Page 98 of A Princess for Christmas

She heaved herself onto him so she was lying directly on top of him. Scooched herself up so they were nose to nose and announced, “Leo, I enjoyed fucking you very much.” But she did it in that semiprissy princess tone he loved to hate and hated to love.

Ah, shit. He was so screwed.

Chapter Nineteen

“We thought, if anyone can think of a way out of this, it’s you,” Max said.

Marie’s heart was hammering. She’d called Max last night after her confrontation with her father, and Max had suggested that when he arrived this morning, they jointly speak to Mr.Benz. Maybe, he’d reasoned, the equerry would see a way out of the engagement where they could not. She hadn’t had a lot of hope but had reasoned it couldn’t hurt. The man was a master courtier. He knew the politics of the country, the country’s nobility. He knew Morneau. He knew the family. He kneweverything. What was the worst that could happen?

She just hadn’t expected to be so nervous. Before, when she and Max had talked about the impending engagement, she’d been... bummed, as the Americans would say. Bummed but resigned. Now, though, she felt like she was back at the United Nations, about to step onstage. Panic was unspooling inside her, edging into despair, even.

“Have you told your father you don’t wish to marry?” Mr. Benz asked after they’d laid out their concerns.

“Yes.” Marie had to fight to keep her voice even. She had told him, and he’d mocked her.

“We’ve been trying to postpone the inevitable foryears,” Max said, idly sipping a cup of tea, clearly not feeling the same dread she was.

“Indeed,” Mr.Benz remarked.

“I’ve already done my master’s thesis,” Max said. “I’m just pretending I need more time.”

“I’m aware.”

“You are?” Max aimed an astonished face at Marie. That had shocked him out of his languor.

“I told you he knows everything.”

“I was going to suggest that you at least try making your case directly to His Majesty,” Mr.Benz said, “but His Majesty doesn’t...”

She could tell he’d been going to say something he’d thought twice about, probably something he’d decided would come across as disloyal. So she filled in the blanks for him. “Listen to reason? Care about what I want? Have a heart anymore?”

He sighed. “It’s true your father has not been himself since your mother’s passing.”

“We all miss her. But it’s been three years. I can’t keep doing this.” Her voice was rising, and she could hear the hysteria creeping in, but she couldn’t control it. “I can’t keep doing his work as well as trying to do the work Iwantto do. And I can’t marry the wrong person!”

The wrong person.

That suggested there was arightperson to marry, didn’t it?

Oh dear god. That’s what was different now. That’s why she was so upset.

Shedidwant to marry Leo, even though there was “no universe” in whichhewanted to marryher.

She was in love with him.

Her stupid, naïve heart had opened right up to him. Marched right over to his rough-gentle hands and laid itself inside them.

Marie gasped. Audibly and mortifyingly. She wanted himsoterribly.

She reminded herself, though, that she was accustomed to not getting what she wanted. She closed her eyes and pressed her knuckles against her eyelids, hoping the pain would make the sobs that were about to come recede.

“Aww, Marie.” Max came over to her and tried to touch her arm. She didn’t want that. She didn’t wanthim. She shook him off.

She had to get a grip. Max aside, there was no scenario in which she was going to marry Leo. She had to stop conflating the issue of the engagement with... the fact of Leo.

Marie pulled her fists off her eyes and straightened her spine. “I’m sorry. I lost my head there for a moment.” She turned to Mr.Benz. “I’m sorry I bothered you with this nonsense. If you’ll excuse us for a moment, I’d like to have a word with Max before we join everyone on the grounds.” Max’s family was scheduled to join Marie and her father for a walkabout, to take in Cocoa Fest. She’d invited Leo and Gabby, too. She needed to fill Max in—to prepare him, at least, for the possibility that her father might be horrible to the Riccis. And she needed him to back her up in making them feel welcome.

And then there was the ball.The fucking ball, which was what Leo would call it.

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