She nodded in agreement as she turned again, but the smile fell from her face and she hung her head. “Why do they keep doing that?”
Quincy thought she was talking about the bodyguards on their radios, but when he turned, he saw a group of women, young like Olivia, glaring at her as she stood so close to him. He smiled at them and waved. Instantly, they grinned and giggled.
“They think I’m courting you,” he said quietly.
“What?”
“I’m single, remember? All the women on the island want the attractive prince.”
“Then maybe you should tell them we’re not dating so they stop looking like they’re going to jump me.”
“I don’t know. This could be quite entertaining,” he said as he rubbed his chin.
“Quincy,” she warned. “Seriously? As your future sister, if you don’t tell them the truth, I fill find a way to embarrass the hell out of you.”
“How’s that?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, and a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll come up with something. Do you want to take that risk?” Olivia was no longer the sweet woman from Nebraska but something else entirely. He felt as if he stared at a bit of himself—a prankster and someone who did not back down.
He grinned widely at her, bowed his head, and turned to the young women and everyone else gathered in the courtyard. “If I may have everyone’s attention, please?”
The people quieted and stopped to listen to their prince, even though their gazes returned to Olivia again and again.
“I know many of you have heard that my father, King Lamont, will be taking a new wife this summer. Olivia,” he said as he motioned to her, “is the future queen’s daughter and therefore the new princess. Please welcome her to our lovely island kingdom.”
Quincy reached back and took Olivia’s hand to pull her forward as the crowd applauded and cheered for her. They started to move towards them, and each one wanted to shake hands with the new princess. It had been a long time since they’d had one on the island, and Quincy could tell they were quite excited to meet this woman from US. He worried how she would handle such a crowd, but Olivia took it in stride as she shook each one of their hands and smiled in greeting. She even went so far as to ask their names and what they did on the island.
When the group of young women approached, now all smiles and curtsies, Olivia actually pulled them aside to speak with them on their own.
“Are you girls in classes right now?” she asked.
“We are, princess,” the brunette with dark tanned skin said with a smile.
“Let me guess, you’re a painter and you draw. Pastels or charcoal?”
“Charcoal,” the girl said with a laugh. “How could you tell, princess?”
Quincy leaned closer, too, curious.
“The paint that’s still in your hair,” she told the brunette, “and the charcoal that always stains your fingers, no matter how hard you scrub. I’m a painter, too.”
The girls smiled even wider and started talking with their friends excitedly in French. He could tell Olivia had no idea what they were saying, but they turned back to her, bouncing on the balls of their feet, as the brunette asked if they could show her something.
“You are new to the island. You need to know where to buy the best paint!”
“That would be perfect! All mine were ruined on the way here.” Olivia turned to Quincy. “Well, Your Highness, what do you say? Slight detour to a paint shop?”
Quincy glanced at the bodyguards. His head man, Theo, stared at the girls long and hard before he asked for the address of the shop. They told him, and Quincy watched him pull out his cell phone and bring up the GPS.
“Your Highness, Princess, we may proceed to the paint shop,” he said finally. He turned back into the silent sentry Quincy was accustomed to.
“Well then, ladies,” Quincy said, “lead the way.”
The girls led them through the streets, giggling as they walked beside Quincy, but when they reached the shop, they said they had to go to class and hurried off. Olivia waved until they disappeared, saying she was happy to know there were other artists in the city. He told her there were many, she would just have to find them. He held open the door for her, and she stepped inside. If Quincy thought he’d seen Olivia excited before, he was wrong. The moment they stepped into the art supply store, the light in Olivia’s eyes brightened and she bounced as she walked up and down the various aisles stacked with paints made right there in the shop.
“These colors! I could never get anything like this back home,” she said as she brushed her fingers gently over the tubes and bottles before her. She picked one up and Quincy saw her face fall when she noticed the price. “Damn. That’s not going to work.”