“Genevieve, don’t be ridiculous,” Mathilde scolded. “Kelsey is not starting a trend with her…ah…unconventional choice of the handsome Elias.”
Kelsey’s giggles turned into a hoot of laughter. “It’d be impossible to start trend. He’s an only child.” Okay, maybe their teasing was verging on silly now. It gave them all an outlet for their nerves, though. Which was helpful.
“Genevieve, you will marry at least a duke, if not a prince,” the grand duchess commanded, turning to stare down her granddaughter under the guise of smoothing out the fabric covering the wreath. “And Christian, you will choose from the highest female nobility in all of Europe.”
Christian untied the ropes holding the fabric. “Why limit myself to Europe? Why not get the RPS to chase down an elusive Russian grand duchess, living in hiding and poverty as the great-great-granddaughter of the most reputable Anastasia pretender?”
“I’m not going on that wild goose chase,” Elias chimed in.
Kelsey wished she had her phone to take a picture to send Mallory. Although a balcony crowd selfie would probably be considered bad taste. “Also, you shouldn’t hold up me and Elias as examples of couples on track to marry.” She didn’t want to scare him off with this sort of talk. He’d barely gotten over the problem of her being a princess. It was too soon to wave a ring in his face. “We just started dating. One step at a time.”
“Will those steps lead to an altar?” her grandmother shot back as Christian uncovered the white and purple wreath. He and Elias both saluted it. The crowd grew almost silent for a full minute.
And when that minute had passed, Elias snapped his arm down from the salute. “That, Your Grace, is up to my brave, beautiful princess.” He smiled down at her with so much love shining from those bright blue eyes that Kelsey thought she might just go up in flames.
After one last wave, Christian led everyone back inside. But Kelsey paused on the threshold.
Screw it.
Kelsey threw her arms around Elias and jumped. Of course he caught her, holding her up high against his chest. And they kissed and kissed as the crowd went absolutely bonkers below them.
“Want to be a few minutes late to lunch?” she asked as they finally made it inside, hand in hand.
“Are you suggesting we make your royal family wait while we have a quickie?”
Kelsey pressed on the chair rail, ridiculously proud of herself for having scoped out the hidden entrance to a royals-only bathroom. She pulled him through the door and locked it behind them. “You betcha.”
Because it turned out that some princess perks were pretty great. Secret palace sex was way up there on the top of the list. Just because their relationship was no longer a secret? Didn’t mean they had to give up on the illicit thrill.
As Elias set her on the marble countertop, his mouth plunging down along her neckline, he said in a voice turned gravelly with lust, “I think we should have sex in all the secret rooms in Alcarsa Palace. This month, in fact.”
There were only four days left in June. “How many secret rooms are there?” Kelsey asked, unzipping his pants.
Elias ripped open the condom with his teeth. “Twelve.”
“Oh yes. Definitely.” Kelsey rolled it onto him while he battled to get off her stupid pantyhose.
“And after we knock that off our to-do list? How about we aim for sex in every room of the palace? By year-end?”
Kelsey locked her ankles behind his back. “How many are there, exactly?”
“Six-hundred and thirty-four,” Elias said as he plunged into her.
“Ohhhh yes.”
“I love you, my princess.”
Kelsey closed her eyes, gripping the broad shoulders of the man she adored. “I love you, too.” And in that moment, she couldn’t be happier than to be a princess. His princess.
And maybe, just maybe, someday Elias would be her prince…
Want more?! Turn the page to read a sneak peek of Ruling the Princess, the next book in the Unexpectedly Royal series.
Like FREE Books?! Download one of Entangled’s bestselling books here!
Chapter One
Princess Genevieve Eleanor Marie, second in line to the throne of Moncriano, had to use all of her twenty-seven years of training not to do a spit-take. But she did allow the shock to pop her eyes wide open. “Your date threw up on you?”
“Well, he wasn’t my official date,” her sister Kelsey corrected. Amazing how she waved that off with the hand holding the last bite of a dill roll. “Brian Masur was just dancing with me. Nobody took real dates to the eighth-grade dance. We all went in clumps with our friends.”
It sounded dreadful. Genevieve couldn’t come out and say that, though. She’d done far too much cutting down of Kelsey’s American hometown since her long-lost sister had arrived two months ago.
Borderline snide bitchiness, actually.
Okay, probably quite a bit over the line with the bitchiness. But they’d brokered a truce from their rocky beginning, and Genny now endeavored to be at least respectful when hearing these stories.
In a studiously neutral tone, she commented, “The customs of small-town Michigan schools are indeed…different than those in Europe.”
“I’d say everything, not just the customs, are different. Except, of course, for you and me.” Kelsey grinned. “Physically, at least.”
It was true. Although two years apart in age, they looked similar enough to pass for twins. Same blond hair, fine bone structure, and the striking violet eyes of their dead mother, the queen.
So far? That was where the resemblance ended. They were like comparing apples to zucchini. Cats to worms.
But if the whole “opposites attract” thing worked for romance, surely it could bring two sisters together who very, very much wanted to find common ground.
“That’s why we started having these lunches.” Genevieve fluttered her hand back and forth. “To discover each other. Good and bad. Similarities and differences.”
Ugh. Was that too stilted and formal? Chances were, wondering that at all—it meant the answer was in the affirmative. Genevieve’s auto setting for strangers was to be polite, warm, but reserved. And Kelsey still felt like a stranger much of the time.
Maybe they needed to let go and get drunk together…
Kelsey lifted her glass of water with lemon in a toast. “To catching up on everything we missed over twenty-four years.” Her laughter broke out on top of the last few words. “That sounds ridiculous.”
Mmm-hmm. Rather impossible, too. Because her sister had been kidnapped as a baby, and only found by the royal family a few months ago. How did you recap and share an entire lifetime?