Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,28
of giving in to the way that smile tempted him to believe the impossible. “How ex-ex-exact… um, h-h-how can I help with that?”
He finally remembered his flailing hands and decided to tuck them back into his pockets… but then he also remembered that they were supposed to be walking toward the terrace for lunch and that it was his own moment of foolishness that had stopped them.
Edvin spun on his heel, turning in the direction they’d originally been headed—because maybe if he hurried up and got them back on track, the prince would overlook Edvin’s ridiculousness and Edvin would stop imagining things that couldn’t be true—but then he turned right back, because Leo hadn’t moved to walk with him.
Honestly, Edvin should have spent the last week brushing up on royal protocol instead of mooning over the magical sense of connection he’d fooled himself into thinking the two of them had, because now here he was on one of the royal estates with the crown prince himself and a discreet army of staff members bustling about doing important things and looking far more like they belonged than Edvin did, and he’d probably flubbed up completely by walking ahead of Leo or having his hands in his pockets or mistakenly assuming that the million and one ways that the prince kept acting like he was interested in Edvin actually added up to, well, to the prince being interested in Edvin.
“S-S-Sorry,” he said as Leo gave him one of those warm, sparkling, wonderful looks again. The kind of look that, in Edvin’s opinion, Leo really shouldn’t be directing at anyone he didn’t want to make fall head over heels in love with him, especially when he was about to be married to someone else. Except… wait. Edvin’s brow furrowed, and he reached up to adjust his glasses. Leo had said he still needed a fiancée. Had he been implying that—
“Are y-y-y-you really saying that you… you don’t know who you’re going to marry yet?” Edvin asked, forcing the words out even though the whole subject still made his tongue want to twist into an impenetrable knot of denial. It was important, though, because Leo was important. Not because he was the crown prince, but because he was Leo. “You’re going to marry someone you d-d-don’t even know yet? S-S-Someone that you d-d-d-don’t… don’t… love?”
The last word was barely a whisper, Edvin’s throat tightening up as he spoke and making it even harder than usual to say what he intended. Because if that was true, it was… sad. And not just the-death-of-Edvin’s-dreams kind of sad, but sad for Leo.
Leo’s eyes widened at the question, and for the first time since Edvin had known him, he actually looked a little flustered.
“Well, ah… love? I have a duty,” he said after a moment of definite awkwardness. Then he cleared his throat and repeated it more firmly. “I’ve got a duty, Eddie. I’m the heir, and it’s time for me to marry. Mother and Father provided me with a vetted list of candidates to choose from, but as it is a lifetime commitment, I’d prefer to find my own spouse.”
“Oh,” Edvin said, a fair portion of the day’s sparkle dying inside him at that. “R-R-Right. Okay.”
It made sense, though, he supposed. It didn’t appeal to the closeted romantic in him, but real life wasn’t a fairy tale—apparently not even for princes—and this, at least, was actually something he might be able to help Leo with.
He straightened his spine, adjusting his glasses again, and gave Leo his best I’m-your-man-but-not-that-way look.
“I’m d-d-definitely what you need, then. I-I-I-I’m excellent at research. I can help you with… with th-th-the list. Or with your own list, if you don’t like any of the women on your parents’ list.” Oops. That sounded too informal, didn’t it? “I mean, on the king and queen’s list,” he clarified quickly. “King Alphonse and Queen Aubrey, erm, Their… Their Royal Most Majestic Majesties. Which, obviously, you knew. Knew who I was referring to, I mean, because they’re your parents, so you know them and I also know them because they’re, well, the king and queen. Everybody knows them. Just… just not the same way you do.”
Edvin’s voice trailed off to a mere whisper by the end, and he squeezed his eyes closed in despair. Oh Lord. Oh shizzle. Oh double-dratted piss sticks. Why, when his tongue usually didn’t work at all, had it suddenly decided to run away from him like an out-of-control tram car?
The prince chuckled,