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The blonde gripped his arm more firmly. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
Tristan searched for help. All of his brothers were with their wives or fiancée and Chad was occupied. Only Jensen would be any help—if he could find the police chief. He couldn’t see Jensen in the throng.
“I get the next dance,” a redhead insisted.
“Then me,” said a brunette.
Tristan realized in his panic why he didn’t recognize these women. They were American. Friends of Ellery and Derek from their ninja warrior circuit?
Had Ellery set him up?
He glanced her direction. She and Derek waltzed by, and she grinned. “You can thank me later, T.”
Tristan’s stomach tightened even as he grinned at his new sister-in-law. He didn’t blame Ellery. She had no idea the love of his life was within reach for the first time in eight months.
He needed to escape, and without offending Ellery or her friends.
Smiling at the blonde, he prayed for some logical excuse. He pulled his phone out of his coat pocket. “Pardon me.” Then he tapped out a quick text to Jensen. I need help quick. Come claim I’m needed in the castle and you can have your pick of a bunch of beautiful women.
He slid the phone back in his pocket and smiled congenially. Jensen would come. If he checked his phone that was most likely on ‘do not disturb.’ If not, Tristan would fake a bathroom emergency.
Time ticked by as the women flirted with him, and panic made his chest constrict.
He had to get to Jennifer.
Chapter Six
Jennifer grew tired of waiting fairly quickly. The anxiousness over both of her parents missing and knowing that William and Naomi would hurt and abuse them made her itchy and jumpy.
She wandered around Tristan’s luxurious and clean suite. According to the online articles she’d read, they’d had to rebuild it completely after a homemade pipe bomb was set off under his bed last May. She shuddered, sick for the pain that Tristan must have gone through and grateful he had survived. She wondered if William Rindlesbacher had been behind that nightmare as well. Most likely.
Tristan had a photo of him and his family, one of his mum and dad, some scenic pictures, and two pictures of the two of them, their arms around each other, bright smiles on their faces. The photos had been taken a couple years ago, but it felt like a decade. The couple in those photos had responsibilities and purpose, but life had still felt carefree and their future bright with every happy possibility in store for them.
She had to look away or she would cry for all they’d lost. It touched her that he had these pictures. Did it mean he hadn’t replaced her or forgotten about her? What about all the women he’d dated and getting engaged to the woman who was now his sister-in-law?
She had to push those ugly and hurtful images from her mind. Her dad had told Tristan she couldn’t love him any longer and wasn’t returning. Still, he could’ve waited a little longer than four months before falling in love and planning to marry someone else, especially if he’d loved Jennifer as desperately as she’d always loved him.
Jennifer used his bathroom and took a long inhale of his delicious Dr. Vranjes Firenze cologne bottle. Mint, cedar, maybe something floral … It smelled incredible, but mixed with Tristan’s chemistry, it was even more irresistible.
Everything was in its place in his rooms. Not a dirty sock on the floor, a water bottle sitting on a side table, or even a suit coat hung over a chair. His suite was too clean. Was that due to the maids, or had Tristan changed that much in the past eight months? He’d never been dirty, but fastidiously clean wasn’t him either. Maybe he was so busy he rarely spent time here. She inhaled again. The scent of him was everywhere, shooting down that theory.
She walked to the patio doors and pushed them open. Standing on his patio, she looked at the view of the majestic mountains and greenery. The wedding was on the other side of the castle. If she snuck across the hall and through somebody else’s suite, could she see him?
She could swear she’d been waiting for hours. It would be hard for the crown prince to sneak away from the wedding, but the way he’d leaned down and almost kissed her outside the bathroom, and that sincere and smoldering look in his blue eyes, made her assume he would come as soon as the dinner was over.
She needed to tell him her parents were in mortal danger and she had information he must hear before they concocted the rescue plan of the century. A rescue plan with no way of knowing where her parents were, what William would demand when he contacted her, and no ability to call in the troops to help.
Creeping back through his suite and to the door, she listened but heard no one. She hurried out and straight across the wide hallway, twisting the doorknob of the suite opposite Tristan’s as she looked around. No one. She hoped the guards weren’t looking at this particular hall camera. With everybody at the wedding, the guards were probably concentrated on the camera angles closer to the reception.
The door swung open, and she hurried inside. The suite looked unoccupied. That was good. She rushed to the balcony door, opened it, and was instantly inundated with music and the joyful sounds of a party. Inching to the edge of the balcony, she glanced over. Couples danced around, and the bride and groom were easy to pick out. Her gaze swept over the dancers, men in suits and women in gorgeous dresses. She wished she was amongst them and in Tristan’s arms. How would it be to simply enjoy carefree dancing without the stress of losing both of her parents hanging over her head and the hurt of her and Tristan’s love being shattered, maybe irrevocably?
Jennifer’s gaze zeroed in on him. A charming smile decorated his face as he interacted with the crowd surrounding him. A crowd of beautiful women. A blonde had her hand threaded through his arm, leaning against his side. A brunette and a redhead eased close, obviously teasing and flirting with him as the rest of the women impatiently waited their turn to seduce the handsome crown prince.
Hot jealousy flared in her gut. She’d confided in him, taken a huge risk opening up, impatiently waited for him, and what was he doing? Flirting with a gaggle of single women. No desire to rush to her. No urgency to help her and her parents.
Jennifer clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from yelling at him. She’d seen so many pictures of him online with other women, and she’d seen the shocking video of him kissing his fiancée Macey, but seeing him flirt and be surrounded by gorgeous women in person was even more awful. She couldn’t watch any longer.
Jennifer hurried back into the unoccupied suite, closing the balcony door and walking through the room. Should she go back to Tristan’s suite and wait for him like some overeager, needy former girlfriend? This entire mess was bigger than her desires for Tristan to still love and need her, but she was angry, embarrassed, and sickeningly jealous. For the past few hours, she’d let herself forget that the man she loved had fallen in love with another woman and then when Macey chose his twin brother, Tristan had turned into the player of the century. Even Malik had settled down to one woman and she’d seen Chad with a date on his arm.
