SHE WAS TIRED of the games.
The prince could not kiss her one evening and then share moonlight walks with someone else another night. It didn’t work that way. It didn’t matter that he was a prince or that her heart raced every time they were in the same room. She had her standards.
And that’s why for the next ten days, she’d reduced their meetings to daily status emails. It was much more efficient. And so much safer for her heart.
However, when she glanced up from her desk to find Leo standing in the doorway of her office, she was caught off guard.
She swallowed hard. “Your Highness, I wasn’t expecting you. Can I do something for you?”
“Your Highness?” He frowned at her. “We’re back to using titles?”
She gave a slight shrug before saving the current document on her laptop. She had a feeling the prince’s visit would take a bit of time.
“Today is the final day of the queen’s la fête.”
“La fête?”
“Yes. Technically it’s my mother’s sixtieth birthday but she refuses to celebrate her birthday. She says she’s too old to have birthdays. So they call her celebration the queen’s la fête.”
“Oh, I see. I’ll make sure to keep out of the way. Besides I have plenty of work to do—”
“No, you don’t understand. You are invited.”
Bianca pressed a hand to her chest. “Me. But I’m a nobody.”
“You are my guest.”
Her heart stuttered. Was he asking her to be his date? Wait. No. He must mean his guest as in a general invitation because he’d moved on to that woman in the gardens. Bianca’s mood dampened a bit.
She shook her head. “I couldn’t intrude. It should be a private family event.”
“It’s not private nor a family-only event. This will be a big state dinner with fireworks afterward.”
“Fireworks?” Now that was her kind of party.
He smiled and nodded. “And there is a place at the table with your name on it.”
“But what’s the dress code?”
“Formal.”
“As in black tie?”
He nodded. “If that is a problem—”
“I’ve got a formal gown, but I had planned to wear it to your sister’s wedding.”
“Then I will see that you get a new gown for the wedding.”
“No, you can’t. That would be too much.”
“You are doing me the favor. It is the least I can do.”
“How so?”
“Because these events are usually stuffy and can veer into matters of state. I would like to avoid that this evening. And with you there, it will make the evening more festive. Perhaps the politics can be avoided for one evening. Your attendance would be in honor of the queen.”
When he put it that way, how could she say no?