Page 12 of Royally Wed
“It’s really happening, isn’t it?” Eleanor went eerily still. “You’re actually going to marry my dad.”
“Of course I am. You’ve seen us together. You know how happy we are.” Amelia’s cheeks were beginning to hurt from smiling so hard. “We’ve been engaged for weeks. I thought you’d grown accustomed to the idea by now.”
God, she was a hypocrite. The biggest hypocrite in the world.
“I guess it hasn’t actually seemed real.” Eleanor’s gaze flitted to the ring on Amelia’s left hand. “Until now.”
“It’s going to be fine. It’s going to be more than fine. Different, but wonderful. I promise.” Amelia took a deep breath. “But I’m afraid you can’t stay in my suite, after all. Yo-Yo Ma is feeling poorly.”
Eleanor frowned.“I’m sorry to hear that, but what exactly does Yo-Yo Ma have to do with your suite?”
“Everything, I’m afraid. He’s been replaced with another cellist. An American. And since all this has come about at the last minute, he’s staying in the Blue Room. I’m sorry.”So sorry, on multiple levels.
“The substitute cellist is staying in the palace? He must be a pretty big deal.”
“I suppose so. I methim this morning, but only briefly. I barely even remember it.”Liar, liar, tiara on fire.
Eleanor’s mouth quirked into a half grin. “What does he look like? Is he single? I could use a date for the reception.”
Amelia shrugged. “I didn’t notice his looks, and I have no idea if he’s single. Nor do I care.”
“Wow, love really is blind.”
“I suppose it is.” Amelia nodded.
Was she really sayingthese things? It was one thing to lie to herself, but now she was lying to Eleanor. She should be used to it by now, though. She’d been lying to Eleanor since the engagement, just as she’d been lying to everyone else.
“So no hen do. Just this.” Eleanor’s gaze drifted to her cup and saucer. “Just tea.”
“I’m sorry,” Amelia said again.
It’s going to be fine. It’s going to be more than fine. Different,but wonderful.
Maybe if she repeated it enough times, she’d believe it.
“I understand,” Eleanor said.
But clearly she didn’t.
Or maybe she did. Maybe she knew that Amelia had brought her here so she could break the news while half of London was watching and Eleanor couldn’t confront her about the horrible mistake she was about to make.
It was a cowardly move. But effective.
“Shall we go?”Amelia stood on shaky legs. She wanted nothing more than to get out of there and back to the palace. It felt like the gilded walls of the Ritz were closing in around her.
Eleanor didn’t say a word as they made their way through the rose-colored marble lobby. Nor when they hugged each other good-bye and Amelia’s security team ushered her swiftly into the limousine waiting at the entrance to thehotel. As she rode back to the palace in silence, Amelia felt relieved to be alone. She didn’t have to pretend when she was by herself.
Once the stress of the wedding had passed, she’d be fine. Holden was a good man. She’d loved him for as long as she could remember. Maybe not in the traditional, romantic sense, but it was still love. In a way.
She wasn’t lonely at all. She was happy. At least,she would be.
Soon.
But later that night, when Amelia heard the soft strains of cello music drifting through the wall she shared with Asher Reed, she wasn’t so sure.
Maybe this was what loneliness felt like, after all.
