Had she really begun today planning to marry one man in Vela Ada and ended her day in a different country with another man altogether? Had she really done that? How had that happened?
Rhys had apologised for the lack of ‘fancy’ food. He’d heated up some lasagne he’d said he bought from a lady down in Castelrotto—the nearest town to Rhys’s property—and cooked some frozen potato wedges in the oven, but it had been fine. Ana hadn’t been in the mood for ‘fancy’ anyway. She didn’t really feel she deserved it, given she’d probably caused the waste of the hundreds of fancy meals planned for her wedding reception.
She’d forgotten to ask Petar about that. She hoped that at least some of the food had been somehow repurposed. Maybe for a homeless shelter? Or maybe gifted to the army of staff who had worked at the reception venue?
Anyway, Ana did know that the reception hadn’t gone on without her. She had naively hoped that maybe everyone had headed to the palace anyway, after it had been announced that the wedding wasn’t happening. She’d imagined a great big party, everyone having a fabulous time without her, dancing to the live band, drinking all the very expensive champagne.
That idea had made her feel a little better—at least if the party had gone ahead, then she hadn’t ruined the day for everyone. There’d been something salvaged from it.
But, no. Petar had said everyone had just gone home after they’d worked out that there really wasn’t going to be a wedding.
‘What would they have been celebrating?’ he’d asked, incredulous.
Which was a fair comment, Ana acknowledged.
What she hadn’t said in reply was: They could’ve celebrated me realising just in time that marrying you would be a terrible mistake.
Ana imagined a ballroom full of people, all dancing in celebration of Ana the Runaway Princess, maybe with balloons and streamers…
‘May I ask what you’re smiling about?’ Rhys asked.
He’d pushed his seat back a little and relaxed into it. His plate was empty, his cutlery neatly placed diagonally.
Ana covered her mouth with her hand. ‘I shouldn’t be smiling,’ she said. ‘I hurt a lot of people today.’
Not only Petar, but her mother too. Her grandparents. Her friends.
‘But you were smiling,’ Rhys prompted. ‘You have been for several minutes.’
How hadn’t she noticed him looking at her?
She didn’t know how to answer his question. As she’d said, she shouldn’t be smiling. She shouldn’t be feeling happy. She should be feeling bad. Guilty.
‘Why do you think I’m smiling?’ she threw back at him.
He folded his arms in front of his broad chest. ‘I have no idea,’ he said calmly. ‘That’s why I asked. I was curious.’
‘I’d rather not say,’ she said quickly. Then added, keen to change the subject, ‘Where in Australia are you from?’
‘Melbourne,’ he said.
That was it—no further elaboration. They fell into another silence.
Ana realised that Rhys was waiting for her to finish her meal before leaving the table, which was very polite of him. She knew she should tell him he didn’t need to wait for her—given she had so unexpectedly turned up at his doorstep, she could hardly expect him to be an attentive host. But she didn’t.
She liked having Rhys sitting at the table with her. She liked him, she realised. On a day that was definitely a low point in her life, he’d managed to make her smile—more than once.
Sure, she’d freaked out a bit when she’d realised they’d be alone in his house together, but it was clear now that nothing was going to happen between them. She hadn’t been able to interpret his expression when she’d first walked into the kitchen, after her call with Petar, but it had certainly held none of the heat from before. But it wasn’t that stony emptiness he seemed to so easily switch to either—that expression that gave nothing away.
If anything, she would have said he looked sad.
But that didn’t seem to fit with this strong, handsome, confident man—and she’d seen no evidence of sadness since.
She must have imagined it.
‘My fiancé seems to think I just have cold feet,’ she said suddenly.
Rhys’s expression was instantly uncomfortable. ‘You want to talk about your fiancé with me?’
Ana shrugged. She needed to talk to someone. ‘You asked why I was smiling. I thought you might be interested.’
‘That was because you have a nice smile—not because I want to know the details of your relationship.’
The casually spoken compliment did not go unnoticed, and Ana fought the blush that crept up her neck. She kept on talking in an effort to ignore it. ‘I just thought it was weird,’ she continued. ‘I thought he should know I wouldn’t do something so dramatic on a whim.’
Rhys didn’t say anything, but equally he didn’t get up, even though she’d now also arranged her cutlery in the ‘finished’ position.
‘He was incredibly calm on the phone before. If someone did that to me, I’d be really angry. Wouldn’t you?’
Rhys shrugged, non-committal.
‘He was all kind and patient and supportive. And you know what’s also weird?’ Ana didn’t wait for an answer—not that she expected one. ‘He didn’t seem particularly hurt. He made the conversation all about me—about how I must have felt so stressed, and overwhelmed, and how so much has happened in my life in the past twelve months, blah-blah-blah…’ She sighed. ‘Not that I want him to be feeling terrible, but I expect I would. I mean, I know I would if the man I loved didn’t turn up to our wedding.’
Ana looked down at her fingers as she absently traced the curved edge of her dinner plate. Her nails still looked immaculate, yesterday evening’s French manicure remaining perfect and unchipped.
‘It actually makes me a bit angry, really, that he was so calm,’ Ana realised. ‘If he cared about me, he’d…well, care more.’
‘Maybe he prefers to keep his emotions close to his chest,’ Rhys said.
Ana’s gaze jerked up to meet his gaze. ‘Or maybe he’s just continuing to be the perfect fiancé he always has been.’
She knew she didn’t make it sound as if that was a good thing.
‘You don’t want a perfect fiancé?’ Rhys asked.
‘No one’s perfect,’ Ana said. ‘But Petar has done everything in his power to pretend to be. Today I finally stopped lying to myself. Petar is prepared to do anything to become a member of the Vela Ada royal family. He’s never loved me.’
Despite acknowledging to herself that she didn’t love her fiancé, and subsequently realising today that Petar didn’t love her either, saying it out loud made it all real.
And that hurt.
Her gaze fell back to her plate as hot tears prickled.
‘It was always too good to be true,’ she said. ‘A man like Petar would never have wanted someone like me if I wasn’t a princess. Even today, after I’ve humiliated him, he’s still doing everything he can to change my mind. The way he’s reacted is supposed to be endlessly understanding and romantic, but really it’s all a total farce.’
Rhys