“Well?” he demands. I close the door and sit on a corner of my oak desk, crossing my arms and pursing my lips.
“Well what?” I ask.
“You cancelled your appearances yesterday.”
Cocking my head, I squint at him. “So?”
“So… you missed the board meeting regarding the children’s cancer center to be named after Anton. You knew that was important to me!”
That gives me pause. Anton was Erik’s little brother; he died of childhood lymphoma. The board meeting was a meeting of the royal family, in which they voted on which projects to fund.
“Ahh. Shit.” I wince. “Did the family really vote against a children’s cancer center?”
“It got funded, but barely. That’s not really the point, Stellan. You promised me that you would be there to champion Anton’s name!”
I blow out a breath. In the back of my mind, I knew that coming back to Copenhagen was going to be like this. I knew that I would be disappointing someone and letting someone down. I always am, I guess.
It’s just usually not Erik.
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
Puffing out my cheeks, I sigh. “I spent the weekend with Margot.”
Erik stills, his eyes tightening on my face. “What do you mean, you spent the weekend with her?”
At that moment, the door to the study swings open. I turn and watch as my grandmother glides in wearing a light gray pantsuit.
I paste on my coolest smile. “Ah,Momse. Good, I can tell both of you at once.”
My grandmother arches a brow. “I hope you are about to tell me why you felt like shirking your duties yesterday. It was very difficult to get enough royals to cover all your engagements.”
I want to roll my eyes, but instead I just continue to smile. “I’m dating Margot Keane.”
Her nostrils flare. Erik shakes his head, glaring at me.
“That’s a bad idea,” he mutters.
I shoot him a glare.
Ida raises her chin and looks me square in the eye. “Is that the journalist from America?”
“Yes.”
She brushes a bit of invisible lint from her jacket sleeve. “You know that you can’t marry her.”
I hold up a hand. “No one said anything about marriage. I haven’t even looked into that possibility yet.”
She eyes me. “Stellan, you were raised to hold yourself to high standards. Certainly higher than a poor American reporter. I mean, really! I’m not even sure that our constitution will allow the crown prince to marry a foreigner, much less someone of such a different class than our family.”
My lips thin. I draw myself up to my full height. “I know that Margot isn’t your choice,Momse. But for now, she is mine. So you can either deal with it or you can find someone else to be your well-behaved little pet prince.”
Ida’s hand goes to her chest. She opens her mouth to retort, but I’m already turning my attention to Erik.
“And you.” I glare at him. “I am sorry that I missed thevote yesterday. That was wrong of me. But I’ll tell you now… I won’t tolerate anyone telling me how to live my life. You need to get comfortable with the fact that I’m dating Margot.” I look at Ida. “Both of you do.”
Erik looks angry. “You don’t even know any of her past, Stel. Trust me, she has plenty to hide.”
