Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,109

came so quick I could barely catch my breath. I was done. I was hours away from holding my Ph.D. in my hand and then I would embark on a brand new adventure and I couldn’t wait.

Lucas

I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so proud of Frankie and all the hard work she’d put in. I’d read her dissertation and marveled at her incredible insights and the amazing way she could look beyond the outside of a person to who they were underneath…like me, for example. I’d been overlooked most of my life because I simply wasn’t what people wanted me to be, but not Frankie. Frankie saw something else besides the shy, nerdy guy with the glasses and messy hair. Right from the very first moment when she looked into my eyes, she saw me, which was more than I could say for just about everyone else in my life.

I clapped when she walked across the stage to accept her doctorate. She beamed at the crowd and I snapped as many photos that I could. This was the end, but it was also a beginning and I wanted to be beside her for every new experience for the rest of our lives.

After the ceremony, I ran to the car to grab the flowers I had stashed there. There were some from me, but there was also an enormous bunch from the king and queen. They were chomping at the bit to get Frankie back to Kalopsia and for her to start work, but I’d made sure they gave her a couple of weeks off. She deserved it.

I had plans for us. We would tour the region. She’d been on Kalopsia and in the village surrounding the palace, but there was more to the country for her to see and more people for her to meet. Plus, I wanted her to enjoy some of the summer relaxing on the beach and swimming in the sea and I’d even take her to the day spa at the resort if she wanted to. Knowing Frankie, she would use her time at the resort as a networking opportunity and then come up with some spectacular way for the resort to partner with the palace and the village in the country's rebuilding.

I watched as she crossed the lawn to where I waited beneath a tree. The tree, in fact. The tree we met under on that fateful day all those years ago. She was stopped time and again by other graduates and professors and members of the audience. Frankie never met a stranger, they were all just friends she hadn’t spoken to yet. I smiled as I watched her. I might not like to be around so many people, but I loved watching Frankie and how she navigated her world.

“Hey,” Frankie said as she stepped up to me.

I brushed a soft kiss on her lips. “Hey,” I replied.

“Did you rob a florist?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the mass of flowers in my arms.

I laughed. “No. These are from Jamie and Meredith,” I said, handing her the largest bunch.

“Oh, they’re beautiful,” she said, burying her face in them.

“And these are from me, although now I’m embarrassed to give them to you. They don’t quite measure up to the bouquet from the king.”

“They’re wonderful and in fact I think they’re better because they’re from you.”

She kissed me and then rested her head against my chest. I let my hand coast down her back and sighed contentedly.

“That’s nice of you to say,” I murmured, “but I know it’s not the truth.”

She tilted her head and nipped at my chin.

“If I say they’re better, then they’re better and you can’t argue with me.”

I pulled her close and tucked her head under my chin. “Okay. You’re the boss. I bow to your superior opinion.”

“As you should,” she replied. “I have a Ph.D. now, so technically, I’m smarter than you.”

“Yes, you are,” I replied. “You chose me, didn’t you?”

Frankie laughed and burrowed into me, and I kissed the top of her head and leaned back against the tree.

“Do you want us to set up here?” Olivia said.

“What?” Frankie asked, pulling away.

“The picnic,” Olivia replied with a grin.

“I don’t think we can have a picnic right here,” Frankie hissed.

“Of course we can,” Adam said, as he spread out a blanket.

“You guys are crazy,” Frankie said.

“No, we just wanted to make this special,” I said. “Besides, don’t you know what tree this is?”

“Of course I know what tree this is,” Frankie