The Princess Problem

And face the wrath of the palace when they realized what he’d done? Have the eggs snatched away before the exhibit even opened? Absolutely not. “All the arrangements are in place. I’d have to be insane to agree to this. You realize that, don’t you?”

“Not insane. Just a little adventurous.” She was beginning to have that wild-eyed look again. He could see a whole secret, aching world in her emerald gaze. She leaned closer, wrapping Dalton in a heady floral aroma. Orchids, peonies, something else he couldn’t quite place. Lilacs, maybe. “Live a little, Mr. Drake.”

Live a little. God, she sounded like his brother. And his sister. And pretty much everyone else in his life. “That’s not going to work on me, Your Highness.”

She said nothing, just smiled and twirled a lock of platinum hair around one of her fingers.

Flirting wasn’t going to work either.

He ignored the hair twirling as best he could and shot her a cool look. “The eggs are here, as agreed upon. Give me one legitimate reason why I shouldn’t call the palace.”

She was delusional or, at the very least, spoiled rotten. Did she really think he had time to drop everything he was doing to babysit an entitled princess? He had a company to run. A company in need of a fresh start.

He sat back in his chair, glanced at the Cartier strapped around his wrist, and waited.

He’d give her two more minutes.

That’s all.

* * *

Aurélie was beginning to think she’d made a mistake. A big one.

Granted, she hadn’t exactly thought this whole adventure through. Planning had never been her strong suit. Firing Oliver Martel and demanding that he hand over his suit so she could take his place on the flight to the States had been easy enough. That guy was an arrogant jerk. He needed to go, and he’d made enough passes at her over the course of his employment at the palace for her to have plenty of leverage over him. No problems there.

Impersonating a royal courier had also gone swimmingly. It was startling how little attention the pilot had paid her. He seemed to look right through Aurélie, as if she were a ghost rather than a living, breathing person. Then again, Aurélie had lived in a fishbowl her entire life. She was accustomed to being watched every waking moment of her existence. That’s what this whole charade was about—getting away from prying eyes while she still could. In a few short weeks, her entire life would change. And, if her father got his way, she’d never get this kind of chance again.

Aurélie didn’t regret walking away from her royal duties for a moment. Placing her trust in Dalton Drake, on the other hand, might not have been the wisest idea. For starters, she hadn’t expected the CEO of Drake Diamonds to be so very handsome. Or young. Or handsome. Or stern. Or handsome.

It was unsettling, really. How was she supposed to make a solid case for herself when she was busy thinking about Dalton’s chiseled jaw or his mysterious gray gaze? And his voice—deep, intense and unapologetically masculine. The man could probably read a software manual aloud and have every woman in Manhattan melting at his feet.

But it was his attitude that had really thrown Aurélie off-balance. She wasn’t accustomed to people challenging her, with one notable exception. Her father.

That was to be expected, though. Her father ran a small country. Dalton Drake ran a jewelry store. She’d assumed he would be easy to persuade.

She’d thought wrong, apparently. But he would come around. He had to. Because she was not going to spend her last twenty-one days of freedom staring at the castle walls.

She swallowed. These wouldn’t be her last twenty-one days of freedom. Her father would change his mind. But she shouldn’t really be thinking about that right now, should she? Not while Dalton Drake was threatening to pick up the phone and tattle on her.

Give me one legitimate reason why I shouldn’t call the palace.

Aurélie’s heart beat wildly in her chest as she met Dalton’s gaze. “Actually, Mr. Drake, I have a very good reason why you and I should reach an agreement.”

He glanced at his watch again, and she wanted to scream. “Do elaborate, Your Highness.”

“It’s best if I show you.”

She bent to open the buttery-soft Birkin bag at her feet, removed a dark blue velvet box from inside and placed it square in the center of Dalton Drake’s desk.

He grew very still. Even the air between them seemed to stop moving. Aurélie had managed to get his attention. Finally.

He stared at the box for a long moment, his gaze lingering on the embossed silver M on its top. He knew what that M stood for, and so did she. Marchand. “One of the eggs, I presume?” Clearly, Mr. Drake had done his homework.

“Yes.” Aurélie offered him her sweetest princess smile. “And no.”

Before he could protest, she reached for the box and removed its plush velvet lid. The entire top portion of the box detached from the base, so all that was left sitting atop the desk was a shimmering, decorated egg covered in pavé diamonds. Pale pink, blush enamel and tiny seed pearls rested on a bed of white satin.

Aurélie had seen the egg on many occasions, but it still took her breath away every time she looked at it. It glittered beneath the overhead lights, an unbroken expanse of dazzling radiance. Her precious, priceless secret.

She hadn’t realized how very strange this would feel to share it with someone else. How vulnerable. She felt as though she’d unlocked a treasure chest and offered this strange man her heart. How absurd.

“I don’t understand,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve never seen this egg before.”

But there was a hint of a smile dancing on his lips, and when he trained his eyes on Aurélie, she could see the glittering egg reflected in the cool gray of his eyes, and she knew. She just knew.

Dalton Drake would agree to everything she’d asked.

“No one has,” she said quietly.

She didn’t know how she managed to sound so calm, so composed, when she was this close to having the one thing she’d wanted for such a long time. Freedom. However temporary.

He lifted a brow. “No one?”

“No one outside the Marchand family.”

“So there’s a thirteenth egg? I don’t believe it,” he said.

“Believe it, Mr. Drake. My father gave this egg to my mother on their wedding day. Other than the palace jeweler, no one even knew it existed.” A familiar, bittersweet ache stirred inside Aurélie. She’d always loved the idea of her parents sharing such an intimate secret. Their wedding, their engagement and even their courtship had been watched by the entire world. But they’d managed to save something just for themselves.

What must it be like to be loved like that? To trust someone so implicitly? She’d never know, whether her father went through with his plans or not.

Of course, her parents’ fairy-tale romance hadn’t been as real as she’d always believed. Fairy tales never were.

Her throat grew tight. “I inherited it when my mother died three years ago. Even I was stunned to learn of a thirteenth egg.”

Many things had surprised her then, but none so much as the shocking details of her parents’ marriage. Her mother was gone, and Aurélie was left with nothing but the egg, a book with gilt-edged pages and a father she realized she’d never really known. And questions. So many questions.

When had things changed between her parents? Or had the greatest royal romance of the past fifty years always been a lie?

Her eyelashes fluttered shut and memories moved behind her eyes—her mother and father waltzing in a sweeping circle beneath glittering chandeliers, the whirring of paparazzi cameras and her mother’s elegant features setting into her trademark serene expression. A smile that never quite reached her eyes. How had Aurélie never noticed?

She opened her eyes and found Dalton watching her intently from across the desk. “Why are you showing this egg to me, Aurélie?”

Aurélie. Not Princess. Not Your Highness. Just her name, spoken in that deep, delicious voice of his.

Her head spun a little. Concentrate. “Because, I’d like you to display it in your exhibition.”

“You’re certain?”