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P rincess Pippa wasn’t at all what Maggie had been expecting. She’d kind of thought she’d be polite but standoffish. She’d certainly never expected her to lounge around with her friends, laughing and joking.

Pippa was surprisingly down-to-earth and sweet. As were the three other women in the room who were going to be her bridesmaids. One was Vivi, a dark-haired woman with a kind smile. Then there was Alina. She was in a relationship with the princes’ cousins. Lastly, was Chloe, she was beautiful with blonde hair and she was dressed impeccably.

Queen Isobelle was in here as well. She was definitely more intimidating and demanding. Polite, but distant. Although it was clear that she adored Uncle Willy. Then again, who wouldn’t?

By the time the meeting ended, Pippa was looking worried and uncertain. Alina was lying on the bed, looking tired. Meanwhile, Vivi, well, she looked like she wanted to throw up. Chloe was harder to read. She didn’t seem to be affected by anything, but she could be someone who held her thoughts close to her chest.

“William, I wonder if I might have a private word, now that we’ve sorted all of that,” Queen Isobelle said.

All of that was a lot.

They’d never taken wedding photos before. Uncle Willy preferred taking pictures of nature and wildlife and, occasionally people, but they were never posed.

So she had no experience with wedding photography. Still, Maggie was sure that most brides didn’t start getting photos taken four days before the big day in several different locations.

Sure, she got that this wedding was a big deal, but the poor bride and grooms were going to be knackered after this.

And she was worried about whether Uncle Willy was up to it.

Heck, she worried whether she was up to it.

This whole reverse harem thing might freak some people out, but she’d traveled to a lot of different places with Uncle Willy and what she’d learned was that love was love. No matter how it came. And frankly, these women had to be pretty special to juggle that many men.

The queen whisked Uncle Willy away for a private conversation, leaving her alone with the four women.

Um. What the heck was she supposed to do? Should she leave? But Ian was on the other side of the door.

And she really didn’t want to be out there with him.

Crap. She didn’t belong here with these beautiful, classy women. She doubted they’d ever had a gust of wind blow their dress up to their face, exposing their knickers to the high street. Or snort-laughed on a first date. Or worn their top inside-out to an important interview.

Nope. She was certain that nothing like that had ever happened to them. They were all too perfect. But they were still better than the diddlelizard standing outside the door, so she pretended she was busy packing everything up.

“That was . . . a lot,” Alina said, opening her eyes to peer over at Pippa.

Pippa shot Maggie a worried look. Shoot. They wanted her gone so they could talk. And she couldn’t blame them. She really should leave.

Maggie knew all about overstaying her welcome.

“Yes, I guess it was,” Pippa said. “Sometimes I wish . . .”

“Sometimes you wish what?” Chloe asked gently.

Pippa smiled brightly. “Nothing.”

Right. She didn’t want to say anything in front of Maggie because she didn’t trust her.

There was no reason for Maggie to be upset by that.

“Are you all right, Vivi?” Chloe asked.

“No, I feel terrible,” the dark-haired woman groaned.

Just keep your eyes down. Nothing to do with you. These are not your friends.

Although if she had been friends with Vivi, she might have replied that she looked terrible too.

And this is why you don’t have many friends.

Just Indie. Her pregnant friend who was relying on Maggie. She was one of the few people in the world who actually believed in Maggie.

So she wouldn’t let her down.

“I think I might have eaten something dodgy. I feel like I’m going to be sick all the time.”

“It’s not the flu, is it?” Alina asked from where she lay on the sofa.

“Or is it nerves because of your role in the wedding?” Pippa asked worriedly. “Because I know it’s a lot. If it’s too much?—”

“No, no, it’s not that. I swear.”

“I’m surprised Caleb, Aleki, and Wolfe would let you come here if you weren’t feeling well,” Chloe added.

Wolfe? She had a guy called Wolfe?

Yikes. That wasn’t terrifying or anything.

“I didn’t tell them,” Vivi confessed.

The other three women sucked in a breath. Maggie stiffened. What the heck? What was wrong with her not telling her guys she wasn’t feeling well? Would they be upset with her? Hurt her?

Maggie curled her hands into fists. She’d teach those assbaboons not to hurt someone smaller than them.

“What? You know they’d put me to bed and wouldn’t let me up,” Vivi defended. “I don’t have time to laze around in bed. I have stuff to do. You know how Wolfe reacts when I get even just a sniffle.”

