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“Grace, your speech was truly touching,” Adriana gushed, once the applause had died down and the guests began to exit the tent. “You’re an inspiration to us all.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Grace replied, looking touched by her kind words. “And I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to talk with you much since I arrived.”
“Well, we need to do something about that, don’t we?” Adriana said. “I would love to get to know you better.”
“I’d like that very much,” Grace said.
My mother pulled me aside while Grace and Adriana continued to chat, irritation flashing in her eyes. “That woman is a menace, Oliver.”
I sighed. “What are you talking about, Mother? We doubled the donations this year because of Grace. You should be happy.”
“While I appreciate that, such uncouth behavior toward a prince simply won’t do!” she said. “She does not know how to be proper and act accordingly.”
“Uncouth?” I said, trying to keep my voice down. “She tripped!”
Before I could inform my mother that she was dead wrong about Grace, she turned to talk with someone else.
“What was that all about?” Veronica asked.
“Mother just being Mother,” I said, tugging on her arm to step away from Grace and Adriana to talk in private. “It appears that we have underestimated Grace.”
“That is a gross understatement,” Veronica replied with a tiny laugh. “But I really don’t know what we can do at this point.”
“Neither do I.” I sighed. “She has miraculously gotten her act together, and if she continues on this trajectory, you and I are going to be royally screwed.”
Chapter Nine
GRACE
I went viral again.
Why do these things always happen to me? Do I attract them or do they attract me? Was this payback for something horrible I had done in the past? I considered myself a decent human being.
Tired of staring at the online photo of myself in the arms of Prince Oliver, I closed my laptop screen.
My phone rang with a video call from Cristina, her eyes bulging in a dramatic fashion. “Grace! You’re all over the internet again. And why are you all over the prince? Details! Now!”
I cringed, recalling the moment I face-planted into Oliver’s muscular chest. “It was an accident, I swear. My stupid heels failed me at the worst possible moment, as I was going up the stairs to the stage.”
Cristina clicked her tongue doubtfully. “Mm-hmm, sure. And what about that picture of you ogling his behind as he walked away? Don’t even try to deny it, Grace Marie!”
“I have no idea how they could have even seen that, let alone gotten a picture of it because it was a split-second!” I said, trying to brush it off. “And come on, every woman in that tent was ogling the prince. Like my mom always says, great butts need to be appreciated.”
Cristina cackled approvingly. “Preach, girl! Your momma raised you right.”
“I’m only human, after all,” I said with a shrug and a smile. “But seriously, I wonder what’s going to happen when the queen sees those photos. She already hates me.”
“Oh, stop—I’m sure she doesn’t hate you,” Cristina soothed.
“You haven’t seen the death glares and bulging forehead veins,” I said. “A royal banishment is coming. I can feel it.”
Cristina scoffed. “Please . . . that’s hardly a scandal. You’re lucky it happened at a public event and you two were not alone. Now, if you got the prince naked in a jacuzzi, that’s a different story.”
I did not need that image in my head.
She smirked knowingly. “You’re picturing it right now, aren’t you?”
“No comment,” I muttered. “And I’m being serious. This trip is crucial to me, you know that.”
