The Prince's Christmas Wager

by Caroline Lee

  “Have I met the real you?”

  His nod was hard, fast. “You have.”

  “Well, then…” She held up the completed cranberry strand, ready to be hung on his little Christmas tree. “We shall have to see, won’t we?”

  “It’s beautiful,” Nova breathed, stepping back to look at the almost-completed tree.

  The candles twinkled merrily around the base, reflecting on the strips of foil, and making the berries and popcorn seem to dance. When Enzio realized he wanted to decorate his own tree—with her—he regretted not having any of his familiar, meaningful ornaments. But the inspiration to use the things Aegirians had been using for generations came from Nova and her folklore. He’d learned so much from her, and wanted to show it.

  “It is beautiful.” Almost as beautiful as she was that evening, in her black turtleneck and jeans and stocking feet. “But it’s not quite done.”

  That little “V” appeared between her lovely brows as she studied the tree. “I think we’ve done a good job.”

  With a flourish, he presented the only ornament he’d purchased; a golden eight-pointed Star of Aegiria to sit at the top of the tree. She gasped, and he situated the star on the tippy top branch, then stepped back beside her to admire their work.

  “It’s tradition that Aegirian Christmas trees be topped with that star,” he said quietly.

  She nudged him. “See? I knew you’d be a valuable resource.”

  Valuable.

  With his heart as light as it felt now, it was natural to put his arm around her shoulders and tuck her up against his side as they admired the tree. She stiffened for only a fraction of a second, then relaxed into his hold.

  It felt right. Natural. As if they were each exactly where they belonged; in one another’s arms, at Christmastime.

  Except for one thing…he hadn’t kissed her yet, and as much as he wanted to, he also didn’t want to.

  It was frustrating. He’d been lying awake for the last few nights, imagining her in his arms, imagining what it would feel like to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her. He needed to kiss her.

  But he’d wagered he could kiss her.

  And now that he knew Dr. Nova Willetts, he knew she was much more than just a wager.

  She was witty and intelligent, beautiful and strong. She’d managed to find value in his contributions, and still teach him things. She was worth so much more than just a kiss, so much more than twenty-three American dollars.

  Kissing her now wouldn’t be right.

  It might feel amazing, but it would make him into…into a playboy. A charmer. A flirt, a player. All the worst things the tabloids and his father, and even Nova had thought about him.

  So standing there in the light of Christmas preparations, Enzio knew the truth: he wasn’t going to kiss her, no matter how much he wanted to.

  Of course, if he just told her about the wager, he could negate it, prove that he liked Nova for herself, and not some dumb bet. But after what he’d just learned about Nova and Wayne, and knowing how she felt about lies, he couldn’t bring himself to confess. She might not see it as lying, but he couldn’t take that chance.

  He couldn’t kiss her, and he couldn’t tell her why.

  Blast.

  She broke the spell when she reached for her wine and turned to the couch. “Does that thing get cable?” She nodded towards the large television hanging on the wall, incongruous among the antique furniture.

  “It does!” He was glad to see she wasn’t ready to go yet. “What do you want to watch?”

  She headed for the couch, throwing a smile over her shoulder at him. “It’s December the twentieth, my Christmas documentary is almost complete, we just spent an hour decorating a tree, and we’ve got wine. This calls for the Hallmark Channel!”

  Chuckling, he nodded and reached for his own glass. “Will you think less of me if I admit I’ve been known to veg out in front of a Hallmark Christmas movie a time or two?”

  If her brilliant smile was any indication, no.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “I could eat. All that popcorn-ing and cranberry-ing is exhausting, you know.”

  He pulled out his phone. “I could call down to the kitchens and ask for a meal to be sent up. Steak? Pizza? Sushi? What are you in the mood for?”

  She flopped down on the couch, careful not to spill her wine. “Steak? Sushi?” She giggled and rolled her eyes. “You princes just wave your hand and someone shows up with steak and sushi? The rest of us mortals have to order out, you know.”

  His grin had to be sheepish when he admitted, “I’m sure that’s what they’ll do, honestly. It’s pretty late.”

  “So we could call down and make more work for the kitchen staff, even though it’s our fault we missed dinner. And they’d make more work for some poor chef somewhere.”

  He shrugged. “We could call it keeping the Aegirian economy afloat?”

  “Honestly?” She smiled at him over the back of the couch. “I could just go for some more popcorn.”

  Chuckling, he headed for the little cabinet beside the microwave. “Honestly? Me too.”

  It was easy enough to throw the bag in the microwave, then join her on the couch. With a sigh, he settled beside her, and was thrilled when she pulled her legs up and turned so she was facing him. It made him feel included, as if she wanted to be with him.

  He smiled.

  “See that?” She gestured at his face with her wine glass. “That’s one of your real smiles. That’s what I saw that first day, and wasn’t sure which was real.”

  Slowly he lowered his chin and his brows, pursed his lips just slightly, and settled into Number Nine, The Smolder.

  She burst into laughter and slapped his arm. Then, while he was laughing along, she patted his arm right there when she’d hit it, and it felt just as good as that jolt of warmth he’d felt in the snow at Bergnfjord.

