Page 144 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

“You really should have told us,” Sam chided, “I’m sure we haven’t been acting in line with royal etiquette.”

“That’s the least of my worries,” Luke said, breathing a sigh of relief.“I’m sorry I kept it from you.I wanted to tell you in my own time, but since Terry was clever enough to figure it out...”

Hallie watched him closely.Although he seemed convivial and laid back, he stared daggers at Terry for just a split second.

Hallie knew how furious he could get when things didn’t go his way.

“I always said our news network should cover more world topics,” Bob Masone complained, “if they did, we might have known about this.”

“It’s okay, now we know,” Vivian said calmly.

Terry emitted a growl of frustration.“There you go again, always taking his side!”

“What side?”her mama asked.“There are no ‘sides.’”

Everyone else started chattering among themselves as they tried to deal with the shock of having a royal prince among them.Very little turkey and mashed potatoes was consumed, despite how good it all smelled.

“You should know that Hallie and Luke’s relationship isn’t real,” Terry declared loudly, speaking over everyone.“Luke is set to be engaged to Lady Raphaela Vandrosh.”

“Oh Terry, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” her father said dismissively.

“Why would they have a relationship that’s not real?”her mother asked, her tone equally disbelieving.

Hallie tried to make intimidating faces at Terry to get her to stop talking, but it was no use.

“Don’t you see?”Terry said, “It’s because she wanted you and daddy to like her more than me.You’re always going on about how there should be a man in her life, so she got a boyfriend, a fake one.”

Hallie glared at her sister with a mixture of hate and admiration.She had never known Terry would have the nerve to wage open warfare in front of the whole family.

“But then why does it seem like they’re on the outs?”Bob Masone inquired.He was either genuinely curious or eager to show off his analytical skills.“Wouldn’t they want to pretend their relationship is going well?”

“It’s because our relationship is very real,” Luke said, and Hallie was grateful to him again, even if his efforts were probably wasted.“And we are having real problems with it at the moment.”

“They’re just making it up,” Terry insisted.“They’re inventing all these problems to make the relationship seem real.”

“That sounds ridiculous,” Vivian argued, though her voice betrayed a hint of doubt.

“Maybe I should know better because it’s my relationship,” Luke interjected, looking pointedly at Terry.“The reason Hallie and I are having problems with our relationship—”

“Ahem!”Hallie cleared her throat in a very obvious way to draw attention to herself.“The reason Luke and I are having problems is because he posted an unflattering picture of me on social media.”

Hallie couldn’t believe Luke was going to tell everyone about his and Terry’s ridiculous kiss!Maybe he was angry enough to destroy his own reputation within the family, bringing Terry down with him.

As much as she wanted to get back at Terry, she couldn’t let that particular secret become public knowledge.There were too many people’s lives at stake here, and Terry’s marriage would likely fall victim to this news.

Hallie was tempted to let it all out in the open, but deep down she knew she would feel guilty about it.She couldn’t do that, even to Terry.

Besides, she clung to the tiny hope that maybe she and Luke wouldn’t be seen as miscreants.

“I did not!”Luke said, even though Hallie was trying to let him know with a meaningful glance that she didn’t want him talking about Terry.

If he stubbornly wanted to tell everyone the secret, there was little she could do, but her eyes begged him not to.

“Yes you did.That’s why I was mad at you,” Hallie insisted.“You remember.”

“Oh, right,” he said, picking up on her cue, “It’s just that I thought it was a very good picture.”

Everyone stared at the two of them, and Hallie could see the question marks forming in their minds.