Page 24 of The Princess Trap

“Hardly,” Maggie snorted. “I’ve never heard of him, so I doubt anyone else has. It’s not like he’s aprinceprince. You know people only care about Brits.”

Cherry had had the same thought herself, but hearing it from Maggie’s lips steadied her rocketing pulse. She took a deep breath and let those words sink in. “You’re right. No-one will know. No-one will care. It’ll just blow over.”

“Exactly. Don’t worry about it. But, while we’re on the subject, how long have you and him been—”

“I should go,” Cherry blurted out. Anything to avoid telling her little sister that she’d been planning an impromptu one night stand. “Still in my work clothes. And I can practically feel my makeup clogging my pores.”

Maggie, who never wore makeup and would happily roam the streets in stained pyjamas, tutted. “Take that shit off. Eat some ice cream. But don’t think you’re off the hook with this, and don’t miss the family date, okay?”

“No-one would know if I did. I could just Google the episode synopsis.”

“Mum would know. She’d sense it with her weird magical mum instincts. And then you’d be in deep shit.”

Cherry rolled her eyes. “Okay, true. But before I go, how are you?”

She almostfeltMaggie stiffen through the phone. “Checking up on me?”

“I’m your big sister. Of course I’m checking up on you.”

“Well, you don’t need to. I eat my vegetables, I take my medicine, I keep my doctor’s appointments—I am a model citizen.” She said this with a vaguely wounded air, as if it were unreasonable for Cherry to worry about her chronically ill baby sister.

“Any pain, recently?”

“What would you do if I said yes?” Maggie demanded. “Flyout just to force-feed me some painkillers? I’m fine. Now go and get ready. Or unready. Whatever.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Cherry Pie.”

“Goodbye, Magnolia.” She hung up on her sister’s indignant sputtering.

Chapter Nine

Ruben slid into the back of the waiting Hummer, his heart in his throat. Trouble wasn’t an unusual state for him to be in, but over these past months he’d started to outdo himself.

This time, as always, it concerned a woman. No matter what he liked to think, he was clearly doing something wrong in that department.

Hans settled in beside him, spearing him with a glare that would freeze hell. “I warned you.”

“Don’t start. I’m thinking.”

“For a change.”

“Will youstop?I had to say something. I couldn’t let him splash pictures of the two of us all over the fucking news. Youknow—”

Hans placed a calming hand on Ruben’s shoulder. “Yes. Yes,I know. I’m sorry. But Christ, Ruben, you do realise that you can’t take this back, right? Your brother probably knows already.Everyoneprobably knows already. In fact…” He reached for his phone, but Ruben shook his head sharply.

“Don’t. Don’t bother. We both know it’s everywhere by now.” He knew from experience how fast these things spread. Although, last time he’d been burned by the press, it’d been for something far more salacious. Perhaps that sort of news spread more quickly…

Ah, who was he kidding? The black sheep of the royal family, engaged? Hans was right. His brother would know. Everyone would know.

He let his head fall back against the headrest, releasing a sigh. “I’ve fucked this up, haven’t I?”

“Which part?” Hans said mildly.

“Don’t be smart.”

“One of us has to be.”