Page 89 of Duke, Actually

“You can’t justleave.”

“I can, though.” It was a revelation, an overdue one. He laughed again. Wait until Mother found out he and Lavinia had been faking all evening.

They thought he was such a loose cannon, and he supposed in some ways he was, if you looked at the external shape of his behavior and judged it against an arbitrary standard. He didn’t act the way they thought the firstborn son of a duke should act. But when it came to this, when it came to shame and complicity and pretense, he toed the line every time. Why? Seb didn’t need his protection anymore. And Max didn’t give a flying fuck what anyone else thought.

Excepther. And sheknewhim. He found Dani in the crowd again. She was still looking at him. She had probably been keeping him in her sights this whole time. He nodded at her and pointed at his watch. A slow smile blossomed on her face. Her smile was knowing, seductive. The one that broke out on his face in answer was dopey. He could feel it. But he couldn’t do anything about it, so he hitched his head toward the exit.I’m leaving now.She held up a finger.I’ll follow in a bit.

And then he left. He just left.

Mother had left him alone that night in the nursery, but he saw now that he hadn’t actuallylethimself be left. He had spent his whole life proclaiming that he didn’t care about his parents’ indifference, that he was immune to their little cruelties. But part of him had held on.

Max had always thought that abandonment felt terrible. But it actually didn’t, not if you were really, truly abandoned. If you were no longer in anyone’s debt.

It felt like freedom.

There was a lightness in his step as he strode out of the ballroom. He jogged up the steps to the third floor. He wasn’t sure what the hurry was, only that little bursts of energy were propelling him, compelling him to move.

He paused after opening his door. It sounded like Seb was in his room across the hall—it sounded like he was doing jumping jacks in there.

He crossed the hall and rapped on Seb’s door, wanting to try to put into words his big revelation, to tell him about how he’d left Mother to deal with Father and how doing so had felt like a sort of liberation. He pushed the door open.

Ohhh.

Seb was not alone.

Seb was also not dressed.

Neither was the man who dived in front of Seb and covered him with his body.

And that man was not Mr. Benz. He was much bigger. His giant torso blocked Seb entirely from Max’s view. It was Torkel Renner, the head of palace security.

“Well. I got that wrong, didn’t I?” Max said as there was some scrambling on the bed. The men had been on top of the covers, and now it looked like Torkel was trying to get Seb underneath them. “Really, really wrong.” He chuckled.

He started to leave, but Seb’s face popped up over Torkel’s shoulder. “Max?”

“Yes. My apologies.” Torkel looked over his shoulder and glowered at Max. “I’ll be—”

Seb patted Torkel’s bulging biceps and whispered, “It’s all right, love.”

It’s all right,love?Well.

Torkel moved off the bed, apparently unembarrassed about the fact that he was flashing Max his ass, pulled on a pair of pants, and turned and stood next to the bed with his tree-trunk arms folded over his chest. He looked like the bodyguard he was. If bodyguards went shoeless. And shirtless.

“I don’t want to hide anymore, Max,” Seb said quietly.

Something caught in Max’s chest. That sounded like a version of what Max had come here to tell Seb. Max wasn’t the only one who had had enough of the old ways. He cleared his throat. “I know. I’ll help you.”

“Will you?”

“Always.”

Seb glanced at Torkel, who was still standing there like a statue. “But maybe you could help me tomorrow?”

“Yes, of course. Well, I’m leaving early tomorrow morning, but I can—”

Seb shook his head and laughed. “I meant it more metaphorically. We can talk when you’re back. I’m taking a little trip myself.” He glanced at Torkel and tried and failed to stifle a smile. Sebastien had never had a poker face. That had been half his problem as a child. That had been what Max had always been trying to protect—Seb’s openhearted warmth.

Max generallydidhave a poker face, but he couldn’t stop the grin he felt emerging. “Are you, now? Where are you going?” Seb started to try to answer, but Max raised his voice and talked over him. “Are you sure it’s wise to travel alone? Youarethe son of a duke. Perhaps you’d better ask Marie if she can spare someone from her security team to accompany you.” He laughed. He was still Seb’s brother, after all.

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