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The dismissal stung.
“You too, Prince Armin.” He didn’t respond, only sat down in a chair in front of the window, not bothering to throw even a glance her way. She left without another word.
For a moment, she had forgotten she was not just talking to a man who was ill-equipped to be a father.
She was talking to a prince.
The moment Katie was gone, Armin sagged against the armchair and drained the rest of his whiskey.
What had he been thinking?
He never got so personal with the staff. Ever. It was a rule he’d set for himself long before he lost his parents, and long before he became the crown prince. It simply wasn’t done.
And yet here he was, feeling like a complete jackass for the way he’d spoken to her.
“Relax,” she’d said, as if that were the solution to everything. It was not. It was how a person let things get dangerously out of control.
It had to be her association with the girls that made him so vulnerable to her. They were a soft spot in his heart, and so Katie, by extension, must feel closer to him because she was close to them. She was just so familiar with him. When was the last time someone had reached forward and loosened his tie? He couldn’t remember. Yet Katie had done it as if it was something she’d done a million times.
He had been too harsh with her, and he knew it.
But she had been so close. And the heat from her had practically burned his skin.
Armin got up and poured himself another drink, then stood by the bar, thinking of Baxter and Jessica. He wanted to do right by his friends. He wanted to live up to the solemn promise he had made to them. It was true that neither of them had expected this outcome, but that didn’t matter. Armin had to be even better.
But while he could provide safety and security and wealth for the girls, he wasn’t sure he could provide a true family.
A mother. And a father.
Something like what they’d had.
He thought of his own family. They’d been close, but there had always been the pressure of royal life upon them. Even now, as adults, those tensions still played between Armin and his brothers. He wanted better, somehow, for the girls. Armin reached up to his tie, not thinking, and even the motion reminded him of Katie.
She had been so forward.
It was probably because she was American. She probably didn’t have a clue how inappropriate it had been to do that.
Not that he…personally disliked it.
Not that he personally disliked anything about her.
In fact, Armin wanted much more from her than he was willing to admit, even in the privacy of this room. He couldn’t stop the images from flashing briefly into his mind of how Katie might look in his bed.
He cleared his throat, trying to clear the heat from his mind.
If the nanny taking the girls to a park was enough to make the papers, the scandal of a prince having an affair with the nanny would be the nuclear option. His reputation might never recover.
In some circles, at least.
In others, he’d probably be praised. It was one or the other, and there was no middle ground. PRINCE ARMIN JUST LIKE US, SLEEPS WITH NANNY vs. PRINCE ARMIN FORCES NANNY INTO TORRID AFFAIR.
There was no winning for him.
No. It was simply a coincidence that he had hired an absolutely gorgeous nanny for the girls. He let his mind linger on Katie’s dark hair, her dancing dark eyes, and the curves that every outfit seemed to highlight, no matter how conservative they were.
He wanted her.
Alone in the study, he could admit it. He had been angry with her. He had been irritated with her. And still he had wanted her every single moment since the first moment he saw her with the girls.
