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This was probably one of those moments when she should shut the heck up. Or get up and run away. But she needed a moment before she could do that.
And she definitely wouldn’t be running, that was for sure.
If she could move without limping, she’d be happy.
“Um, aren’t you going to help her up, Ian? Jack?”
She glanced over and closed her eyes as she saw all four women peering out at them in interest. It was Alina who had spoken and she was staring at Ian in surprise.
Great. Just what she needed to add to her humiliation.
And she knew the reason that Ian wasn’t offering to help her up. Because that would involve actually touching her.
“I’m good. I’m fine.” She sat, trying to hide her wince as her hip ached.
Fuck. It would be fine. It had to be. She just had to rest for a moment.
But to her shock, Ian didn’t let her sit there. Or continue to loom over her angrily.
Instead, he grabbed her under the arms, lifting her to her feet. Almost immediately, though, he let her go.
She tried not to feel insulted by that. It wasn’t like she wanted the big apebutt to touch her.
Nope. He could take his huge paws away and touch someone else.
Although for some reason she didn’t really want to think about him touching anyone else.
Shit. What was wrong with her?
“Whoa. You okay there, Maggie?” Jack asked, reaching for her as she swayed.
She stepped back suddenly, almost stumbling. She caught her breath at the strange look on Jack’s face.
Had she hurt him by pulling back?
Shoot. She hadn’t meant to do that. She’d only just met the guy, but he seemed really sweet. Funny and kind.
It was just that she had gotten so used to rejecting help that it was hard to let anyone do anything for her.
“What’s going on? Is everything all right here?”
She glanced over with relief to see Uncle Willy walking toward her. The queen was beside him, staring at Maggie with confusion. As though she couldn’t understand why anyone was paying attention to her.
Maggie got that. Next to the put-together woman, she looked like a street urchin.
Beck was behind them. Great more witnesses.
“Just me being clumsy as always,” she said cheerfully, carefully walking over to her uncle.
The last thing she wanted to do was show any vulnerability in front of these people.
She’d already made enough of a knob of herself.
“Maggie?” Pippa called out.
Shit.
She couldn’t ignore the soon-to-be-princess, now, could she? Her uncle might be friendly with the queen and doing these people a favor, but Maggie was most definitely disposable.
