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I nod. “Months.”
She’s leaning on the arm of the chair closest to me. I want badly to scoop her up and hold her in my lap, but that’s probably a little too far even though Torin seems to be taking this news well.
“Of course you did,” he says. “You know very well that this jumbles things.”
“It does,” I agree. “Even if we think the king will go along with the idea that Linnea is in love with someone else and let her out of the arranged marriage with you without disowning her, or banishing her from the island—” I feel her stiffen under my hand.
We both know it’s a possibility though we’re hoping it’s a slim one, but she doesn’t like talking about it.
“He won’t be pleased that she’s in love withmerather than someone like…” I sigh. “Christian Waite.”
“The king is not going to love this,” Torin agrees.
No, no, he won’t. I appreciate the fact that my best friend doesn’t try to bullshit me, though.
And I’m very definitely thinking about Iris’s black belt in…well, everything. And that she’s ex-FBI. And that she has a lot of well-connected friends.
I could easily end up much more than “fired”. I could disappear and no one would ever find me…
“Your grandfather is not a completely unreasonable man,” Linnea protests. “He loves us. He respects Jonah.”
“But he loves Cara,” Torin says. “More probably than he loves us. He has to.”
I squeeze Linnea’s neck reassuringly. “That’s the job. You’re the one who was willing to marry Torin without love because being king and queen was bigger than what each of you individually wanted,” I remind her. “Diarmuid might deep down want to tell us this is fine, but the truth is, you would be better for Cara as queen than as the wife of a bodyguard.”
Her eyes snap to mine at the wordwife. We haven’t talked about marriage, but it’s a given. To me anyway. She is mine. For good. That means eventually I will make her my wife. But I want to claim her publicly afterward. I want her to wear my ring. I want the world to know. I want everyone important to us to know. For her, that includes the king. So for now, we have to lie low.
“We need a new plan,” Torin says. “I know we’d all hoped the project with James would be the thing to show my grandfather how well we work together, regardless of marital status. We just need something else like that.”
Linnea nods. I filled her in on the fact that James had informed Torin he’d decided to take the project to Canada instead of Cara. She was disappointed and initially felt guilty, assuming that he’d pulled the project from Cara because she didn’t want to date him. Of course, I quickly reminded her that if that was the only reason he was giving the project to Cara in the first place, he was an asshole.
“We’ll come up with something,” she says. “Your grandfather needs to see that you can be an effective and caring king even without me as your queen. We just need to show him what our partnership will look like regardless of who we’re married to.”
He agrees. “We need to do some research. Reaching out. Networking.”
“Maybe there’s something else with James. Something on a smaller scale. Or maybe Christian will have some ideas.” Linnea’s wheels are clearly turning. “At least there’s no hard deadline.”
I frown at that. “Maybe there’s no specific date. But I don’t want to hide this. The last six months being in love with you and unable to show it have been hard enough.”
Torin looks at me. “That long?”
I nod. “At least.”
He swivels in his chair and sits forward. He studies me for a moment. “I thought I knew you better than that. I didn’t realize you’d be able to hide these kinds of feelings from me,” he says.
I lift a shoulder. “Maybe I’m better at my job than you realize. It’s possible I hide all kinds of things from you, Your Highness.”
He rolls his eyes.
I can feel Linnea’s gaze on me, but I continue looking at Torin.
I’m not speaking to him as my boss right now. Now I need my friend.
“I want her, Torin. For real. For good. I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to take her away from here, but…” I look at her and she nods, despite the tears in her eyes. I look back at the prince. “But I will. We’ll leave. Even though it will hurt.”
He takes a deep breath. “We’re going to figure this out. You’ve done a fuck ton to make sure that I am happy and safe and where I’m supposed to be and doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I will do the same for you.”
My chest tightens and I lean forward, extending my hand. He shakes it. “Thank you, Torin.”