She stormed down the path, water dripping from her with every step. Against my better judgment, my lips twitched into a grin.
That was my first mistake.
Those dark eyes didn’t miss a beat. They landed on me with precision, and she stalked across the dock toward me.
“Is something funny?” she asked, eyebrow raised.
I cleared my throat. “Not at all, ma’am. Just wondering why you chose to take a swim before arriving.”
Andthatwas my second.
Her mouth shut with a snap, and I could’ve sworn her eyes changed color with the way they heated in anger at my words.
I wasn’t sure what made me say it. Even as wet as a feral cat, this woman was beautiful. Beautiful things often had a way of taking control of my lips before my mind could catch up. Most women found it charming. Obviously not this one.
“You’ll have to understand, sir, if I’m not in a particularly humorous mood at the moment.” She took another step toward me, her voice cold and sharp like a knife. “Perhaps you wouldn’t be, either, if you’d been caught in some freak thunderstorm and almost decapitated by fowl.”
I blinked. “A foul…what?”
“Not foul,fowl. Literal birds. Falling from the sky.”
My mouth opened and closed. “I’m still not following.”
A growl rumbled from her throat as she swung her hair over her shoulder, exposing how wet the thin fabric at her chest was. My stomach tightened as I tore my gaze back to her face.
“Never mind. I’m looking for Lord Thorne Reaux. The correspondence team said he’d be escorting me to the palace on King Grimaldi’s behalf.”
Thiswas Clarissa Aris, Empress of the Veridian Empire? My best friend’s future wife? The woman I’d insulted thesecondshe stepped onto Mysthelm soil?
“Well,” I said, giving her a wry smile. “You’re in luck, Empress.”
Her stare raked over me, and I felt that same clenching in my gut. “Ofcourse, you’re him.”
“At your service.”
Straightening, she shook out her shoulders, sending water splattering to the ground. How she still managed to look dignified while her blonde hair sopped down her back and her wet clothes smelled like salt, I would never understand.
“Clarissa, let’s get you a towel before you catch a cold,” said the older woman I’d seen walking off the boat. She approached and placed a hand on Clarissa’s elbow. I could tell the resemblance immediately—the same mouth, same nose, same freckles on the cheeks.
“Catch a cold? Mother, it’s boiling out here.” The empress ran a hand down her wet arms with a grimace. “I’m not sure if most of this is water or sweat at this point.”
I pinched my lips together to hide a smirk. She was a firecracker. A bright, golden firecracker. “Hello, Your Grace,” Isaid to her mother, giving a polite bow. “I hope you had a pleasant journey?”
“Quite the gentleman now, I see. She gets a bow, and I got a joke. And not a particularly funny one,” Clarissa snapped at me before her mother could reply.
“Would you like me to bow for you, Empress?” The words left my mouth unbidden. I waited for her sneer of dismissal, but evidently, my question was a challenge. Heat burrowed under my skin as she stared me down and uttered a single word.
“Yes.”
I licked my lips and shot her mother a wink, whose head cocked in curiosity. Placing one hand behind my back, I bent low, my eyes skating over Clarissa’s tight pants that hugged the curves of her legs. I reached out my other hand to grab hers and skimmed my lips across her knuckles.
“Is this acceptable, Your Majesty?” I murmured, my heart already thudding at the anger rolling from her in waves.
This was far too much fun.
And she’s your best friend’s fiancée.
I swallowed and released her hand, spine stiffening and pulling back into an upright position.
