She caught the cufflink before it dropped to the floor. “Other hand.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
When she was done, she looked up and found he had bent his face so close to hers their foreheads were nearly touching. She could count the hairs in his eyelashes, which fanned out thick and curly, the envy of every girl.
His gaze was ardent, intense, with a hidden question inside it.
A breath caughtin her throat.
This was Klemens. Klemens, the man she had known and loved. Whom she had trusted with her life. Who had teased her, laughed with her, who listened to her endless ramblings of her stories, her dreams, her general naïve ideas about life.
The man she had loved.
The man she could never love.
The man she would always love.
She dropped his hand as if it were a piece of glowing ember.
“It is done, Highness,” she said in a formal, indifferent tone and turned to place both cufflinks on the little side table by the window.
“Good. Then help me get my boots off.”
Pippa threw him a disbelieving look. “I am not a valet?—”
He waved a hand. “I know, I know. But would you rather I go to bed with my boots on, then, hm?”
She eyed the boots with misgiving.
“I’ll give you ample reward if you help me.”
“Very well,” she grumbled. “Lift your foot.”
He did, and she grabbed it by the heel and tugged, and tugged, and tugged, and it did not even budge a centimetre.
She began to sweat; her cap sat askew on her head, and her hands were slippery. “Are you sewn into those boots as well?” She dropped the foot to wipe her forehead. She reached for her scissors. “I could try to cut the leather?—”
He withdrew with a yelp. “Don’t you dare!”
“How else am I to get themoff?”
“Mangling them with your scissors won’t do the trick this time. They’re so well made, the leather is moulded closely to my feet. There, try again.” He placed a hand against her shoulder, and she pulled, and he pushed, and she pulled, and with a shout, she gave a final, powerful yank, and the boot finally slid off his foot.
And she tumbled backwards and ended up smack on her bottom on the hard floor.
“Ow.”
He laughed.
She glared. “I am happy to be such a source of entertainment for Your Highness.”
“No, no. If you could only see your face. Like an infuriated kitten.” He broke out in another bout of laughter.
“The second foot,” she growled. “Your Imperial Highness.”
“It was so nice when you forgot to tag that blasted title on.” He wiped the corners of his eyes. “Can you not call me that when we’re together, just the two of us?”
She yanked the second boot off, and it came off on the third try.
