"Family can be cruel." He heard her quiet words but was more focused on the sensation of her skin against his as she threaded their fingers together.
He'd called her his friend today, but that title didn't feel quite right. Not anymore.
"Don't think you can distract me," she said after a few minutes of silence had passed. "You wouldn't be happy hiding here, and we both know it."
He grunted. She might be right, but he wasn't admitting to it.
"You're a good man," she said. "A man who loves his people too much to leave them without your leadership."
He scowled. "Do you have to be so reasonable?"
Her thumb rubbed a slow line against the fleshy part of his palm. "That is not one of the usual flaws I'm accused of."
Of course he was going to turn his phone on. Return to the castle.
Couldn't he enjoy these last few moments with a beautiful woman and pretend like he hadn't any cares in the world?
He'd even face off with his brother.
"What?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"You sighed. What were you thinking about?"
He let go of her hand, throwing his wrist over his eyes. "Why did he have to come back?"
She made to response, but he could hear her reasonable response in his head.He said he needs help.
"I can't trust him," he muttered. "Why should I let him back into my life just because he claims he's sorry?"
When she still didn't speak, he moved his arm so he could see her. "That wasn't a rhetorical question."
She rolled over onto her stomach and propped her chin on her hands so that she was looking at him. "Who can you trust?"
He considered that for a moment. "My father."
"Why don't you let your father talk to Max first and then trust his judgment?"
"I'd feel like my mother, using Father as a go-between."
She raised that expressive brow and he explained. "My father is more sensitive to relationship issues."
Her lips twitched in a smile. "So you're your mother's son?"
Any humor he'd felt at the mention of his father turned into a scowl. "Probably."
She reached out and patted his shoulder. "This is helpful."
He couldn't see it. "How so?"
"Oh, not to you." Her gaze had gone far-off, as if she was thinking furiously. "To me. Your perfect match is someone who can finesse difficult relationships, see the connections, ease tense situations. I'm sure I know someone like that."
He was beginning to think he did, too.
