Page 6 of Scandal Queen

I held my breath. Oliver had offered me this very thing just the other morning.

“No. I will be a good king when the time comes. I will spend my time until then proving that to the people of the country.”

“And how will you do that?”

Oliver gazed at the camera for a long moment, his expression almost wistful. “By showing them who I am.”

“Will that be enough?”

He laughed then, the wonderful sound all but killing me.

“I can only hope.”

The interview ended and the small room of the seaside cottage hung with an oppressive silence.

“So what does that mean?” Molly asked as we watched one another until eventually she had to break the silence.

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Well hopefully it will mean he’ll stop bollocking up your life.” Patrick had slouched himself down in a faded, green velvet armchair.

My eyes flickered back to the screen and I allowed myself one long desperate moment to wallow. Within me I leashed and caged the monster of desire Oliver and I had created. Then I took a deep breath and jumped from the floor.

“Right. That’s enough of this. I’ve got to get Daisy better now.” I turned to Molly who watched me with an expectant gaze. “Is there a local shop? I’ll need to get some food and things for us.”

“Yeah, you aren’t going out there though, are you?”

By ‘out there’ she meant out in public, where people could stare at me, gawp at me open mouthed—the woman who couldn’t keep a prince.

“I can’t hide inside forever, and he just said himself, he did the wrong thing. It’s over. I think I can manage to get to a small local shop and buy some bread and baked beans.” I swallowed hard. “And anyway, isn’t this some small fishing village? I’m not waltzing down Oxford Street with the press on my tail.”

Molly’s face brightened with my renewed enthusiasm. The lack of tears streaming down my face giving her some reassurance. “Give it a couple of weeks, Leia, and you might be able to get back to work.”

“Let’s see,” I said, but inside I cringed. “That’s if they even want me back after what I did.”

“You mean secretly dating the heir to the throne for weeks without telling any of us?”

My internal cringe spread to my face. “Yes, that.”

I laughed as Molly rolled her eyes. “We’ve forgiven you, although Paula is desperate to know what he’s like in bed.”

Her words were meant as a joke, but little did she know the impact they would have on me. Loving Oliver had been my first brush with romance, with sex. Anything a normal twenty-two-year-old woman was meant to be capable of. He broke down my defences. Remembering it, I held in a shiver. Dragging in a deep breath, I locked it down, slammed it in a box and shut it in a deep drawer in the furthest edge of my brain.

I didn’t want to remember his touch or his kiss. Or the way his fingers grazed along my collarbone just before his lips touched mine. The brush of his thumb against my cheek.

Box. Locked. Tight.

“I’m not going to kiss and tell.”

I chuckled as Molly stuck her tongue out and we both turned as Patrick groaned loudly. “Can we stop this conversation?”

“Jealous?” I lifted an eyebrow.

“I have nothing to be jealous about,” he answered, standing and stretching from his slumped position in an armchair. “I know I’m far better than the little prince will ever be. It’s just a shame you didn’t trust me, Leia, instead of him.”

For one insane moment I nearly went to defend Oliver, but I held it back and bit back my words. “You’re right.”

“I’m still available.”