Chapter Seventeen

Footsteps dully thudded on the checkerboard marble floors of the Statuary Hall. Mallory listened, considering. It was a double set, perfectly matched in rhythm, with one far heavier than the other.

She’d put ten dollars on it being a member of the House of Villani and a bodyguard. From the hesitation, she further deduced it to be Kelsey.

So—after removing her Sherlock Holmes deduction cap—Mallory was tempted to run. They’d been sort of avoiding each other. Nothing overt. Nothing the staff, for example, would pick up on. But anyone who truly knew them, knew how much they were two pieces that made a whole, would be able to tell that things were off.

Drastically off.

Painfully off.

Mallory was holding firm, though. She wouldn’t give Christian up to appease Kelsey. Nor to appease his advisors, or his grandmother. Their relationship got exactly two votes—hers and Christian’s.

But seeing that disapproval in Kelsey’s eyes…hearing an icy overtone in her voice worse than Lake Michigan in January…it was hard. It hurt. Avoiding her was the only workaround.

Immature? Yes.

Still tempting? Yes.

On the other hand, it sounded like Kelsey was in high heels. Mallory had the advantage of pairing her red-and-cream paisley skirt with red flats. Not to mention the five inches in height she had over her. Long legs and sensible shoes would win the day without any visible running away.

“Mallory! Mal, wait up!”

Except for that.

She wouldn’t run away in a snit after being called out. No doubt the protocol binder stated that ignoring someone of higher rank could get you banned from the palace. Double awkward since she lived in the palace.

Mallory slowly turned around, a polite smile welded in place. “Hey there.”

“Are you busy?”

“Yes. I made some changes in my approach, and I’m getting flooded with responses for the orphan gala. It’s a little hard to keep on top of it.”

“Oh, that’s great!”

Following protocol, Mallory lobbed back a bit more inane small talk. “And you?”

Kelsey waved a hand at her gray cardigan with lacy panels, pink shirt, and white jeans. “I’m off to change. I’m headed to the theater tonight with the grand duchess and this won’t cut it. Except for the shoes.”

Hmm. Gray-felted ankle booties with needle sharp, five-inch heels. “Why on earth are you wearing stilettos with jeans?”

Kelsey’s pink-glossed lips plumped into a pout. “Genevieve took all my flats. Had her maid hide them. She says the way my ankles still wobble in heels is an embarrassment, and that our dead mother is turning in her grave at my inability to walk like a lady.”

“That’s teasing, right?” Hard to tell with Genevieve. Mallory wanted to get to know her better, now that she’d apparently realized that Kelsey’s reappearance was not a targeted attempt to bring down the House of Villani. But Genny was head over heels for Theo, spending all her free time with him. Bonding opportunities, aside from the road trip, were rare. “Because five months ago, she would’ve said it bristling with outrage.”

“She’s…mostly teasing. But she’s also seen how often I slip them off. Laid the whole ‘practice makes perfect’ line on me. I have one pair of sneakers in the gym, and that is it. Until the day she sees me walk the length of the throne room without a single wobble.”

“That is some hard-core big-sistering going on there.”

“About that…” Kelsey looked down at the square of black marble beneath her feet. Then over to the white square under Mallory’s. “I miss my big sister. A lot.”

Oh. Oh. They’d studiously avoided using the word “sister” to describe each other since…well, since the day Kelsey had been officially reintroduced as the missing Villani princess. The day she’d officially stopped being a Wishner.

It was an olive branch.

Thank goodness.

“What a coincidence. I miss my little sister,” Mallory offered.

“I’m sorry.” Kelsey bit her lip. She tugged on the ruffles of her pink blouse. “I’ll get to the rest, but can I just say sorry and give you a hug?”

Mallory could barely talk over the sudden lump in her throat. “That’d be awesome.”

They rushed into each other’s arms. Yes, Kelsey fell off her shoe, but Mallory caught her. They were hugging and laughing and sobbing.

It was perfect.

