Page 39 of Rivals

Marshall’s mother interjected. “Of course he’s spending time with her! She’s the princess, and she’s here in Orange for the month. What would you suggest he do, ignore her?”

Sam held her breath. Light spilled out of the doorway a few feet ahead of her.

“The newspapers are paying more and more attention to you both.”

Finally she heard Marshall’s voice. “Isn’t that what you wanted, Grandpa?You’rethe one who encouraged me to date her in the first place, because you thought it would be good for Orange.”

“I encouraged you tobe her dateto her sister’s wedding, which didn’t even happen! And because she was a nice change from those starlets you used to run around town with.” The duke snorted. “They were an embarrassment.”

“I’m aware,” Marshall said impatiently.

Sam’s stomach twisted. She knew that Marshall’s grandfather had encouraged their relationship, back when they were only pretending to date. But it still hurt, knowing that he’d only ever thought of her in terms of what she could do for his family—for their image.

The duke sighed. “When I encouraged you to go out with Samantha, I assumed you would move on after a few months, the way you always do. I certainly didn’t expect it to get serious.”

“It’s not serious,” Marshall assured him.

Sam sucked in a breath. She must have misunderstood, or misheard, or…

“Of course it’s not serious!” Marshall’s mother chimed in. “He knows better, don’t you, Marshall?”

“I hope so. You could never actually have any kind of future with a Washington.”

There was so much anger packed into the way the duke saidWashingtonthat Sam wondered if he hated her family for ruling over his. The Davises were former kings, after all—maybe Stephen thought that the Davises should never have given up Orange’s independence to join the union.

Maybe the transfer of power from Marshall’s family to hers, over a hundred years ago, hadn’t been as amicable and easy as the history books made it seem.

“Trust me, you have nothing to worry about,” Marshall told his grandfather. “Sam and I certainly haven’t discussed the future.”

Sam’s eyes stung. She retreated back down the hallway, trying to rearrange her face into something like normal. She could do that, because it was what being a princess had trained her to do—to pretend that everything was fine, even when her heart was breaking.

Daphne breezed through the revolving door to the King’s College library, where students were busy typing at their laptops or flipping through books. She wasn’t particularly worried about being seen; anyone who recognized her would assume she was on campus to visit Jefferson.

The guy behind the reference desk looked up at her approach. From his blank expression, it was clear that he had no idea who Daphne was. “Can I help you find something?”

“I’m looking for Nina,” Daphne said brightly. “She’s still on her shift, right?”

“She’s here,” he started to say just as Nina emerged from the back room. Her eyes widened when she saw Daphne at the desk.

“I’ve got this one, Greg.” Nina’s voice was deadly quiet.

Greg shrugged and vanished into the back. The moment he was gone, Nina whirled on her. “Seriously, Daphne? You’re stalking me now?”

Daphne held her gaze. “I tried calling you, but you never answered.”

“Because I have no desire to talk to you!” Nina spluttered. “How did you even get my number? Did you hack my phone?”

“Don’t be so dramatic. I asked Jefferson for your info.” At the mention of the prince, Nina hesitated, and Daphnehurried to keep talking. “I told him that we bonded at the library event, and said I wanted your number, since we’re friendsnow.”

“You and I arenotfriends,” Nina snapped.

Daphne gave a cool smile. “Of course not. But I want to talk. I have a proposition for you.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Just hear me out, okay?”

Daphne wasn’t used to working this hard for attention. Her words were falling on deaf ears; Nina grabbed a cart laden with books and began pushing it toward a freight elevator. “I have to shelve these.”