Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,23

at all,” she said. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

I snorted. “Yeah, right. I think you’re projecting. Lucas has never once looked at me like he wanted more than what we have. Believe me, I’ve watched him closely. Besides, you met Clarissa. She was his ideal wife. Clarissa was everything Lucas was looking for in a partner and I am nothing like her. I am loud and argumentative and bossy and not in the least bit graceful. I could never make Lucas happy, not in the long run.”

“You sell yourself too short, honey,” Mom said kindly. “Besides, if Clarissa was everything Lucas wanted in a wife then why doesn’t he look the least bit heartbroken over the breakup?”

“I never said he was in love with her,” I retorted.

“So you would rather he marry someone he isn’t in love with?”

“He’s not in love with me, so your point is moot. What I would rather is the end of this conversation.”

“Fine. I’ll drop it,” Mom said. “For now.”

“You two are taking an awful long time with dessert,” Dad said as he and Lucas came into the kitchen. “We thought you might be eating it all without us.”

“Yep, sorry. There’s none left,” I said with a grin and then poked my tongue out.

“Well, I guess your Dad and I will just have to share these then,” Lucas said, pulling out a box of Ashby Chocolates.

“Those are mine,” Mom exclaimed, outraged.

“Nope,” Lucas replied with a wink. “I bought these for Frankie, but since she already had dessert…”

“Give them to me,” I said, lunging for him.

Lucas held the box above his head, and I tried to climb him to get to them.

He looked down at me and there was something new and different and a million degrees hotter in his eyes than I’d ever seen before.

I gasped as our eyes met and I reflexively clung tighter to him, his free arm going around my waist to hold me in place.

“Do you want this, Frankie?” he asked, his voice a low growl that gave me goosebumps.

I didn’t know if he was talking about the box of truffles or…

Nope. Not going there.

“Hand over the chocolates, Andino, and no one gets hurt,” I said, forcing laughter into my voice.

Our eyes held for a moment more before he slowly let me slide down to the floor.

“Who wants cheesecake?” Mom asked, and the moment was broken.

Maybe this was a terrible idea after all.

I tossed and turned in my bed. Sleep would not come and all I could think about was the way Lucas looked at me when I’d climbed him like a tree. I hadn’t even thought about what I was doing, I just did it and then realization set in. When our eyes met…phew…was it hot in here?

I kicked the blankets off and reached for my iPad. If I couldn’t sleep, then maybe I could read…or not. After trying unsuccessfully to read, I gave up. There are only so many times I can read a page and not understand it before I’m waving the white flag of surrender.

I tossed the iPad aside and slumped back on my pillow. I was being an idiot. Lucas and I had been friends for a really long time. Why was I suddenly looking at him with hearts in my eyes? I knew in my heart of hearts that nothing would ever come of it, and torturing myself with images of the two of us growing old together was not helpful in the slightest.

I rolled out of bed and crossed my room to the dresser. I took the ring out of my jewelry box and slid it on my finger, holding my hand out to admire the way it sparkled. It was a beautiful ring and also absolutely not the kind of ring I would choose for my own engagement ring. It didn’t stop me from admiring it, though.

Nothing had changed between Lucas and me, but it felt like everything had. I was just doing him a favor and in return I got to interview the king of a small country. No biggie.

Except it was big. Huge, in fact. And it would absolutely change our relationship. Lucas would move to a new country. I know he said it would only be a for a few months, but I knew in my bones that once he got a taste of life outside of his parents' influence, he would bloom and he would never want to come back.

I would come back. This engagement was