And then Mallory opened her eyes to see Kelsey’s bodyguard. Lathan kept a respectful distance of four statues. Close enough to still hear everything, though. Especially with their hiccupping gasps echoing off the marble, bouncing off of every column and statue.

Mallory let go. Swiped her sleeve across her cheeks. “Um, do you want to go someplace to talk?”

“What’s wrong with here?”

“It isn’t very private.”

“Nope.” Kelsey shrugged. Waggled her fingers at Lathan. “But I’m practicing at being okay with that, too. At treating this palace as my home, and not a museum, even if it is filled with antiquities. If we were in the hallway back in Michigan, would you suggest we move this discussion?”

“Gah. No. You’re right. This is your home now.”

Kelsey tilted her head. “It’s our home now.”

“For now. Yes.”

There was a break, then. Where it felt awkward between them again.

Gripping the floaty panels of her sweater, Kelsey said, “I’m sorry I flipped out about Christian. I’m still figuring out how to juggle all these new people. I know he’s in a shitty situation with being forced to marry. My heart hurts for him. I want to do whatever I can to make it easier. That’s…that’s the place I was coming from.”

“Those are all good, sisterly instincts.”

Which would’ve been understandable if Kelsey hadn’t known the full extent of the other side of the coin. If she’d hadn’t known Mallory at all, and had been mad on principle with the woman complicating Christian’s life.

But she did know her.

“I should’ve been happy for you, though. Excited that you found an amazing man who likes you back. Even if I’m still not at all sure how you’ll make it work, I should’ve stopped and shared your joy.” Kelsey grabbed Mallory’s hands and squeezed. “So I’m very, very sorry that I stomped all over your joy. It was wrong.”

Mallory knew it wasn’t possible to hold her breath for an entire week. Nevertheless, it felt as if she was finally able to take the first full breath since they’d had their falling out. “It matters that you said all that. That you understand why I was so hurt. Thank you.”

With a grimace, Kelsey said, “I think this is the longest we’ve ever been mad at each other. Which sucked, by the way.”

“Agreed,” she said fervently.

Kelsey wrapped an arm around the marble column. “Nothing is how it used to be. Not even our fights.”

It was true. No, it was an understatement. They’d expected life to be a little bit different when they moved to Manhattan. The scope of changes they’d experienced in Moncriano, however, were both all-encompassing and off-the-charts.

And Kelsey had no choice in the matter. Moncriano was her country. Her true home. Her birthright. So Mallory stepped into the comfortable, worn-in-slipper-like role of reassuring big sister. She wrapped an arm around the opposite side of the column and leaned in, waggling her eyebrows.

“You used to not have Elias-the-Hunk in your life. You take the good changes with the bad.”

“True.” An utterly besotted smile lifted Kelsey’s lips and half lidded her violet eyes. “Elias makes up for missing a lot of things. I’d do anything to make sure he stays in my life.”

That was how Mallory felt about Christian.

Even realizing she’d have to give him up soon.

Because even though Kelsey was now Team Mal and Christian, his advisors, his grandmother, and his people still expected him to choose a suitable royal bride.

And with her final post-surgery check-up in a few days, she’d 100 percent, officially be deemed medically unworthy to fit that role.

But now was not the time to try and explain that to Kelsey. This moment was about them making up, mending fences.

Mallory held out her little finger for a pinkie swear—something sacred in the Wishner family. “Let’s swear not to ever be cold or distant to each other again.”

“Done.” They twisted their pinkies together, then stayed like that. Joined tenuously around an antique marble pillar, surrounded by priceless statues and bathed in the light of crystal chandeliers. Wishner Sisters, version 2.0. The European edition. “Moncriano messed with our mojo. Now we know to be on guard against it. Against anything or anyone that could pull us apart.”

“We’ll be vigilant.” Mallory turned her other cheek to the cool marble. Good thing it was a pillar instead of a statue, or her cheek would be doing the fig leaf on some ancient full frontal right now. “If we were in the Hall of Armor, I’d grab a shield for an awesome visual aid. How fun is it that’s even an option? Statues or suits of armor? Clearly better than the lots/fewer cockroach hallway options in our walk-up in New York.”

