“But you didn’t know if you could trust me to keep your secret and not gossip about it with others. The news would have spread fast.”
“True.”
“I didn’t want to risk anything happening to spoil the week for you and the rest of the men in the group, especially because Dad and Tyler were so excited about getting international recognition for our ranch.”
He slipped his hands into his pockets, and his shoulders seemed to lose their tension.
She expelled a breath. “I hope you understand.”
“I do. You had your reasons for staying silent, the same way I had mine. And I cannot condemn you for it.”
“Thank you, Max.”
He nodded.
Something was off. She could feel it between them, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Was he still upset at her?
“I could have at least told you that I knew,” she admitted. “But once I decided to let the matter go, I didn’t really think about it much.”
He didn’t respond.
“Besides, what was I supposed to say? ‘Good job on the ski hill, and by the way, I know you’re a prince’?”
“I do truly understand, Emberly. You were actually quite honorable with your intentions, and I appreciate it.”
But did he?
He shifted to glance out the window. The oil lantern above the table was still burning and revealed the drifts of snow now covering all but a small piece of the glass.
Had she ruined her relationship with Max? Would things be different and awkward between them?
A strange desperation began to seep through her. She didn’t want their relationship to change, didn’t want to lose the connection she had with him, didn’t want to losehim.
Without giving herself a chance to second-guess herself, she crossed toward him. As she stopped in front of him, he continued to stare out the window.
Boldly, she lifted a hand and cupped his cheek. “Don’t be mad at me, okay?”
14
“I am not mad at you.” He was not mad at her in the least. Instead, he was stunned at her revelation that she had known who he was from almost the moment she’d met him.
She’d realized he was a prince, and she had not tried to impress him, had not groveled, had not catered to his every whim, had not given him whatever he wanted, had not allowed him to order her around.
Simply put, she hadn’t changed who she was because of his royalty. She had been utterly and completely herself while knowing this whole time who he was.
The very thought almost made him weak. Was he relieved? He certainly was flabbergasted. No one had ever treated him as a normal person and an equal, not if they knew he was a prince. Not until Emberly McQuaid.
Even when the attraction between them had flared to life a few times, she had never once pressured him for more in their relationship so that she could further herself—unlike other women he’d dated. She had kept the boundaries between them high, not even hinting that she would like more because she was enamored by the possibility of a royal life.
Was that because she was opposed to it? Maybe she didn’t want to be in a relationship with a prince. Maybe she couldn’t see herself becoming a future queen. Maybe she had no desire to walk into a way of life so foreign to her own.
A strange sense of panic began to swell inside him. He could no longer deny what had been simmering inside him all day since his conversation with T.W. that morning. He wanted Emberly. More than he’d ever wanted any other woman, even more than Ava. In fact, what he felt for Emberly could not even begin to compare. It went far beyond that long-ago teenage relationship—so much so that he wasn’t sure what he’d felt with Ava could even be considered love.
Love?
Yes, indeed.
He shifted so that he was facing Emberly squarely. Her upturned face was wreathed with worry lines, and her brown eyes welled with frustration.
