Page 25 of The Princess and the Fraud

Family would finally be impressed.

“Is this place just really that small, or are you following me?”

I practically jumped out of my skin at the sudden voice, jerking my head up to find Aaron Astor standing in his room’s entrance, the door propped open with his foot. He was dressed in far more casual attire than I’d ever seen him in, with a loose gray T-shirt and a pair of black joggers. He hadn’t done anything to his hair, and without product in it, there was a clear wave to the locks as they covered his forehead. His right hand was in his pocket and his left held a to-go cup of steaming coffee from the hotel’s breakfast area.

He took a sip. “Given that you’re crouched over my trash can, I’d say the latter.”

My anger that’d dulled to a simmer earlier lit up at his presence, and I stood. “You can’t naturally be a nice person?” I held up the notes. “You have to write it out first?”

Aaron looked at them blankly for a long moment before his gaze fell to the stapled stack of papers on the desk. His shoulders fell with a slow exhale.

“So you’re at Alderton-Du Ponte for two things.” I crumpled the notes before dropping them in the bin. “To convince the board of directors to keep the music hall, and to convince Fiona to marry you so you’ll get your inheritance before your birthday.”

Aaron’s fingers tightened on his cup of coffee. “You’re truly beginning to get on my nerves, Lovisa.”

“But why Fiona?” I narrowed my eyes a little, trying to piece it together. “Why couldn’t it have been anyone in California?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Is it because of her money? Because of yourfinancial situation? Are you broke, Aaron Astor?” I’d just been guessing, but I watched the way he drew in a breath, one that lifted his shoulders almost imperceptibly. I caught it. “You begging your parents not to disown you back in June didn’t work, huh? They cut you off. That’s why Fiona and her parents’ booming business makes them theperfect candidate.”

Aaron looked off to the side of the bedroom, unwilling to hold eye contact. For once, I was the one making him squirm, and I basked in the glee of it—and, of course, the glee of being right. “That’s none of your business.”

“Maybe not.” I gestured toward the trash can. “But does Fiona know you’re marrying her for money? Judging by the googly-eyed look she gave you Saturday, I doubt it.”

“You continue to surprise me, you know.” He walked into the room, and without his shoe propping it open wide, the door fell back against the deadbolt with a bang. “You can stop anytime. It’s becoming annoying.”

I held perfectly still as he came closer. “See, I’m just starting to have fun.”

“I could have fun, too.” He stopped three steps from me. “I could ruin you the way you’re threatening to ruin me.”

“Right, and how would you do that? No one likes you around here anyway?—”

“I’ll tell them you came on to me while delivering my shirt to my hotel room. It wouldn’t be a big stretch for them, would it? Given your history with club members? Or is that a secret I could spill, too?” Aaron took another small sip from his coffee cup, eyes cutting me across the lid. “Don’t mess with me. I have a lot riding on this, and you don’t want to see me desperate.”

Oh, yeah, the fury I’d possessed when I first walked up here returned in full force.Given your history with club members.Even now, he acted like he had the upper hand, not as though I’d backed him into a corner.“You know, you almost had me,” I said in a low voice. “Pretending to be so much better than others until they actually believe it. You should be an actor, Aaron Astor. I think you would do really well. You have the struggling part down.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up. “You know, you’re so mean to me for no reason. What happened? I thought we had a nice moment by the fire all those months ago. I thought you quite liked me.”

“I didnotquite like?—”

“I quite liked you,” he said softly. “I liked how honest you were. I liked watching the way your eyes glittered when you spoke about the cello. Elgar’s Concerto. I liked thinking about what it’d sound like when you played it for me.”

The last sentence unnerved me, because in a ridiculous, mortifying admission, the same thought had occurred to me once or twice. The idea of playing for him. He’d been the one person to awaken that inside me after five years of it being dormant. Even now, all these months later, I could still remember the pure euphoria that’d sparked when he saidspiccato.

And it was shameful to even think about now. “I liked you before I knew who you were.”

“Is the name Aaron really that hideous?”

“Not your name.You.” I took another step toward him. Close enough that if I took one more step, we’d be chest to chest. “You pretend that you’re better than others and don’t care about the trouble you cause them. I hate people like you.”

“Perhaps you just don’t know me well enough. Perhaps you’d change your mind if you knew how sad and twisted my insides are.” Aaron gave me a small, boyish smile. “I can show you. If you’d like.”

“You cost me my raise.” My voice shook. “Your stupid little manipulation tactic. Making the ladies at the garden party empathetic so your life would be easier nearly got me fired. Sono, I won’t change my mind. And go ahead—tell Mr. Roberts I tried jumping you in your hotel room. I can find a new job.” I eliminated the space between us as my fists shook at my sides. “But I’ll make sure Fiona wouldn’t touch you with a three-foot pole, Aaron Astor, and that’s a promise. And you’ll be broke and alone, and you and I being equals will be satisfying enough.”

In the lingering silence before Aaron replied, I was reminded, inexplicably, of a duet. It was so rare for pieces to jump to the forefront of my mind anymore, but as I stared Aaron down, all I could think of was Samuel Barber’s Cello Sonata, Op. 6. It wasn’t even a piece I’d played before, only one I’d listened to. The intense, fast-paced exchange between the aggressive cello and the abrupt piano hummed in my head now, as if the instruments were arguing, just as Aaron and I were.

Ineverthought about music—I’d fought hard to silence that side of my mind—but I could hear the notes almost as clearly as if someone were playing them. It only unsettled me further.

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