Joanne returned with all three of the others, each of them laden down with bags and gowns. Natalie raised her brows as they made equally short work of gathering up Rose’s belongings. Clearly the maids had been impatient with the ruse for some time. Perhaps since the very beginning.
“Could you help me?” she asked Cate meekly before the maid could slip back out the door, and Cate stopped with a startled exclamation.
“Oh yes, of course! You can’t sleep in that!” She laughed at her own joke.
She made short work of the gown’s fastenings before wishing Natalie goodnight and vacating the room, leaving Natalie completely alone. Natalie gave a long, grateful sigh and locked her door. She had never been so grateful for solitude.
She swayed with tiredness as she changed into her nightgown, desperate to escape into sleep. But as soon as she was lying down, the exhaustion lifted. She tossed and turned,unable to sleep as her mind raced over everything that had happened in the last two days.
Eventually she got back up and feverishly packed all the belongings the maids had carried over loose. She couldn’t remain in Lanover for another week, after all. She would find a way to start back home the next day.
The frenzied activity—or perhaps the decision to leave in the morning—settled her enough that when she fell into bed again, she was finally able to fall into sleep as well. She would have a proper conversation with Rose in the morning—she owed the princess that and more—and then she would leave the capital completely. Everyone would be more comfortable that way.
The sound of insistent knocking woke her in the morning. She had intended to search out Rose, but the princess had already come to her.
“Just a moment,” she called groggily, looking around for her dressing gown and realizing it had fallen prey to her frenzied packing the night before.
“Take your time,” called back a cheerful voice that did not belong to Rose. “I can wait out here all day if need be.”
Natalie froze. What was Luca doing at her door so early in the morning?
She had intended to say a formal goodbye to him and Prince Leo before she left, of course, but she hadn’t expected to see him like this—alone and in her nightgown.
She gasped. She couldn’t see him in her nightgown!
In an even more frenzied rush than the night before, she undid all her work, pulling items out of her bags at random, searching for a simple outfit that she could manage on her own. When she was dressed, she pulled a brush through her hair so roughly that she winced, her scalp still tender.
Sweeping the hair up into a loose arrangement, she focused on making it secure rather than neat. She sighed at her reflectionas she pushed in the final pin. Hardly a charming picture, but at least she was respectable.
She unlocked the door and inched it open, preparing herself for the disappointment of an empty corridor after keeping the prince waiting so long. But Luca was still there, leaning against a wall, one leg propped up and his hands in his pockets, the picture of unhurried ease.
He smiled so warmly at the sight of her that her heart leaped in her chest, her pulse pounding in her throat.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “How did you even know where to find me?”
He pushed off the wall and came to stand in front of her, holding out his hand as if they had just met, his gaze commanding. Bewildered, she put her hand into his, and he bowed over it, his lips lingering against her bare skin.
She gasped softly, pulling her hand away as fire raced up her arm. How could he still affect her so intensely, even after everything that she’d done to ruin things?
“I heard Princess Rose brought a friend with her,” Luca said while she stared at him. “A girl from the mountain kingdom. She sounded so intriguing that I wanted to come and introduce myself. I haven’t met many people from the mountain kingdom. And, of course, as a prince of Lanover, I should welcome all guests to our palace.”
“Luca,” she said, “what are you talking ab?—”
He cut off her words, still with that same warm smile on his face and laughter in his eyes.
“I’ve heard your name is Natalie. But you prefer to go by Lila? Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Prince Luca of Lanover. But don’t be fooled by my title. I’m a very minor and totally inconsequential royal, several steps removed from the line of succession. You can hardly consider me a royal at all.”
“Luca!” she cried in protest, but she was laughing now.
“I’m certainly not the kind of prince who would scare away someone who’s decided she doesn’t want to be royal,” he said. “Just in case you happen to know anyone like that.”
“Just in case,” Natalie said, trying to be grave and failing.
“It’s amazing how often people overlook a second prince,” Luca continued airily. “They barely notice me at all.”
Natalie looked at his broad shoulders and the angular, beautiful lines of his face. “Somehow I don’t believe that,” she murmured.
“I barely even attend royal functions,” he added.
