Tempted By the Princess (Hiding Out with the Billionaires #3)

Genevieve

This stupid dress was itchy. It felt like I had a bunch of fire ants moving up and down the sides of my boobs and down my torso. I should have put my foot down with my mother and insisted that I pick my own outfit for tonight, but I’d learned long ago that I had to choose my battles.

With my mother, there was always a bigger battle.

I suppressed a sigh. I couldn’t wait to get home, tear off this dress, and settle on the couch in my pajamas to watch something mindless. Maybe I’d watch the next episode of Ride or Die. I loved Hannah Waddingham, she was hot as hell. Then again, I’d always had a thing for older women.

It took everything in me not to roll my eyes at the portly older man who was currently staring down at my cleavage. Resisting the urge to remind him that my eyes were a little higher, I reached out a hand.

“Nice to see you, Roger.”

Roger was some lower level royal from the U.K. He was something like thirty-seventh in the line of succession, but he still acted like he was going to move into Buckingham Palace at any moment.

Not that I had any room to talk. I was the ‘spare’ for a small mid-Atlantic country off the coast of western Europe.

The entire country was about the size of Manhattan, but less populous than the Big Apple.

Really it was a surprise that we were never swallowed up by Spain or England, but somehow Saint Marenne had remained independent for over two hundred years.

My sister Evangeline – or the ‘good daughter’ as my parents privately called her – would be queen when our father passed away.

She spent her time in the family palace learning the ropes of running a small country.

I had more freedom than her, something I knew she sometimes envied.

I’d gone to college in America and stayed, getting a job at a private foundation here in Seattle.

The best thing about living in the States was basically no one had heard of my country.

It gave me a level of anonymity I couldn’t get back home.

As long as I periodically played the role of dutiful princess, I was mostly free to live my life.

“Genevieve, quit fidgeting!”

I hadn’t heard my mother coming. She had the uncanny ability of sidling up to people so quietly it was almost as if she’d appeared out of thin air.

“Hi Mom,” I said, resisting the urge to sigh.

For some reason she still felt compelled to chide me about things as if I was an unruly teenager instead of a fully grown adult with a job. It made it hard not to regress into my younger self whenever I was around her.

As usual Mom looked perfectly put together, her makeup flawless and not a hair out of place. She was nearly sixty but with her smooth skin and trim body she could easily pass for a woman fifteen years younger.

My parents were in Seattle for one of their rare visits.

Mostly I went home to Saint Marenne to see my family.

I was expected to be there for Christmas, the anniversary of Dad’s coronation, and any other time my mother summoned me.

I still wasn’t totally sure why they were here in my part of the world.

They were up to something, that I could tell, I just didn’t know what.

“Hi sweetheart.” Dad joined us, leaning in to press a quick kiss on my cheek.

He was tall and handsome, with dark hair gone gray at the temples and a square chin that made him look like that old cartoon hero, Dudley Do-Right.

“Hey Dad.”

“Doesn’t Genevieve look nice?” Mom prompted.

“You both are stunning,” my father said gallantly. His fingers intertwined with hers, pulling her close.

One thing about my parents, they were still madly in love. It made me hope that someday I could find what they had. Without the running a country part anyway.

“Good evening, your highnesses.”

A man in his early forties approached us wearing an expensive suit and a blindingly white smile.

Judging by his accent and his blonde hair and blue eyes he was from one of the Scandinavian countries.

He was handsome, I noted absently, not much taller than me but with the muscular body of a man who worked out regularly.

“Ah Hans, there you are.” My mother greeted the newcomer warmly. “I’d like to introduce you to our daughter, Princess Genevieve.”

He reached for my hand, pressing his lips against the back of my fingers like some old school prince. “It’s a pleasure, Princess.”

“Hans is the third cousin of the King of Sweden.”

I nodded politely. “Nice to meet you.”

“Oh look how cute they look together, Simon.”

My father nodded, his eyes moving between us. If I wasn’t mistaken, there was a flash of discomfort, but it was gone so fast I thought I’d imagined it.

