Responsibility. Motherhood.
“She was a piece of work.” Distaste showed on Jenna’s lovely features. “I was actually thinking more about Galena.”
Dimitri frowned. “I don’t talk about her.” His former fiancée was a part of his past he had no desire to revisit.
“Nataliya’s dad has some blame for the months your family spent in the tabloids too,” Jenna said, showing no signs she was bothered that he did not want to discuss Galena.
“He does, though Nikolai got out ahead of him with the media.”
“Your brother is a smart man. He married Nataliya after all.”
“Smartest thing he ever did,” Dimitri readily agreed.
The woman who had been born into Volyarusian nobility made a damn fine queen.
“On the other hand, I thought my best friend had lost her mind when she agreed to marry a king.”
Dimitri laughed. “They have two children and a country in common now.”
“She wants more children. This pregnancy, she doesn’t want it to be her last.”
“You know she is pregnant?” he asked.
“Of course, I do. Who do you think she called first?”
“Her mother?”
Nataliya smile was wry. “Okay, yes, maybe. But of course she told me.”
“You two are really close.”
“I love her as much as I do my birth siblings.”
“I cannot imagine trusting a friend as much as I do my brothers,” he said truthfully.
“Not even the men you served with?”
Dimitri shook his head in negative without hesitation. “Trusting a man with your life is not the same as being able to trust him with your secrets.”
“You have secrets, Your Highness? Do tell.”
A much bigger laugh than he was used to allowing burst out of Dimitri. “Not a chance.”
“Because I’m not family?”
“You’re as much family as Nataliya and Emma.” She might not be married into their family, but Jenna was definitely a part of it.
“You wouldn’t share with them either, but you and Nataliya have been friends for years. She told me you used to text her when you were away at school.”
“I did.” He’d seen the Volyarusian as an imminent member of his family since she’d signed that crazy contract at the age of eighteen. “She convinced Nikolai and my father that the gap year I requested was a good idea.”
“And still, you wouldn’t tell her your secrets?”
“I don’t make it a habit to confide in anyone.”
“Not even your brothers?”
“Not about everything.”