Page 20 of The Billionaire's Royal Challenge

He bobbed his head up and down. “You, Caroline, Alexander.” His eyebrows furrowed. “What about Isabelle and Julian?”

“No,” Elena warned with a vehement shake of her head. “Donotlook to them. They will ensure you bungle something on purpose.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes. Isabelle will be up to her usual tricks. And by the way, I had better warn you that she finds you alluring.”

A sly grin spread across his features as he lifted his chin. “Really?”

“Don’t let it go to your head. She will only use it to your end.”

He screwed up his face. “How?”

“By luring you into a trap that will disqualify you from any relationship with me, and then leave you.”

“Ellie, I’d never cheat on you.”

“It does not matter if you would or wouldn’t. Appearances can be very deceiving. It only takes the whiff of scandal to kill our chances.”

“Right, avoid Isabelle,” he said witha shaky breath.

Elena nodded. “As best you can. She will deliberately seek you out, I am certain. She is unpleasant enough, though, that you should want to avoid her.”

“She seems it. Has she always been like that?”

“Yes,” Elena answered as she pulled away from his embrace and crossed the room to stare over the landscape. “She has always been this way. A bit jealous, I think, that she is fourth in line to the throne.”

“So, it’s you, then…”

“Alexander, Julian, then Isabelle.”

Nate hesitated for long enough to draw Elena’s attention.

“Darling? Are you all right?”

Nate sucked in a breath. “Yeah.”

She stuck her lower lip out in a pout as she studied his face. He looked overwhelmed, tired, and nervous. “You’re not, are you?”

“I’m fine,” he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

She wandered closer, sliding her arms around him. “It’s all right to be overwhelmed, Nathan. It’s quite a bit to take in. And quite a change. One that we did not have the opportunity to fully discuss because of my dishonesty.”

“No,” he said with a shake of his head as he pulled her closer. “Ellie, I love you. I don’t care about what happened. I did the same thing to you. It would be unfair of me to be angry about it.”

“Unfair things happen all the time. If you are upset, please tell me.”

“I’m not. I promise.” He huffed out a breath as he gave her a fleeting grin that seemed more genuine than the last. “Iamprobably overwhelmed.”

She cupped his cheek in her hand. “I knew it. It will take some getting used to, but you’ll manage it with flying colors, I know it.”

“You all are so used to it. And so…poised and perfect.”

She chuckled. “We have been doing this for our entire lives. I came out of my mother’s womb curtsying.”

He chewed his lower lip as she spoke.

“That was a joke.”

---