“I suppose only time will tell,” I counter, ignoring the way his touch makes me burn as he rests his hand on my back and guides me out the door.
Time will tell, indeed.
But I won’t.
I can never tell Andrew or Lizzy how weak I am. Whether they end up walking down the aisle or finding a way out before it’s too late, I will take the shameful fact that I’m attracted to my sister’s fiancé to the grave.
Chapter Eleven
Andrew
Now I’ve gone and done it.
The jig is up, and I only have myself to blame.
I should never have laid it out there like that with the money. Now that Elizabeth knows I’m angling for a way to get rid of her, it’s only a matter of time before she figures out I’m faking the god-awful table manners and the TV show and all the rest of my designed-to-make-her-dump-me behavior.
But there’s a good chance keeping my mouth shut wouldn’t have made a difference, anyway.
She seems determined to see this through. Maybe honoring the betrothal is a point of family pride, as it is for me. Or maybe she realizes that as queen, she stands to gain a lot more than a measly fifty-thousand dollars.
Hell, that’s only half the yearly support allowance she’ll receive as my wife, a number that’s right there in the engagement paperwork our parents and my grandfather hammered out when we were children. Elizabeth knows exactly how much she stands to gain and is too clever to walk away with a penny less.
But glancing over at her flushed cheeks as we crest another rise on the trail leading away from the castle, she doesn’t look like a money-grubbing mercenary intent upon her share of the Gallantian coffers.
She doesn’t look exhausted or asthmatic, either.
Far from it. She seems positively invigorated by the exercise and fresh air, which means this entire afternoon and step two in Operation Prince Charmless—ruthlessly drive home how exhausting it will be for an asthmatic homebody to be married to an avid outdoorsman—has been a waste of time.
Dammit.
“I’m so happy to see you in good health,” I say, a hint of bitterness creeping into the words. Hoping she won’t notice, I force a smile as I add, “I remember when we were children, you had a hard time keeping up with the rest of us. You always had your inhaler in the pocket of your little pink coat. What did you call it? Your huffer?”
“My puffer. But I was actually just going to ask if we could take a break,” she says with a winded laugh. “My asthma isn’t as severe as it used to be, but I do struggle sometimes. Especially at higher elevations.”
“Of course. I’m always up for a rest. And I can point out a few of my old haunts while we’re at it.” I step off the trail into the shade of a stand of silvery-leaved olive trees, studying her covertly as she props her hands on her knees, making a show of catching her breath.
Or maybe she’s just catching her breath, asshole. Why are you so fucking suspicious of the woman all of a sudden?
It’s an excellent question, and one I can’t answer right away.
Why am I so suspicious of Elizabeth this afternoon? Is it because I’m looking for an excuse to think the worst of her? To think about anything except how pretty she is and how sweet she smells and how much I want to kiss her?
The temptation to taste her gets more intense with every second spent in her presence. I’m half out of my mind with wanting her, and we’ve been at this engagement thing for less than a day.
At this rate, she’ll be expecting our first child before we walk down the aisle.
Except that she won’t because I’m not going to kiss her, let alone sleep with her. An arranged marriage isn’t what I want for myself or my country. And even if Elizabeth and I appear to get along well enough so far, polite conversation and attraction aren’t enough to sustain a marriage.
She stands, brushing her hair from her face with a smile. “Old haunts, you said?”
“Yes.” I turn, pointing to the horizon line to the left. “See the top of that water tower?” When she makes a soft sound of confirmation, I add, “That’s where I would hide when it was time for Latin lessons. I’ve always loved languages, but I couldn’t see the point in learning a dead one, and the guards were always too scared to climb after me when I ended up there.” She laughs, and I try not to think about how much I like the sound of it as I point to the right. “And at the bottom of that hill is the abandoned stable. Jeffrey and I played soldiers there when we were small, and Nick and I met girls there when we were older.”
Elizabeth arches a brow. “Jeffrey didn’t want to meet girls?”
“Jeffrey’s private about those sorts of things. But Nick and I had our share of fun. I think our old sleeping bags are still up in the rafters.”
“Hope for fun with a farm girl springs eternal?” Elizabeth asks, making me laugh a little guiltily.
“Something like that. But it was never anything too serious. Nick and I knew the girls around here were prince hunters, first and foremost. We could have had a bag of rocks for brains, and they still would have laughed at anything we said. What about you? Did you run into a lot of princess hunters in your neck of the woods?” I ask, wondering if she might finally share more about what her dating life was like leading up to our official engagement.
She tucks a curl behind her ear. “Well, I’m technically royalty, but money and fame aren’t part of the package with my family. I’m sure I had a very different experience than yours.”
“I don’t know about that,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “You’re still a princess, even if it’s a ceremonial role and not a governing one. And you’re an identical twin and one of a set of triplets. That’s all pretty unusual.”
She inclines her head in agreement. “I guess. Though, I don’t think of it that way. Being one of three is all we’ve ever known. It’s business as usual to us, and I honestly feel more like a twin than a triplet most of the time. I love Alexandra, but she’s always karate chopped to the beat of her own feral ninja drum,” she says, the description making me smile despite my foul mood.
“I remember that. She nearly drowned Nick half a dozen times that summer.”
Elizabeth laughs. “She did. But that was his fault for continuing to play Loch Ness Lake Monster with her after she showed him her victim-claiming powers.”
“Nick never learns from his mistakes, especially where girls are concerned.”
“Well, in his defense, Zan can be charming when she wants to be. And she’s so little it’s easy to underestimate her as a potential threat.”
“She’s still a tiny thing?”
Elizabeth nods. “Just a smidge over five feet. She blames me for it. Insists I tried to eat her in the womb.”
I snort. “You do seem pretty vicious,” I tease. “I’m not surprised she’s pegged you as the troublemaker.”
Her eyes narrow, but she’s still smiling as she says, “Speaking of troublemakers, you’re a lot different than when we were kids.”
“In a good way, I hope.”
“In a lovely way,” she confirms, making me wonder just how repulsive I’ll have to be to turn her off. “I didn’t care for you much back then.”