widening his face. “So how have you been adjusting to royal life?”
I don’t think I am adjusting. Everything inside me was convinced this was only temporary, so I dealt with it assuming I’d be gone soon. “Dealing with the paparazzi hasn’t been very easy.”
“I completely understand. They are vile.”
“They make me feel hunted.”
Lucian’s eyes soften. “Don’t pay attention to the news, Daisy. From where I sit, you’re doing the best you can.”
A painful, guilty feeling seeds in my stomach as I meet his kind gaze. “This is not me doing the best I can—I wore this on purpose.”
“You do know he’s going to go ballistic, right?”
“That’s the whole point.”
He laughs in a way that makes color rise to my cheeks. “I like you. You’re fun.”
“Thanks.”
“And you make my brother happy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this long with a girl.”
“Well, we’re married.”
“Right,” he says, winking at me. Then he leans even closer. “Daisy, everybody knows this is a sham marriage.”
They do?
He gazes back at me calmly, still smiling.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure you don’t, love.”
He winks again, and I’m confused by the burst of heat across my chest. Did Liam tell him? How many people know? I look down at my flip-flops and faded jeans, and regret momentarily fills my stomach, but then I spot my husband standing near the entrance in a robin’s-egg-blue dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He’s also wearing black slacks and a thin belt.
Blood rushes to my face as his gaze finds me and his handsome face creases into unprincely shock. He’s still beautiful, even when he’s wearing a scowl. Liam walks to my side, and I stand to greet my husband.
“Liam!”
I wrap my arms around his back in a hug, which he is obligated to return, and kiss his frozen lips. A vicious satisfaction fills my veins as I pull back and see his carefully masked calm cracking already.
Good.
“My dear princess,” he says through his teeth. “Don’t you look… fetching.”
“I knew how much you loved soccer, so I thought I’d wear this t-shirt.”
Behind Liam, Lucian stifles a laugh behind his hands. I don’t think Liam’s lips can get any whiter.
“Football,” Liam says in an acidic tone. “It’s called football here.”
“Oh, I know, but I thought it’d be cute if I wore this as a nod to my American identity.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“You wouldn’t want to strip me of my identity, would you?”
The veins on Liam’s forehead bulge as his face turns bright red. “No, I guess not.”
“I mean, if you’re a soccer fan, I’m sure our children will be soccer fans as well—”
“Let’s sit!”
He takes the decision out of my hands as he clamps his fingers over my wrists and forces me back into the chair. I smile at the rest of the guests, pretending nothing is amiss as Liam’s grip cuts off my blood circulation.
“What. Is. This?” he hisses under his breath.
“Payback.”
His furious eyes glance over the table. “This is grossly over-proportionate to what I made you do.”
“This is for every annoying thing you’ve ever done to me.” I turn away from him, addressing the guests. “Well, dig in, everyone! Don’t be shy!”
I grab the pot of hot water before Liam can reach for it, and I pour hot water into the cups of myself, Liam, his brothers, and two other guests. They look at me, stunned, as I sit back down and dunk my tea bag in the cup. I can practically smell Liam’s hair burning as he forces a painful smile onto his face, unwraps an Earl Grey teabag, and dips it into his cup. The others follow suit, giving each other strange looks.
A woman down the table leans in, catching my gaze. “Princess Daisy, thank you so much for inviting me.”
“No problem, hon. You know, I never really was a tea person until I came to Anglefell. I mean, I’ve had green tea, but only at Starbucks and only with lots of corn syrup added to it.”
“Ah.”
I grab one of the cucumber sandwiches from the three-tiered tray, watching Liam out of the corner of my eye. “The absolute best thing about tea is the things you can dunk in it. Like this sandwich.”
I dip the end of the finger sandwich in my steaming teacup, which still has my bag inside it, and then I pull out the soggy mess in front of the dozen or so horrified guests. I pop it in my mouth, tasting the white bread saturated with tea and the mayonnaise