Page 111 of Prince

Dree saw his reaction, and she couldn’t move either.

And then he was strolling toward her. He looked mildly interested, the perfect embodiment of HisSereneHighness.

Dree’s heart pounded against her sternum like it was trying to escape. If she ran, she’d fall over.

Maxence stopped in front of her and held out his hand like he was offering her something in his palm, but his hand was empty. He leaned toward her, his voice pitched low, and said,“Chérie.”

It wasn’t fair of him to use that nickname, not when he’d told Father Moses that he was breaking up with her to be a priest.It wasn’t fair.

“Dance with me.” His light tone sounded like the thought had just entered his mind.

People flowed around them onto the dance floor like they were in a tunnel with darkness rushing around them.

Dree shook her head. “I don’t know how to dance like that.”

“The floor will be packed,” Max said, still holding his open hand between them. “You don’t have to know how. Come with me,chérie.”

Come with me.

Notplease.

Not,if you want to.

Of course, Maxence ordered her,Come with me.

He was looking into her eyes, practically looking into her mind, and she became aware that he was lookingthroughDree and into herheart.

She obeyed.

Dree placed her hand in his, and his long fingers closed around hers.

He positioned one of her hands on his shoulder, which always seemed impossibly far up because she didn’t realize how truly tall he was until she was standing right next to him, and he held her other hand in one of his.

His other hand touched her waist and then curled around her back. “For the last month, at every event like this, I’ve caught myself looking for you in the crowd. I’ve watched for you every night. I’ve been waiting for you.”

She grumbled, “You could’ve asked me to go to the dance with you.”

He chuckled. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to.”

“Why would you think I wouldn’t want to go to a dance?”

“Because this is frivolous,” he said. “I don’t think of you as enjoying frivolous things.”

Maxence guided her as they moved around the floor, although much slower and with vastly smaller steps than when he had been dancing with Marie-Therese. The ballroom floor was more crowded than earlier, so it wasn’t like he had the choice. However, the way he pressed her hands and body like he was driving her, somehow, Dree ended up waltzing.

Dree shrugged. “I may be level-headed and down-to-earth. I might be good in emergencies and have my head on relatively straight when it comes to people. But I like pretty dresses, and I like to have a good time. I’m not a stick in the mud. I was never going to be the Adult Sunday School Coordinator.”

Maxence leaned in and whispered near her ear, “You’re the most beautiful woman here tonight.”

She had been looking at the other women there, svelte women whose bone structure might be the product of generations of breeding for beauty or might be the work of highly skilled plastic surgeons, but Dree found that comment highly implausible. “I declare, Prince Maxence, you’re going to turn my head.”

“You’re warm, and you’re kind.”

“Now I know you’re just trying to get laid.”

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“Max, honey, you’re laying it on pretty thick.”