Page 26 of Take My Throne

Milly shakes her head. “He’s absolutely head over heels in love with you, Ivy, but just because he has strong feelings for you doesn’t mean you have to reciprocate. I mean, I wouldn’t say no to a date with Declan. The way he tosses his hair gives me goosebumps!”

“Declan is pretty darned gorgeous,” I agree. “But then Archer’s just my type. If you asked me to describe my dream man, I’d give you a photo of him and call it done. The problem is, I like them both. They’re so different-–how can I choose between them? Declan’s really sweet. He’s never pressured me to do anything I didn’t want, and he really seems to care about my happiness. Like, if I choose Archer over him, he’d be sad, but he wouldn’t do anything to change my mind. He’d rather I was happy with Archer than miserable with him. Not that he’d make me miserable. Argh!” I could tear my hair out with frustration.

“And then there’s Romy. What’s the deal with you guys? I thought he’d be devastated when you married Lucas, but he seems to be fine.”

“That’s because everyone thinks Romy’s a player,” I remind her. “He’s good at putting up a front so no one knows how he really feels. That’s what I like about him. He intrigues me. He puts up a huge front so people think he’s nothing but a Casanova, but underneath all of that he’s really sensitive. He was devastated when I married Lucas, but he understood it wasn’t my fault. My marriage is a sham, so it’s not like anybody should take it seriously. I know who I want to be with, even if I tried to push them away. They know it too.”

“You don’t think you can figure something out with Lucas and make it work?” Milly asks. “I mean, plenty of arranged marriages turn out perfectly fine and you’ve got to admit that Lucas is really good looking.”

“You think?”

“Oh yes,” Milly gushes. “All the girls at school think so. If he didn’t have that ring on his finger, he’d have his pick. As it is, a few have tried to make a move on him.”

“Really?” I am surprised by the little pang of jealousy which hits me when I hear that.

“Yeah. Ally tried to get him to kiss her at the ball. She was probably trying to get back at you for stealing Declan from her.”

“I guess I can’t blame her for that,” I say. “Although, I didn’t exactly steal Declan. It was a little more complicated than that. I had no idea he had a girlfriend when we kissed and nothing more than that happened until after they broke up.”

“Lucas wasn’t interested though,” Milly told me. “He’s so loyal to you. When we danced together at the ball, all he could talk about was how cool you were and how you were even better in real life than your picture.”

“Is that right?”

“It was interesting though,” Milly says. “I got the impression that although he likes you a lot, it wouldn’t have mattered what you were like-–he would have married you anyway. It’s just that he likes you enough to see if you can make your marriage work right now. But there was a part of me that thought…”

Milly bites her lip and looks away.

“What is it, Mills? What did you think?”

“You’ll think I’m being silly.” Milly shakes her head and waves me away. “It’s not even appropriate for me to say. Forget I mentioned it.”

“You know I can’t do that, Mills. Just tell me. Whatever it is, it’ll be fine, but you’ve got me all intrigued now.”

Milly inhales deeply, not looking me in the eye. “I kind of got the impression he was flirting with me.”

“Flirting with you?” That’s the last thing I expected her to say.

“I know. It’s silly of me to even think about it. Like someone like Lucas would be interested in someone like me. He’s a great guy.”

“Someone like you?” I scoff. “I’ve told you this before and I’ll keep telling you until you believe it. You’re beautiful. Anyone would be lucky to be with you. If you think Lucas was flirting with you, then I have no doubt that’s what he was doing.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

I shrug. “Maybe if things were different I’d be annoyed, but with Lucas, not with you. You’re my best friend. I know you’d never do anything to hurt me. But this isn’t a real marriage and I’m planning on getting it annulled as soon as I possibly can. We haven’t even slept together.”

“Really? Not even once?” Milly’s eyes boggle. “Aren’t you curious to find out what he’s like in bed?”

“Not really. I mean, I’m already juggling three guys. I really don’t feel the need to complicate things but adding a fourth one into the mix. In fact, Milly, if Lucas doesmake a pass at you and you want to reciprocate, that would be fine by me.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Nope. You deserve a little happiness, and so does Lucas. I’m not ever going to be interested in him in that way, and I don’t expect him to live like a monk for however long we’re married.”

What I don’t tell Milly is that if she did have an affair with Lucas, it would make it even easier for me to get my marriage annulled. Part of me feels bad for using my friend like this, but I know Milly well enough to know that it is unlikely she’d ever follow through with Lucas. She is simply too sweet.

“Well, I was probably imagining him flirting with me anyway,” Milly says. “So, I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about that any time soon. Do you want a drink or something? I can make some coffee. My dad got me the most amazing coffee maker for my birthday.”

I can tell Milly wants to change the subject, so I nod. “Sure. That would be great.”

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