Page 37 of Stealing the Promised Princess

“You don’t know her.”

“And I suppose you do now. I will look forward to hearing how you think I might best manage her.”

His brother hung up then. And left Javier standing there with his hand curled so tightly around the phone he thought he might break. Either his bones or the device, he didn’t know. Neither did he care.

He gritted his teeth and walked out of his office. Something compelled him down to the ballroom where he had the dance lesson with Violet. Where he held her in his arms and first began to question all that he was. It was unconscionable. That this woman he had known for a scant number of days could undo twenty years’ worth of restraint.

And when he flung open the doors to the ballroom... There she was.

Curled up in one of the tufted chairs that sat in the corner of the room, next to the floor-to-ceiling windows, sunlight bathing her beauty in gold.

Her legs were tucked up underneath her, and he could see the edges of her bare toes peeking out from beneath her shapely rear. She was wearing simple, soft-looking clothes, nothing fancy. Neither did she have on any of her makeup. She was reading.

Not on her phone.

And it made him want to dig deeper. To question all that she presented of herself to the world, all that she tried to tell him about who she was and who she actually might be.

She looked up when she heard his footsteps. “Oh,” she said. “I didn’t expect you to be lurking around the ballroom.”

“I didn’t expect you to be lurking around at all. Much less away from the computer.”

“I found this book in the library,” she said. “And the library’s beautiful, but it doesn’t have the natural lighting of this room.”

“Protecting the books,” he said.

“Makes sense.”

“What is it you’re reading?”

“It’s a book of fairy tales. Monte Blancan fairy tales. It’s very interesting. We all have our versions of these same stories. I guess because they speak to something human inside of us. I think my favorite one that I’ve read so far is about the Princess who was taken captive by a beast.”

“Is that what you think me? A beast?”

She closed the book slowly and set it down on the table beside the chair. “Possibly. Are you under some kind of enchantment?”

“No.”

“That’s something I found interesting in your version of the story. The Prince was not a beast because of his own sins. He was transformed into one as punishment for something his father had done. And then, much like the story I’m familiar with, the woman is taken captive because of the sins of her father. It feels shockingly close to home, doesn’t it?”

“Except I believe in the story my brother would be that enchanted Prince.”

Her gaze was too frank. Too direct. “If you say so.”

“You were shocked by your father’s deal?”

She nodded slowly. “I was. Because I thought that we... I knew he wasn’t perfect. I did. But it’s not like he was a raving villain like your father.”

; “You know, I didn’t realize my father was a raving villain until I started to see, really see the things that he had done to our country. And I don’t know that your father is a villain so much as he was made a desperate man in a desperate moment. And my brother took advantage of that. My brother does his best to act with honor. But like me, he is not afraid to be ruthless when he must be. I do not envy the man who had to go up against his will.”

“He should have protected me. He should never have used me as currency. I can’t get over that. I won’t.”

“Is that why you came? To teach him a lesson?”

Her lips twitched. “Maybe. And I won’t lie, I did think that perhaps my notoriety would keep me safe. You know, because people will miss me if I’m not around. But I sort of like not being around. It’s been an interesting vacation.”

“Except you’re going to marry my brother.”