Page 50 of The Billionaire's Royal Secret

“To ruin my time.” She pouted again before she shook her head. “Though you are correct. He’ll likely try something more beneficial to himself.”

“Like blackmailing you.”

Elena sucked in a breath. “Abdicate.”

“You wouldn’t, would you?”

Elena lifted her gaze to her ladies’ maid, her features twisting as a mix of confusion and upset swirled inside of her.

“Oh, dear, this is serious.”

Elena’s shoulders drooped. “Oh, Caroline. I don’t know. I don’t wish to, but…”

She stopped shy of saying more. “It doesn’t matter. Perhaps this will all come crashing down around me before it matters.”

Caroline eased onto the stool next to her. “You are quite enamored with him, aren’t you?”

Elena shot her an apologetic glance as she nodded. “I am. He is…wonderful. Smart, funny, caring, kind.”

“And most of all, he is not Prince Eric.”

Elena bit into another cookie, snapping her gaze to her ladies’ maid. “That’s not true. I mean, it is true that he isnotPrince Eric, but that is not the only reason I’m drawn to him. He is…tender and sweet.”

“Your Highness, he also has a history. Will he be able to handle the pressures of royal life?”

Elena let her hand thud against the counter with a sigh. “Please stop making sense, Caroline. I am not ready for this to end.”

Caroline tucked a lock of Elena’s hair behind her ear. “Oh, darling, I know. I just worry that when it must end, it will be even more difficult.”

A tear slid down Elena’s cheek. “You may be correct.”

She collapsed against Caroline and sobbed.

“Oh, Your Highness,” Caroline soothed, stroking her hair, “perhaps it will not be as bad as all that.”

Elena pulled back, wiping at the tears staining her face. “Yes, you are correct. Perhaps…it will be fine. Father will accept him. And Nathan will love royal life. He always tells me he hasn’t any money for nice things, but we shall have no need of his money. And we can still have nice things.”

Elena rose from her stool and paced the floor while wringing her hands. “Yes, it could work. It could be fine.”

She twisted to face Caroline who offered her a fleeting smile.

“You do not agree,” Elena said.

“I do not think one way or the other. But I know he means a great deal to you, so you should follow your heart.”

Elena let her gaze fall to the floor. “And what if it leads me astray? What if it betrays me?”

“Then you will have learned a lesson. And you will be better for it.”

Elena heaved a tired sigh. “I have no desire to be better for it, but I suppose I’ve donethis to myself.”

“We all have done it at some point in our lives,” Caroline said as Elena collapsed onto the stool again.

“Have you?”

“Oh, yes,” Caroline said with a nod. “His name was Henry. And I thought him so suave, so gallant.”

“What happened?”

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