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“It’s not about our lack of tours or not wanting to share our home with you,” Steffan said, his voice almost as smooth as usual. “I don’t know that the physical and sensory overload of touring such a massive and intricately beautiful building, as well as meeting more royals, would be good on your healing brain.”
“Oh. I didn’t think of that.” Disappointment coursed through her. She looked out at the mind-blowing scenery and realized she was drained from everything that had happened today. She’d content herself with the scenery and try to let her brain heal. Maybe someday she could tour their castle. Most likely not, as once she was healed she’d have to head home. Disappointment swirled with the exhaustion and confusion of not knowing what had happened to her today and if Gracie was alive or dead.
Curtis’s warm palm rested on her arm. She appreciated the sensation of his touch as she glanced back at him. His simple touch took away the fear and confusion.
“How about a rain check?” he asked, his smooth, cultured voice making her want to agree to anything he said. “I’ll give you a personal tour once your doctor gives clearance.”
She flushed with heat. A personal tour? Maybe her prince wasn’t ready to shove her out the door once she was healed. It also didn’t appear that he was suspicious of her and her motives.
“It’s a date,” she said.
His answering smile was as warm as his hand.
A date. She had a date with a prince to tour his exquisite castle.
More importantly, she would stay with said prince until she healed. It was like a fairytale dream. If only there weren’t un-nameable bad guys lingering in her un-healed brain, making her mind race with terror and messing up her story.
Chapter Six
Curt wished he could give Aliya that tour of the castle and introduce her to his dad, Tristan, Ray, Macey, and Kiera. They’d all fall for her instantly like he had. But it wasn’t worth the risk of the physical and sensory overload it would place on her already taxed body and psyche.
Fall for her? He wasn’t falling for her. Her Southern American allure was unique and intriguing, and he didn’t spend near enough time around beautiful and appealing women. That’s all it was. He met hundreds of backpackers each year, and many were young and beautiful, but none had ever appealed to him like Aliya did.
‘Sweet southern sass’, she’d said about her mum. Aliya had that in spades. Everything about her, including her accent was far too sweet to him.
Steffan cleared the lower gate at the edge of Greenville Village. He waved to the guards, who stiffly saluted him back. Curt didn’t like how much more formal Ray’s men were since their mum’s death, but he appreciated their vigilance and wouldn’t question anything that kept his family safe.
They drove up the winding road through thick trees. The view cleared briefly to display the waterfall and lake—the lake their mum had drowned in. Aliya gaped at the view but said nothing. She probably had sensory overload already. Steffan was smart not to expose her to the splendor of the many gorgeous and elaborate rooms of the castle and meeting more royals.
She appeared comfortable with the two of them, but every woman went a little insane upon meeting Crown Prince Tristan. Their oldest brother was charming, handsome, confident, welcoming, and the future monarch of an ultra-wealthy and uber-beautiful country. It was little wonder, but definitely silly, when single women acted foolish trying to get his attention. Even with the left side of his face, neck, shoulder, and arm burned, Tristan would steal any woman’s attention.
They pulled up to the castle gates, which automatically swung wide to admit them. Curt glanced at Aliya as she gaped at the massive castle towering above them.
He was all right with her not meeting his oldest brother anytime soon. She seemed drawn to Curt. He hadn’t thought for over a year that he wanted a woman drawn to him and he’d kindly rebuffed any advances female hikers made. With Aliya, it was different. She was different. He was intrigued and impressed with her. If only they didn’t come from vastly different worlds and had no chance of a future together.
He pushed that thought away, annoyed he’d even let himself have it.
Steffan waved to two more patrolling guards in the courtyard below the castle’s grand entrance. The men saluted. Since their mum died, the maids, cooks, and maintenance staff had been cut to a bare minimum, but the guards seemed to have quadrupled.
Steffan pushed a button above the windshield and one of the four massive garage doors slid open. Aliya’s eyes bugged out as they drove in. The huge open space was lined with luxury cars, sport utility vehicles, trucks, and off-road vehicles.
As soon as the car stopped, Curt hurried to get out and open Aliya’s door. He extended his hand, and she looked up at him with those big brown eyes as she slid her palm against his. He felt the significance of the moment all the way through. A bond pulsed through their hands. This woman was significant to him. Maybe his mum watching down from heaven had even put her in his path.
Aliya seemed to be guileless. Could he trust that? Did she have any idea what she was doing to him? There was no way she had faked or schemed any of this. Right?
Two guards walked out into the garage area, bowed slightly, and strode to the section of off-road vehicles. They each loaded onto a four-wheeler, carrying backpacks probably filled with weapons, ammunition, and maybe a protein bar or two, and a Beretta ARX 160 slung across their chests.
“They look serious as the grim reaper,” Aliya whispered.
Curt smiled. “They are. Serious about keeping you safe.” He knew Ray took his family and the entire kingdom’s safety and protection seriously, especially after Mum had been murdered and Tristan burned by an intruder’s homemade pipe bomb. With his fiancée Macey’s sweet and brilliant influence, his brother seemed to have learned that he couldn’t control everything and protect everyone single-handedly, but his guards were ever present and serious.
With their mum’s death and Tristan’s burned face as constant reminders, Ray was not letting down his guard. Now Curt was adding to that stress by not being able to patrol the mountains and staying with this beautiful woman who was certain two men had hurt her friend. Ray’s men would be extra diligent to prove they could eliminate any threat to the kingdom.
She stared up at him, her warm brown eyes filled with appreciation. “Bless you for protecting me when you don’t even know me.”
He felt like he did know her. That was the crazy thing. Was he crazy to trust this woman, especially as she couldn’t even remember the men she was afraid of?
“I had nothing else going at the moment,” he tried to tease.
