Page 16 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

Panic made her throat close. ‘But I can’t commit to that... It’s...’Too intimate? Too dangerous? Too exposing?‘I can’t possibly take two weeks away from my official duties in December, and at such short notice,’ she said hastily, trying to come up with a viable excuse not to spend a fortnight with him—especially at Christmas.

She hated Christmas. It had always been a difficult time of year for her, even before her parents had died, and one she had never enjoyed. The thought of being forced to celebrate it with a man like him, who she suspected already had the ability to see too much, was untenable. ‘And it makes no sense to leave the palace,’ she continued, ‘when it will create a security nightmare—’

‘Stop panicking,’ he cut in, making her brutally aware she had revealed too much already. ‘I’ll agree to ten days in total, to accommodate your schedule,’ he said. ‘And I’ll get my people to liaise with Jensen about the security once we go public with the engagement,’ he continued, as if it were already a done deal. ‘But it shouldn’t be a problem. My place is secluded and private with only one access road. And if we keep the location under wraps, it’ll take at least ten days for anyone to find us there.’

Secluded? Private?

The thought only horrified her more. Keeping busy was the way she got through the season, the way she rode out the storm of memories—and the hollow ache of loneliness—that had dogged her at this time of year ever since she was a child.

‘But I...’ she began, desperately trying to come up with reasons not to agree to his request. ‘That’s really not—’

But he interrupted her again. ‘Quit freaking out, Belle,’ he said, sounding reasonable. Fartooreasonable. But the determination—which she remembered from their stand-off over her security detail—told a very different story. ‘Consider those ten days a chance to let off steam and figure out the logistics of this arrangement. We’re not gonna have any time together before the marriage, so we’re gonna need time after to get to know each other.’

‘But I never take more than a few days off at Christmas...’ she tried again, feeling her panic rising. ‘I have too many commitments. And I—’

‘Then you’ll have to cancel them. Like I said, Christmas is the only chance I get to go boarding and chill. Plus, I’m gonna need some guaranteed downtime away from the media after the wedding circus you’re insisting on.’

Christmas? Downtime?The idea horrified her.

‘But there’s going to be so much to do...’ She trailed off as his expression remained implacable and unmoved.

‘There’s always so much to do. What are you so scared of?’

‘I’m not scared,’ she said, desperate to convince herself now, as well as him.

She made herself breathe. Letting Travis Lord know of her fears, of how vulnerable she felt at that time of year, would just expose her more... Especially as the prospect of spending ten days alone with him was already catapulting her so far outside her comfort zone she was practically on Mars.

‘Then what’s the big deal?’ he said, still being Mr Far-Too-Reasonable. ‘My place has enough space we won’t bump into each other if we don’t want to, and you’re probably gonna need some downtime, too.’

But I never take downtime.

She swallowed the revealing remark.

How had he managed to box her into a corner again? As he had during their snowball fight? With no ammunition left.

Blast the man, he’s outmanoeuvred me again. This is getting to be a really annoying habit.

‘Okay, fine.’ She sighed, knowing it was not at all fine. But continuing to freak out, as he had so indelicately put it, would just put her at more of a disadvantage.

You are a queen, you can handle anything, including a ten-day Christmas break with Travis Lord.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be that bad? She would simply have to keep her wits about her while she was in his home. And, strictly speaking, this would still be a working Christmas. He certainly did not seem the sentimental sort, so surely he would not insist on any of the trappings of Christmas that she had always avoided. And she didneedto get to know him better, if only to figure out how to stop him outmanoeuvring her so easily. Plus, if she was going to spend a year pretending to be intimate with him, she needed to become comfortable with spending time with him. She would consider this a baptism of fire. And anyway, they would not be alone—because she very much doubted he cooked and cleaned for himself.

‘Cool,’ he said. ‘You won’t regret it.’

Unlikely, seeing as I already am.

He glanced at the sun, which was about to dip below the horizon. ‘Come on, we have a date with the paparazzi.’ He stamped his feet back into the bindings of his snowboard. ‘FYI, don’t forget to look like you adore me as soon as we hit town, Belle.’

Her heart pounded against her ribcage—and pulsed between her thighs.

Precisely!

CHAPTER SIX

‘PERHAPSWESHOULDbe holding hands, Travis?’

Travis felt the inconvenient shot of lust at the tentative question from the woman beside him as they strolled through the sleepy Alpine town together and he tried to ignore the five guys flanking them and scanning the chocolate-box houses of Sariyelva like Rottweilers.

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