Page 77 of Duke, Actually

“Right.”

“You’re four years older than I am,” he said.

“Well,I’mnot going to marry you.”

“Iknowthat. I merely meant that four years is not that big a gap when you click with someone.”

When you click with someone.Did that mean he thoughttheyclicked? That was flattering. And true. Obviously. She wouldn’t be here in his attic in the freaking Eldovian Alps otherwise, stretched out on a bed with him.Platonicallystretched out, but still. Or, wait, did that mean he thought he andLaviniaclicked?

“What if youdidmarry Lavinia von Bachenheim?” She had an illogical impulse to keep questioning him on the topic, like being unable to stop probing a toothache with her tongue.

“I’m not going to marry Lavinia von Bachenheim. She has no sense of fun.”

“Yeah, but if youdid? And what if she wanted to hyphenate her name? Would she be Lavinia von Bachenheim-von Hansburg? Or Lavinia von Bachenheim-Hansburg? Or maybe, since you’re such a progressive dude, you could combine your names and be Max and Lavinia von von Bachenheim-Hansburg. Or—”

“I’mnotgoing to marry Lavinia,” he snapped.

She blinked, not at all accustomed to such a harsh tone from Max. “Sheesh. Okay.”

He rolled onto his side and propped his head on one hand. “I’m sorry. I’m being a beast.”

“Is Sebastien single? I know you said you won’t walk away and leave him to shoulder the burden of being heir, but maybe if he was happily coupled, itwouldn’tbe such a burden.” She knew she was grasping at straws, but now that she’d seen what kind of pressure Max was under, she wished there was a way for him to get out from under his duty.

Max chuckled. “Sebastien is apparentlynotsingle, but Sebastian, it turns out, isalsonot straight.”

“Really?” She was surprised Max hadn’t told her. Also a little hurt. She’d thought they told each other everything.

“Yeah. He told me he was gay the day you arrived. I would have told you,” he said, addressing her unarticulated wound, “but I wasn’t sure if it was my place. He didn’t specifically ask me not to, but I thought I should keep his confidence. I was the first person he told—other than the mystery man he is apparently seeing.”

“Wow! Of course I won’t tell anyone. You can trust me.”

“I know. I do.” He was giving her a strangely intense look. She’d been getting more of those lately, but this one was on steroids. His brow was furrowed, and if she didn’t know better, she would have said he was angry over the fact that he trusted her. But then his face relaxed. “As it relates to Sebastien, I must now double down on my original stance that I can’t leave him to shoulder the burden of being heir. Can you imagine? My god, my parents would probably make him marry a woman, and he’d probably go along with it to keep the peace.”

“What if your brother walked away, too?” she asked. “Is there a dreadful, social-climbing cousin in line like in Jane Austen novels?”

He chuckled. “There is a cousin. He’s seven. I can’t quite see my way through to dumping this all on a seven-year-old.” He sat up and spun himself so he was right way round on the bed, next to her. “Listen. I appreciate that you’re trying to solve my problems, but they’re fundamentally unsolvable. We need to talk about what we do now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think we should leave at dawn. Head to the palace a bit early.”

“Leave at dawn! Like a Western!”

“I would suggest leaving now, but driving over the mountain in the dark is a bad idea.”

“What would you tell your parents? I suppose our man of honor and best woman duties could kick in early.”

“I could tell them that, but that would require me to talk to them. I did more than enough of that this evening, and honestly, I’m inclined to just leave. Get up before the sun and run away.”

Dani smiled. “All right, Clint Eastwood. We leave at dawn.”

Chapter Sixteen

When they got to the palace, Max was surprised to find Sebastien already there.

“He arrived in the middle of the night, and he’s in the yellow bedroom,” said Marie, who greeted them outside. “You know, the one we all used to play Narnia in because the armoire was so huge? I don’t know if he’s there at the moment, but you could try.”

Sebastien had arrived in the middle of the night? Max had been in earnest about the drive over the mountains being ill-advised. And oddly, when he’d texted his brother and said he and Dani were leaving first thing this morning and asked him if he wanted to join them, Seb had merely said he would see them there. Max had assumed he’d meant later. He feared there had been an incident at the palace, something bad enough to drive Seb away in the wee hours. Still, though, why hadn’t he come to Max?

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