“Where’s my apology soup?”Margo demanded.
“I have some leftovers, if you’d like some.”
“Oh, no.I’m not taking any more food provided by that man.”
“Then why did you ask for soup?”
“It’s the principle,” Margo said, “I’d gladly accept a face mask or some fuzzy socks of apology.”
Lilian burst into laughter.“I’ll let him know.”
The other end of the line grew quiet except for a low, drawn-out hum that made her feel like a child who had given the teacher the wrong answer.Was Margo mad at her?It was impossible to tell on the phone.A spike of anxiety wedged itself in her chest, but Margo spoke before she could apologize.
“So how was it?”
“The soup?It was fine.Canned soup really isn’t much to write home about.”
“No.”Margo huffed in laughter.“Having Hawk in your house.Cooking your food!We need to talk about this.There is something going on between the two of you.”
This was what she’d been afraid of.“There is nothing going on between us.I told you he offered to help me with the bookshop.And yesterday he felt guilty—”
“Lilian, no.”Margo’s teacher voice cut through her explanation with a firmness that had been known to make kindergarteners cry.“Stop trying to downplay this.The man stopped by your house andbrought you soup.After he went and got us turkey legs.Sure, he might have doused the meat in poison before giving it to us, but he didn’t have to get us lunch.”
“We paid him back,” she added weakly, but Margo was on a tirade.
“He’s been stopping by the shop more.”
“Because he agreed to help.”
“Because helikesyou.”
“What?”The words hit her like cold water, shocking her to her core.A giggle of disbelief bubbled out before she could stop it.“No way.There’s no way.Hawk hates the Ren Faire and the costumes and the food.”
“Funny.I didn’t hear ‘adorable single bookseller’ on that list.”
“He hates me!”she insisted.“He makes fun of all the things I love.He hates that I’m a disorganized mess who’s failing at business.And he’s only feeding me out of pity, but apparently even that we can’t get right.”
“Oh, this is adorable,” Margo hummed.
There was no mistaking it anymore.Where Lilian had once heard disapproval in her friend’s voice, she now recognized pure amusement.As if this was another plot line on one of Margo’s beloved reality TV shows.
“I can’t with this.It’s ridiculous.”
“I agree.”
“He hates me.”
“How many romance novels have you read with the heroine saying the exact same thing?”
“I’m hanging up now.”
She jammed the end call button on Margo’s cackling.Margo had it all wrong.There was no way Hawk liked her.
Okay, maybe they weren’t sworn enemies anymore.And maybe they were moving toward being… friends.But that didn’t mean anything else was going on.
As she sat down to make her daily to-do list for the shop, her phone buzzed again.Lilian prepared herself for another round of questions and speculation from Margo but froze at the name and the message attached to it.
Tyrant Prince