Then Kelsey reached all the way around to clasp her other hand. It was a stretch, but she made it. “Please stay, Mallory. Please. If this week proved anything, it’s how much I need you, how important you are to me.”

That was just silly. “Geez. I’m not flouncing because we had one argument. Trust me, my bags aren’t packed.”

“No, I mean, please stay past the six months that you agreed to. Stay here forever. With me.”

Here it was. The day Mallory had been dreading. She’d known at some point Kelsey would begin her campaign on this issue. She’d hoped that falling in love with Elias would’ve distracted her from it a little bit longer.

She dropped her hands to her sides. “This is your life, not mine.”

“It can be your life, too. C’mon. It smells better than Manhattan. I’ll take you to Venice for your birthday. Or…Vienna for New Year’s Eve.”

“Kelsey, you don’t need me. You just think you do.”

“We all want you here,” she pressed, violet eyes wide.

“Your family, yes. They’ve been extremely welcoming. Your people are less than thrilled with the foreigner living in the palace. And Christian’s advisors? They see me as an interloper. Someone blocking the future king from getting on with marrying a proper noble. Not to mention a reminder to the realm that you used to be an American and can patter off ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ but don’t know the words to Moncriano’s national anthem.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “It’s on my to-do list. Just not at the top of it.”

Mallory tapped her chest. “I’m like the stuffed bear every freshman takes to college. Something that bridges the homesickness. But by their senior year? That bear hits the trash pile. They don’t need the reminder of their old life.”

Kelsey frowned at that. “You’re making a new life here.”

“I’m making your new life here. That’s not the same as making my own life.”

And did she really want to dig in and create a life here while watching Christian create one with his TBD perfect royal bride? The closer she got to him, the more it made her wonder if she ought to get out of Dodge. Sooner, rather than later.

Before he proposed to another, more appropriate woman.

One who was capable of producing the next heir to the throne…

…

The week was ending far better than it had begun for Christian. After his blowup on Wednesday at his advisors and subsequently walking out on them, they’d left him alone. No doubt they were regrouping at Parliament. Or drawing straws to see who’d be stuck with coming back to talk to him.

He didn’t care. At least, not today.

He’d had two peaceful days of legitimately meaningful meetings. Preparation for an upcoming summit. The handing out of service awards to palace and RPS staff. A private meeting, with just Sir Kai, to go over the five most credible plans for the seven-hundred-year celebration of Moncriano. One where he could make judgments himself, rather than have everyone lobbying loudly for their own plan. And a video conference with doctors in two different countries to discuss possible diagnoses and treatments for his father.

That last one had been rough. But at least he was finally doing something about his father’s care.

Doing nothing wasn’t Christian’s style. It made him twitchy. Which was why he wasn’t content to sit back and wait for Mallory to make up her mind about him, about staying with him for more than four weeks. A strategy was called for. Maybe even a huddle. Call up Elias. Get Theo in on it.

After all, the man had managed to get Genevieve to fall for him, and Genny was ridiculously picky. Not to mention scarred from her trust being taken advantage of, more than once. If Theo had gotten past all that to worm his way into her heart? The man clearly had some brilliant relationship strategy.

Christian wasn’t too proud to beg for help.

Royal advisors to the Crown included experts on economics, agriculture, foreign affairs, diplomacy, international security, the environment, health policy, energy, education—the list went on, and on, and on. What was the harm in adding one more vital post—that of Love Guru?

God. That title was atrocious. It’d never fly.

No doubt that by the end of their strategy session, after perhaps one too many whiskies, they’d come up with a better title, as well as a way to convince Mallory to stay.

Yes, Christian was a prince with a plan this Friday evening. He threw some swagger into his stride down the South Hall. Maybe that was all it’d take…he’d unleash the full power of his sexy swagger. Mallory didn’t stand a chance against it.

“Your Highness, you may want to hold back.” Gregor had an odd…smile? on his face.

