He dropped his gaze to his goblet. “My situation is entirely different.”
“Oh, so you don’t have to work hard to make a relationship work?”
“I have pressures you cannot understand.”
“Now who’s the one making excuses?”
“No.” He pushed back from the table and stood abruptly. “You do not know what you are talking about.”
“Explain it.”
His body had grown visibly tense and his expression withdrawn. “You have no right to order me to do anything.”
“I see. You can lecture me on my relationships, but no one’s allowed to do the same to you?”
“I was not lecturing you.”
She stood now too, and hugged her arms to her chest. The room had grown colder, but it was his attitude that had decidedly lost its warmth. Should she try to reclaim the camaraderie, perhaps apologize?
But she hadn’t done anything wrong—only asked him to be as honest and vulnerable as she’d been with him. Did he think that, because he was a prince, he could require more of her than of himself?
If so, he was mistaken. He might be able to take that superior attitude with his subjects. But she wasn’t his subject. She was her own person with her own life and her own needs. She wanted to tell him as much, but in doing so, she would reveal that she knew about his royalty.
“I suppose it is getting late...” Max said as he stepped away from the table.
“Go ahead. Go.” She waved at the door. “But just so you know for the future, don’t dish out advice that you can’t stomach in return.” She couldn’t stop herself from at least speaking some of the truth.
He paused. Then he nodded before stalking across the room and out the door. She heard him speak tensely with Winzig before his footsteps lightly padded away.
When the hallway door to the stairwell clicked closed, she released a sigh and began to pick up the table, placing the pie, goblets, and thermos back into the basket.
As she started across the room through the darkness, a shadow stepped away from the door, and she let out a gasp. Winzig filled the doorway, and he didn’t look happy. “I will walk you home,” he said in accented English.
She was tempted to reply in German and tell him to go back to the prince and do his job—which he clearly wanted to do, even though it appeared that Max had ordered him to make sure she made it safely back to her cottage.
She didn’t need a protection agent any more than she’d needed Kade earlier. But it was kind of Max to show concern.
Perhaps she had become overly familiar with him. After all, she’d never spent so much time with any one guest before. His leaving so abruptly was a reminder that Max was only visiting the ranch and she was nothing more than his personal concierge. She couldn’t forget it. And now that she’d offended him, maybe doing her job would be easier.
6
Max could admit he’d been hoping to encounter Emberly throughout the morning meetings. However, he hadn’t glimpsed her once, not even when he’d invented an excuse to walk through the lobby so he could glance past the guest counter and down the hallway toward her office.
“We’re heading over to ski.” One of the gentlemen near the head of the table pushed back from his chair. “Would you like to join us?”
“I regret that I must decline your invitation.” Max stuffed the last folder into his briefcase. “But I shall look forward to hearing about the experience.”
Most of the other men had already left the conference room, and as the final few said their farewells to him, he opened his laptop. He had too much work left to do to go skiing.
Besides, he’d recently spent the Christmas holidays skiing in the Alps with his family and so wasn’t set on having to ski in Colorado. Although if Emberly was able to plan something private, he would consider going.
Was he terrible for anticipating seeing her again?
Thoughts of her had filled his sleep. Upon waking in the morning, more thoughts of her had flooded his mind, along with the realization that he hadn’t ended their time together well the previous night. She hadn’t called him a hypocrite, but essentially that’s what he’d been. She was right that he’d been doling out counsel for her love life that he was not willing to follow himself.
What was it he had said? Something likeStop settling for mediocre relationships and start putting in the hard work required to have a good relationship. He almost laughed at himself now for saying such a thing to Emberly when he had never exerted himself in his relationship with Sarah. No wonder he’d never felt connected to her.
Emberly had been as straightforward as always in pointing out his double standard. Instead of confessing it, he had acted superior and walked away.
