The Prince's Real Fake Bride by Holly Rayner

Author:Holly Rayner [Rayner, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

HANNAH

I inspected my face in the powder room, already nervous about going back out in front of photographers.

“Do you ever get used to it?” I asked Nehir. “People sticking cameras in your face.”

Nehir finished reapplying her lipstick. “I like it.”

I finished trying to tame a loose strand of hair. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“I like seeing my picture in the magazines,” she said with a grin.

I leaned against the vanity. “So you had no qualms about marrying a prince?”

“Qualms?” Her expression puzzled.

“Sorry. I know English might not be your first language. Qualms as in hesitations. You didn’t have any reasons to not marry a prince?”

“English is my first language.” Nehir didn’t look offended. She only looked pleased.

Which seemed to be her baseline state. I had to admit, I was slightly jealous of her.

“I just worry,” I said, “that I’ll never get used to all the attention that comes along with being married to royalty. The spotlight. Always having people pay attention to what I’m doing.”

Nehir nodded. “It is hard sometimes. Last year the magazines kept printing photos of me saying that I was fat.”

“That’s awful.”

She shrugged. “It’s better than a lot of other options.”

“What do you mean?”

Nehir rummaged through her purse and found a powder compact. “My father was about to marry me off to a man twice my age. The offer to marry Martim came just in time.”

“Your marriage was arranged,” I said slowly. It seemed so odd in this day and age.

Then again, who was I kidding? I was currently in an arranged marriage! No one had put it together for Francisco and me, but it was a construct nonetheless.

“Yes.” Nehir powdered her nose. “Completely the opposite of what you have.”

I pressed my lips together and looked down. If only she knew.

“Martim is nice,” Nehir said. “But we never fell in love.”

The news made me want to cry. “Don’t you want to be in love?”

Nehir looked thoughtful. “It would be nice, but passion does not last. There are more important things.”

“Like what?”

I fully expected her to say something like “cars” or “designer clothes,” so what came out of her mouth next surprised me.

“Being with someone you trust,” she said. “And security and safety.”

I blinked. “Yes. Those are important.”

Did I trust Francisco?

I couldn’t tell yet. It was too soon. But I knew I wanted to trust him

She turned to me with a warm expression. “I have those with Martim. I can live without the passion. But you… you’re lucky. You have all of those with Francisco.”

“I do?” I caught myself and cleared my throat. “Yes. I do. I’m just, I don’t know how you can tell. You only just met me an hour ago.”

Nehir tapped her temple. “I am very good with these things.”

I fought back a laugh. “You must be.”

“I can see what is between you two.” She sighed. “When he was looking at you while you talked about your favorite place…” She pressed a hand to her heart.

Heat rushed through me. The mere memory of Francisco’s gaze had me melting.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.