And not once had he felt his chest aching, missing and loving her like he usually did. It had confused Jason and he had kept on talking to her, wondering if it was only because they hadn’t talked for so long that it had become awkward between them.
When the call ended, he was still feeling the awkwardness of the situation.
It seemed as if Lilac knew it, too. “You and Keanne are doing…well?”
“Yes, we are.”
“She’s your…girlfriend now?”
“No.” He paused. “Not yet.”
Being the intuitive girl that she was, Lilac said softly, “It’s not bad to make a person…wait….if it’s because you want to be sure…you do not want to…hurt her.”
“I don’t love her, Lilac.”
“Perhaps. But Jason, surely…you realize it now? You are n-not i-in love with me…either.”
****
“They are talking about me, aren’t they?” she asked wryly when Gabriel joined her. She was seated on top of a checkered blanket she had laid out on the ground, facing the still lake. The evening breeze in the forest was colder than city temperatures, but she knew it wasn’t the reason she was shivering.
Again, her gaze went to the picnic hamper she had personally prepared for Jason and her. But the sandwiches were cold now, the wine no longer ice-cold. They looked lonely and abandoned positioned at the edge of the blanket, and she could empathize because she felt the same.
Gabriel seated himself on one of the larger rocks nearby. He picked a pebble and threw it into the lake, creating a ripple. “May I ask one thing?”
“Can I guess what it is? Are you wondering why I’m so stupidly in love with him?”
He blinked in surprise before a grin tugged at his lips.
Whenever he smiled, it took her by surprise because that was when she remembered how attractive he really was. Unsmiling, he was simply like a perfectly sculptured statue. It was one of the reasons why she had always been attracted to Jason and not Nick.
Nick Christakos was made of ice, Jason the twin made of fire.
“Yes,” Gabriel agreed. “I want to know why.”
“It’s the same reason why you can’t make yourself kiss me a second time.”
For a moment he was quiet, and then he drawled out, “You’ve researched about me, haven’t you?”
“Yup. You may not be one of the better-known members of the de Koningh family, but a little digging is more than enough to figure out who you are.” She looked at him sympathetically. “Is it that bad, the arranged marriage thing?”
He shrugged, and perhaps he had relaxed enough in her company that this time Keanne saw a glimpse of the prince in him. “We have all been raised to be prepared for such a thing. But it’s not something you really consider as real until you’ve been the one chosen.”
“The rules of your monarchy are so confusing,” she told him honestly. She had done her best to understand the complexity of the kingdom Gabriel’s family ruled, but after a few confusing paragraphs, she had given up. The bottom line: Gabriel was not the firstborn or even the second-born in his family, but he had been selected as the Crown Prince and it came with the obligation of marrying a princess not of his own choosing.
A slight grin curved on his lips. “That’s what I told my grandfather, the king, when I was young, but unfortunately, it didn’t sway him into changing the rules.”
“Can I ask you something?” She could see that he was going to tell her no, she wasn’t allowed to ask him anything because he was a crown prince and so she said hurriedly, “Who is it that’s keeping you from flirting with me? The princess or another girl?”
“You are too blunt,” he scolded her.
She smirked. “And you’re trying to change the subject.”
His eyes became hooded, and his voice was seductive when he told her, “I’m starting to see why Jason Christakos finds you so desirable he actually knocked out a man for you.”
She laughed. “Oh no, that’s not going to work again. There may be this chemistry between us but that’s just it – chemistry. You don’t love me. You don’t even really want to flirt with me.”
His voice was cool when he said, “Like I said. You are too blunt.”
“Like I said: it’s useless to change the subject.”
He answered abruptly, “The princess.”
She gasped. “I knew it!”
He raised a brow at her.
“I don’t know. It’s just…something I felt. I don’t see you as the guy who keeps a girl hanging while remaining betrothed to another. I mean, that’s if you loved someone who’s not your betrothed. But if it’s the other way around?” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I can totally see it. You not wanting to be told to marry this girl even if – perversely – you actually like her.”