“You know, I thought I noticed several very intense glares there for a moment.”
“Trust me, they would love to be standing where I am right now.” He watched her eyes rove around the room, but the beauty of the night had worn off for her already. She looked exactly like he felt—bored and in need of a drink and some air.
Dinner would be served soon, then the dancing, and then maybe he’d get a chance to sneak out for a bit and take Olivia with him. “You know,” he said, leaning close so only she could hear him, “when your mother said she had a daughter, I was worried you would be this selfish, vain person who, the moment you realized you were going to be a princess, turned out to be obnoxious.”
Olivia shrugged. “What says I won’t still turn into that? There’s still time.”
“Because you’d rather spend money on paint than clothes,” he said. “And Allete has mentioned several times to Pascal how worried you are about the jewels you wear.”
He took the moment to glance over her dress again, and his eyes landed on her breasts. His hand felt her warmth again as if he were holding it as he had yesterday, completely by accident. It had felt strange at first. A spark he didn’t know he could feel with someone had lit within him. Of course, he’d lied and said he hadn’t seen anything either, but as he’d helped her up, he’d let his eyelids open just a peek. A peek was all he’d needed.
Olivia was a very attractive woman. His dreams last night had been filled with images of her naked body laid out in his bed. Horrible thoughts, really, to have of his stepsister, but he couldn’t help it. This morning, he’d had to wait a while before he could get out of bed and not embarrass himself in front of Pascal.
A staff was tapped on the ground, and the room fell silent as King Lamont stepped forward with Melinda by his side. “Good evening once again, members of the court,” he said in his booming voice. “Thank you for joining us this evening in welcoming my future wife and queen, Melinda, and her daughter, soon-to-be Princess Olivia.”
There was polite applause at his words until Lamont raised his hands for silence again.
“Please, find your seats at the table. Dinner and drinks for the evening will now be served. Afterwards, I invite everyone to the dance floor and the young ladies to make sure they dance with the prince tonight. He is, of course, the finest dancer on the isle.”
King Lamont took Melinda’s hand and they walked to the head of the table. Olivia started to as well, but Quincy didn’t move. His father was going to drive him crazy until he chose a woman to be his wife. Every event was going to be like this until the moment he made a decision. Every nerve in his body screamed to sneak out of there and disappear for the rest of the night, head to the nightclub, and drink himself to a happier state, but he couldn’t leave Olivia. He promised he’d get her through her first formal dinner, and he was a man of his word.
There was just a chance he might not remain a gentleman the rest of the night.
***
Despite feeling like a fish out of water and walking around barefoot the whole night, Olivia was having a pretty good time amongst the other members of the court. Some of the young women were uptight and looked down their noses at her when they learned where she was from and that she wanted to paint for a living, but there were a few who were just like her. It was refreshing to have some girl time. She missed Helen. There was so much she wanted to tell her best friend about… Well, mostly she wanted to tell her about Quincy, but Olivia was worried that if she started talking about her stepbrother, she would let other things slip.
Like how attractive he was while he danced, even though the smile on his face was false for every girl who took his hand. She had a feeling if she wasn’t there, he’d be off in a corner brooding over the whole situation. Not that she could blame him. If her mom had been pushing her to marry like that, she’d rebel, too.
“I think I’m going to get some air,” she told the women she was speaking with and politely pushed through the crowd of mingling guests towards the outer doors.
The doors led onto a balcony overlooking the jungle and beach that the palace backed onto. Beneath it was a private bay. The moment the doors were closed behind her by guards, Olivia inhaled a deep breath of fresh, salty air and felt every tensed muscle in her body relax. It wasn’t hard playing a princess, but being around so many people for so long made her wish for the empty fields of Nebraska and their back porch where she’d sit and paint. She couldn’t wait to use the new paints Sebastian had sent for her. There were so many eye-catching, vibrant details she wanted to capture for everyone back home.