Page 6 of A Girl and HER Prince
“You think you can desert us, so you can run off and wallow with the swine?” his father asked. “We shall see how far that takes you. Yes, go on your meaningless outings, have your laughs, play with these foolish hearts, but when you return, youwilltake this seriously or face me. You’re a threat to the Myrdons whether you accept your duty or not, and they’d rather die than see you breathing their same air. You can’t escape who you are.”
Achilles bumped his shoulder. He’d joined him out on the deck. “Who’s that?” he asked.
“My father,” Venice mouthed.
The next instant, the duke had stolen his phone… and in the very next, he was chucking it out in the sea.
Venice watched it disappear into the beautiful crystal water, shocked, furious, and what else was he feeling? Free. “Did you really just…?”
“Yeah,” Achilles said. He slapped Venice hard on the back. “Let’s go have some fun.”
Venice looked down at his own hands—they were shaking on the railing. Had he really just told his father “no”? Had he meant it? He wasn’t sure, only that he had every intention of forgetting that whole conversation until he could… what?
Had the Myrdons caught wind of this appalling turn of events?
How could they possibly know what he hadn’t until four minutes ago? Venice wanted one trip—just something that he could call his own! He’d gotten over his disastrous breakup, his sister had been hounding him about talking to “Daddy” about raising her monthly allowance to pay for her extravagant expenses, and now he was meant to rule?
He swallowed.
More than ever he needed to take a holiday—his dream vacation away from everything. And then after that? He could think about… other things. Venice turned to Achilles. “Tell me about this blonde.”
Chapter Three
“Deedee!” Livvy called out. “How about we wait a little?” She struggled to keep up with her determined redheaded friend, having to stop a few times to throw the strap of her remaining bag over her shoulder and balance the camera phone.
Deedee carried the rest of their baggage like a plucky sailor marching to the gangplank leading to the bottom deck of the yacht.
This was literally walking the plank to their doom. Deedee undid the rope across the entrance—it was there for more ceremonial purposes than for security.
All of Livvy’s hopes for a fantasy Odysseus adventure melted away, but she wasn’t about to complain. This trip was already an unbelievable dream—they didn’t have to throw a temperamental prince and his unruly friends into the mix. Now if only Livvy could talk Deedee out of making a fool of herself in front of a live audience. “How about we just go up into the village and have a sandwich?” Livvy asked.
Deedee laughed back at her. “I wish you could see Livvy’s face right now.” Deedee glanced back at the phone with a wink. “My poor friend will be forced to socialize with all of Venice’s royal family and friends—they’re a little on the rough side, but honestly? They’re notsoshocking. You should meet the duke… an eligible bachelor to be sure, but never ready to settle down. That’s why he’s so fun.”
Livvy had enough sense to know that this was all a performance, and still she couldn’t quite be sure what was real, what was fake.
Normally she’d stop and demand Deedee quit teasing her, but she was doing her best not to make this footage go even more viral. She toyed with cutting off the stream. “You know, we could go on our own odyssey,” Livvy suggested. “Compare stop-off points with the prince, see who has the better trip?”
That was a good fallback plan when they were ejected from the premises.
Deedee’s eyes sparkled as she readjusted her unwieldy bags. “Don’t worry, everybody listening in—the dukewon’tbe breaking Livvy’s heart. She won’t give him the time of day. She wants perfection.”
Livvy stopped short. That was putting words into her mouth, and she couldn’t fight back without causing a scene…which her friend knew very much. Lately, Deedee had become worse than her brothers when it came to trying to push Livvy out of her comfort zone to get into a relationship.
Deedee danced up the stairs to get to the upper deck where they approached the sounds of laughter, chatting, and flirting—ugh; flirting!She’d been told more times than not she was awful at it and now it was all she could hear above her.
Gulping, she reached the top of the stairs, seeing a deck of sunbathing beauties displaying their finest attributes for all the world to see.
What was this, a beauty contest?
None of Livvy’s sensible swimsuits were anything like theirs, especially the one under her sundress. Mostly the women ignored the newcomers, though a beautiful blonde slid her sunglasses down from her eyes, so they’d be sure not to miss her glares.
All of Livvy’s hopes of finding kindred spirits on this yacht died a horrible death.
These weren’t geeks at all. Dah! Livvy was on the wrong odyssey.
“Deedee!” Livvy squirmed with discomfort.
Deedee grinned at her. “Isn’t this great?”
