Chapter Thirteen

“You’re a prince?” Amber searched his face looking for any telltale signs that he’d been joking, but there were none. She’d never seen such an expression on him before. Like stone. It was like being next to a stranger. A royal stranger.

“Yes.”

She couldn’t get her head around it. She’d always known that he was different somehow but had put it down to him coming from Europe, and his country being different from America. But a prince. That was on a totally different scale and beyond her realm of comprehension.

“And one day you’re going to be King?” she asked, as a startling image of him sitting on a throne wearing a long velvet robe, with a crown upon his head and his subjects bowing to him, flashed before her eyes.

“No. Fortunately, that’s my older brother’s future. Not mine.”

Oh, yes, he’d said second in line for the throne. So not going to be a king, then. Just a prince. Just. And he sure seemed pleased about that.

Or was he? She didn’t think now was the time to ask.

“And the overly friendly maintenance guy? He’s with you?” she asked, as she glimpsed the guy heading back up the drive. She should’ve realized that the whole lost-wallet scenario was made up. At the time, she’d been so relieved he wasn’t seeing another girl that she’d ignored what had been staring her in the face. That the conversation had seemed far too familiar to be about some lost property.

I’m such an idiot.

“He’s my bodyguard,” he replied through clenched teeth, his eyes distant and cold.

“Who else knows your true identity?” she asked, half convincing herself that it wouldn’t matter so much if no one else had known. She sort of understood if he’d kept it quiet. Although she’d understand even more if she knew that he’d intended to tell her sometime soon.

“Only Josh and the principal.”

Her stomach knotted. Josh he could tell, but not her. From her, he’d kept this huge secret. It didn’t take many brain cells to work out why.

“And you didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth?”

Of course he didn’t. Because as far as he was concerned, she was just a diversion while he spent time away from his royal life. In the grand scheme of things, she didn’t even figure. He might like her, but that was it. Nothing more. She got that now.

He used me.

“It wasn’t that simple.”

“Why not?” she retorted angrily. “What did you think I’d do? Tell someone?” Her body tensed, and the sound of her heart thumping in her chest echoed in her ears. He’d really screwed her over with all his wanting to be like a regular American talk. It was all crap. Crap designed to fool her.

The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on her. She hadn’t intended to blow his cover. It wasn’t like she’d actually planned to include his photo. It was an unholy mess of epic proportions, and she couldn’t think straight.

“Well, you did.” He glared at her, his lips set in a thin line.

His words stung. Who was this guy? This unbending, uncompromising, cold prince? Not the Nik that she’d gotten to know, that was for sure. He’d just made a total mockery of the last few weeks they’d had together. She’d foolishly opened herself up to him. Told him things no one else knew about her cancer. About how she’d felt after everything that had happened with Wade. She’d trusted him implicitly. You’d have thought she would have learned her lesson with Wade. But, no. She’d made an idiot of herself all over again. Only this time, it was so much worse. She hadn’t loved Wade. But Nik…

“I’ve told you. I hadn’t intended to include your photo; it was just an awful accident.” Her voice cracked, and she coughed to hide it. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much his words and actions were hurting her.

“If you hadn’t taken the photo in the first place, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. The one thing I asked you not to do.” He folded his arms tightly across his chest, an icy expression plastered across his face.

“If you hadn’t lied to me, I might have been a lot more careful about not taking it,” she retorted.

Except she wasn’t sure whether that was actually true. If she was honest, she would have still wanted a photo of him to keep. But she might have been more careful with the photo once she’d taken it. Anyway, it was pointless thinking along those lines because it was too late to change what had happened. Now she just had to deal with it.

She shifted awkwardly, wishing she had something to do other than stand facing Nik and wait for him to exhaust his cool wrath.

“I didn’t lie. I just omitted certain facts,” Nik said, his tone remote and matter-of-fact.

Amber shuddered. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did he seriously think that what he’d done was okay? For him, maybe. But how did she figure in all this? Did her feelings count for anything at all? From the way he was acting, she doubted they would.

“You lied.” She stabbed a finger in his direction.

She blinked several times to push back the tears that were on the brink of falling. Her mind screamed with questions, but she couldn’t ask them. It was hard enough to not break down. She didn’t want his pity, even if he was bothered about how this whole thing had affected her. Which she doubted. All he cared about was his precious identity. Being a prince.

A prince.

Yet again, the craziness of the whole thing overwhelmed her.

