Chapter 37 Where Is It?
The next day, Luke was sleeping when Hallie came by the hospital. She sat for a while in a comfortable arm chair in the corner of the room, waiting.
Finally, after about an hour, he stirred on the bed. Although his eyes were open, he seemed so tired and miserable that Hallie didn’t have the heart to bring up the whole royal prince thing.
He smiled a little when he saw her. “Thanks...” he mumbled, “for bringing my hat...”
Hallie came closer and sat down on the side of the bed. She hadn’t brought a hat, but then she remembered the first time they met, when he was just as out of it and he had demanded his cowboy hat, which she gave him. She snickered, while Luke closed his eyes and fell asleep again.
Spending evenings with Jessica was such a great change of pace that Hallie decided to stay on a few more days. She was not so worried about Luke since he was out of the danger zone, and she came back to see him two days later.
She found him sitting up in bed, reading a book.
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah, I’m getting discharged tomorrow.”
“Really? You had quite a fall, I thought you would be kept here longer. How did you manage to get a concussion and a broken rib?”
Luke frowned in confusion, rubbing his face. “I don’t know. That horse might have trampled me. I can barely remember what really happened.”
“I brought you some croissants,” she said with a small smile, placing the container on his bedside stand. “It was the closest thing to xuixos I could find.”
“Thanks,” Luke said, though he didn’t seemed very cheered. “You don’t have to do this.”
“What?”
“Visit me. It’s not like we’re really in a relationship.”
Hallie felt a little hurt by this, though she didn’t quite know why. Maybe it was because she had been so worried about him, but he was talking as if they were just strangers.
“If you don’t want me to be here, I’ll go,” she said.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“What did you mean then? Maybe you think I’m not very interested in how you’re doing even though I was the one who tracked your stupid runaway horse to find you.”
“Okay, I didn’t know. Sorry!”
“You should be.”
“I’m just not in a great mood today,” he confessed. “Miss Santer came by to see me. I guess I should return to work. She threatened to tell my parents about my long absence.”
“Seriously?”
“You know what she’s like. She gets results.” Luke put his book away, sighing. “But she’s not that bad, really. She even agreed not to tell my parents about my little horse riding adventure.”
His parents, Hallie thought, the king and queen of Sarkadia. She had looked at a few gossip articles about the royal family, most of whom seemed quite nice. Prince Lucas was the exception, being prone to wild partying and other irresponsible behavior.
So many girls dream of one day meeting a prince, but when she actually met one in real life, why did he have to be a crappy one?
“What is it?” Luke asked. “Are you still mad at me?”
“Mad? No,” she said calmly, but without much warmth.
“There’s something going on, I can tell,” Luke said, smiling that alluring smile that must have gotten him out of trouble hundreds of times.
“I was just wondering...” Hallie said, opening and closing a drawer of the bedside cabinet. “Where are you keeping it?”
Luke raised one eyebrow in a confused expression, while smiling as if he was aware she was playing some kind of game. “Where am I keeping what?”
Hallie lifted a corner of the blanket, taking a quick peek down the length of his body. He was wearing one of those light green hospital gowns, and there was nothing else there of interest, aside from the barely concealed outlines of his sexy body, which she had no interest in.
“If you’re looking for something in particular, I’d be happy to help,” Luke added.
“I thought you would keep such an important object close to you,” she said.
“What object?”
“Your crown.”
It was rare to see him shocked or lost for words, and Hallie felt a certain satisfaction in seeing Luke stare at her open-mouthed.