Page 49 of Always Knew It Was You

I shake my head. “Anyway, she ticks all the boxes so far. So why not marry her?”

Ally and Jameson share a look, before turning back to me.

“You don’t love her?” Jameson sounds almost saddened by the news.

I shrug. “Between you and me, I’m not sure I’m capable of love. And you know in our circles, love marriages like yours are hard to come by.” Jameson and Ally’s relationship is a rare occurrence in high society. They were best friends turned high school sweethearts, with Jameson having held a torch for her most of his life. Ally finally returned his affection somewhere around the 11th grade after Jameson shot up several inches and grew respectable facial hair. They’ve been in love and inseparable ever since.

But I don’t expect to find anything like that with anyone else I know.

Most people in our circles marry for mutual benefit and to forge powerful connections. That’s it.

“So who is she?” Ally says. “To win your grandpa’s approval, she can’t be any ordinary socialite, right?”

“Oh no. I’m not falling for that.” I shake my head. “As far as everyone is concerned, Carly is just a normal girl. A downright nobody, in fact.”

“Bullshit.” I’ve laid enough seeds that Ally’s eyes are now glittering with curiosity. “Oh, come on. Tell us. You know I can keep a secret.”

Oh, Ally, my dear, you absolutely cannot.

I sigh for dramatic effect. “I really can’t go into it, Ally. It’s not my secret to tell.”

“But we won’t tell anyone. And I’m not going to leave you alone until I hear the secret. You know how much of a pest I can be when I want to. Right, Jamie?”

Jamie murmurs something that’s somehow both an affectionate assent and a fervent denial.

I inhale deeply and pretend like she’s backed me into a corner. “Fine. I’ll tell you one thing but you have to promise that this doesn’t leave here. It’s just between the three of us.

“Of course.” Eagerness glows in her expression. “We can keep a secret. Right, Jamie?”

Jamie simply throws her an amused look that she misses, because she’s entirely focused on me and this hot new piece of gossip I’m about to share with her.

“Carly is…” I pretend to struggle with the words. “Look, her family is really important. European royalty, but kept highly under wraps due to the circumstances of her birth. That’s all I can say without giving everything away, and Carly would kill me if even this much got out. They’re all extremely private people.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, my lips are sealed.” Her eyes track behind me to where Carly must have gone. “So she’s royalty huh? No wonder.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, curious.

Ally shakes her head but then admits. “She has the look of it. Also has this guardedness about her, like she’s constantly on the lookout or something. Holds herself a little stiff too, but isn’t prissy and doesn’t speak like she thinks she’s better than anyone. Just cautious. Must be her family upbringing.”

“Right.” I follow her gaze. Ally has no idea how on the money she is with that description. I’ve also noticed the same thing about Carly, that apart from the moments when we’re having sex, she has this wall up most of the time. Sometimes it’s more subtle and she hides it behind jokes and eye rolls. Other times, like tonight, it’s more apparent.

And from what little I know about her family, I have no doubt that it’s their fault she’s so guarded. She grew up knowing she couldn’t trust them to watch out for her, and so she’s always had to watch out for herself. Probably had to protect herself from them too.

The thought of little Carly watching her father stumble home drunk, or seeing her cousin dragged off to jail makes me irrationally furious.

I guess that’s one thing I can do for her before this is over. Make sure she has enough money to be self-sufficient and able to cut her family off for good.

Yeah, it may not be my business, but I’m making it my business. I want her away from them, one way or another.

She’s not going to like it though.

“I better make sure my bride-to-be hasn’t gone in the wrong direction,” I say. Mostly though, I’m concerned that all this has been too overwhelming for Carly and she’s hyperventilating in the bathroom. She seemed okay walking in here. Regal in fact. She held up well despite all the eyes on her.

But I think maybe she got more attention than she bargained.

That old Hollywood look of hers and that dress caressing her curves made her hard to ignore. It’s definitely been distracting me as we walked in here, that and her subtle perfume.

The thing we have to be careful of though is cameras. I can’t risk her getting photographed, or someone might be able to do a little bit of digging and find out the truth about her origins. Sure, Carly doesn’t have social media and Laketown is pretty isolated, but still. Someone might recognize her and risk this whole thing.

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