Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,83

you to it, we’ll need to review the necessary restorations before I go.”

“Okay,” Edvin said, happy to do whatever was necessary to hurry the man out of his hair so he could get on with the actual work ahead of him and then… and then prepare himself for the ball. For his prince. For the happily ever after that he was finally ready to accept was really in the cards for him.

Because all those things Leo always said to him that sounded like they actually meant “I love you”? Things like “your family is my family” and “I want the chance to spoil you” and “yes, I do want to marry you, Eddie”? Now that Edvin was face to face with the opposite of love—in other words, Hans, who only knew how to love himself, and who, quite frankly, didn’t even do a very good job of that, it seemed—it was suddenly so obvious that Edvin almost felt silly for ever having doubted it in the first place.

All those things sounded like they meant “I love you” because they actually did.

Edvin’s heart sped up again, and this time, he couldn’t have held in his smile if he’d tried. Leo loved him, and just as soon as Edvin made it to the Royal Ball, he was going to man up and tell his prince that he loved him, too.

The thought sort of terrified him, if he was being honest, but it also filled him with a whole boatload of lovely, warm flutters, so he wasn’t going to let a little thing like terror stop him. In fact, he wasn’t going to let anything stop him.

Except, as it turned out, for everything that actually did.

Chapter Sixteen

Leo

Leo pulled his phone out for the dozenth time to check for a response from Eddie, then frowned and tucked it back into his pocket when, once again, he had none. He was being ridiculous, of course. Acting like an eager schoolboy with a crush just because he’d been deprived of his little librarian for too long. He knew Nils had already left to pick the Bloms up so they could dress for the ball in the apartment Leo had had Hugo prepare for them in the family wing of the palace, so waiting a few more minutes to see Eddie face to face should certainly be something he could put up with.

Could… but still didn’t have to like.

He huffed out a breath, drumming his fingers on his thigh as he scanned his suite to make sure Treble wasn’t waiting to pounce on his shoe. Good. Still no sign of the little pest. In fact, she hadn’t been around to bother him all day. Of course, that only made him wonder what she was planning, but for all that he liked to stay on his guard around the conniving little beast, even worrying about which direction her next attack would come from couldn’t distract him from his restlessness to hear from—or better yet, to see, touch, hold, and coddle—his Eddie again.

Leo had never been a particularly patient man, and given that it had been more than twenty-four hours since they’d last been in touch, he was feeling particularly impatient at the moment. He’d definitely have to consider issuing a royal decree that such a thing never happen again… and also buy Eddie a better phone.

He opened the door to the armoire that held his tie collection to make sure Treble wasn’t trapped inside. He wouldn’t put it past her to get herself locked in somewhere as a strategic ploy to shred something valuable or, more probably, to lie in wait and pounce the moment she was freed. But… he frowned at the interior of the armoire.

No Treble.

He pulled out his phone again and thumbed it open.

Still no message from Eddie.

He sighed, chuckling at his own addiction to the sweet man he’d fallen so hard for… then nearly jumped out of his skin when Hugo’s ever-so-proper voice sounded from behind him.

“I’ve already laid out your formal dress for the ball, Your Highness,” Hugo said, sending the open armoire a pointed look. “Were you considering bucking convention to add a magenta tie?”

Leo grimaced. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. Not that he was particularly a fan of magenta, but anything other than the traditional black-and-red, rose-patterned suit would have been preferable. Still, he had bigger concerns than what tradition dictated he wear to the Royal Ball at the moment. “I was just looking for Tre—” Leo caught himself just in