Leo placed his palm on the small of Jade’s back—the desire to touch her undeniable.
She shuddered beneath his touch as he guided her into the palace. The electric energy that had been so provocative the night before arched between them again.
Once they had repaired to the palace’s cathedral-like reception room, Leo whispered in her ear. ‘Can I have a private word, Your Majesty?’
She glanced at him—and he could see the wariness in her expression, but also the heat. The recollection of her mouth hot and eager on his fired through his system.
His palm remained on the small of her back as he directed her towards his private study. Getting her alone again might not be the wisest plan, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to press his suit every chance he got.
Here it comes.
‘Why did you want to see me alone?’ Juno stepped away from Leo as soon as they entered his study, hating the defensiveness in her tone. And the strange sense of loss when he lifted his guiding hand from her back.
She’d been expecting the reprimand as soon as she had acted on instinct and demanded the introductions be moved indoors. But he’d lulled her into a false sense of security. To her astonishment Leo had agreed with her in public. Even gone so far as to make arrangements immediately with his staff. But she had seen his surprise at her actions. And that should have been a massive clue—that he was simply waiting for a more private moment to let her have it.
She waited for the axe to fall. But he simply stared at her, then said: ‘Why are you so defensive, Jade?’
Juno’s anxiety increased. A part of her knew she had to be more subservient—or he might figure out the truth about her identity. But another part of her knew she had not been wrong to protect his footman.
Surely Jade would have done the same, although probably more diplomatically. But the result would have been the same.
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ she said, seeing the inscrutable twist of his lips.
Was he trying to torture her, to make her more acquiescent? Was this some kind of regal power play? Or was he trying to soften the blow because he still wanted to persuade her to agree to the marriage.
The knot in her belly tightened.
Not knowing what the heck he was thinking only made this worse.
She should never have agreed to come. Because her clever plan—to persuade him she would make him a terrible queen by being herself—was already working... But she’d just discovered it had one massive flaw.
She knew who she was. Even if Leo didn’t.
So when she screwed up—either by accident or design—and Leo reprimanded her, it would be like dealing with her father all over again.
It would be a replay of all those shattering blows to her ego, and her heart, she had endured as a child, when he had looked at her with cold, disapproving eyes and told her—in actions as well as words—that she could never be royal, could never be as important as her sister, could never be worthy of his love. Dating right back to that day when she was sixteen and he had kicked her out of his life for good. She’d spent her life since that day convincing herself her father’s disapproval didn’t matter, that it could only hurt her if she let it matter. And now she was going to be forced to relive it. For seven days straight. When she was found wanting by a man whose opinion shouldn’t matter either... But somehow it did. And she didn’t even know why it did.
The anxiety began to strangle her. This whole situation was so super messed up.
Propping his butt against the desk, Leo folded his arms over his broad chest, his eyebrow lifting in challenge. ‘You know what I’m thinking? Why don’t you tell me what that is, then?’
Leo’s disapproval did not matter. She wasn’t trying to impress him. In fact the opposite was true, she was trying to persuade him she’d make him a terrible wife. And a disastrous queen.
But somehow that goal had got lost in the surge of longing that had swamped her when he had supported her decision in the courtyard. And she’d wanted to believe he really did think she’d done a good thing.
‘You’re going to tell me I shouldn’t have been so outspoken about Klaus,’ she said, because she just wanted the axe to fall now so she could deal with it. ‘I know you think I should have found another, more discreet way to suggest the introductions be done indoors. That there’s a right way and a wrong way to do these things and I chose the wrong way.’ How many times had her father told her the same? And okay, she got it, she was not a natural at this stuff. But she was right to have done what she did. If it meant no one froze to death just to observe protocol, so be it.
‘Klaus was freezing, Leo. And I refuse to apologise for making that call.’
‘I see,’ he said.
She braced herself for the tirade of indignation, the anger at her recklessness. The tedious lecture about her overstepping her authority and letting her emotions rule her judgement.
She should have seen this coming much sooner. Why hadn’t she? As soon as he had told her during their sledge ride he didn’t think emotional connections were necessary in a royal marriage, that... How had he put it? That...
‘Emotional self-sufficiency is an invaluable commodity in a monarch, wouldn’t you agree?’