The Crown Prince's Bride (Royal Duology 2)

She grunted in reply, then looked up. “Lo siento, Diego. I’m grouchy this morning.” She tried a smile. “The correct response would be, good morning, Your Highness.”

The easy smile fell from his face. “You know I hate it when you call me Your Highness. What’s going on?” He pulled up a chair. “You’ve been looking stressed all week.”

She considered being truthful, but Raoul was behind his office door and she really didn’t want to get into it in detail. “Oh, just a lot of work since coming back.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

He chuckled then. “Okay, so you don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’m fine, truly. Just trying to sort some things out.”

“Things meaning my big brother?”

Her cheeks heated. “Raoul’s been too busy working to be any bother.” And that was the truth.

Diego slid closer. “You care about him.” He looked her in the eyes, his expression kind as he kept his voice low. “Rose figured it out weeks ago. It puts you in a tough position, doesn’t it? We all loved Ceci, but she’s gone. You’d be wonderful for him, if he’d just open his eyes.”

She gave a bitter little laugh. “Oh, his eyes were open. It just didn’t make any difference, Diego. Please, let’s change the subject. This isn’t the time or the place.”

“Fair enough. Listen, why don’t you go find Rose in the library? She’s having coffee there, and we were talking about her asking for your opinion on something. Go have a cup of coffee and maybe a slice of Señora Ortiz’s cake. It almost always puts things right.” He frowned. “You’ve been working too hard and need a break.”

The words, coming from Diego, were nice, but not the same as if Raoul had spoken them. She shouldn’t leave her desk, but she’d barely seen Rose, either, and the office was starting to feel incredibly oppressive. “Actually, that sounds very nice.” A tap of a few keys and her phone was forwarded to Sofia’s line, and she set off for the library.

She found Rose curled up on a sofa, a book in her hand and a cup of coffee at her elbow. “Diego said I would find you here.”

Rose’s smile was broad and she wore the glow of true happiness. “Oh, I’m glad you stopped in! I’ve barely seen you since we got back.”

“You said the honeymoon was lovely, but that’s it,” Steph chided. “I was hoping for some details.”

“Of my honeymoon?” Rose faked a shocked expression. “Really, Stephani . . .”

They laughed then. “I meant the charity work. Diego is so excited about it, and he and Raoul have been talking about expanding the program? Did you have anything to do with that?”

Rose nodded. “We’re adding a women’s health program to the education one. Ryan O’Toole—you know, Diego’s friend from university? He and his sister have been working there for months. Brenna is a whiz at administration, so she’s going to be our coordinator on site. It’s very exciting.”

Steph agreed. It sounded exciting and innovative and important. She rather thought she’d like to be a part of something like that. Wondered briefly if she could offer her expertise for a while. Maybe it would be better if she could get away for a bit, put some distance between her and Raoul. Do some hard thinking about what she wanted. When he was close, she lost all perspective.

Rose patted the seat beside her. “Come, sit. You look like you’re in need of cake.”

“I seriously wouldn’t say no.”

Cake and coffee were delivered and devoured. Rose talked extensively about the program, and the more Stephani listened, the more she was interested. She’d been doing the same job every day for nearly a decade, and it was a great job, but a change of scenery and a new challenge might be just what she needed.

“Rose, do you think you could use my skills over there? I’d love to help out. Maybe not permanently even, but with startup? I could work with Brenna, help with hiring staff, set up a records database, whatever.”

Rose looked at her keenly. “Are you looking to help, or looking to get away from Raoul?”

Since Diego had said Rose suspected her feelings ran deeper than a work relationship, she wasn’t all that surprised by the question. “Both. I think I need to go somewhere where I can clear my head. I want my own happy ever after, Rose. If I’m not going to find it here, I have to start figuring out my life.” She swallowed thickly. “As much as I love this family, I can’t sort that out if I’m with Raoul every day. It’s . . . too hard.”

Rose nodded, though she looked sad. “I’ll talk to Diego, but I’m sure he’ll say yes. What will you do about your position?”

That was easy. “I’ll promote Sofia and bring in someone new to train for her job. Plus it’d be easier on the new person with me handling the charity stuff abroad.”

“That’s true.” She met Stephani’s eyes. “You’re sure about this? We were kind of hoping the trip last week would nudge you two into something more.”

There it was, the little bump of pain caused by the reference to their trip to France. There’d been a lot of nudging from both sides. They’d experienced the connection she’d longed for. When he touched her, kissed her, said her name . . . it had been sublime. But Raoul’s continued silence hurt worse than any words he might have said at the end of the week. To her, they showed a lack of respect and care. Regardless, she deserved an explanation. And felt like a heel for feeling that way, because he was dealing with a lot right now. Was she being unreasonable? Or was she just hurt that he hadn’t turned to her in his time of trouble?