“You two are going to make beautiful babies.”

I choked on my own spit as my parents and Hans beamed at me.

“Excuse me?”

“We’re going to announce your engagement tonight, Genevieve,” my mother said, as if that was something perfectly normal to say.

“My engagement?” I asked incredulously. “To whom?”

“To Hans,” my mother said, as if it was perfectly obvious.

“You didn’t know?” Hans asked, looking surprised.

“I did not. Mom, Dad, I need to talk to you. Alone. Now. Will you excuse us, Hans?”

Hans started to walk away, but my mother’s hand shot out, grabbing his wrist and stopping his escape.

“Whatever you have to say to us you can say in front of Hans,” my mother said firmly. “After all, he’s going to be family soon.”

I inhaled deeply, drawing on the last of my patience. “I’m not going to marry Hans, Mom. Why would you put either of us in this position?”

I spared a glance at my intended fiancé. He looked like he was hoping for a natural disaster to get him away from this uncomfortable conversation.

“I’m done waiting, Genevieve. We’ve given you time to find someone yourself, but you’re not even dating anyone. You need to get married before it’s too late for you to have children.”

“Evangeline isn’t married,” I reminded her. “And she’s three years older than me.”

“Your sister is busy learning how to be queen. She’ll be married soon enough, but in the meantime, it’s time for you to get settled and come home to Saint Marenne.”

“I’m not marrying Hans or any other man,” I said, my voice rising to a level of shrill that I hated even as I said it.

“No offense,” I offered to the visibly uncomfortable man watching our family drama. “I’m actually a lesbian. Which my mother knows very well.”

She’d figured it out pretty quickly when she walked in on me and my high school girlfriend in the sixty-nine position one evening.

“It’s just a phase,” my mother said to Hans.

I bugged my eyes out at my father, who remained silent despite his visible discomfort with the conversation.

“It’s not a phase,” I told her. “We’ve discussed this many times.”

“You’re marrying Hans,” Mom said in her ‘don’t argue with me voice’.

“No I’m not!”

We stared at each other for a long, charged moment. Then my father spoke up.

“It’s time for you to get married and take your rightful place in the monarchy,” he said. “You’ve had time to sow your wild oats. Now you will move back to Saint Marenne.”

I stared at my father in shock. I couldn’t believe he was going along with my mother’s harebrained scheme.

“I’ll make you happy,” Hans promised. “We’ll grow to love each other over time, I’m sure of it.”

Bless him, he seemed earnest. Kind. And boring as fuck.

“Excuse me,” I said softly. “I need to go to the ladies room.”

Without waiting for a response, I turned on my heel and left the ballroom.

I didn’t need to use the bathroom, but I needed to get out of there before I caused a scene.

At the end of the hall I saw an open door, probably leading to the alley.

Deciding that I could use some fresh air, I rushed outside.

There was a white truck in the alley, emblazoned with the logo of a catering company, the back doors open.

I took a quick look around, and seeing no one nearby, I followed my impulse and climbed into the back of the van.

There was some kind of a cart in the corner, full of table linens, and I squeezed myself behind it, sliding to the floor of the vehicle and pulling my knees to my chest. Breathing deeply, I willed myself not to cry. Or start laughing hysterically.

What was wrong with my parents? They’d been overbearing before, and I knew that they didn’t like me living in Seattle, but this stunt was crazy, even for them. I had no idea it was coming. Did they really think I was going to marry some random low-level royal that they’d suckered into meeting me?

I jumped as the doors slammed closed, trapping me in the back of the van.

For half a second I considered pounding on the side to alert the driver that I was there, but then I realized that the universe was offering me the chance to escape.

I couldn’t hide out forever of course, but at least I could get away from this place.

Maybe I could find someplace to hole up for a couple of days until my parents left or I figured out what to do about this crazy situation.

Digging my cell phone out of my purse I sent a quick text to my sister letting her know that I was safe, but I needed to go off grid. Before she could respond, I powered the phone off, settling in for wherever fate was going to take me.