“Yeah. Let’s do this.”
She handed him his crutches, and they walked toward the duke and the prince.
Rowan took the duke in with a clinical detachment. The blond hair, going to gray in spots. The physique he honed on his horses and his workouts. The lines fanning out from his eyes and starting to form around his mouth. The stupid eyes, so like his own—large and doe-shaped, dark brown, and heavily lashed. Even with the one same physical characteristic, he couldn’t find anything about the duke that offered a connection. Rowan looked at him, and the sixth sense residing in his belly reared up in protest. Behind the polished facade and the amiable expression was an empty nothingness, thirsting only for power. As the duke kowtowed to the prince, Rowan knew he was plotting the demise of the monarchy and Juliana’s family. His stomach rolled.
“Ah, my son,” the duke said, even as it came out like a roar so the whole room would turn and look. He slung his arm around Rowan’s shoulders, and Rowan worked to avoid a stumble. “And his fiancée.”
Rowan hid the abject horror at this very public declaration. Instead, he grinned and glanced to Juliana. She maintained her smile, leaning closer to him.
Jamie subtly shifted closer to his sister, and Rowan appreciated what looked like an honor guard around the princess. Jamie, it seemed, could sense the danger too.
“Fiancée,” Jamie quipped, trying to lighten the situation and the significance of this new wrench the duke was throwing into the mix.
“Well, I’m sure it’s on the horizon. Never hurts to speed things along.” Then, the duke elbowed Jamie, as if to say, Right, ol’ chap?
An impending doom settled in Rowan’s bones, a continuation of that errant tackle, a downward spiral he couldn’t seem to plug. His little plan was about to thwarted, and if he wasn’t careful, he might find himself waiting at the end of an aisle for Juliana. They needed to get away from here before the duke shoved a ring in his hand and forced him to his knees. With his mind racing in a thousand crazy directions, he missed the calculation in Juliana.
The duke reached for a champagne from the passing waiter. He handed one to Jamie, two to Juliana. Then, he stepped back, extending the circle for Frederik and Violet to step into. Once he plied them each with a flute, he tapped his ring against his glass, instantly shushing the room and drawing everyone’s attention.
“This is a fine day for the Federation of Unified States. A son of Nava and a daughter of Altamirano. For a century, we have been as one. But now, with this union, we will truly be unified. To the Marquis of Aldona and the Princess Juliana Marguerite Elizabeth Altamirano.”
A cheer sounded from all corners of the room. Then the tinkling of silver on crystal, calling for a kiss.
Juliana squeezed his elbow, and he again should have heeded her warning.
But when she stepped in front of him and cupped his cheek, his eyes widened.
“Can I kiss you?” she said softly.
With their eyes locked, he nodded.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. And just like the last time, everything ground to a halt around him. The beautiful room with its gorgeous decorations, the people in their pretty outfits and jewels. The four-piece orchestra strumming their instruments in the corner froze. What was left was the feel of Juliana’s full lips on his, the heady scent of her skin and her determination, the taste of her mouth when his tongue invaded it, the hardening of his cock as arousal slammed into him full force. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, lift her, and carry her away from all the intrigue around them. But the weight of his crutches held him in place. He lost time and place until she gently pulled away from his mouth, her lips pressed a closed-mouth kiss on the trail of their mingled breaths.
The first sound he heard were the aahs from the people around them, who’d gotten caught up in their current.
“Are you ready to go?” Juliana asked.
He nodded absently.
Juliana turned to the duke. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but Rowan’s only been given a short amount of time to be up and around.”
“Of course, of course,” the duke said, smiling wide and projecting his satisfaction to the room.
With that, Juliana led the way.
And Rowan followed without comment or thought.