How did he react? Did he get mad? Why? Because she couldn’t take care of him? Was he such a jerk that he couldn’t handle his woman being ill and unavailable?

Chill . . .

“You know what he did the last time I had a cold?” Vivi said.

“What did he do?” she snapped. “Hit you? Get mad? I’ll kill him.”

Maggie wished she’d done more for Indie. But she hadn’t known. If she had . . . yeah, she’d have taught that bastard Billy a lesson he’d never forget.

Note to self. Kill Billy.

Okay, she felt much better now that she’d made a mental note.

Everything was simpler when you were organized. She should also make a priority list. Killing Billy would be first on there once she was home.

Yes, she was aware that she was slightly deranged. But you try and survive with her family and see if you come out any saner.

“Whoa, where did that come from?” Alina asked.

Maggie blushed as she suddenly realized they were all staring at her. Great. While she was preparing to murder a lying bullying jerkbutt, they were all gaping at her like she’d lost her mind.

Maybe she should tell them what she’d been thinking about. But then again, perhaps they’d think she was nuttier.

Apparently, not everyone had homicidal thoughts.

Strange as that was.

“I, um . . . I’m sorry. I was, uh, thinking about something else.” She grabbed her bag, which was already packed, and started backing away toward the door.

“Wolfe would never hurt me,” Vivi said quietly. She watched Maggie with knowing eyes. “Are you okay, Maggie?”

“Me? Yes, of course.” She backed farther away. “You know . . . I need to go and find my uncle. We should finish discussing your photos soon, Your Majesty.”

“Call me Pippa. I’m not a ‘your majesty’ yet. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that, to be honest.” Pippa grimaced. “And you can tell us if there is something going on, Maggie. We can help. We’d be happy to.”

“No, no, there’s nothing.”

Vivi groaned, putting her hand over her mouth. Her skin grew even paler.

“Shoot! Get her a bucket or something!” Alina cried.

Jumping up, Vivi ran to the attached bathroom. They could all hear her retching. Alina followed, talking soothingly to her.

“We should really tell Caleb,” Pippa said.

Chloe nodded, looking worried. “It could be food poisoning or the flu.”

“Or she could be pregnant,” Maggie blurted out, just as Vivi and Alina returned to the room.

Vivi gaped at her with wide eyes. “What did you say?”

“Nothing. I said nothing. I’m not even supposed to be here. I’m invisible.” Lord, she really wished that was a possibility.

Would make killing Billy easier.

“Pregnant?” Vivi whispered. “I could be pregnant?”

“Is it possible?” Alina asked.

“Maybe. I mean, yeah.”

“Oh my God, Vivi,” Pippa said, her eyes wide. “You could be pregnant.”

“I don’t . . . I have . . . oh my God, Wolfe is going to freak out!” Vivi said. “I’m going to be in bed for the next nine months. Do you think I can hide it from him?”

“I think that might be kind of impossible,” Maggie replied. “You know . . . because of the baby belly and everything.”

They all stared at her.

Invisible.

She crept back toward the door, leaning against it. “And now . . . I’m just going to go . . .”

She reached for the door handle without looking, turning it. The door swung open quicker than expected, and she stumbled, landing on her back in the passage.

Oh. My. God.

A stern, angry face glared down at her. “What the hell are you doing?”

Dear Lord. What the heck did he think she was doing? Inspecting the floor?

“Hello there.” Jack’s smiling face appeared in front of the dickfly’s. Well, that was better, she guessed. Although, now she had two witnesses to her embarrassment.

Plus all of those beautiful, poised women.

But she was choosing to pretend they weren’t there.

“Are you falling for me?” Jack asked with a cheeky grin. “Next time, give me a heads up and I’ll catch you.”

There was a surprised giggle from one of the women.

No. Nope. They weren’t here. They hadn’t just seen her fall over like a complete idiot.

“What happened? Did you really fall?” Ian asked incredulously. As though he couldn’t believe she’d be so stupid as to fall.

Hadn’t he ever fallen in his life?

Dear. Lord.

Why couldn’t she just disappear? Where was that invisibility superpower when she needed it?

“I’ve heard this happens as you get older,” she managed to say, catching her breath.

You should get up.

She would if she thought her hip could handle it. But the impact of the hard floor hadn’t just stolen her breath. It had sent sharp agony through her body.

“What?” Ian snapped.

Was he capable of talking without snarling?

“Your eyesight goes.”

His eyes widened with shock, before narrowing angrily. “Little girl, are you calling me old?”

A shiver ran through her. She did not like him calling her that.

