Page 104 of The Billionaire's Royal Secret

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Stephen said.

“Don’t you?” Nate scanned the room. “Take a look around, Stephen. Do you see him here?”

Stephen shrugged as he let his eyes scan over the crowd. “No. So what?”

“So, we lost him. Your antics pushed him too far. You should have left well enough alone. He declined the invitation to the event tonight because he wants to distance himself from this family. The royal family of Eldoria is never going to invest with us now.”

“We don’t know that. Maybe he just hates these types of events. He’s probably constantly at them. Maybe he just wanted a night off.”

“I doubt it. He said it was lovely to meet us both, but he must respectfully decline, and that he looks forward to following the company’s growth.” He raised his gaze to his brother as he clicked off his phone. “He looks forward to following the company’s growth. That’s code for I won’t be investing. Otherwise, he’d have said he looks forward to collaborating or similar. You blew it.”

“Maybe you blew it. Maybe not taking Ellie to the meeting blew it. I told you he was weirdlyinterested in her.”

“What does that even mean?” Nate asked.

“Maybe he’s the one she’s having the affair with,” Chloe mentioned.

Nate glared at her. “She’s not having an affair.”

“Like I said,” Stephen answered, “he kept asking about her. He asked if I’d met her, and if you two were serious. Just…weird stuff.”

Nate screwed up his face. “What? Why would he ask you about her?”

Stephen shrugged as he shook his head. “I don’t know. But I didn’t screw it up. I don’t think he was interested in our company at all. I’d start looking at his connection to your girlfriend, if I was you.”

Nate studied his brother’s face. The familiar fear of a woman betraying him crossed his mind, but he shoved it aside. Stephen had a way of painting a picture that wasn’t real. “Soon, she won’t be my girlfriend, she’ll be my fiancée. And I swear if you do anything to ruin this–”

“I’ve already been warned within an inch of my life, Nate. I’m not going to mess up your little proposal.” Stephen tugged on Chloe’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

Nate twisted as they skirted around him and mingled with the other guests. He found Elena, and they swapped stories about their recent interactions before they circulated amongst the guests again.

The night wound down, and Nate’s nerves began to ramp up again. He shifted his weight from foot to foot as they said more good nights to guests as they departed.

Elena offered him a fleeting smile before her features pinched. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I, uh…come with me.”

He grabbed her hand and led her from the house. He tried to force his steps to be slow, but he wanted to pick her upand run to the gazebo. The weight of the ring box in his pocket seemed to press down on him.

He shot her a nervous smile as they bypassed the pool.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” he said, his grin broadening as his heart thumped against his ribs.

He led her to the gazebo, lit with twinkling lights and filled with roses. She stepped inside, her jaw unhinging before she twisted to face him, her lips forming a confused smile. “What is this?”

He could barely form words as he grinned at her, his pulse racing. “Well, uh, I just…”

She fluttered her eyelashes at him as she waited for the response, the smile still on her lips.

“Ellie, since I met you, my life has been different. You’re like this beacon of light that I never thought I’d find.”

She lowered her chin as she offered him a tight-lipped smile. “I feel quite the same.”

He sucked in a shaky breath as he nodded. “I’m really glad you said that. Because I…love you. I am in love with you. And, Ellie…”

His heart pounded with such a frantic rhythm that he thought it might burst from his chest. His fingers touched the velvet box inside his pocket as he sank to one knee and cracked it open. He glanced up to her, his eyes hopeful. “Will you marry me?”

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