Dating the Prince(37)

The doctor pulled a cell phone from his lab coat. Alex stepped closer  and they both smiled for the camera. He tried to focus on the phone, but  Alex's eyes kept darting to the crowd milling around in his peripheral  vision.

A flash of curly caramel-colored locks caught his attention and Alex inhaled sharply.

"Thank you so much," Dr. Maybe-Not-So-Pretentious said, offering Alex a hand.

"The pleasure is mine," Alex said.

The hair flashed again. Alex glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of a flowing olive green sundress. Libby.

"Excuse me," Alex murmured to the doctor, all thoughts of Isla fleeing.  His heart pumped furiously as he pushed his way through the crowd,  murmuring apologies to those he passed. He rose on tiptoes, frantically  searching for Libby.

She wouldn't come to a ribbon cutting only to break up with him. Which  meant that maybe she'd decided to give their relationship a chance. He  saw her again, standing near the back of the crowd. Kenzie wasn't with  her. Libby wore a cropped denim jacket over her sundress and lifted her  hand in a small wave.

Two hands landed on Alex's chest. He stumbled, instinctively resting his  hands on the woman's shoulders to try and prevent them both from  toppling over. She stared up at him from underneath the brim of her  fascinator, eyes glittering dangerous.

"Alex," she cooed, her voice sugary-sweet. "That was perfect, darling."

"Isla." The single word came out in a strangled grunt.

"I'm so proud of you. Your tireless charity work has always been one of the things I love most about you."

Libby. Panic rose in Alex's chest and he frantically turned around. Had  she recognized Isla? He had to get away and talk to Libby.

Isla grabbed him by the shoulders. Before Alex's brain registered a  protest, her bright red lips were brushing against his cheek.

Alex grabbed her hands and took a step back, holding them away from him.  He cast a glance around and saw more than a few of the reporters and  cameramen paying close attention.

"Isla," he hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Supporting you, babe." A camera flashed.

"You can't be here," he said, his voice low.

She took a step closer and tossed her hair in a flirtatious manner. "If I  can't have you, no one can," she said, her voice quiet enough it barely  reached his ears. He knew no one else would've heard. Then she raised  her voice again. "I'm so proud of you, honey."

Then her lips were pressed tightly against his. The soft curves of her  body felt all wrong. Hands ran unwelcome through his hair as an intimate  kiss he hadn't asked for and didn't want was forced on him.

Alex wrenched himself free, heart thrumming painfully in his chest.

"He kissed her!" a reported hissed. "Did you get that all on camera?"

"Wasn't that Libby standing at the back of the crowd?"

"Is the engagement off?"

Bile rose in Alex's throat as the murmur of questions rose.

"What was that?" he hissed at Isla.

She smiled, looking not at him, but at something over her shoulder. "That was me winning."

Alex turned around, the rock in his stomach telling him exactly who he  would see. There, in an olive green sundress, stood Libby, her eyes wide  with hurt.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR



Alex had kissed Isla. Libby pressed a trembling hand to her stomach,  fighting the urge to hurl all over the reporters who'd captured the  entire thing on camera. She wanted to fly at Isla and rip every hair  from her head. Wanted to pound on Alex's chest and scream that he'd  betrayed her.         

     



 

Her knees shook as their eyes met across the crowd.

For the past two nights she'd managed less than a handful of hours of  sleep. Every moment had been swallowed up by Alex as she agonized over  what to do. Her heart ached at the thought of not seeing his handsome  face every day, of not exchanging flirtatious texts and updates as the  long hours between dates passed, but the constant criticism from the  press had her on edge. She'd never planned on dating a prince. It was a  lot more complicated than she'd initially imagined.

And now he was kissing Isla Martin in front of a crowd of reporters  while they shouted questions about Libby's relationship status with  Durham's most notorious bachelor.

There was only one thing to do-run. Libby turned on her heel and walked  quickly away, pulling her denim jacket close as she tried to process  what she'd just seen. Nicolette was right about one thing at least-Isla  was sneaky and conniving. There was no way that kiss hadn't been  orchestrated as some sort of revenge plot. Libby had seen enough to know  that Isla didn't want Alex, just the crown.

