Free Royal's Untouched Love by Sophia Lynn Page B

waves.
    When she looked at herself in the mirror, Heidi wasn't sure how she looked, but she looked nothing like herself, which supposedly was something.
    Dinner was delicious, but it was obvious that Anastasia and Augustine couldn't wait to get on to the clubbing. Heidi had never been ushered straight to the front of a line in front of a club, and though she felt as if she was getting away with something that she shouldn't have been, it was a relief to get into the darkness of the dance club.
    Anastasia parked her at the bar, making sure she had a drink and didn't want to come dancing.
    "You should, though," the princess had said. "It's fun!"
    "Maybe later," Heidi said with a slight smile. "Right now, I'm just enjoying my juice."
    Though she had to admit that Augustine and Anastasia were a striking couple, she didn't see much that appealed about the dance scene at all. The few men who came up to her seemed interesting, the other women at the club seemed intent on ignoring her, and she was beginning to feel more than a little self-conscious in her new outfit. She was becoming increasingly resolved to make her excuses and duck out until Augustine and Anastasia returned, out of breath and satisfied.
    "Hey, I think your boss is here," Anastasia giggled.
    Though she had previously thought that she was overly warm from the club environment, Heidi suddenly felt as if cold water had been splashed over her.
    "What?"
    Augustine gestured towards the second floor of the club. When Heidi looked up, there, leaned casually against the railing, was the man she had been trying very hard to forget.
    Even from where she sat, she could tell that he was dressed in a tight red T-shirt and black jeans that seemed to cling to his legs like a second skin. A bottle dangled casually from one hand, and she could see that he was turned and listening to a platinum blonde girl in a short, short black dress. The sly smile on his face and the blonde's closeness told her all she needed to know about what they were talking about.
    "Don't gossip about him, though," Anastasia cautioned. "It wouldn't be kind."
    That startled Heidi a bit, making her tear her eyes away from Jaque to look at Anastasia. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
    "Jaque is something of a problem for the Swedish royal family," explained Augustine. "His mother has been trying to get him to settle down for ages, and at this point, it seems like she's at her wits' end. I think the last thing that Jaque needs is to get found out bringing home a girl or two after some of his exploits this past spring."
    Against her will, Heidi found herself blushing. She had read some of those tabloids in preparation for interviewing for LaMer Enterprises. Some of them were pretty shocking to a girl who grew up in the Midwest.
    Augustine nodded. "I see you take my meaning. Jaque is a good man, one of the finest I know, but when it comes to impulse control, well, he could be better."
    "I had heard he's been pretty quiet for the last few months," sad Anastasia thoughtfully, but Heidi's mind was going too fast to hear any of it.
    Suddenly, all her thoughts of getting out of the club and going home fell away. It didn't matter if Jaque had seen her or not. She was not going to let him think that she was going to go home to a quiet apartment and a cup of tea. She was not going to let him think, or even have a chance to think, that she was some shy virgin waiting wistfully for his return.
    "Are you doing well, dear?" asked Anastasia. "You looked a little wan when we came up."
    "I don't feel tired at all," Heidi said. "I think I want to dance."
    The music playing at the club had a thudding backbeat to it, something that got the entire dance floor moving with more menace that she would have thought. Heidi was no trained dancer, but she knew how to move her body and how to find the beat. She threw herself into the dancing crowd with a will, and they in turn welcomed her.
    Her feet seemed to know exactly where to go and