Page 44 of His Royal Request

Charlie was gazing up at me with a look I couldn’t name. All I could do was hope she knew I was speaking the truth. I wasn’t being dramatic for Shauna’s sake. It was how I felt.

Isla cut in. “The moment I saw you two together I could tell there was something special between you guys.”

Charlie turned to her. “Really”

Was she trying to figure out how much of this we were making up? She probably thought we were just trying to put of Shauna.

“Yes, I could tell by the way Aiden looked at you and how oblivious you were to it.”

Charlie’s eyes met mine and she gave off a shy smile. “Really?”

I nodded and squeezed her knee. I wanted to kiss her. It wasn’t the first time I’d had the urge, but it was taking everything in me to maintain my manners and not make a scene. “You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met, and now that I have you in my life, I can’t imagine being without you.”

Her eyes darkened and she sucked in a breath. “Aiden.”

It was barely a whisper. A moment shared between the two of us. How I wished we were alone. I wanted to tell her everything I was thinking. I wanted to prove to her I wasn’t putting on a show. It wasn’t the time or place, but soon I’d make my feelings clear.

Another course was served and I noted Shauna grew more withdrawn with each passing plate. It didn’t make sense that she was here. She didn’t know Nicole and she wasn’t someone so tight in our circle that she’d be invited.

I glanced around the table and noticed Cian’s eyes on her. He blinked and looked at me with a hint of disappointment.

Of course.

I should have seen it sooner. They greeted each other like they were old friends, or had at least spoken recently. I wanted to believe my own brother wouldn’t try to sabotage me or my happiness. He wasn’t acting as my brother, but the crowned prince.

There was no law regulating who a royal could marry. We weren’t some archaic monarchy set on preserving our royal bloodline. That didn’t mean that everyone thought it was acceptable for royal to marry commoners or foreigners. My brother was of that mind set. He felt it was our duty to at the very least marry someone Lochish.

If he thought bringing Shauna here would convince me to leave Charlie, he was insane. Shauna was a leech. I’d already made that mistake once. There was no chance I would make it again.

“Aiden, are you alright?” Ronan was looking across the table at me with concern.

I smoothed my face to hide the emotions swirling in me. I nodded and turned back to the conversations taking place at the table.

Charlie was talking with Countess Wallace, Maribeth. They were both laughing and I listened without interrupting.

“He was only two, but had somehow found a way to escape his crib and get passed his guards without notice.” I cringed. Maribeth was already spilling embarrassing moments. “They found him in the kitchen sitting on the counter in front of the microwave. He’d taken three eggs from the fridge and put them in the microwave to cook. We don’t know how long they’d been in there before the smell alerted everyone to where he was.” Maribeth held her chest laughing. “We thought they’d have to fumigate the entire palace.”

Charlie was laughing as she looked at me with a gleam in her eyes. “You were a devious child.”

I smiled and shrugged. “It’s not my fault the guards were incompetent. Who misses a toddler wandering down the halls?”

She covered her mouth while she laughed harder.

Maribeth leaned forward. “When they asked him what he was doing, he said he was hungry. We were all shocked he made it that far. He’d never been in the kitchen when meals were prepared, especially breakfast, he would have been asleep still.”

Charlie shook her head. “So how did you know how to cook?”

I laughed. “Obviously I didn’t do it correctly, but Mum said she used to bake with me and Cian watching so maybe I put two and two together.”

“Smart and devious,” Charlie said. “It’s a shock the palace is still standing.”

Maribeth waved a hand over her face, trying to calm herself. “By the time the four of them were in their school years, it was a mad house. I think they fed off each other’s energy and scheming. There was a period of about a year when nannies wouldn’t last longer than a week. They weren’t terrible, just high energy and mischievous.”

I laughed at the memory of us growing up in the palace, looking for secret tunnels, playing hide and go seek with our nanny. Granted they never knew we were playing so they got upset thinking we were lost. We’d been nightmares.

“But look at us now.” Aiden smiled and puffed up his chest.

Maribeth winked at me. “Right, now it’s not the nanny’s you drive crazy. It’s parliament, and your board of directors, and the media.”