But his mother had taught him to muddle through, so that's what he would do. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Her eyes were vulnerable, if slightly distrustful. "My sister knows you. But we've only just met."
He considered her. "True. You aren't certain if you can trust me. But I didn't betray your secret yesterday."
He'd even gone so far as to kiss her to keep it. Yes, that had been a real hardship.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "And you have some reason for that, I assume."
He wanted to grin, but he didn't. She might've been out of the game, but she hadn't forgotten it. He could work with that.
"Fine. Here's something you can trust: leverage. I know your secret, and I can use it as leverage over you. But if I reciprocate, you'd have leverage, too."
It was a strategic move on his part. Maybe too risky, but he'd bet on her honesty. She wore her emotions too much on her sleeve.
Her blue gaze fixed on his face. Even that was different from Tirith's. Tirith only ever half-listened to him. Her intelligent mind was always a step ahead, always puzzling answers. He'd learned she didn't mean to offend. It's just how she was.
But he almost felt the intensity of Maggie's gaze like a touch.
"Tirith knows my story." Though not all of it. "After my father died, our family discovered he'd gambled everything away, including money he'd stolen from my brother. Money that Ernest had earmarked to start the foundation."
It still hurt saying it aloud. Now Maggie was one of a handful of people who knew. He'd spent the past four years smoothing over the family's reputation and trying to rebuild what his father had destroyed for Ernest and Katie and Guinevere. He'd catered to people he couldn't stand. Curried favors from too many.
And he'd gotten things back on track. Almost.
He needed a princess to walk out on the lawn with him.
He looked at her expectantly.
She exhaled softly. "I want to help you." When she raised her soft, sad eyes to him, he believed her.
"But...?"
"But." She looked away again. "When I was twelve, Tirith and I were kidnapped out of a garden party much like this one."
Everything around him seemed to grind to a halt.
Whatever he'd imagined, it wasn't this. None of the media speculation had even come close.
She must've read the shock on his face, because she laughed softly, sadly. "It was kept from the press."
"And that's why you've stayed in America."
She bit her lip, nodding slightly. "I came back for Tirith. She said she'd made a promise. She just didn't tell me it was to you." Something, some emotion flitted quickly over her expression and then was gone.
And he knew they were running out of time before someone came looking for her.
"Do you think you can face the crowd?"
She kept her eyes down. "I don't know." Those long lashes lifted and revealed the vulnerability beneath. "Would you stay with me?"
"I think I can suffer the hardship."
One of thefirst hurdles Maggie had overcome in therapy had been asking for help. She'd learned not to be ashamed to lean on her father, her biggest supporter during those dark days.
She'd grown up. Or so she'd thought.
There was something about asking Luc for help that made her feel sick to her stomach.
