Page 100 of Tabloid Princess
Oliver laughed, the delicious sound bouncing off my shabby kitchen cabinets. “Oh please. Don’t do that.” He reached forward and took her hand, giving it a warm shake. “You must be Nana.”
I’d never seen her lost for words.
My gaze dropped to Daisy who sat at the table frozen like a statue, those big blue eyes so wide they must have stung.
He stepped up and then dropped down onto his haunches so he was eye level with her. “And you are Princess Daisy?”
Nana stared at me, her expression one of complete shock. She may have had her wild theories, but clearly the truth of the situation had proved too much.
“You are Prince Oliver?” Daisy said to him.
He nodded, his smile genuine and with the capacity to smash my guarded heart to pieces. “I am. But I’d like to just be Oliver to you, if that’s okay?”
My breath caught as she nodded. “Not a prince?”
“It’s my day off from being a prince. Say, was that your Lego in the front room I saw?”
She nodded. “I’ve been trying to build a castle.”
“Ah, well I can help, if you want?”
She nodded and slipped from her chair. Straightening up, he flashed me a grin. “I’ve got to go and brush off my brick building skills. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Uh. No.”
The future king was in my house, to meet my daughter.
His eyes told me there was no other place he wanted to be.
Life as I knew it had officially ceased to exist.
Bill cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Oh, Bill,” Oliver called him back and whispered something. Bill nodded, his gaze flickering to me before he turned for the door.
Oliver followed Daisy and I turned for Nana.
“I knew it.”
“Knew what?” I narrowed my gaze.
“Two dates in a week. It had to be someone truly special to make such an impact.”
“Nana, don’t get carried away.”
She shook her head but didn’t say anything else. “I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Don’t you want to stay?”
“Well yeah, hell I do. But this is a big thing for you and Daisy. I’ll see him next time he comes back.”
“What if there isn’t a next time?”
Nana laughed drily. “You are utterly ridiculous. You would never have let him in, prince or not, if you didn’t think there would be a second time.”
She wasn’t all wrong.
But then she wasn’t one hundred percent right. My control had begun to slip, and I didn’t know if I’d get it back.
