The Royal and the Rebel (Royally Pitched 2)

“Right. Tell me about that.”

“It’s scheduled for Tuesday. I’ll head home for a couple of days. But then I’ll stay with him for a week or so.”

She was trying hard to avoid thinking about helping Rowan after his surgery. It seemed to have disaster written all over it. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t make sense to allow someone else to care for her “fiancé.”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you where we are staying.”

“Did you sort it with Noah?”

“Of course. But ask me where we are staying.”

“Not at Rowan’s?”

“No,” she said, practically bouncing in her seat. “You might want to trade places with me.”

Jamie cocked his head to the side and raised his brow in question. “I don’t think there is anything that could convince me to take care of Rowan Beckwith for any length of time.”

“Quite,” Jules teased, “except we’ll be staying at your hero’s house.”

“What?”

“We are staying at Nico Ramsey’s house,” Juliana explained.

Juliana expected Jamie to react in some way. Instead, he nodded his head. “Makes sense.”

“I thought you’d be begging me for an invitation, so you could pick his brain about football, or spit stats at him, or argue over greatest players.”

Jamie smiled indulgently. “My schedule is going to be very full when I get back.”

Juliana deflated a little at his blasé reaction.

“What?”

“I thought you’d be more excited. Maybe a little jealous.”

“You’re such a cow,” he said, laughing. He picked up the wine bottle again and topped off their glasses. “Shall we?”

“I suppose,” she answered, standing. “Hey, what about you and Meena?”

He looked confused. “Is there a Meena and me?”

Juliana shrugged. “You looked happy when you were talking to her. Intrigued maybe.”

Jamie’s expression veered into pensive. He paused in his walk around the bar. Setting his glass down, he leaned forward, catching Juliana’s gaze. “Meena is brilliant. Fun, mature, insightful. She grew up in the bubble.”

“Bubble?”

“Our bubble. Surrounded by staff, following a path already paved for you. Never worrying about the trivial things, but carrying the burden of deep-seated problems and knowing you might be called up to come up with solutions. Living in old estates, outfitted with marvelous trimmings, walking along the corridors with your ancestors creeping on you. Going all over the world, but not always seeing the places you’ve been. Driving all over the country, but never sitting behind the wheel. Having things you didn’t know you’d asked for and needing things you can’t get for yourself.”

“Oh, wanting to buy something, but not having your own credit card. And knowing you can afford it for yourself and maybe the rest of the people in the world, but not having to balance a bank account.”

Jamie snickered. “Exactly. The bubble. We have a lot in common, Meena and me. And maybe we’ll explore our commonalities. But that’s all it would be.”

“Is that a euphemism for sex?”

Jamie blinked, deer in headlights–like. Sputtering, he said, “No, no, of course not.”

“So, what does it mean?”

“It means, I don’t see myself with someone long-term.”

Stunned, Juliana merely stared at him.

“Look, the crown, the kingdom comes first. If I were to give myself to someone, I’d want to go all in. But I wouldn’t be able to. I’d have a wife and a mistress, or a mistress and a wife, depending on which gets top billing. Any person who would be okay with that, only having half of my devotion, would be in it for the wrong reasons.”

Inexplicably sad, Juliana stared at him. “Ever?”

“I suppose anything is possible, but I just don’t see it for myself. And without any chance of having children, I don’t have much to offer my imaginary future wife.”

Juliana stared at her brother, an understanding dawning in her. She didn’t know how long the silence lasted, but Jamie snapped his fingers in front of her face, startling her.

“Where did you go?” he asked.

“Do you think that’s what happened with Maman and Papa?”

Mostly, she didn’t give much thought to her parents and the circumstances of her birth. By the time her grandmother had told her, both of her parents were dead. The queen hadn’t offered any explanations. But listening to Jamie, it made her wonder.

Jamie looked uneasy and then thoughtful. “I really don’t know.”

He came around from behind the bar and pulled her into his arms. With her heels, she was just short of him. But being wrapped up by her brother made her feel like a tiny little girl, sheltered in the arms of a giant.

“Maybe. I was seven when you were born. I don’t know if I would have known if something was wrong.” He squeezed her. “But you have to know, he never treated you differently. You were his, no matter the biology.”

Juliana had grown up, thinking her parents had it all. The fairy tale. The handsome crown prince and the beautiful noblewoman. Later, she would understand things weren’t as black and white as that. She would know their marriage had been arranged and grown into love. And when she was eighteen, she would learn that her mother had cheated on her father, and Juliana was the result of it. And she would never forgive her mother for stealing the prince from her. Yes, he’d adopted her, but Juliana wasn’t his daughter. She wasn’t royalty, not a princess. Her life was one big, elaborate scam. It made what she was doing with Rowan seem small and insignificant. A charade for a couple of months was nothing compared to a lifetime masquerade.

She liked thinking Jamie saw something affectionate in Rowan. Not because she had any illusions about what was between them. She didn’t. But she appreciated him liking her. And if he looked at her with something warm, it made the ruse easier. She wasn’t going to get a great love out of this fake relationship, but maybe she could gain a friend. And in their lives, friendship was worth the jewels in the crown.