“Not about everything,” his tone softened slightly, but not enough for her to think it meant anything.

She’d love to get inside his head. To see where his thoughts were. If she figured in them at all, apart from being blamed for this awful situation.

“Tell me something that wasn’t a lie, then,” she demanded. Though she no longer cared. Whatever he said wouldn’t change the situation. It would probably only make things worse.

“What does it matter? All I wanted was the chance to experience a normal life for a while. Now that’s gone.” He lowered his head.

She might have felt sorry for him if his sadness hadn’t centered only on himself and had nothing to do with her. The clueless American girl he’d decided to toy with while he enjoyed his fake life. She hadn’t thought he was so selfish. But what did she know?

Of course he’s selfish. He’s a prince. A prince used to getting his own way in everything.

“Thanks to me.” The sarcastic tone that came from her lips was unintentional. She doubted that it even registered with him.

“Yes.” He glared at her, his eyes flashing.

She averted her eyes. He’d deceived her. Betrayed her. Led her to believe he was someone he wasn’t. It was like Wade all over again. Okay, unlike Wade, he hadn’t been with another girl, that she knew of. But, so what? He was just like Wade in that he’d betrayed her when she was vulnerable.

“I suppose the fact that you hadn’t been honest doesn’t count. You played me for a fool. And if I hadn’t sent the photograph, you’d still be doing it, with no consideration for how I’d feel.” Her stomach heaved. “Well, you can be sure that I won’t ruin anything for you ever again.”

She turned, forcing her head high, and strode off in the opposite direction, mimicking his regal haughtiness as best as she could while resisting the urge to take one last look at him. Once she was far enough away from him, she allowed the tears, which had been threatening for so long, to pour down her cheeks.

“Amber, wait.”

She slowed at the sound of Lauren’s voice, debating whether to keep going but decided against it. Mainly because she knew that Lauren would just keep following her. Giving a wave of acknowledgement, she stopped and waited for Lauren to reach her.

“Hi.” Amber gave a loud sniff, pulled out a tissue from her pocket and wiped her tears.

Lauren’s eyes widened. “Oh no. What happened? What did he say? Did he go off on you? Surely he didn’t dump you?”

If only it were that simple.

“Worse.” Her body ached all over. All she wanted to do was to curl up in a hole and sleep until the year was over and Nik got on his royal plane and went back across the Atlantic. And even that wouldn’t be enough to help her feel better.

“How?” Lauren slid an arm around Amber’s shoulders.

Amber clenched her fists tightly by her sides. “It’s a total mess, thanks to me screwing everything up for him. It wasn’t on purpose. You know that. But I don’t care anymore. After what he’s done to me, he deserves everything that he gets.”

She didn’t mean what she was saying. The words were just pouring out of her mouth. They were only words, though. She did care. She really wished she didn’t. But she did. She couldn’t just turn off her feelings. Unlike him, because clearly it didn’t bother him one bit what he’d done to her. How he’d betrayed her belief in him.

“How? What? Tell me,” Lauren demanded, impatience clearly etched across her face.

Amber shrugged off Lauren’s arm and took a step away, trying to shake off the feeling that she wanted to jump out of her skin. She drew in a long breath. “It’s over between us. No one actually finished it outright. It was obvious that it wasn’t going to continue. Not after he dropped the P-bomb.”

“The what?”

To use a recent word on their English vocabulary list, Lauren looked totally bemused.

“He told me the truth. He’s not Nik Gustafsson, exchange student from Europe, like we thought. He’s really…” She paused for effect. “He’s really Prince Niklas of Lutgenstadt, second in line to the throne, if you please.” A hollow laugh erupted from her mouth. Not that any of this was funny. Far from it. The laugh was more crazy hysterical than anything else.

“He’s what?” Lauren retorted.

“You heard me. He’s a prince. Prince Niklas, to be precise.”

Lauren stared directly at her. “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that Nik is actually a prince. As in a royal prince?”

Just listening to Lauren’s words made the hairs raise on the back of her neck. Her Nik was from a European royal family. If she’d read it in a book, she’d have come up with all sorts of excuses for why she didn’t buy the scenario. Because there were certainly loads, not least of all how he could travel incognito and ensconce himself in an American boarding school. Yet, here they were right in the middle of this ridiculous and true situation.

“Yep,” she murmured. “As royal as they come.”

“Geez. That’s crazy.” Lauren rubbed her hand through her hair.

