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Startled, he gave her a strange look and then laughed out loud, and she smiled at the sound of it. After a moment, though, he went broody and quiet again, and she glanced over at Daphne, frustrated. Maybe she should just guide Eric in that direction, use him to distract her sister while she reclaimed her phone and her night. And then she pictured Daphne flirting with him, dancing with him, laughing at his jokes—and Anna jerked Eric in the opposite direction during their next spin so hard that he stumbled a bit.
“Sorry,” she said, a little surprised at her own vehemence. Why would the image of him and Daphne flirting raise her hackles so much? It wasn’t like she was attracted to him herself.
Okay, yes, she was. But who wouldn’t be? He was a prince, drop-dead gorgeous with gentle hands and crystal blue eyes and a contagious laugh. Any girl could be excused for feeling a little starry-eyed. Not that she was feeling starry-eyed.
She huffed. Dancing with him had been a terrible idea.
A reel started, something that—according to Anderson’s excited pre-party ranting—had become all the rage in Danovar lately. Against her will, she was drawn into a group with some senators while Eric went to get them drinks. She played along long enough to plot out her escape route, watching Daphne carefully as she set her clutch down on the bar. When her sister turned her back, Anna made her move.
Behind her, two of the younger senators in her group were talking. “Burr told me Prince Eric couldn’t even remember half the galas he’s been to,” said one. “I’m shocked that he hasn’t done anything crazy at this one yet.”
The other one laughed. “Remember when he tried to propose to the Duchess with a ring made from a soda can tab? The look on that old hag’s face! I laughed for days.”
“Have you read that healthcare bill of his yet?”
“I’m not sure I need to. We’ll see how things go, I suppose.”
Anna paused at the doubtful tone in the senator’s voice. Was Eric having trouble convincing members of Parliament to back his legislation? Maybe that was what he’d been upset about earlier.
She frowned. She’d assumed this was all fun and games to him, or maybe something he was doing out of duty before he dove back into his playboy lifestyle. But that look on his face earlier—he’d genuinely been worried. He actually cared about his bill. And those senators refused to see it, refused to believe in him. Without the publicity from his funding of her research, he might lose his only chance to convince them otherwise.
Eric was striding back toward her, a drink in each hand. She made a snap decision. Taking both drinks from him, she set them on a nearby table—ignoring his protests—and pulled him into the reel.
“Let’s finish this dance up, gentlemen!” she called to the senators. “Prince Eric and I have some cancer to cure.”
5
Eric was supposed to be deciding what he wanted for lunch, but he couldn’t stop staring at Anna’s hair.
It was the first time he’d ever seen it down. It was astonishingly long, tumbling in glossy brown waves down her back, thick and just right for winding his fingers through. He tried to pull his attention back to his menu, but he could hardly read the words through the haze of his fantasies. That dark hair splayed out across his pillow, wet and silky in the shower, fisted in his hands as she threw her head back and gasped his name—
“Eric?”
He jumped and coughed a little, lifting his gaze from the menu he hadn’t read. Anna was watching him, one eyebrow raised. The waiter stood next to their table, Anna’s order already written down, waiting for Eric’s.
He flipped the menu closed. “Fish and chips,” he said with a smile. It was a safe bet—he didn’t need to look at the menu to know every Danovian place carried that. Sure enough, the waiter scribbled it down and strode off.
“Everything okay?” Anna asked.
“Sure,” he said, but she didn’t look like she believed him. He scrambled for an excuse for his distraction that was suitable for this business lunch – one that involved their mutual needs for the publicity project, rather than him fantasizing about her. “I ran into some reporters on the way here,” he said instead. His mouth twisted as he remembered the ambush. “All they wanted to talk about was Phillip’s wedding and whether I thought we’d see any more political fallout from it. I’m used to getting attention from the paparazzi, but most of the time it’s more fun.”
“I suppose being quizzed about your family’s scandal and declining social power might throw a wrench in your day,” Anna agreed.
“Thanks for putting that so nicely,” he grouched, slipping the menu back in its holder.
“Back to topic,” Anna said, all business as she pulled a hefty binder out of her bag. The thing made the table shake when she plopped it down. “I’ve looked over the contract you sent me and outlined several extensive options for your campaign that would benefit us both.” She tugged at her hair, trying to shove it back over her shoulder when it fell forward.
“Your hair looks nice down,” Eric said before he could stop himself.
Anna blinked. “Oh,” she said after a moment, then, awkwardly, “I usually keep it up, but I just got it cut.”
Did she know how adorable she was when she was flustered? She blinked an awful lot, which made her look like some sort of helpless baby deer, but she also dropped that full bottom lip and opened her mouth into a little “o,” which was sexy as fuck. He wanted to tuck her underneath his arm and comfort her, but that would definitely only fluster her more, so he flipped the binder open and got back to a subject she was comfortable with: research. “It looks like phase three takes the longest in all these plans,” he noted after a moment.
“Yes, there’s a lot of red tape at that point,” she agreed. “We have to wait for approval from a few different sources, fill out more paperwork, that sort of thing.”
He closed the binder with a flourish. “Well, we can fix that right up. I’ll get you royal approval to bypass that phase, fast-track the project.”
She snapped upright. “No! Do not do that.”