  And that’s when he knew the truth: He was falling for this woman.

  Him! Prince Charming! The man who had a different woman on his arm at every event—sometimes two! The man who could make women fall in love with him with only a smile—usually Number Three, but Number Seven had always been effective too.

  He was falling in love with Dr. Nova Willetts, and didn’t mind one bit.

  As he reached for the remote to cover his sudden nervousness, she patted his arm again.

  “Our tree really is beautiful. It was inspired, finding a Star of Aegiria for the top.”

  Our tree. He liked the sound of that.

  Shrugging, he pretended great interest in flipping through the muted channels. “It’s tradition; all Christmas trees in Aegiria use the eight-pointed star for the top. Besides, Magnus and Ljós used it to symbolize their union, so I thought it was appropriate.”

  Boy, that sounded dumb.

  “Really?” She sat up straighter. “I didn’t know you’d found out anything more about the legend.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Only sheer force of will kept Enzio from glancing towards the crate in the corner of the room, which held the ancient book his sister had sent by courier.

  “Well?” She wiggled a little in excitement. “Tell me.”

  Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself the only reason she was still hanging out with him was to find out about the legend. He needed to spin this out for as long as possible.

  “The night the two of them met—or the night they married, or the night they declared their love for one another, the sources differ—all the stars in the sky turned golden and eight-pointed. It’s possible it was some sort of atmospheric condition, but that’s the story.”

  “So they used the eight-pointed star as a symbol of their union?” She bounced a little. “That’s brilliant! Aegiria must’ve already been under a lot of pressure, with the warring tribes, so anything to strengthen the union was important. And then later—”

  “All people remembered was the star symbolizing strength,” he finished.

  The legend wasn�
�t complete yet, he still had more to tell her, but for now, it was good enough.

  Behind them, the microwave dinged, and he hurried to stand up.

  “I’ll, uh…I’ll keep looking for information.”

  “I don’t see where you’re getting this from! I still can’t find anything, not even knowing her name.”

  Without looking at her, he said, “I have my secret royal sources, you know,” as he dumped the popcorn into a bowl.

  She snorted, and un-muted the Christmas movie. “Get that cute butt over here, Your Highness, and bring the wine. This is one of my favorite movies.”

  Reminding himself what he was doing wasn’t quite a lie, Enzio was grinning when he settled back down beside her. And grinning even more when she snuggled up against his side and reached for the popcorn in his lap.

  Cute butt, huh?

  Yep, he was definitely falling for Nova.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Thank you so much for agreeing to come along!” Cassie was bent over her seatbelt, doing something with her foot. “These things can get boring.”

  From the front seat, Gloria stuck her tongue out over her shoulder. “And what are we? Dogs’ meat?”

  Cassie didn’t look up, but grunted as she pulled on something near the floor, under her sequined black gown. Her voice floated up. “I’m sure you taste much better. But what I meant was I’m glad Nova’s here instead of the usual press corps. If she’s documenting, I can crack jokes with her.”

  Gloria shifted so she could look over the back of the seat at Nova, who was sitting in the backseat with Cassie, although dressed in a much more subdued dark green gown. “As long as you don’t faceplant on the stage.”

  Blowing out a breath as she sat up, Cassie rolled her eyes. “I swear, I do that once…”

  Nova hid her smile. “What are you doing over there?”

  “It’s these shoes!” Cassie swung her right foot up and into Nova’s lap. “I can’t get the buckles done!”

  It was cute to realize even princesses had wardrobe malfunctions sometimes.

  Of course, this particular step-princess has a lot of malfunctions!

  Without having to be asked, Nova bent over her friend’s foot and began to work the leather flap into the buckle on the heel of her strappy heels. “Maybe you should’ve worn boots,” she murmured.

  “With this gown? Are you nuts?”

  Gloria was still watching and said in that delightful British accent of hers, “There’s two feet of snow out there, dear.”

  “Beauty is pain, Gloria!”

  The other women cracked up, and Nova swore she heard a snort from Toni, who was acting as part of their security detail, and driving them smoothly through the Solrighavn evening traffic. They were on their way to the Solrighavn Arena, for the annual Christmas concert. This year, Prince Arne and his rock-star fiancée had put together a choir from the Aegirian Children’s Home, and Nova had heard the music was phenomenal. The press was particularly enthralled, because anything involving orphans and Christmas carols always went over big on the world stage, so Arne and Emma were being touted as brilliant humanitarians.

  Plus, the kids are cute.

  “I’m just taking photos of you guys enjoying the music,” Nova reminded her friend. “We’ve already got recordings of the children singing, and my audio guy is working it into the soundtrack for the documentary.” Christmas Eve was in three days, so the work was practically over. “I’m hoping for a few good stills for the ending sequence, but that’s it.”

  “Oh good,” Gloria said. “You’ll be able to enjoy it too, then!”

  Pulling her foot back and inspecting the shoe, Cassie nodded. “And with Enzio there, you’ll have even more fun, won’t you?”

  In the rear mirror, Nova saw a flash of Toni’s blue eyes before she went back to watching the road and their surroundings, constantly vigilant for danger. It was Gloria who hummed thoughtfully.

