Chapter 21
21
S am mentally cursed as she walked along the concourse towards the boarding gate. She’d never believed in coincidence or karma, yet how could she explain running into Quade in Melbourne, Max last night, and now this, the unexpected appearance of two other men in her life?
It had to be fate’s way of paying her back for all the lies she’d told over the last few months.
“Hey, Princess. Fancy seeing you here.” Nick, her youngest brother, enveloped her in a bear hug.
“Looking good, Sis. What are you doing in Sydney?” Peter, the second oldest, tweaked her nose as he always did. “And where’s the man?”
Sam prayed Dylan would not appear in the next few minutes. He wanted to buy some obscure farming magazine and she hoped the bookstore had to go through a backlog of stock to find it.
“He’s around,” she said, keeping her answer purposely vague. “What are you two doing here?”
A faint blush stained Peter’s cheeks. Unfortunately, he possessed the same fair Popov complexion she did. “I was invited to some fancy party and Nicky wanted to accompany me, to scope out the ladies.”
“Whose party?”
Sam hid a grin, knowing exactly whose event Peter had flown down to Sydney to attend. He must be keener on Ebony than she thought, because he hated leaving the Brisbane sunshine and he hated flying even more.
“Ebony’s parents threw some fancy shin-dig to raise money for impoverished kids, so I thought I’d lend a helping hand.” Peter paused and looked away, cementing Sam’s suspicions that her brother was more smitten than he’d like to believe. “I’m surprised you weren’t there, showing off your betrothed.”
“Her what ?”
Sam froze, unaware Dylan had walked up behind her. Before she could answer, Nick thrust out his hand.
“You must be Dylan. Pleased to meet you. I’m Nick and this is Pete, brothers of this crazy woman.”
She slowly exhaled, unaware she’d been holding her breath. If Nick had mentioned their surname, she would’ve really had some explaining to do. Not that she was off the hook entirely.
Dylan eyed her with confusion. “Yeah, I’m Dylan, though you guys obviously know more about me than I know about you.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “That’d be right. Keeping you in the dark, is she? That’s our sis, always with the secrets.”
Sam intervened quickly, wishing she could drag Dylan away before things turned really ugly. “Why would I talk about you two when we’ve got more important things to discuss?”
She threaded her arm through Dylan’s, hoping to convince her brothers about the authenticity of her make-believe betrothal, yet not wanting to alert Dylan to the fact.
Nick guffawed. “I bet you do.” He grabbed Peter’s arm. “Come on. Let’s leave the two lovebirds alone.” He raised his other hand. “See you later, Princess. Nice to meet you, Dylan.”
As her brothers walked away, chuckling at some joke, Sam wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
“Lovebirds? Betrothed?” Dylan disengaged from her grip. “Where did your brothers get that idea? And why does everyone you know call you princess?”
This was it.
Her opportunity to come clean.
But the truth stuck in her throat, because the thought of disillusioning this man she’d come to care for… she couldn’t do it.
So yet again, she opted for the partial truth rather than a full-blown lie.
“You don’t know my brothers. The five of them are a constant pain in the butt. They’ve always teased me, especially about boyfriends. So seeing me with you, it’s their warped sense of humour to tease me in front of you.” She faked a laugh, hating that she continued lying to him considering how close they’d grown. “And I’ve already explained the marriage thing. If I spend more than two seconds in the company of any man, he’s my ‘betrothed’. Sick, huh?”
She swallowed, needing to ease the dryness of her parched throat. She’d never been good at lying but with this much practice, she would soon be an expert. “As for the princess thing, same reason. My brothers and their friends have always called me that because I hate it.”
Dylan stared, as if trying to read every telltale line on her face. Thankfully, the final boarding call for their flight boomed from the loudspeaker and she bent to pick up her hand luggage, breaking his intense scrutiny.
“You certainly have an interesting family.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he’d bought her concocted story for now and hating every minute of it.
“You call them interesting. I prefer whacky, annoying, and insane.”
He laid a restraining hand on her arm as she turned away. “Don’t underestimate the value of family. They are the most important thing in the world.”
Sam didn’t respond. She didn’t need a lecture on family values from a man who wouldn’t understand what she’d been through growing up. It had been difficult enough being a teenager, without the added pressure of some obsolete royal title being bestowed on her like a prize she should treasure yet didn’t want.
Let him spout a whole lot of platitudes about family. In her opinion, nothing he could say would change how she felt.
“Let’s get back to Melbourne,” she said, knowing the further away she got from the far-reaching influence of the Popov’s, the better.