head, but I was—I am—prepared to if need be. I’m not prepared to go back in there and pretend that nothing has changed. If he can’t see that—if everything he saw tonight wasn’t enough . . .” She shrugged. “Then I guess I need to make my point more explicitly.”
Holy Mary, mother of God. “Okay, hang on now.” Leo took Marie’s hand and started towing her toward his room. She resisted. “I’m cold,” he said. “I need to change first.” He could give a shit about being cold, but he needed a moment to gather his thoughts, and he wasn’t above manipulating her sympathies to get it.
Inside his room, he shut the door. “You can’t abdicate.” He rummaged around in his stuff until he found a pair of jeans.
“I can, though. I can do whatever I want.” She laughed incredulously, like the idea was equal parts astonishing and delightful.
“Marie.” Leo flung his wet dress pants to the side and jammed his legs into his jeans. “Listen to me—”
“No. You listen to me. Do you want to be with me or not?”
“Yes, of course.” He gentled his voice. “I love you. I just think we can leave this for tomorrow. We can talk to your father tomorrow. And if you need to . . .” Jesus, he couldn’t even say the word. “Maybe there’s a way to do this that doesn’t result in you losing your father.”
“I already lost my father. He used to be my father the king. Now he’s just the king.” Her voice hitched and she swallowed. When she spoke again, it was in a whisper.
“Leo, I don’t want this life anymore. Not like this, anyway.”
He took her in his arms. “All right, love.” She was shivering. He tightened his hold on her. “But does it have to be now? Are you sure you want to go busting in there breathing fire?”
“You did!”
He chuckled. “Yeah, you got me there.”
She pulled away from him and looked him in the eyes. “I think sometimes you need to make a grand declaration. You have to say things in a way that ensures they’ll be heard.”
He still didn’t think she needed to do it that way, though. She’d be the center of attention, which she hated. She’d embarrass herself.
“I’m done letting people tell me what to do. I’m done playing princess. I’ve spent the last few years doing exactly what my father wanted me to, the way he wanted me to, my own wishes be damned, and—”
He cut her off with a kiss. When she put it like that, it was a no-brainer. He thought he’d been protecting her by trying to talk her out of abdication, but he could see now that what she needed wasn’t his protection, but his support. He pulled away. “Okay, let’s go. You want to stop by your suite and change first?”
She looked down at herself. The bottom of her gown was wet, the deep blue looking navy. It was muddy in spots, too, and there were a few twigs stuck to its hem. “No, no, I do not. In fact, I think this is perfect for the task at hand.” Her gaze flickered to him. “I think we’re perfect.”
He didn’t look any more respectable than she did, with his jeans and bare feet—which he proceeded to stuff into his sneakers. The two of them looked like Prince and Princess Ken and Barbie torsos had been mistakenly stuck on top of rag-doll legs.
He held out his arm. “Then let’s get this show on the road. It’s Christmas Eve. We have other places to be.” Namely, cozied around the fire with Gabby, getting Marie an airplane ticket so they could all get the hell out of Dodge tomorrow.
As they approached the ballroom, Leo caught a flash of yellow. A flash of yellow that looked like a dress on a small person who had just disappeared through the double doors into the room.
“Was that Gabby?” Marie asked.
Oh fuck him. Was this night ever going to be over? He picked up their pace. “Well, we’re already going out with a bang.” And this way Gabby would get her wish to see the ball, if only for a moment before they were all thrown out on their nonroyal asses.
“I think that was one of my old dresses,” Marie said, puzzlement in her tone.
When they started down the stairs, Gabby was about halfway across the dance floor, in the same spot Marie had been in when Leo had burst through these