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She watched, fascinated, as Will swallowed and his Adam’s Apple ricocheted in his throat. “Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry.” She shook her head sadly. “I had no idea.”
“How could you? We just met.”
That was true, and yet something about their surroundings made her feel intimately connected to this man. “Eight years ago.” She pulled together the various breadcrumbs of information he had dropped during their time together. “You began to work as a foreign correspondent shortly afterwards.”
He nodded. “I had to finish out my contract in DC first, and to pack up our house and our life.”
“What kind of coward murders a pregnant woman?”
“The worst kind,” he assured her.
“I bet she was a wonderful person,” Lilah murmured soothingly, pushing the conversation onto what she hoped would be pleasanter ground.
“She was the sweetest woman on earth. I loved her to bits.” He grinned. “Harry took a while to warm to the idea but eventually he came on board.”
Lilah wondered at the strange pain in her chest as he spoke so freely of his love for this woman. Was it because she would be unlikely to ever know such a feeling? Because her duties would require her to one day marry someone sensible and suitable, and love would have little place in the equation? What would it be like to feel attracted to someone and to simply act on it?
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “To have lost her at all, but particularly in such a pointless way …”
“Yes.” He finished his soup and put the bowl in the sink. “Now, princess, what do you say to some fishing?”
She stared at him with a quizzical expression. Surely she’d misheard, or misunderstood. Though her English was excellent, there were some colloquialisms that occasionally passed her by. “What is this?” She said slowly, after a minute, her eyes enormous in her face.
A spark ignited in his gut. One he hadn’t felt in an incredibly long time. He quelled it. Talking about Maddie had stirred everything up for him, that was all.
“Fish-ing,” he said slowly. “The act of submerging a line into water to try to hook dinner.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I heard you. I just thought I must have misunderstood.”
“Because Princesses don’t fish?” He said, his teasing tone making her cheeks flush.
“Well, generally not.”
“Come on, we’ve already addressed this. You’re an all-new princess. You jump out of buildings and sit on dusty floors.”
She laughed. “I guess you have a point there. I, er, thought we were going to walk.”
“We’ll walk to the lake.” He nodded towards her soup. “Finish that, your highness.”
She arched a brow. “You’re giving me orders?”
“Out here, I’m in charge.”
She nodded, but the throbbing pulse of attraction was spreading through her like a current. She felt it bombarding her nervous system and it was such a foreign and new sensation that it startled her completely. “Okay.” She dipped her head forward and concentrated on the soup. At least, she appeared to give the breakfast her full concentration, but her mind was absolutely zipping.
It was simply the strangeness of their circumstances, she thought reassuringly. She was now in closer proximity with a man than ever before. Without the presence of her guards and the palace, without the need for caution and protocol, she was allowing herself to relax completely for almost the first time in her life. That was all it was.
It wasn’t Will Wright, per se.
The theory lasted just as long as it took her to finish the bowl and place it in the sink as he’d done. When she spun around, Will was right behind her. She almost collided with his body and had to lift her hands to his muscular chest to stop herself from stumbling. She lifted her eyes to his, the apology she’d been about to say lost completely.
His eyes were a stunning shade of brown. They almost seemed flecked with amber and gold. They were rimmed by thick black lashes that spiked out confidently.
He smelled so good.
His chest was warm beneath her fingers.