But Alex had still kissed Isla. Hadn't immediately pushed her away.  Libby closed her eyes as nausea rolled over her. It hadn't been a quick  peck, either.

"Libby!" Alex called. She could hear him even through the shouted questions of reporters.

Tears pushed at the back of her eyes, but she wasn't about to let them  fall. She kept walking. Footsteps followed behind her, but she didn't  turn around to see whether it was Alex or a reporter.

"Libby!" Alex shouted again, his voice louder this time. Closer, too. He spoke the name like a plea. A command.

Anger pulsed in her veins until she could feel her heart beating in  nearly every inch of her skin. She whirled around, facing Alex. Finn  stood in the background, holding back the reporters. "What?" she hissed.

Alex took a step back. His green eyes were tortured and he ran a hand  over his neatly trimmed beard. Libby felt sick. Those lips that had so  gently caressed hers had been pressed to Isla's moments before.

"It isn't what you think," he said quietly.

She gave a hollow laugh, the irony of his statement not lost on her. "Of course not. Nothing in your life ever is."

His eyes dimmed as he took a step closer, lowering his voice even more. "That isn't fair."

It wasn't. Guilt stabbed at Libby, but anger quickly pushed it away. She rubbed her temples, trying to make the pounding stop.

Alex stood close enough that Libby imagined she could feel his body  heat. She had the sudden urge to rise up on her tiptoes and feel the  scruff of his beard against her jaw as she lost herself in one of his  toe-curling kisses. But the image was immediately replaced by one of him  and Isla.

She'd come here today to tell him she was willing to give their  relationship an honest try. But seeing him with Isla had changed  everything.

"I don't know what she's up to, but I promise I'm as upset as you are,"  Alex said. "Please, Libby. I feel nothing for Isla. This is another of  her ploys. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm just not sure it changes anything." A bone-deep  weariness had her longing for a hammock on the beach at Ocean Meadow.  She'd bundle up in a blanket and watch the tide roll in. Maybe even read  a book. There'd be no thoughts to make her toss and turn at night. No  reporters waiting to snap a photo.

No prince to break her heart.

Suddenly she missed Oregon with a fierce intensity that took her breath  away. In that moment, her life with Alex flashed before her eyes. There  would always be women trying to win him over for their own purposes.  There would always be reporters waiting to catch Libby's mistakes and  broadcast them to the world. There would always be people scheming to  use her for their own purposes. If Libby continued dating Alex, she  would fall more deeply in love with him than she'd ever been with  another person. She knew that as surely as she knew that the sky was  blue, or the ocean was wet.

And loving Alex would break her.

"I'm sorry," Libby whispered. Tears spilled over and trailed down her  cheeks. The autumn air cooled them against her skin as the wind brushed  through her hair. Libby looked down at her hand-at the gorgeous art deco  ring that was a perfect replica of the flea market piece she had stowed  in a corner of her dresser at Connie's-and slipped it off her finger.  She dropped it into Alex's hand. His fingers reflexively closed and he  stared at her with stunned eyes.

"I can't do this," Libby whispered. "I'm so sorry, Alex. I can't."         

     



 

"Libby," he rasped, his voice wet with tears. "Don't-"

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "It's too much. Goodbye, Alex."

The look in his eyes nearly broke her. But she turned and walked briskly away.

"Libby!" Alex called. Her shoulders shook and she covered her mouth with one hand as she quickened her pace.

The shouts of the reporters grew muffled as her blood roared in her  ears. Tears made her vision blurry. Had she really just said goodbye to  Alex? Stabbing her own heart with a fire poker would have been less  painful than this. Her chest tightened as she gasped for breath. She  wrapped her arms around herself, struggling to hold in her emotions.  Reporters were probably still watching, the cameras recording the entire  breakup.

Another public relationship disaster for Prince Alexander of Durham. She'd failed him in every way.