Dear heaven, she was going mad. She hurriedly lifted her shoulder bag onto the X-ray machine’s conveyor belt. She was reading all kinds of impossible into nothing.
King Felipe lifted her mandolin case onto the conveyor behind her bag. ‘This has seen better days.’
Lots of things she owned had seen better days, but she appreciated the care with which Felipe had lifted it. She had to brace her heart every time she looked at that battered case. Her father had almost destroyed it, now she kept it together only with duct tape and string. She’d get a new one eventually but finding cases the right size was almost impossible and she didn’t have the funds to have one made. And all that really mattered was that the mandolin itself—which had belonged to her mother—had survived. ‘It still does the job.’
‘Barely.’ He glanced at her. ‘If you’re going to tutor Amalia in the mandolin, we need to pay you.’
Elsie paused, instinctive rejection halting her heart. She did not want to be his employee. ‘I’m not taking your money.’
‘You wouldn’t be,’ he said equably, but implacably. ‘You’d be being paid for your skills and expertise.’
‘No, thanks, I’m here doing a favour for a friend.’
‘I don’t accept favours. I don’t do them either.’
She shot him a death look. ‘I’m not talking about you. I mean Amalia.’
‘I won’t owe anyone anything,’ he said firmly. ‘Nor will she.’
She deliberately breathed out, wondering why he was so determinedly independent. ‘So every relationship is reduced to a financial transaction? Wow. That explains a lot.’
‘We’re not taking advantage of our status to underpay people. Or not pay them at all.’
She inhaled sharply. ‘I’m not here for money.’
Not from him. The context felt false and forced and with the fraud of her father? No. She would never accept money from Felipe.
‘Your time is valuable,’ he said. ‘You could be working right now.’
‘As I believe you’re aware, I’ve finished my shift for the day so my time is my own. I chose to spend a little of it with Amalia. Unfortunately I didn’t realise the invitation included spending time with you.’
His smile flashed. ‘Had enough of me already?’
‘More than enough.’
His low chuckle only aggravated her more. Honestly? The sparkling sexual attraction was something she’d never experienced and it was so inappropriate. It was all in her head, right? She was embarrassingly inexperienced and couldn’t be sure of what she thought she saw in his expression. He was polite, a little caustic, but that look in his eyes...
She really wanted an ocular translation app.
Never had she ever imagined she’d meet someone royal and be so irritated by them. Or that she would talk back so sharply. She didn’t ever do that. She was too busy trying to stay under the radar, hoping people wouldn’t bother with her enough to ask about her past, her family...because when they found out?
‘Where will I find Amalia?’ she asked him hurriedly.
‘She should be in the music room. I’ll take you to her.’ He took her mandolin case before she could, but again he lifted it carefully. Somehow that made it worse—that he was careful with something so precious to her?
Floored by her response to him, she followed him almost blindly. The intensity of this attraction? It was so awkward. She needed to escape, yet that was the last thing she wanted. She wanted nearer.
She realised they were passing through seemingly never-ending palace corridors. She blinked and looked about, trying not to be overwhelmed by the high vaulted ceilings, the light frescoes and gleaming antique furniture. And what he led her to wasn’t a music room, it was a full-scale concert hall and there was a gleaming grand piano centre stage.
Amalia was waiting restlessly in the wide doorway. She had her hair pulled back from her face for the first time in a few days and as she turned to face them Elsie caught a flash of sterling silver in her ears.
‘Nice earrings.’ Elsie smiled at her. ‘They look—’
‘New, Amalia?’ Felipe interrupted blandly. Too blandly.
Elsie stilled as she realised with burgeoning nerves that the girl had got them pierced—just like Elsie’s—and she was only just showing them to her stepbrother, her guardian, her king. Just showing them now, when Elsie was there.
Elsie glanced at Felipe warily.