The child nodded, with a gravity beyond her years, then she smiled, a sweet, innocent, inquisitive smile devoid of judgement.
‘Do you love Queen Jade like me?’ she asked, adoration shining in her eyes.
I hope not.
The answer sprang from nowhere, rattling him almost as much as the cruel slap of memory.
‘Ella, you mustn’t ask questions like that,’ her mother interrupted. ‘It isn’t polite.’
‘Have a good Christmas,’ he murmured to the child, and her mother, then, grasping Jade’s hand, he led her to the waiting carriage, cutting the walkabout short.
He had to escape... The crowd. The press. The scrutiny. The messy emotions he didn’t want to feel. The need he did not want to acknowledge. And the miserable memory of that day, which he thought he’d buried a lifetime ago—along with his mother.
‘Leo, what’s wrong? What happened back there?’ Juno asked, staring at the King of Severene’s rigid features as the limousine drove off towards the palace.
‘Nothing.’ He glanced her way, then stared back out of the window, the muscle in his jaw clenched so tight it was twitching.
This was not nothing. Even though he had the outward appearance of control, this was Leo freaking out.
‘The walkabout wasn’t finished,’ she said. Since when did Leo not stick rigidly to the schedule?
‘It was getting cold,’ he said, by way of explanation for the sudden change of plans.
But he didn’t meet her gaze, and she knew he was lying. Something had seriously spooked him.
And that was her MO, not his.
Or it had been four days ago, until she’d begun to find her n
iche as the fake Queen of Monrova.
Maybe she would never be as good as Jade at this stuff. But she’d found—much to her astonishment—that she wasn’t completely horrendous at it either. As they’d been ferried around a series of events and engagements in the last four days, she had discovered she enjoyed meeting the citizens of Severene. Of course, it didn’t hurt that they were all so eager to meet her. That had thrown her at first, because she knew she wasn’t the person they thought they were meeting. But she’d dealt with the guilt by deciding she was Jade’s stand-in, doing a job that Jade couldn’t do because she was busy discovering herself in New York.
Perhaps it was dishonest, but it wasn’t hurting anyone. Especially if she did a decent enough job. And the numerous formal engagements had also been a brilliant way to keep her desire for Leo at bay.
So she’d thrown herself into the events, and made a real effort to win over the people she met, so as not to disgrace her sister—while at the same time keeping Severene’s King and his delusions about a marriage of convenience between them at arm’s length.
The only problem was that as she threw herself into her charm offensive her biggest ally, and supporter, had been the very man she was trying not to fall for, in any way, shape or form.
In fact, she never would have been able to pull off being the Pretend Jade effectively if not for Leo. His encouragement over the last few days had been invaluable.
Trying not to let his approval mean too much had been something of an emotional minefield. Every time he looked at her with that fierce purpose in his dark gaze. Every time he touched and kissed her in public and her panties melted. Every time his lips lifted in that inscrutable smile, or something she’d done turned his deep blue eyes to a rich turquoise, she risked falling a little bit harder.
The only way to ensure Leo’s attention—and her reaction to it—didn’t derail her completely had been to remember three important truths. First Leo had an agenda, second, Leo thought she was a real queen, and finally, Leo’s loyalty wasn’t to her—or Jade—it was to the kingdom of Severene and his role as its monarch.
Remaining aware of his emotional detachment—to his subjects as well as her—had been the best way to keep that reality front and centre. Until he’d torpedoed it approximately five minutes ago. First by finally agreeing to meet one of his subjects, then stopping dead in the barrage of camera flashes, and giving her a glimpse of a man she hadn’t known existed.
He’d recovered quickly, so quickly she was fairly sure no one else had noticed. But she had... In that split second, he hadn’t been Leonardo DeLessi Severo, the smart, erudite, intimidatingly cool and collected King of Severene. Or Leo the scarily gorgeous man who could turn her inside out with lust. He wasn’t even Leo, the arrogant charmer who wore his confidence and his cynicism like a badge of honour...
No, for that moment suspended in time, Leo had been lost and alone and in pain.
And Juno had realised for the first time the man she thought he was wasn’t the whole Leo. That was only one side of Leo. And the other side was someone who could be vulnerable too, just like her.
Her heart rammed her chest wall as the sympathy and compassion and affection for Leo she’d tried so hard not to feel overwhelmed her.
‘It wasn’t that cold, Leo,’ she replied. ‘Something upset you. Was it...? Was it something I did?’ she asked, feeling guilty for the way she’d badgered him to go say hello to the little girl.
His head swung round. His lips quirked.