Page 52 of A Princess for Christmas

Marie sighed. She should have known better than to invite Imogen to join them. She’d forgotten how astute her old friend was. Probably all her years behind the bar—she’d tended it since she was a teenager, back when her father was still in charge—had sensitized her to unarticulated emotions. She had an abundance of what the Americans called emotional intelligence.

“Yes, and having realized that my father has turned into Ebenezer Scrooge, I decided to bring Leo here so he knows how to escape when he needs to.”

Imogen flashed a smile that seemed on the edge of wicked as she turned her whole body to face Leo. “Well, you come byanytime.”

The other thing about Imogen was that she was... Well, back in their school days, when everyone called her Minnie, they also called her boy-crazy.

A flare of jealousy, sharp and spiky, traveled up Marie’s throat, but she kept her mouth resolutely closed. She could have no claim on Leo, and she would do well to remind herself of that fact.

When he got back to his room after tucking Gabby in, Leo sat down to eat some nonsoapy chocolates and deal with an onslaught of texts from Dani.

Holy shit, Gabby FaceTimed me earlier and showed me her room. You really ARE in a Hallmark movie.

But seriously, are you hanging in there?

HELLO? Where are you? Have you been indoctrinated into an Alpine cult? Don’t do that. I’d miss you.

He smiled and initiated a FaceTime call.

“Finally.” Dani was sitting at the tiny desk in her bedroom, and she looked rumpled and exhausted.

“How’s the book?” he asked.

“I need to have sex with a human.”

He chuckled at the non sequitur. “As opposed to a not-human?”

“No! Gross.”

“What’s happening? I thought you were holed up writing?”

“I am, but it turns out that with you guys gone, I revert to living in my head, and a girl can only immerse herself so much in the stifling sexual and social norms of the nineteenth century before she starts thinking about the state of her life.”

“So have sex with a human. Get on one of those apps you’re always nagging me to start using.”

“Ugh.”

“You don’t have todatesaid human. You’re postlove; I get it.”

“The thing is, I don’t reallywantto have sex with a human. But I started thinking about how Vince has probably had sex with several humans by now. Dozens, even. AndthenI started thinking, damn, I shouldn’t let him win.” She rolled her eyes. “This is what too much Kate Chopin has done to me.”

“So you don’t want to have sex because youwantto have sex; you want to have sex because you want to beat your future ex-husband at some imaginary sex-having game.”

“That is... correct.”

“Aww. My cousin broke you.”

“Nah. Anyway, I’m playing mind games with myself. It’s the stupid book. You’re the one who should go on a date. This thing you have going with Giada isn’t healthy. There’s a reason you guys broke up years ago.”

Here they went. One of Dani’s favorite topics. “It’s fine. It’s... efficient.” Seriously. Hooking up with an ex was great that way. They didn’t have expectations of each other, yet they knew what worked. No fuss, no muss. Anyway, he hadn’t seen Giada for months.

“Yeah, but meanwhile life is passing you by.”

“When am I going to go on a date, Dani?”

“In any of the many hours per week that we spend hanging out together.” She tilted her head and shot him a quizzical look. “But actually, you’re kind of on a date right now, aren’t you? A magical, palatial date with a princess.”

“It’s not a date. She’s a nice person. She felt bad for us, so she invited us for Christmas.”

---