Read Online His Royal Princess: A Billionaire Boys Club Novella by Jessica Clare - Free Book Online Page B

They were in the mountains and it was damp out. Shrugging off his sport jacket, he wrapped it around her. “Can’t let you catch a cold, Princess. You won’t be able to come on the set next week.”
    She slid her arms through his sleeves and hugged the jacket close to her, looking a bit like a child in it despite the fact they were nearly the same height. They definitely weren’t the same bulk. The smile she gave him was playful. “Are you sure you want me on the set still? You might get tired of me being there.”
    “Not a chance.” If he didn’t see her again, he’d . . . well, he’d go mad for starters. Maybe he’d show up at the palace and demand that she go out with him again.
    Alex grew very still, and the expression on her face was concerned. “I’m not very good at this, Luke.”
    “Good at what?”
    “Dating.” She fiddled with one of his sleeves. “I know it’s probably forward of me, but I’m the crown princess and not used to waiting for things. I read somewhere that women should play hard to get with a man they like, but I’m afraid that simply won’t do. Are we going to see each other again? You can, of course, decline. My feelings won’t be hurt.”
    Decline? After he’d just kissed her like a starving man in need of sustenance? Not likely. “Do I need to kiss you again to show you how I feel about you?”
    “You could,” she said, and stepped in close again.
    He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her until she was soft and sighing once more. “I want to see you again, Princess Alex of blah blah blah,” he murmured. “How do we do this?”
    She giggled. “My people will contact your people?”
    That was a terrible answer . . . and yet the most accurate one. “Why is it so hard for two people to schedule a damn date?”
    She shrugged and slid her arms around his waist. “Because we’re not normal people?”
    “I guess I can deal with
not normal
if it allows me to date you.”
    The sparkle in her eyes as she gazed up at him? That was everything.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    The next morning, Alex was daydreaming over breakfast as one of Grandmama’s large white cats jumped up on the table and strolled past her plate. She picked up her toast and moved it out of the way without batting an eye, her thoughts on other things.
    Things like Luke’s jacket, which she still had and still smelled faintly of his aftershave. Things like the kisses they’d shared on the bridge, and the way he’d talked to her, like they were sharing secrets. Things like his smile, and the way his nose bumped against hers when he leaned in to kiss her. The little jokes they shared between them. The way he liked to link his fingers between hers when they walked.
    Luke Houston in the movies was sexy and dynamic. Luke Houston in person? He was a dream come true. She took a bite out of dry toast and smiled at nothing in particular. He’d be on set tomorrow, so once she’d had breakfast with Grandmama, she’d make plans to stop by in the morning—
    “Alexandra.” Her grandmother’s reedy voice still had the power to cut through the room.
    “Yes, Grandmama?” She straightened, feeling a bit like a guilty child, and looked over at her grandmother. Queen Alexandra Olivia I was in her eighties but still a force to be reckoned with . . . most days. Sometimes she had moments where she was confused and tired, but most days she was as sharp and cutting as she was in her twenties. Alex loved her . . . but she also lived in fear of disobeying. Her grandmother could be stubborn and unrelenting when she didn’t see things the same way as Alex, and they’d butted heads more than once already.
    “What do you think of Roderick?”
    Roderick? Alex straightened in her chair, trying to focus her attention. The only Roderick she knew of was a cousin, one of the royal family in Saxe-Gallia. “Cousin Roderick?”
    “Yes. Are you inclined to marry, and if so, what do you think of him?” Grandmama’s hawklike eyes