Secrets of a Prince (The Princes of New Sargasso #3) - Carol Moncado Page 0,31

“Exactly.”

The light in her eyes made him feel like this might actually work between the two of them.

And maybe this would be the night he finally kissed his wife.

12

Just how long could she wash dishes without Joss getting suspicious that she was stalling?

Minnie figured she was about at that point. Regardless, she needed to get back out into the living area.

Joss sat on the lounge underneath the Trilunium map. He didn't even look up as she walked in. Instead, he scribbled a note on the sheet of paper before flipping it over.

She sat nervously in the chair to the side of the sofa where she could still stare out the window at some of the cityscape. If she stood at the window, she could see the ocean, but not from the seat where she was now.

“This is really good, Minnie.” He still didn't look up. He made another note, then flip to the page again.

She clasped and unclasped her fingers together repeatedly. This was nerve wracking. Why couldn't she go for a run or something while he read? Maybe she should go do something in a different part of the apartment. Washing dishes clearly hadn't taken long enough.

Minnie stood and walked toward the back of the apartment. She thought about sitting in the office and waiting there, but the aesthetic wasn’t her style. Instead, she went into the bedroom and sat in the cozy chair she’d resituated to look out the window. From there, she could also see the bay.

She could see ships coming in and out. Everything from fishing vessels to large yachts used the bay. Her father had owned one, once upon a time. He’d sold it a couple of years earlier then bragged that he’d be buying a much larger one before long. But the influx of income he expected never materialized.

“It’s a great view, isn’t it?”

Minnie startled and turned. “How long have I been sitting here?”

Joss shrugged as he walked toward her. “It’s been about an hour since we finished dinner, but I don’t know when you headed this way.” He leaned against the window frame since there was only one chair in the room. “It’s amazing, Min. Really, it is.”

“I saw you scribbling notes.” She stared past him out the window.

“Well, yeah. Some of them were good notes, like ‘this is perfect just as it is’ and some were things like ‘passive sentence’ that could be made better. There’s even a couple of plot notes, if we’re going with the plan that what you realized about Joshua and Anne is right.”

“I am.” She knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt. She’d read everything so many times, just to make sure.

“I believe you.” He stared down at the papers in his hand. “Can you enter more than once?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Would you want to do two? One with it the other way? Just in case.”

Second thoughts started to crowd into her mind. What if she was wrong? She struggled to keep her tone under control. “I’ll look into it.”

“If you can’t enter more than one, then it’s a moot point.”

“Unless I wrote it both ways, and then decided which one was better.”

He looked straight at her. “I could ask Kari about it.”

Minnie shook her head. “No. I don’t want any kind of special advantage because I’m married to her brother-in-law.”

He held up the pages. “Where do you want me to put these?”

She tilted her head toward the side table. “Just set it there.” She’d been eager to look at his notes and see what she could improve, but not as much anymore.

Something about how he questioned her interpretation bothered her. It ruined her excitement and made her wish she had never come to the conclusion she had. Maybe he was right. Maybe she misinterpreted how the instructions were written.

Or maybe they were written in such a way to be part of the test. But which way? Were you supposed to notice and acquiesce to decades of assumptions, or read the texts more carefully and challenge them?

“How long can you stay this evening?”

“Probably not too much longer. I’ve got an early morning tomorrow. I should be able to be here earlier tomorrow night and stay later.”

Minnie nodded. “That’ll be nice.” Tomorrow she wouldn’t bring up her story. She’d try to work on it, but she didn’t think she’d discuss it with Joss for a while.

RealJ1955 was the only person she’d ever shared her work with before it was finished. She’d never done as some of the