She pats my cheek. “Aw, is your ego bruised that I’m not like every other woman and hopelessly in love with you simply because you’re Prince Rowan?”
Yes. “Pfft.” I roll my eyes like a teenager. “Like I’d want you to be in love with me. You’re mean.”
“Yeah, but my pussy is sweet.”
I can’t argue that.
She gives my cheek another pat, then heads for the door and, without another word, sneaks out. Damn. I’ve got it really bad for the wrong woman.
I grab my bag, my backpack filled with my laptop and chargers and shit I’ll need, then head out my door. Except instead of going to the breakfast room for a quick cup of coffee—stopping when you’re the prince of a country isn’t so easy, especially when you’re trying to keep a low profile—or even going to the garage, I go to Sebastian’s suite.
I listen outside the door because the number of times I’ve heard him fucking his wife makes me want to keep noise-canceling headphones on me at all times. Thankfully, it’s quiet, and I tap lightly on his door.
It takes him a moment, but then I hear him bark, “What?”
“Kiss your children with that mouth?” I retort, keeping my voice low so I don’t wake anyone else up.
He curses, but I hear him move, and a moment later the door opens. “What is it?”
“I need to talk to you.”
He scrubs a hand up and down his face. “Now? What time is it?”
“Just about five.”
“Fuck, Rowan. I didn’t get to sleep until a few hours ago.”
“Me too. It can’t wait.”
He nods and goes back into his room to throw on more than only the boxer briefs he was wearing. A moment later, he’s back, and without a word, we go down the stairs to his study since it’s the closest private room. Except as we round the corner, I hear what I think is a door closing, and a flash of something catches my periphery, but before I can make out what it is, it’s gone.
“Did you see that?” I ask him because I’d almost swear it was Marcella.
“See what? No.”
Huh. Weird.
We close the door behind us, and Sebastian immediately asks, “What’s so important that you couldn’t wait?”
“Two things. One, Marcella is Ella, and two, I’m sleeping with her.”
Sebastian blinks at me, his hands going to his hips as he works through what I just said. “Rowan…” He trails off, releases a breath, shifts his weight, and drops his chin toward the floor.
“I found the earring in her room.”
A gust of air exhales from him as if I just answered his unasked question.
“I didn’t trust her from the start. There was something about her that triggered me. I told you this. I did my best to stay away from her and stuck to mostly watching her through the cameras.”
“But that clearly didn’t last long. Who is she? Why is she here, and why did she sneak into the wedding? And how the fuck did she make it past our facial recognition?”
“All excellent questions I don’t have answers to, except I believe she was sent there or here or both by someone.”
“Someone who, Rowan?” my brother roars, and I wave my hands for him to lower his voice so he doesn’t wake the entire palace.
“I don’t know, but she’s either not here willingly or she’s here to escape something or someone.”
He growls and paces over to the window. “Why do you think that? Because you don’t want to believe she’s here to hurt us? Because your dick likes fucking her?”
