Crowning His Unlikely Princess

‘There is.’ Her sister slapped her hands on her hips. ‘You could say no.’

Cassidy thought about reminding Peta that her job as Logan de Silva’s assistant was the only reason they could afford to pay their current rent, and the reason Peta had been able to attend beauty school while paying for her twins to get a decent education, but didn’t. She didn’t want Peta to feel guilty about Cassidy providing for them financially when she genuinely loved her job, and her sister and her twin nieces even more.

‘You don’t say no to Logan de Silva,’ she said.

‘Then quit. You initially took the job in the bank because it paid so well, but you’re not really utilising your project management degree to the fullest. Maybe you should put some feelers out to see where that can take you.’

And one day she would. She’d move on from this job and expand her professional scope but that time wasn’t when she might have to trawl through real-estate ads looking for a new place to live.

‘You know your boss says jump and you say how high?’ Peta added. ‘And you still haven’t explained why you’re wearing his shirt.’ Her sister gave her

an assessing look. ‘There’s nothing going on between you, is there?’

‘Of course not!’ The very idea was a joke. ‘I’m wearing his shirt because I got caught in the rain.’

‘Thank God.’ Peta exhaled a relieved breath. ‘I don’t want to see you get hurt.’

The fact that her sister thought she would be the one to get hurt in such a preposterous scenario stung a little. ‘Maybe he would be the one left broken-hearted,’ she said loftily.

‘Get real.’ Peta laughed, folding a skirt Cassidy had placed on the bed and adding it to her suitcase. ‘He’s a prince and a billionaire. I think we both know who would come out worst if anything did happen between you.’

And that stung a lot. It wasn’t as if she harboured any secret illusions where her illustrious boss was concerned. She knew he was out of her league. And really she wasn’t even sure she wanted to meet anyone. The few times she had dated had been a disaster she didn’t care to repeat.

But for Peta to also just assume that she wasn’t capable of attracting a man like Logan if she actually wanted to hurt more than it should. She’d sustained her sister in every way that she could over the years and a little bit of support in return wouldn’t go astray.

‘Lucky I’m not that foolish,’ she said, blindly grabbing underwear from a drawer.

‘Just be careful,’ Peta cautioned. ‘I’ve heard the way your voice changes when you talk about him and it worries me. You’ve been so content to do his bidding since you started working for him and I’ve sometimes wondered if you’re not a little bit in love with him, Cass.’

‘In love...?’ Cassidy zipped her suitcase closed with a little more force than necessary. ‘That’s absurd.’ She wasn’t in love with her boss. If she was ever going to fall in love she wanted it to be with someone she had half a chance of being with, not with a prince who had an appetite for supermodels. Being five feet five and homely, that wouldn’t be her.

She sighed. How did things change so quickly? Yesterday she’d gone to work, stopped at the dojo where she practised martial arts for two hours twice a week and helped the twins with their maths homework after dinner. Her private life ran as seamlessly as her professional life and she was happy with it. There were no complications and no nasty surprises waiting around the corner.

Peta gave her a look. ‘Your problem is that you’re always too willing to help the underdog and it will come back to bite you one day.’

Cassidy laughed and shook her head. ‘If there is one thing Logan de Silva cannot be described as, it’s an underdog.’

‘I was speaking metaphorically,’ Peta dismissed. ‘But he plays to your sense of obligation and I don’t want him to take advantage of you.’

Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who did that, she reflected, instantly contrite at the unbidden thought. Her sister was beautiful and wilful but she was also loyal and loving.

‘Just don’t be a pushover,’ Peta continued. ‘You deserve more for yourself. You deserve to have a life other than work and me and the twins. It’s something to think about.’

Cassidy felt her hackles rise at the underlying message in her sister’s tone. ‘I have a life. And I love taking care of my nieces.’

‘Yes, but you don’t have anything else.’

‘I don’t need anything else,’ she said, struggling not to feel testy at her sister’s insistence. ‘Look, I can’t stand here and argue with you right now. I need to grab a shower, change, and do my hair before he arrives to collect me. And, yes, I know that makes me a pushover in your eyes but...’

Right now she didn’t feel as if she had any choice. Logan had made it clear that she had to go with him and unless she was prepared to lose her job—which she wasn’t at the moment—she could hardly defy him.

A shiver went through her as she recalled that moment in his apartment when she’d seen him standing there half-naked, dripping in sweat. It was as if she’d never seen such a thing before. She had. Plenty of times at her dojo.

The last person she wanted to find attractive was her boss. And hopefully the feeling was an aberration, the result of stress, and would be completely gone by the time she joined him in the car.

Noticing that Peta was still watching her with a frown on her face, Cassidy lifted her chin. ‘I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.’

But half an hour later, as Dan carried her case to the front door, she didn’t feel fine.