Page 40 of The Rejected King
She wanted to believe herself and the smile she gave Portlend, but somewhere deep inside, the king’s words at the newswriters briefing played back through her mind.
Love should be progressive and radical.
Emree’s love with Portlend wasn’t the slightest bit progressive or radical, and if she was honest, that disappointed her.
16
Davin
Davin’s day had been filled with more one-on-one activities. He spent the morning on a horseback ride with Jeana Payson, and in the afternoon, he visited a local school with Darby Heatherland. He tried to like both women.
He really did.
He searched for a spark of adventure in each of their gazes.
It wasn’t there.
He looked for some animation in their expressions—the kind Emree had every time she talked about a book.
Nothing.
He tried to like their smiles the way he liked Emree’s.
Not even close.
Davin wanted something to take his mind off of Miss Dutson.
ANYTHING.
Because he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Wondering what she thought of his book. Wondering if she would wear her hair down again. Wondering if Portlend Ricks dreamed about her as much as Davin did.
Wondering. Wondering. Wondering.
All that wondering was driving Davin crazy. He needed a cure—a new girl to come along and knock him off his feet because right now, there was no escaping his rapidly developing feelings for Emree Dutson.
Davin took a sip of water from the glass in front of him, smiling lightly at his new date, Willow Willow. When Davin had met Willow at the Promenade opening dinner, he had assumed her double name was a mistake, but today she confirmed that no, she had the same first and last name. This fact was interesting to Miss Dutson, and so she had selected Willow Willow for the one-on-one candlelight dinner.
They dined in a small room adjacent to the grand hall. Music and conversation from the main dinner floated faintly under the door, taunting Davin. The room was lit by firelight. Candles were spread throughout, flickering all around them. The setting would have been romantic if Davin wasn’t with Willow—if he had been with someone like Emree. She was nice, but beyond her name, Willow Willow wasn’t interesting. She definitely wasn’t the girl to derail Davin’s thoughts from his very unavailable Promenade director.
He lowered his cup to the table, glancing quickly at his watch. It was almost nine o’clock. Two more minutes, then he could politely send Willow Willow on her way. Two minutes wasn’t that long, but he had nothing left to say; the minutes felt more like an eternity.
His eyes darted to where Emree stood against the wall in the corner with Millar. She gave him an encouraging smile, the kind that only encouraged him to likehermore.
Davin didn’t care if he still had two minutes left.
“Miss Willow.” He stood. “Thank you so much for joining me tonight. Can I escort you to the door?”
Willow looked puzzled, dropping her dessert fork onto her plate. She followed his example and stood, glancing around the room at the newswriters. “Yes, thank you.”
They walked in silence to the door, stopping before the exit for an awkward hug, then Willow left.
Two newswriters rushed to Davin’s side. “Can you comment on your date tonight?”
“It was...” He sighed. What would Emree want him to say? “It was very romantic.”
“Really?” the other newswriter asked. “It looked like you and Miss Willow didn’t have that much in common.”
“Miss Willow is a lovely woman with a lot of unique qualities. Any man would be lucky to spend the evening dining with her.”
