Rhys’s scowl deepened. “I’ll stop scaring them off once you get better taste in men. No wonder your love life is in the dumps. Look at the twerps you insist on going out with.”
I bristled. My love life was not in the dumps. It was close, but it wasn’t there yet. “You’re one to talk.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I haven’t seen you date anyone since you started working for me.” I shrugged off my jacket, and his gaze slid to my bared shoulders for a fraction of a second before returning to my face. “You’re hardly qualified to give me dating advice.”
“I don’t date. Doesn’t mean I can’t spot worthless idiots when I see ‘em.”
I paused, startled by his admission. While Rhys was always by my side during the day, he was off duty after I turned in for the night. Sometimes he stayed in, sometimes he didn’t. I’d always assumed he was…busy on the nights he didn’t.
A strange mixture of relief and disbelief coursed through me. Disbelief, because while Rhys wasn’t the most charming guy on the planet, he was gorgeous enough for most women to overlook his surly attitude. Relief, because…well, I’d rather not examine that reason too closely.
“You’ve been celibate for two years?” The question slipped out before I could think it through, and I regretted it instantly.
Rhys arched an eyebrow, his scowl morphing into a smirk. “You asking about my sex life, princess?”
Embarrassment scorched my cheeks, both at my inappropriate question and at hearing the word “sex” leave his mouth. “I did no such thing.”
“I may not have attended a fancy college like you, but I can read subtext.” Amusement flashed in those gunmetal eyes. “For the record, dating and sex aren’t the same thing.”
Right. Of course.
Something unpleasant replaced my earlier relief. The idea of him “not dating” someone irked me more than it should’ve.
“I know that,” I said. “I don’t date everyone I have sex with, either.”
What am I saying? I hadn’t had sex in so long I was surprised my vagina hadn’t sued me for neglect, but I wanted to…what, prove Rhys wasn’t the only one who could have casual sex? Get a rise out of him?
If so, it worked, because his smirk disappeared and his drawl hardened. “And when was the last time you had non-dating sex?”
I lifted my chin, refusing to back down beneath the weight of his steely stare. “That is a highly inappropriate question.”
“You asked first,” he ground out. “Answer the question, princess.”
Breathe. I heard the palace communications secretary Elin’s voice in my head, coaching me on how to handle the press. You can’t control what they say, but you can control what you say. Don’t let them see you sweat. Deflect if necessary, take back the power, and guide the conversation where you want it to go. You are the princess. You do not cower in front of anyone. Elin was scary, but she was good, and I took her advice to heart as I struggled not to rise to Rhys’s bait.
One…two…three…
I exhaled and squared my shoulders, looking down my nose at him even though he towered over me by a good seven inches.
“I will not. This is where we end the conversation,” I said, my voice cold. Before it goes any more off the rails. “Good night, Mr. Larsen.”
His eyes called me a coward. Mine told him to mind his business.
The air pulsed with heavy silence during our staredown. It was late, and I was tired, but I’d be damned if I backed down first.
Judging by Rhys’s bullish stance, he had the same thought.
We might’ve stood there forever, glaring at each other, had it not been for the sharp trill of an incoming call. Even then, I waited for my phone to ring three times before I tore my eyes away from Rhys and checked the caller ID.
My annoyance quickly gave way to confusion, then worry, when I saw who was calling. Nikolai. My brother and I rarely spoke on the phone, and it was five a.m. in Eldorra. He was a morning person, but he wasn’t that much of a morning person.
I picked up, aware of Rhys’s gaze burning into me.
“Nik, is everything all right?”
Nikolai wouldn’t call out of the blue at this hour unless it was an emergency.
“I’m afraid not.” Exhaustion weighed down his words. “It’s Grandfather.”
Panic exploded in my stomach, and I had to hold on to the side table for support as Nikolai explained the situation. No. Not Grandfather. He was the only living parental figure I had left, and if I lost him…
Rhys moved toward me, his face now dark with concern, but he halted when I shook my head. The more Nikolai spoke, the more I wanted to throw up.
Fifteen minutes later, I ended the call, numb with shock.
“What happened?” Rhys remained a few feet away, but there was a certain tenseness to his posture, like he was ready to murder whoever had been on the other end of the line for causing me distress.
All thoughts of our stupid argument fled, and the sudden urge to throw myself into his arms and let his strength carry me away gripped me.
But of course, I couldn’t do that.
“I—it’s my grandfather.” I swallowed the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. Crying would be a horrible breach of etiquette. Royals didn’t cry in front of other people. But at that moment, I wasn’t a princess. I was just a granddaughter scared to death about losing the man who’d raised her. “He collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, and I…” I raised my eyes to Rhys’s, my chest so tight I couldn’t breathe. “I don’t know if he’s going to make it.”
10
Rhys
Bridget wanted to leave for Eldorra right away, but I forced her to get some sleep first. We’d had a long day, and while I operated fine on minimal shuteye, Bridget got…cranky.
She insisted she didn’t, but she did. I would know. I was often the one on the receiving end of her crankiness. Besides, there wasn’t much we could do about the situation at eleven at night.
While she slept or tried to sleep, I packed the necessities, booked a plane using her usual charter company’s twenty-four-hour VIP hotline, and crashed for a few hours before I woke up in time to fetch us coffee and breakfast from the closest bodega.
We left the house just as the sun peeked over the horizon and rode to Teterboro Airport in silence. By the time we boarded the charter jet, Bridget was practically vibrating with restless energy.
“Thank you for arranging everything.” She fiddled with her necklace and shook her head when the flight attendant offered her a glass of juice. “You didn’t have to.”
“It’s not a big deal. It was just a call.” Nothing made me more uncomfortable than overt gratitude. In an ideal world, people would accept a nice gesture and never mention it again. Made things less awkward all around.
“It wasn’t just a call. It was packing and breakfast and…being here, I guess.”
“It’s my job to be here, princess.”
Hurt flashed across her face, and I immediately felt like the world’s biggest jackass. Way to kick someone when they’re down, Larsen.