switzerland house. It was too hard to be around Chad and not fall for all his lines and admit she was already in love with him.
“T and Jenn are great, but no reason for a heart attack, sweet Faith,” Chad said. “Ready to tour the magical castle?”
“Am I ever!” Faith clapped her hands together and jumped in the air.
Chad smiled and took the suitcase handles in one hand and Hope’s hand in the other as naturally as if they were a couple. Was it natural for her hand to tingle and her heart to race from simply holding hands?