Gregor never smiled on duty.

Sure, Christian was in a great mood, but it couldn’t actually be contagious, could it? He flicked a glance toward the Hall of Statues. “The staff literally scurries backward to get out of my way, no matter how many times I’ve asked them not to. Why should I stop?”

Gregor put his finger to his earpiece, listened intently before responding. “Princess Kelsey and Lady Mallory are…having a moment.”

“What kind of a moment?”

“Lathan says they’re hugging. And crying. More of the former than the latter.”

Christian was relieved they’d finally called a truce. But also more than a bit annoyed at his family’s lives getting play-by-play commentary via their network of bodyguards.

“Do you lot do this all the time? Is my Royal Protection Service nothing more than a technology-aided game of telephone? Or did you have a betting pool on who would make the first move toward détente?”

His irritation at the breach of privacy clearly seeped into his voice. Gregor straightened, stood at attention. But he didn’t back down, and the smile didn’t fade.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. We overstepped. It’s just that…well…we all really like them. The princess and Lady Mallory. It was obvious how much they were both hurting at this rift. Nothing private’s being repeated among us all, I swear to you. Just that their fight is over.”

It took Christian a second to recalibrate his attitude. Okay, possibly four seconds of standing stock-still, staring at Gregor. Then he stepped forward and clapped the man on the shoulder. “That’s what makes each and every one of you so exceptional at your jobs. You care about us. You’re willing to protect us with your own lives because you care. Thank you.”

“It is our distinct pleasure and honor to serve the House of Villani.”

“By all means, share the news amongst yourselves. Me? I’m going to flat-out eavesdrop and see it for myself.”

Christian tiptoed to the doorway. The women had their backs to him, so he was able to creep in close enough to listen, using a statue of Apollo as a shield.

He was so relieved they’d patched things up. It was crazy how these were two of his favorite women, two of the most important people in his life—and they hadn’t even been in his life six months ago.

What he heard cheered him even more. Kelsey was doing his job for him, trying to get Mallory to stay in Moncriano for good. No way would Mallory be able to resist her plea. Not with tear tracks still glistening on their cheeks.

Christian approved. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and he was a desperate man. Desperate to not lose the woman who mattered so much to him.

If they could just get past the hurdle of her staying.

And then the hurdle of hordes of advisors and politicians who deemed her unworthy, inappropriate, and unsuited to be his match.

One impossible task at a time.

Mallory’s voice slowed. Became softer, almost melancholy. “I’m making your new life here. That’s not the same as making my own life. They need you to be their princess. They don’t need me.”

Christian stepped out from behind the statue. He didn’t care that it’d reveal he’d been eavesdropping. He cared that his woman would believe something so dead wrong. So hurtful.

So he lifted his voice, making sure it rang loudly against the marble. “I do. I need you, Mallory.”

Kelsey gasped. “Christian…damn it, I just realized I don’t know your middle name, but I’m angry enough right now that I need to use it.”

“Leopold Michael Victor,” he proffered, eyes locked on Mallory, whose green eyes were flared wide open.

“All of those? That’s too many. You’d have to do something as bad as spoiling the ending of the next Star Wars movie for me to bother spitting that many names out.” Kelsey paused, hands flying to her mouth. “Crap. I just realized I never asked what my original middle name was. What goes with Valentina?”

“Your given name was Valentina Marie Sophia Rosamund.”

“Yikes. Wow. Sort of a mash-up of silent-film actresses from the twenties and Italian cooks churning out gnocchi.” Then Kelsey reached out and flicked his arm. “I can’t believe you eavesdropped on us.”

“My apologies,” he murmured. “The moment was too good not to stop and savor.”

“Not the point. You don’t listen in on a private conversation. Not cool, Christian.”

He couldn’t take it any longer. Watching Mallory, barely blinking, watching him. There was so much more he wanted to say to her. To reassure her. But his little sister was making it impossible.

“Kelsey?”

“Yes?”

