The Sinful King (Naughty Royals 1)

When I reached the bottom of the steps, I glanced over my shoulder and saw him still sitting on the blanket, with his head bowed over his bent knees. It was an image that didn’t correspond to his persona, not the one he showed the public, anyway. One evening with him, and I already knew there was a lot more to the future king than met the eye, but I couldn’t dwell on that. I had to keep tonight as a fond memory—that time I went on a date with the future king of France, before he got married, before he had children, before he ruled.

Chapter 13

I’d spent my entire week focused on the gala that was happening this upcoming weekend. After driving back and forth to Versailles on Monday and Tuesday, I decided to book a hotel and stay nearby for the week. There was no use going back to the villa when I was on the phone with all of the entertainment companies I had lined up, the costume company, the caterers, and Madame Rose. My mother and Joss were helping, but they also had a wedding in Paris to focus on, so I had to do the majority of the work. Because of this, I’d begged my uncle to let me hire a few teenagers for the bookstore and gave the basket task to Mrs. Meyers for the week. I hadn’t heard from or seen Elias since our date on Saturday, not that I’d expected to. He didn’t have my phone number and I hadn’t really been in the villa long enough for him to contact me. It was for the best. I’d been so busy that I barely had time to think about him much, except at night when I lay in bed and replayed every single part of our date. At first, the memories made me smile. Then, I wound up getting upset at the Princess of Austria. I’d looked her up, of course. She was pretty. Blonde, blue eyes, warm smile.

I didn’t like her.

As far as I was concerned, she was a cockblocker and a pest who arrived at the prince’s villa unannounced and uninvited and ruined our date. Those were all things I should have been grateful for. If things had gone further, if I’d spent the night with him, I would have regretted it. I’d had one date with him and I already felt myself unraveling. I couldn’t afford to be unraveled. I was in no state to fall in love with a prince, let alone one who would be king. No one ever was, but surely the Princess of Austria could bear it more than I could. At least she had a shot at being his, and planning this party was the only proof I needed of that. Every single detail was set to cater to the princesses and duchesses that were slated to be there on Saturday night. From the way they made their grand entrance, to the way they greeted the prince. They’d all be staying in the on-site cottages of the palace, which had been inhabited by those closest to the royal family back in the old days but had since been restored and kept for events like these. There were twenty-five cottages in total, counting the one I was currently staying in, which was right beside the one Prince Elias and his brother Aramis would be staying in this weekend. Princess Pilar, their sister, had her own cottage on the other side of theirs, which was where my assistant, Joss, had been invited to stay.

My phone rang as I was getting ready for bed, and I answered upon seeing Etienne’s face on the screen.

“I assume you’ve been busy,” he said by way of greeting.

“You have no idea.” I sighed. “What’s up?”

“What’s up is that you have a certain monarch hunting you down.”

“Who?” I perked up, my heart pounding in anticipation. Elias couldn’t have asked about me, could he?

“I think you know who.” I could tell Etienne wasn’t smiling the way he normally would when he teased me about a man.

“What’d he say?”

“He wanted to know where you were and asked for your phone number. I told him that you’re an extremely busy woman and I couldn’t give him your phone number without asking permission first. I also told him it was a bad idea to call you.”

“You told him that?” My voice was small. I sank into the couch bench at the foot of my bed. “What’d he say?”

“He hung up on me.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not a good idea, Addie.”

“I know.”

“Did you sleep with him again?”

“No.” I bit my lip. “We only went on one date and it ended early.”

“You’re planning his engagement party. You do know that, right?” Etienne asked firmly. “They will announce his engagement within the week and you’ll be left for nothing. You had a scandal that flipped your world upside down and you ran for the hills. What do you think a scandal with a prince would do to you?”