Page 129 of Tabloid Princess

“Leia!” Nana scolded.

Someone stepped out from behind Freya and my rock-hard front of anger began to crumble. “And what are you doing here?”

“Well you’ve got yourself in a right bloody mess, haven’t you?” Molly glared at me, but her scowl quickly evaporated as tears began to roll down my face. “Leia. For goodness’ sake. What have you done?”

Twenty-Five

“You haven’t been answering your phone.” Freya frowned.

“I’ve been too busy reading the newspapers.” My head hurt so much. It went beyond a headache, feeling like red fire ants were crawling inside my brain.

“His Highness is trying to get a flight, but he’s had meetings he’s needed to stay for.”

“That’s fine.” I may as well have taken a punch to the chest. “I’m not sure what we have to say to one another.”

“Well I’m here to organise the team until he gets back.”

I clutched at my hair. “I don’t think there is anything for him to rush back for.” I pointed at the newspapers. “It’s clear what everyone thinks.”

“Leia. It’s just press.” Molly placed a hand on my shoulder. “Just gossip. You and I both know none of this is true. We’ve all sat and read the papers, thinking it’s funny when they make up wild stories.”

I glared at her. I could one hundred percent state this wasn’t funny.

“So my daughter isn’t going to destroy the monarchy?” I asked.

“Leia. It will all blow over.”

I put my head in my hands. I wanted to shut my eyes and wake up five weeks before. Five stupid weeks of believing in something so utterly out of my grasp that it had swept me up and flown me to dizzying heights. I should have kept my feet on the ground.

I lifted my stinging eyes, rubbing at them. “I can’t get my daughter to school. Even if she got to school what would everyone think or say? Everyone knows Prince Oliver paid to see me.”

“Leia!” Molly made me jump. “Seriously, you can’t have gone into this blindly.” A flash of hurt pulled her lips down.

“I’m sorry. I never wanted to lie to you. I just got carried away; he made it seem so easy. I didn’t know…” I shuddered when I remembered the reason it had seemed so easy was because he’d paid the entire bloody street to stay quiet.

Until someone got a better offer.

I knew the angle that photo had been taken at. As soon as I could get out the front door, I’d be crushing some marigolds.

Freya huffed and glanced about the house.

“Can we have a minute please?” I asked her.

“Sure.” She stalked out of the small kitchen as though she were on a runway.

“What have I done, Molly?”

She leant closer, putting her hands over my shoulders. “Looks to me like you fell in love.”

“Poor Daisy though. What the hell is she going to think? How will she get over this? I’ve spent so long trying to keep her safe and now I’ve brought all this to her door.”

“When did it start? You were horrified when the press had that picture of him touching your hair.”

“I know. I was.” I slumped a bit. “The night his bodyguard saved me from the press in the pub. Oliver got in the car and told me that he thought he liked me a bit too much.”

Of all things, she grinned. “You’ve got me to thank for that. It was definitely the bra that cinched the deal for you.”

I smiled, but it was pathetic. “Then I kissed him at the ball.”