Page 35 of Forbidden Bastard
If he was her true love and perfect for her, she shouldn’t second guess.
Sandi ignored the tension in her spine and pointed toward the door. “I guess I should go and follow the staff then.”
“Wait.” He gently cupped her waist. Her body was aware of his and she turned toward him as every cell wanted to be his again, right now. She couldn’t so she sighed and asked, “What, Charles?”
He let her go and then tossed her jewelry bag like it was a piece of candy bought in the check-out line. “Wear these.”
Absolutely not how to treat jewels worth more than a house. She stiffened, but then opened the bag. The necklace was still in the box. “It’s fancier than anything I’ve ever worn. My mom had jewels that she’d quietly sold off since I wasn’t making good calls, but I never bought anything like this for myself.”
He removed it from the box and wrapped it around her neck. “It’s nothing…and you should be prepared for anything, wearing diamonds.”
She laughed and glanced at herself in the mirror. The diamond necklace made a statement. “That’s something I've only heard in movies.”
He kissed her cheek and she closed her eyes. If she could lock in happiness, she’d keep this moment, forever. She let out a breath, and opened her eyes as Charles squeezed her shoulder. “Now go, but don’t let them transform your natural prettiness into some vixen. I’d miss mylapinette.”
Yet she was supposed to shine. She met his gaze but didn’t mention that she wanted to be glamourous.
Especially with the diamonds he’d wrapped around her.
Her mind spun. “Okay, Charles. I’ll see you soon.”
As she headed outside, Chiara walked her down the hall to another room.
Chiara gave her a friendly nod and honestly Sandi should have talked to the housekeeper, but she was too nervous. Her thoughts were in a fog, but as she headed inside she saw racks of dresses all in different colors and a man, a pretty blonde, and Cassidy, who threw her arms open to hug her.
She'd missed having friends. Real friends. She hugged Cassidy back and asked, “What’s all this?”
“Hi, Sandi,” Cassidy said, while the blonde woman stared at her like she was a science project.
Sandi shook it off and wondered how she was supposed to properly greet nobility. She curtsied. “Lady Skye.”
Cassidy covered her lips and laughed warmly, then took Sandi's hand. “Cassidy is fine. You’re American and I’m not the Queen. We all bow to them.”
Sandi needed to shake off the nerves that tingled up her back. This wasn’t anything where she’d ruin some business chance for Charles so she needed to get a grip.
This was clearly the stress of going to a party. She rolled her shoulders and said, “Cassidy it is.” She pointed toward the man and the blonde, who was now holding up a royal blue silk dress, and asked, “What’s going on?”
Cassidy waved at the blonde, who dropped the dress like it was nothing important, and bounced over to them. “This is my sister, Chelsea. She’s going to help sort through all the clothes to figure out what works best with your face and figure.”
At the store, Cassidy had mentioned her sister. Sandi held out her hand to shake. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Chelsea said fast, taking her yellow-polished fingers back. “I’m happy to help.”
Chelsea then walked her a foot closer to the lone man in the room. “This is Michael. It took him weeks to work through my rat’s nest to make me presentable.”
Both women were model-perfect and made it seem so natural. Michael winked at them and motioned toward a stylist's throne-like chair that had every hair instrument she’d ever seen around the seat, and some items spilled over to a mahogany table. “Cassidy was determined to make herself as ugly as possible," he said. "I only uncovered the beauty she was hiding inside.”
The idea that the brunette who worked in the palace, wearing powder-blue flats that perfectly matched her shirt, with gray slacks tailored for her, was anything other than put together was hard to believe.
And if this was all Michael, then he must be gifted. Sandi flounced her long red hair that tangled all the time and hoped she had no new knots. “Well, I’m going to trust everyone as I’m super nervous about going to a royal anything.”
Chelsea brought a pink dress toward Sandi's cheek and held it there before she wrinkled her nose and stepped back.
Cassidy motioned for her to sit and Michael studied every strand of her hair as Cassidy said, “The king and queen are really nice and both are determined to bring your fiancé into the family circle of trust, if they can.”
“I see.” Sandi pressed her lips together. Would Charles want that? She wasn’t sure so it was best not to give an opinion.
Chelsea brought over a red fabric and nodded, then stilled. “Sheena and Matteo will be there.”
