She wrinkles up her face. “I see that. Umm… I have no idea, really. I just… I’ll say that I do remember being maybe seven or eight years old. My mom was on a bender, she was… just off, wherever. And I was supposed to do this project at school that required me to look stuff up. So after school, I went to the public library to use their computers. And I couldn’t quite figure out how to use it. You know, the New York public libraries don’t exactly get funding for the latest software.”
“No?” I ask.
She chuckles. “No. Anyway, when I eventually found my way to the New York Times site… I was totally blown away. Just riveted! I remember thinking that I couldn’t believe that people were telling other people the news. It just… it really gave me that sort of… light bulb moment, where something lit up inside of me. I spent like three hours reading every single word I could, until one of the librarians shooed me off the computer.”
I tilt my head to the side, taking in her slow smile and hand gestures as she tells the story. “Let me guess. That was the moment when you decided that you wanted to be a journalist?”
Two pink spots appear in her cheeks. “Yeah, somethinglike that. Although I’m not actually as much of a journalist as I am a photographer.”
I nod a little bit. “So you’ve said. Where is your camera now?”
Margot grins sheepishly. “In my tote bag, less than thirty feet away.”
“You’ll have to show me some of your photos sometime.”
Her flush intensifies, creeping down her neck. She looks away. “Maybe some time.” She clears her throat and shakes her head. “But not now. We’re in the middle of a game, aren’t we?”
I nod my head slowly, enjoying the nearness of her. What would it take to get her in my lap, I wonder? My head cocks to the side as I picture that particular image.
She looks at me, her lips twitching. “I have a good question. If there was no such thing as money, and you could do anything you wanted, what would you devote your life to?”
“Wait. You didn’t ask me whether I prefer to tell the truth or perform a dare.”
Her eyes roll. “All right. Truth or dare, I guess.”
Eyeing Margot, I bite my lip. Then I move closer to her until my thigh touches hers. She looks down at the spot where our bodies meet, making some kind of calculations.
I wish I could read her mind, just for a moment.
“Truth,” I say.
Her gaze flicks up to my face. She licks her lips. “I already asked you my question.”
I sprawl out on the couch, laying both of my arms on the back. I’m already close enough to Margot that I could put my arm around her with ease; if I moved my right arm another half inch, I would be hugging her. I can feel the heat from her body against my skin.
Her eyes grow large. Her pupils dilate just a little.
I’m careful not to move again. After the last week of almost kissing her, of almost seducing her, I’m okay with just teasing her for a bit. It’s impossible not to smirk as I answer her question.
I lean my head back, forcing myself to focus. “Hmm. If money were no object?”
She nods, leaning back. Her head rests against my arm and she doesn’t jerk away.
I bite my lip, giving her another smirk. She looks at me, only a few inches away. We are so close that I can see a few faint freckles on her nose, can make out her the dark shadow of her lashes against her skimmed cream cheeks.
“I was trained as a pilot when I was in the Navy,” I tell her. “I did two years there, and I have to say, I quite liked it. I enjoyed being up in the air, in charge of everything that I saw. Everything else… when the ground fell away from the plane, so did everything else.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Do you think you could ever be happy living like that? I mean… not living as a royal.”
I shrug, resting my head back and looking up at the ceiling again. “Who’s to say? I don’t plan on finding out.” I suck in a deep breath. “I’m a member of the royal family, Margot. I owe certain things to my country. And one of them is my life…” I shake my head just a little. “I will always be a prince, first and foremost. I will always have my obligations. It’s just… it’s part of the whole package, for better or worse.”
When she speaks, her voice is a mere whisper. “I know, Stellan.”
I roll my head to the side, flashing her a half-hearted smile. “God, my grandmother would love to know that those words just came out of my mouth. She’s always on my back about how I owe the country this and that… My honor and… whatever else.” I exhale. “It’s hard not to want to be different, though. It’s really damned hard.”
I look right in Margot’s eyes as I say the last line.
The grate of her voice stirs me. “There are… there are rules you have to abide by. Right? Rules you can never, ever think about breaking?”
