Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,54

not even in the slightest. I felt pride. I felt overwhelming affection and love, not just for Frankie, but for the people who had gathered around us and accepted us. They’d lost everything when my family left and yet they treated me like a prodigal son, welcoming me back with open arms.

“So what do you think,” George asked me, pulling my attention away from Frankie.

“I think it needs to come with a warning label,” I replied with a grin, my fingers playing with the shot glass. “What happened to the distillery?” I asked hesitantly.

In the two weeks we’d been coming here, I’d never asked. I hadn’t wanted to know. Seeing the house had been hard enough, and I hadn’t been sure I could stand seeing the distillery in such a state.

George and the other men shared a glance and shifted uncomfortably on their stools.

“What?” I asked, my eyebrows raised in curiosity.

They shared another look before George sighed. “We’ve been sneaking in there,” he admitted, his ruddy cheeks turning a deeper shade of red. “That’s how we’ve been producing the raïda. We’ve been using the old still.”

I grinned. “That’s amazing,” I said.

George frowned at me. “You’re not angry?”

“Why would I be angry?” I asked.

“The equipment, the factory, it all belongs to your family.”

“My family abandoned it,” I said. I had what could only be explained as a light bulb moment. “I might have a proposition for you,” I said, my brain turning over all the pros and cons and possible outcomes of what I wanted to suggest. “Can you give me a few days to nail down the details?”

George looked at his friends before nodding. “You’re not going to kick us out?”

I laughed, the sound bursting from inside me with a joyous abandon that I’d never before experienced. “No, I’m not kicking you out, but,” I lifted my shot glass. “You really need work on this. I’ve had some bad raïda in my time, but this one, phew, it just about blew my head off.”

The men laughed and then poured me another shot. I knew I shouldn’t drink it, but I was feeling invincible so I shot the entire thing in one go and slammed my glass back down on the rough wooden bar. The men cheered and Frankie looked over toward me and smiled. She looked like an angel and I knew then, without a doubt, I’d well and truly tripped over the line. I’d fallen in love with my best friend.

Chapter 14

Francesca

Lucas’ arm was a heavy weight on my shoulder as I helped him from the car and into the palace. He was drunk, or at least well on the way to getting drunk. I didn’t mind, I actually found it hilarious. Despite Lucas’ quiet nature, he could hold his liquor…normally. He’d drunk me under the table on multiple occasions and I was not shy on the whole drinking front. Apart from the night he fake proposed to me, this was the most inebriated I’d seen him. Whatever the men had given him shots of earlier today, it must have been strong.

“Do you know how much I love you, Frankie?” he asked as we tripped up the stairs toward our suites.

I wanted to groan, but instead I just smiled sweetly at him. If only he was saying he was in love with me, but I knew the truth. It was easy to forget that we were just friends, especially with how close we’d been over the last few weeks. And the touching. And the kissing. Oh god, the kissing. The man could kiss. It surprised me just how well he could kiss, which probably explained why I insisted on kissing him whenever I could without it being weird. That very first kiss we shared when he fake proposed? That was the worst, but the kiss at our fake engagement party? Pretty sure he melted part of my brain with that kiss.

“I know,” I said, finally answering his question when we reached his suite door. “And I love you.”

Lucas turned to me and for a moment he looked as sober as a judge. He cupped my face, his eyes searched mine and then he lowered his head to rest against mine, our noses rubbing and our lips only millimeters apart.

“No, Frankie, I don’t think you do know,” he whispered, his alcohol laden breath wafting over me and then he was kissing me.

I should have pushed him away. I should have said no. He was drunk, and he was a long