Her boots crunched in the snow as she neared the tarmac. The runway had been cleared of any snow—a feat, given that it had still been snowing at 6:00 a.m. when she’d roused the twins from bed for school. When she’d told them she was leaving to take care of some family business and that Trey’s sister Debra would be coming to stay with them awhile, they had barely even looked at her.
“Fine,” Stacy had grumbled.
“Whatever,” Ella had echoed.
They hadn’t even asked how long she’d been gone.
She approached a man dressed in black pants and a burgundy winter coat standing guard over the plane’s stairs. He bowed so low she nearly jumped back so his military-style hat didn’t smack her in the face.
“Good morning, Your Highness.”
“Um...you can just call me Briony.”
The man didn’t bat an eye. “Welcome, Princess Briony.”
“Just Briony,” she repeated with a smile to soften the edge in her voice. “Being called a princess is a little weird at the moment.”
“It’s who you are. Might as well get used to it, Your Highness.”
She stiffened as the familiar husky voice drifted down to her. Slowly she looked up to see Cass framed in the door of the plane, a smile of satisfaction on his handsome face. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her duffel bag. She was grateful for everything he was offering. But the smugness in his expression rankled. What would he do if she turned and walked away? Chase her down? Throw her in the dungeon?
Or perhaps worse, let her walk all the way home back to her living nightmare of loneliness and rejection?
She lifted her chin. She was making the right decision.
“Good morning to you, too,PrinceCass.” She dipped into a deep, overexaggerated curtsy. The guard made a noise that almost sounded like a suppressed laugh. But when she glanced at him, his face was as smooth as alabaster.
Cass came down the steps. Dressed in black pants and a long matching peacoat, the collar pulled up against the cold, he exuded a dark mystique that froze her in place.
He stopped just inches away from her, amber eyes fixed on her face. The same woodsy scent that had made her sway on her feet last night as he’d cradled her in his arms during their dance wound about her and filled her with warmth that not even a winter’s chill could steal.
“Let me help you with that.”
His voice wrapped around her, slipped into her blood and left her dazed as he took the duffel bag off her shoulder and gestured for her to go up the stairs.
Stay detached. Don’t fall for him just because he’s hotter than sin.
“After you, Briony.”
She stared at the first step. As soon as she walked up, there would be no going back. She would be sealing her fate, traveling outside of the country for the first time, meeting her father and the brother she never knew she had, and agreeing to marry a man she’d known for barely a week. Not just any man, but a prince, an actual real-life prince, with secrets.
She glanced back once more at Nowhere a mile or so in the distance, the buildings like tiny dollhouses dusted with snow surrounded by the endless prairie. She should feel something, a sense of loss, sadness, homesickness.
But this place hadn’t been home for a very long time.
She turned away and walked into the plane.
Cass watched with satisfaction as Briony gaped at the luxury laid out in front of her. Oval windows marched down either side of the plane and let in bright afternoon sunlight that lit up the creamy interior. Four white leather seats were clustered around a tabletop. Across the aisle, a flat-screen TV displayed a news channel. The second half of the main area boasted two more seats and a long sofa, complete with bright red and blue pillows to make the interior more welcoming. A partition concealed the rest.
“People actually live like this?”
Cass chuckled. She moved farther into the plane, stepping gingerly on the plush carpeting.
“They do. Soon you will, too.”
“Sir, we’re preparing for takeoff,” a voice crackled over a speaker in the ceiling.
Cass pressed a button on his armrest. “Five minutes, Martin.”