Chapter 15
Anna’s face was red but still, she didn’t cry. The good thing about a castle was that there were plenty of places to disappear. The bad part was every corner of the blue bedroom she’d stormed inside and locked the door smelled like almond soap.
Did the staff wash the rooms with his cologne?
She couldn’t forget Leo anywhere.
Anna stared at the ocean though this view had a lighthouse in the distance. But all she remembered when she looked outside was Leo and sailing beside him. She shut the blinds to calm down.
In the dark her body craved his kiss. That she should never have tasted. Drat. She flipped on the lights, and stared at herself in her bedroom mirror of the room she’d chosen to go to.
Leo could have the suite they’d been staying in and stay there as that was his room before he’d married her. Besides this door had a lock and big bed so she could stay all by herself until her mind stopped the drum parade that kept reminding her that Francesca was pregnant.
Tonight she’d disappear under the royal blue duvet and never surface.
For now, she fixed the pins in her hair.
Soon she’d leave this room for a few hours. The tour of the village was supposed to be the easy way to get used to being photographed in royal life. She’d do it. She’d pretend to be happy and ready to be the future queen.
She fixed the last pin so her hair was flawless when her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and instead of Maria, Pierre or even Queen Anastasia, the name Francesca flashed. She picked up the phone and Francesca said fast, “Anna.”
And what might she say to her husband’s pregnant ex-fling? “Francesca, I didn’t expect you to call me again.”
The model’s lips smacked with indignation and Anna could imagine how she rolled her eyes. “Well your guards won’t let me inside your castle, Princess Anna Camila.”
Her heart almost stopped and she pressed her hand to her chest. “You’rehere?” The model must have hired someone to take her across the water from Avce.
Her pulse pumped with adrenaline. There was so much she wanted to say! Francesca said, “Yes. I’ve been placed on the veranda overlooking the ocean.”
Anna glanced out her window like she might see, but she had no view of anything as the clouds outside began to roll in now. She pressed her head to the glass pane and prayed for what to do as she said, “I’ll be right down.”
She left the phone on the nightstand. Now what?
Francesca must have come to see Leo and plead her case for a family.
Tonight, she’d lost her heart and her marriage had ended before the honeymoon was over.
A marriage that never should have happened. Leo had known Francesca was pregnant—but he hadn’t believed her, for good cause.
Anna dragged her head from the window and adjusted her dress. The emerald shift had been paired with ivory pearls, and the classic ensemble gave her strength. Her face in the reflection was completely white.
Her stomach twisted, and she focused on her task. She was to get Francesca’s price.
Then she’d talk to the queen and finish her part with a wall around her heart.
Anna Camila practiced her smile she’d wear like she was going into public toward her execution. In the calm walk downstairs she somehow found her stride. Leo needed her to do this for him.
Business was feeling-less and worked better without emotion.
She marched with her shoulders straight and the second she stepped out to the veranda the wind off the ocean brushed against her skin—and she faced Francesca. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
Francesca glanced up and down her emerald dress with envy as she said, “You look lovely, Anna.”
“L…” No. She would not say his name. Not to Francesca. Names implied things that Francesca didn’t need to think about—like intimacy. She lifted her chin. “The prince and I have an appearance soon.”
Francesca glared at the pearls around her neck that she’d worn for the outing. “Not a date.”
A date wouldn’t be so formal. At least not for her. She only wished she’d worn white gloves and a hat to truly look royal and untouchable right now. “I’ve been his employee for a long time. Why are you here?”
