Page 214

Her heart broke definitively. And right then, she determined that however long her father had left, she wanted his life to be easier too. She wanted him to have something for all his work. Because for all that he felt he had failed her…
“You haven’t failed me, Dad. You had it really difficult. I know that losing Mom was hard.”
“It was hard for you too,” he said.
Well, maybe that was true. She had been a young woman who hadn’t had much chance to grieve, but she wasn’t bitter about it. There was no point being bitter.
But perhaps there’s no point in stubbornly insisting you keep on struggling either.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll accept.”
She felt like she was free-falling. But her dad was right. What was the point of all this sacrifice when it would only take her so far?
What was the point of sacrificing at all if she wouldn’t do this one thing that would change their lives forever?
She didn’t need to find the card he had given her. She knew the name of the hotel.
It was the nicest one in Bozeman.
She got in her old truck and drove down to town, bundled up in a parka and heavy mittens. Thick boots.
She looked and felt nothing like a princess.
She couldn’t even…
There were too many aspects to this to even fully…take it all on board.
It wasn’t just that he was asking her to marry him, it was that he was asking her to be a princess. It wasn’t just that he was asking her to be a princess, it was that he was asking her to move to a country she had barely even heard of, much less been to.
She parked her truck against the curb and walked across the street to the grand, stately building.
She went to the front desk. “I’m here to see… I’m here to see Prince Adonis. You can tell him that it’s Stevie.”
“Well, hot damn,” said the man who was tending the counter. “Stevie Parker. You’re the woman who saved his life.”
“I feel that details of my bravery have been greatly exaggerated.”
“Spoken like a true hero. He’s in Room 340. Go on up.”
Stevie felt that it was a shocking lack of security for an actual prince, but she wasn’t going to reject the ease. Because she still felt like she was utterly and completely turned sideways, and she didn’t know how she was going to find her balance. She got into the old, slow-moving elevator, and pushed one of the gold buttons, wincing as it groaned its way to the top floor. It was a beautiful building, but it was old.
The elevator reached its destination and the doors opened, and she wandered out into the hallway. The carpet was a jade green, and the scrollwork on the crown molding really was very nice. She had never been in this place, because it was too rich for her blood.
Maybe not now.
She let out a long, slow breath, approached the room number where he was staying, the one at the farthest end of the hall, and knocked.
The door opened a moment later. And she was slightly dizzy, slung into a sense of déjà vu, since their positions were reversed from earlier, but of course she was entering his glorious hotel suite.
A hotel suite.
Her heart started to beat a little bit faster.
And then there was him.
His impact was not lessened. Not from having already seen him today, not from having seen him nearly bleed out… He was an undeniable presence. No matter what.
“I…” She swallowed hard. “I need to speak to you.”