Page 6 of The Promised Prince
“No, I don’t think so,” he maintained. “You’re clingy and desperate for my affection. That’s why you pretended to drown.”
She frowned and Trev knew a brief moment of victor. It was her turn to have her ego wounded.
“No, that’s not it at all,” she said again, this time with more passion. “Perhaps I’m poor...maybe even your servant, and I have to pretend to drown because you are too arrogant to see the love right in front of you.”
“No.” He kept his tone even. “You’re deranged and controlling. I’ve been kind to you, and you’ve taken that kindness as something more. You devised this drowning scheme as a way to—”
“This is my pretend story. You have no say in it,” she snapped playfully, cutting him off.
“Okay, then how does it end?” He sighed, surrendering control of the plot. “After you gaze up at me, what happens?”
She peered over the pond, caught up in her fairytale. “You look into my eyes, and you finally see me, not as your poor servant girl, but as the woman you were meant to spend the rest of your life with.” A smile grew across her lips. “You kiss me, and then we live happily ever after.”
If the fake drowning hadn’t convinced him the girl was crazy, this did. “Happily ever after is an ancient concept.”
“What do you mean?” she asked defensively.
“You know. Love. That one-and-only person you’re supposed to spend your life with. Happy endings. All that. It doesn’t exist.” He rolled his eyes just thinking of it.
“Of course it does.” She sounded astonished, as if his objections were absurd.
Something twisted inside him, but his voice remained impartial. “There’s nothing in my life that proves true love exists.”
She looked away for a moment, and Trev internally kicked himself. He hadn’t meant to get personal with her. He didn’t usually get personal with anyone, besides his friend, Drake. Now her silence was starting to make him uncomfortable.
“I understand what you’re saying,” she said finally. “There isn’t much in my life either to prove that love and happy endings exist.” Her voice was quieter as she spoke, and her eyes no longer held the twinkle that had been there moments ago. Trev shifted, feeling remorseful. It was like he had popped her make-believe love bubble.
“I can tell you more about whatisn’tlove than whatis,” she continued. “But I know what kind of love I want in my future, and it’s not the kind I’ve witnessed.”
“What if you never find the love you’re looking for?”
“I’ll create it,” she replied with certainty.
Trev grinned, bemused by her funny ideas about love. He’d never heard anyone talk about love like that. In fact, hardly anyone in his life talked about love at all. In his circle, there was no such thing as love—only negotiations.
He cleared his throat, not liking the serious direction of their conversation and the earnest way she looked at him, like she expected him to respond with his own views on love. She wasn’t going to get that from him today.
He didn’t know what else to say, so he did what his royal advisors told him to do in unknown situations—he flashed a brilliant smile. They told him smiling made him look confident. Smiling won the people over. It was all part of Trev’s charm. It usually came naturally, and he relied on it in situations like these. Sometimes he didn’t even know he was doing it. Today though, he knew. For reasons he couldn’t explain, he wanted the unusual woman to like him.
His flashy smile appeared to surprise her, and she looked at him in obvious confusion, until a huge smile of her own spread across her mouth. He was winning her over.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He answered without moving his lips. “I’m smiling.”
She laughed. “But why is it so creepy?”
“I didn’t know it was.” Then they both burst into laughter.
She leaned in closer, touching her shoulder to his playfully. “Thank you for saving me.”
She was teasing, but the warmth in her smile was sincere. Strangely, it made his heart lurch.
“You’re welcome.” His voice came out raspier than he intended, but her sudden nearness caught him off-guard. It had been a long time since he’d used his charms on a woman. They worked better than he remembered.
When Trev had first pulled her out of the water, he’d noticed her beauty but only in passing. Now, conversing with her, he was wholly captivated. Golden waves of wet hair tumbled around her shoulders down to her chest, framing her expressive green eyes—eyes that told an animated story every time she spoke. Her skin glowed with the tint of a summer tan that complemented her pink lips. And her smile—it was the biggest prize of all, making him somehow feel a surge of happiness every time she bestowed it on him. His attraction to her seemed to grow exponentially, with an intensity he couldn’t deny.
“You know, I should probably give you a reward for saving me.”