Nope. No way.

“I mean . . . if the shoe fits . . .” she trailed off as his eyes filled with fire.

Yikes.

This was probably one of those moments when she should shut the heck up. Or get up and run away. But she needed a moment before she could do that.

And she definitely wouldn’t be running, that was for sure.

If she could move without limping, she’d be happy.

“Um, aren’t you going to help her up, Ian? Jack?”

She glanced over and closed her eyes as she saw all four women peering out at them in interest. It was Alina who had spoken and she was staring at Ian in surprise.

Great. Just what she needed to add to her humiliation.

And she knew the reason that Ian wasn’t offering to help her up. Because that would involve actually touching her.

“I’m good. I’m fine.” She sat, trying to hide her wince as her hip ached.

Fuck. It would be fine. It had to be. She just had to rest for a moment.

But to her shock, Ian didn’t let her sit there. Or continue to loom over her angrily.

Instead, he grabbed her under the arms, lifting her to her feet. Almost immediately, though, he let her go.

She tried not to feel insulted by that. It wasn’t like she wanted the big apebutt to touch her.

Nope. He could take his huge paws away and touch someone else.

Although for some reason she didn’t really want to think about him touching anyone else.

Shit. What was wrong with her?

“Whoa. You okay there, Maggie?” Jack asked, reaching for her as she swayed.

She stepped back suddenly, almost stumbling. She caught her breath at the strange look on Jack’s face.

Had she hurt him by pulling back?

Shoot. She hadn’t meant to do that. She’d only just met the guy, but he seemed really sweet. Funny and kind.

It was just that she had gotten so used to rejecting help that it was hard to let anyone do anything for her.

“What’s going on? Is everything all right here?”

She glanced over with relief to see Uncle Willy walking toward her. The queen was beside him, staring at Maggie with confusion. As though she couldn’t understand why anyone was paying attention to her.

Maggie got that. Next to the put-together woman, she looked like a street urchin.

Beck was behind them. Great more witnesses.

“Just me being clumsy as always,” she said cheerfully, carefully walking over to her uncle.

The last thing she wanted to do was show any vulnerability in front of these people.

She’d already made enough of a knob of herself.

“Maggie?” Pippa called out.

Shit.

She couldn’t ignore the soon-to-be-princess, now, could she? Her uncle might be friendly with the queen and doing these people a favor, but Maggie was most definitely disposable.

“Yes, your majesty?” She turned, grateful that she didn’t have to curtsy or anything like that. She didn’t want to fall flat on her face.

“Are you all right? That was quite the fall. You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” Pippa asked.

Maggie shook her head, uncertain of what to say. That didn’t happen to her very often, so it was weird.

“Oh no, thanks. I’m right as rain. Hunky-dory. Fit as a fiddle.”

And ready to die of embarrassment.

“Uncle Willy, are you ready to go?”

Her uncle gave them all a curious look before nodding and holding out his arm to her. She breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes, he missed social cues. But this time, he seemed to understand her sense of urgency and that she needed his help.

Wrapping her arm around his, she let him take a lot of her weight.

“We’ll talk later, William,” the queen said. “Margaret, I hope you feel better.”

Maggie smiled and bobbed her head. That was all she was capable of at this point.

Just when she’d thought she’d gotten away, Jack appeared beside her. He was carrying the equipment she’d dropped.

Crap.

He spoke to her quietly. “How hurt are you?”

“I . . .” Shit.

“Hurt enough to need a doctor?” he asked.

“No, no, I’m fine. Thanks.” She stared up at him, trying to give him a reassuring smile.

For a moment, he didn’t look very happy. But then he smiled back. “Well, I’ll just walk with you anyway.”

Awesome. Her own personal escort.

“But I can give you some easier suggestions for the next time you want to get my attention.”

She groaned. Dear. Lord.

“Young man, are you flirting with my niece?” Uncle Willy demanded.

Jack looked over at Willy with a smile, before he reached over to take the equipment from him. “I am.”

“Good.”

She stilled, giving her uncle a shocked look. “Good?”

“Yes. You could use a bit of flirting. Some fun. Even a few dates.”

“Uncle Willy!”

By now, they were at the car, thank God, and Beck had opened the door. She glanced up at him, to see whether he’d taken any of this in, but his face was void of all emotion.

However, she could almost swear she saw his eyes twinkling.

“I’d be happy to flirt with your niece anytime,” Jack said with a grand bow. “Just send the word.”

Marvelous. This was just blooming marvelous.