Page 74 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

Chapter 38: He’s Gone Too Far

For a few more seconds, Luke was still dumbfounded, staring at her as if he had finally realized he was up against a worthy opponent.

Hallie licked her lips in anticipation of the talk to come.

“What’s the matter?”she asked.“No clever retort?No Shakespearean quote?”

“All right, who told you?”Luke asked.“Was it Miss Santer?She’s playing a dangerous game.”

“Nobody told me.I guessed from how pompous you’ve been since the first day I met you.”

He nodded resentfully.“Santer told you, didn’t she?”

“The point is, why weren’t you the one who should have told me?”Hallie said, crossing her arms.

Luke tried to collect himself and to play cool again, though she could see through his façade.

“I detect a note of anger in your voice,” he said.“How can someone who used me to deceive her closest family members now be angry with me for ‘hiding something’?”

“I still think I have the right to be a little bit mad,” she said, pouting.

“Why?”he asked, looking amused.

“Because normally someone who’s a royal prince has the decency to say, ‘Hi, I’m a royal prince.Please take that into consideration.’”

“I don’t think I’m obligated to say that.And believe me, I’m obligated to do a lot of things that I don’t want to do.”

“Well, you could have said it anyway.”

“Hey, I’m sorry,” he replied, attempting a soothing tone.“I was actually not supposed to tell anyone.That was the deal I made with my parents.They were going to ship me off to some scientific station in Antarctica, but I made a deal that I could come to Texas instead, keeping my royal identity hidden and doing some honest work for our country.”

“Let me guess, they wanted you to become less of a pest.”

“You’re pretty mean to someone who is still recovering from a bad fall,” he remarked, giving her a side-eyed look that was equally playful and sultry.

“You said yourself you’re feeling better,” she retorted.

“But now I’m feeling worse.Maybe you could help by searching my bed again.”He lifted up the covers and raised one eyebrow suggestively.

“Seriously?”

“Okay, suit yourself.”It seemed like it was his turn to pout.“I thought you’d be nicer.After all, it’s partly your fault I had this accident.If you hadn’t given me the cold shoulder, I wouldn’t have gone to that ranch or ridden that horse in the first place.”

“I can’t believe you’d say that!”Hallie exclaimed.

“What, it’s true,” he insisted.

Hallie got up, resisting the urge to strangle him in his hospital bed.The hum of the air conditioning filled the angry silence between them.

“Are you saying this was my fault for not having sex with you?”

He shrugged.“I did try my best to convince you, but nothing I did was good enough.I was seriously bored and frustrated.”

“Oh, poor baby,” she mocked, putting her hands to her eyes to mimic wiping away tears.