“You’re telling me.” Amber’s gaze dropped to the ground, and she kicked some of the gravel beneath her feet.

“And you’ve screwed it up for him. How?” Lauren frowned.

“His secret’s out. Thanks to me and my photo, which was spotted by someone at the agency.” She explained the rest of the story to Lauren.

If she could only have had a do-over day, she’d have checked her application more carefully, and none of this would have happened. Except she’d still have no idea of his true identity. And she didn’t want a relationship based on a lie. Not that a relationship was ever really going to happen. He was silver spoons and royal etiquette, and she was shopping at the mall and an annual vacation with her family in the mountains. No wonder he didn’t get her life with her family when she’d explained it to him.

All she’d been to him was a vacation diversion.

“Oh crap,” Lauren said.

“You have a way with words,” Amber replied. “But you know what’s hurt me the most about this whole thing, is that Josh knew. Right from the beginning, Nik trusted Josh with his secret, but he didn’t trust me.”

Heaviness enveloped her limbs, and tears pricked her eyes again. How was she ever going to get over this?

“But he came to school with Josh. Their families are friends. So he’d have to know,” Lauren replied.

Lauren made sense, but she didn’t want sense. She’d convinced herself that it would be okay to start up a relationship, despite her resolve not to. She’d been so happy these last weeks. And now. Now that happiness was long gone. It probably wouldn’t happen ever again.

“I don’t care.” She stamped her foot on the ground like a child. “He still could’ve told me. I knew that something wasn’t right. Deep down I knew it. The way he avoided certain questions. Things he’s told me that I now know he made up, with apparently very little difficulty. Why the heck didn’t I listen to myself?”

Because I’m stupid.

“You have to know that I had no idea he was a prince. Josh kept it from me, too.” Lauren touched Amber gently on the arm.

“I didn’t think that you knew, because you never would have kept that secret from me.” Actually, the thought had crossed her mind, but she’d dismissed it because she trusted Lauren implicitly.

“What happens to Nik now?” Lauren asked.

“I don’t know. His cover’s been blown, so he’ll probably go back to his country. Where he can poke fun at me with all of his noble friends. Tell them how stupid the American commoner was. How I’d never be part of his royal life because I lacked all the social graces required.”

That was one of the worst parts. She knew he’d compare her ordinariness with all those aristocratic people that he would usually hang out with and find her wanting. How could he not? “He was just slumming it until his royal adventure was over.”

“Stop. That’s not the Nik we know. Okay, so he didn’t tell you he’s a prince, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t enjoy being with you, or that he will make fun of you to his friends. Some things you can fake, and others you can’t. His feelings for you were real. He didn’t make them up.” Lauren folded her arms across her chest in that you-know-I’m-right way that she had.

“You don’t know that. If he can betray me in such a big way, that makes him no different from Wade.”

Her insides knotted at the thought of Nik and Wade being so similar. Was it something that she’d done to attract guys like that, who were all about me, me, me? She’d read about how some women were always victims. Continually ending up with guys who were of a similar nature. Was that her?

“That’s crazy talk. There is no similarity between him and Wade.” Lauren glared at her.

She wished that Lauren were right. “You didn’t see him. He dragged me away from where the media were and…”

“Media?” Lauren’s eyes bugged.

“They were at the bottom of the drive, just outside of school, looking for Nik. His bodyguard was talking to them,” Amber explained.

“He has a bodyguard? Where was he hiding because I didn’t see any sign of him?” Lauren arched a questioning eyebrow. “Is he stalking us from the school gardens?”

“The new maintenance guy.”

“You can’t be serious. The new maintenance guy is really his bodyguard.” She laughed, then slammed her hand across her mouth. “Sorry. I know it’s not funny. It’s just the maintenance guy is a bodyguard. It’s like watching some B movie.”

She had that right.

“I guess it is funny from that perspective,” Amber said. “But what’s not funny is how I feel.” She sounded like a whining child, but she couldn’t help it. And sometimes being whiny was therapeutic.

“I know. It really sucks. What are you going to do?” Lauren’s voice was soft.

Amber gave a half-hearted shrug. “There’s nothing to do. It’s over. He’ll be gone soon. They might even fly him out tonight. By morning, it will all be a bad memory.” Her voice cracked.

“Don’t say that,” Lauren said.

“It’s true. And I’m glad. It will make it easier to deal with.”

Liar.