Christian gripped her wrist. And didn’t even try to disguise the desperation in his voice. “I will give you anything you want if you stop talking. I’ll introduce you to anyone you want, from movie stars to Nobel Prize winners. I’ll watch American football with you. Just…stop. Please.”

“Geez. You’re the one who barged in on our private conversation, you know.”

Christian took the last few steps to stand in front of Mallory. Then he cradled her beautiful face in his hands. “I’ll say it again. I need you.”

She patted his wrists, curling her fingers around them to pull them down. “Oh, Christian. I appreciate it, but you don’t have to say that just to make me feel better. I’m not depressed about my position here. Merely pragmatic.”

Shit.

How could she be so blind to his point? Had he really not told her enough how much she mattered to him? Not told her what a difference she made in his life? Was that why she was counting down the days till the end of their bet? Did she think she was nothing more than one last run at fun before his engagement?

Christian knew the fault lay with him. But he’d damned well start fixing it. “I’m not saying it to make you feel better. I say it to make me feel better. Stronger. Calmer. More sure of myself. Happier. That’s what I feel when I’m with you. So…I need you.”

Her whole face softened. Her body leaned in toward him. Her lips parted…

Kelsey cleared her throat dramatically, as if she were horking up an entire owl. “I’m just gonna go now—”

Christian cut her off. Even beckoned her closer with one hand. “No. I want you to hear this, too. Especially you, Kelsey. There needs to be zero doubt in your mind who is the lucky one in this relationship. That’s me.” He thumped his chest. “I’m the one who ignored Mallory’s pleas to be reasonable. I’m the one who dragged her into this. It was all my idea. My need for her that quickly overrode everything else.”

Putting a hand over his, sliding those long, nimble fingers beneath his tie, Mallory said, “Christian, no. You make it sound so one-sided. I couldn’t resist you, no matter how hard I tried.”

That was music to his ears. Christian captured her other hand. Brought it to his mouth to drop a soft, lingering kiss on the back of it. Right below where he was inordinately pleased to see the bracelet he’d given her. “You didn’t try to resist that hard once I bet you.”

“Your silly bet didn’t goad me into dating you. I wanted to, wanted you, more than anything.”

Smirking, he asked, “Are you sure? Sure you’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“What—oh. Nice.” Mallory wrinkled her nose, as if smelling burned popcorn. “Trying to use my own words against me. Don’t pull the prince routine on me. It won’t work.”

“Omigod. Let me get this straight,” Kelsey said, crossing her arms. “You’re both trying to convince each other how much you wanted each other from the start? How nuts you both are for each other now? You’re one-upping your relationship…with the other half of the relationship?” She threw her hands up in the air. “You two are freaking perfect for each other. Nobody else would be so competitive.”

His sister wasn’t wrong. “I’ve got one more thing to say. Not to win. Just because I can’t hold it in any longer. I want you to stay, Mallory, because I don’t just want you and need you. I love you.”

A sharp gasp preceded her hand flying to her mouth. “Really?”

“Yes.”

No doubts. No second-guessing.

Christian knew his love for her to be as much a fact as his love for his family and his country—albeit in a much, much different way.

The shock faded from her eyes. It was replaced with a flirty, sassy sparkle in their green depths. “Then I guess I should admit that I love you, too.”

“Match, set, and draw.” Giggling, Kelsey backed out of the room.

Probably.

Christian couldn’t be sure. He was too busy wallowing in the gift Mallory had just given him. “You really love me?”

“I’m fairly certain the rules state that saying it out loud makes it official.”

“I’d better say it very loudly, then.” Christian wrapped his arms around her back and picked her up, twirling her in circles down the length of the hall while shouting, “I love you, Mallory Wishner! I love you! I love you!”

Her head fell back, exposing the perfect, kissable pale line of her throat. Christian could literally see the joyous laughter burbling up it. “I love you, Christian Leopold Michael Victor Villani! I love you!”

And while it was one of the best moments of his life, while Christian thought his heart might burst from the happiness, he realized several hours later, with a shattering jolt of heartache, that Mallory had never actually agreed to stay…