Free Some Like it Secret (Going Royal Book 4) by Heather Long Page A

Sebastian’s narrowed gaze, his as well.
    “Quite.” But for the first time since she arrived, she heard a note of question in his voice. He held out his hand to her and even though she knew the rational choice, the smart choice, would be to close him out before he battered down her fracturing defenses, she slid her palm across his.
    The touch sizzled and when he drew her close this time, she went. He said nothing to Terry or the others, but led her up the stairs. Threading their fingers together, she sighed. “Going to give me the ten cent tour?”
    At the top of the steps, he paused. “Do you want one?”
    Despite her exhaustion, and her teeter-tottering emotions, she did. It might give them something to talk about and ease the jagged chasm between them. “Would you mind? I—” She canted her head back and looked up at the huge house. “I’ve never been here before.” It sounded so flimsy, but if Sebastian disagreed with her, he didn’t let it show.
    “I would love to show you the house.” He slid her arm through his. The guarded look she’d glimpsed earlier seemed to retreat behind his playful countenance, but it didn’t disappear entirely. “St. Christos has a history, but the house has only been here for about fifty years or so. My grandfather built it for my grandmother…”
    He led her inside and his accent washed over her as he shared the story. The interior of the house was nearly as spectacular as the exterior and yet, as fine as it all was, it also possessed the curious effect of looking like a real home. Every room seemed designed for comfort and family photos scattered across the various tables.
    She recognized what had to be his forefathers—or maybe even his father—in one of the paintings, since he looked exactly like Sebastian. Of course she knew what his brothers looked like and, while Sebastian and Armand favored each other, George looked more like their mother.
    The closer she came to the painting, the more of Sebastian’s likeness she saw in the older, distinguished gentleman. Grave eyes gazed out from the handsome face and a touch of silver highlighted the man’s temples. While it was only an oil painting, somehow the artist seemed to have captured something of the man’s personality— or maybe I’m just reading something into it, but this could be Bastian in a few years. Something deep inside her loosened, and her throat went scratchy.
    Bastian would look the same, with serious eyes and the hint of weathering to his otherwise beautiful face. The silver crown would be a testament to his age, but would he be lonely? Who would walk through those years with him? Or would he…
    “You’re not listening to me anymore,” Sebastian murmured from a step behind her and Meredith blinked back the tears desperately pooling in her eyes.
    “You look like him,” she said, and bit her lip at the choked sound she made with the words.
    He turned her around and caught her face in his hands, swiping away her tears with his thumbs. “Darling, what? What’s eating you up inside? Something’s upset you deeply, and I can’t fix it if I don’t know what it is.”
    The desperate desire to avoid this very conversation drove her from the beginning. Five years of wonderful adventures and magnificent moments, but all of them fleeting. She lived in Boston, while he roamed the world. “Us. We’re never going to work,” she whispered, and hated herself for saying it. “I don’t belong here and you? You have so many important things to do.”
    “ What are you talking about?”
    “I’m talking about you and me. You have events, and duties and responsibilities and—” She sniffed. God she hated losing it in front of him. She was a terrible crier. “I have students and projects. I shouldn’t even be here now. The university is going to be disappointed and, well, it was a project which could have garnered them future grant money…” And she rambled, wincing at her scattering focus. She fought