  “You’re the reason he’s been so distracted, aren’t you?”

  “What? Me?” Nova tried for nonchalant, but failed when Gloria chuckled.

  “Mack told me he’s usually much more into partying. Enzio, I mean. I told him it was probably because all of his cousins—with whom he used to have a grand time—have all become old fuddy-duddies, snuggling up with their lady friends.” She winked.

  It was a well-kept secret that the princes’ “lady friends” were often seen at the palace. Cassie, who as the queen’s step-daughter had a suite of her own, put it out that Gloria and Emma were visiting her…but Nova could guess they quickly found their way to their princely fiancés.

  “Besides,” Cassie said with a sigh, “with Viggo married and Johan visiting Tracy’s relatives, everything is much quieter—”

  “Wait,” Nova interrupted, “why did you say it like that? Are they not visiting her relatives?”

  Her friend smirked. “All I know is that her family doesn’t live in Las Vegas, and my dear step-brother has been up to something—”

  “Cassie.” Toni said the name with a note of warning.

  “Nova’s practically family!”

  But Nova held up her hand to stop her friend’s defense. “It’s okay, Cassie. Sorry, Toni.” She offered them both a slight smile. “I’m not family, but I love that you love me like I am. You have a very special family.”

  “Royalty,” snorted Gloria.

  “No, I—” Nova shrugged. “I just meant it’s special how close you all are. You’re lucky to have found one another.”

  Cassie reached over and grabbed Nova’s hand. “We’re lucky to find love, which helped us find one another. And once you and Enzio admit—”

  “What? Me and Enzio?” Nova’s voice pitched higher in panic as she tried to pull her hand away from her friend. “What do you mean?”

  But Cassie just squeezed and smirked. “You’ve been on cloud nine, sweetie! You’ve been walking around like the best thing in the world has happened to you, and the guys say Enzio’s the same way.”

  “What? No! No he hasn’t— I mean, no I haven’t! What are you talking about?”

  “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

  In love with Enzio?

  “I can’t fall in love with a prince! Are you crazy?”

  From the driver’s seat, Toni spoke up, clearly and succinctly, in her no-nonsense tones. “You fall in love with the man, Nova. Not the prince. We’ve all done it.”

  As Gloria nodded, Nova met their eyes—even Toni’s in the mirror—and saw the truth. They’d fallen in love with Alek, Mack, and Kristoff, not with princes. And Nova? Had Nova fallen in love with Enzio?

  Not His Highness, Prince Marc Enzio Frederic Carlo Jaime Kendran of Velarno, but with Enzio the man?

  Enzio, who didn’t think he amounted to much, thanks to his father’s campaign to make him someone he wasn’t. Enzio, who had spent a lifetime being told he was worthless, and only good at being charming. Enzio, who’d taken that criticism and made it who he was, only to hide the real him. Enzio, who had a brilliant mind when it came to history and literature, who valued folklore and stories as much as she did.

  Enzio, who made her feel as if she was the most important person in the world when they were together, and whose touch made her hot and itchy all at once?

  Enzio, whom she wanted desperately to kiss, but who hadn’t asked her lately?

  Oh dear God, I do love him, don’t I?

  She remembered Wayne, and the way she felt about him. Did she feel that way about Enzio? No, this was different. Then, she hadn’t known the real Wayne; he’d only showed her the outside, the part he’d shown everyone. But with Enzio, she knew she saw the real him, the inside he didn’t share with others.

  She’d seen his heart, and she trusted him in a way she hadn’t trusted Wayne. In a way she didn’t think she could trust a man, after what happened to her.

  “See?” Cassie squeezed her hand gently once more, then let it go. “You do love him.”

  She met her fri
end’s eyes. “I think I do,” she whispered.

  Her friend smiled hugely, and even Gloria made a little noise which could’ve been a cheer. But the blood was pounding in Nova’s ears, making it hard to hear. She loved Enzio?

  She needed to tell him, didn’t she? Would the Christmas Eve ball be a good time? No, the thought of waiting that long—even a few days—didn’t sit well. She needed to tell him sooner.

  Maybe she could track him down tonight—

  No, it’d be too late after the concert, and she didn’t know where he was this evening. Tomorrow then. That would be okay, wouldn’t it? Maybe she could sort of lead up to it, ask him what his plans were for the ball. Surely he wouldn’t mind dancing with her at least once? She was going to be really busy throughout, but she’d make time for a dance in his arms.

  A dance, and maybe…maybe a kiss?

  If she told him she loved him, would he ask for a kiss again?

  “..sleeeeeeeep in Heavenly peace!”

  As little Stefan finished his carol, the gathered men put down their drinks long enough to applaud, and the little boy beamed proudly. Most of them had joined in the singing when Stefan had asked, but they’d each dropped out until it was just him singing the last verse, accompanied by Marcia on the piano.

  She’d finished the hymn with a little flourish, then nodded her own head in acknowledgment of the applause. Enzio had grown up surrounded by beautiful, poised and accomplished women, and when he’d first met the Lady Marcia, had known she’d make the perfect princess. Of course, that was back when she was engaged to his cousin Alek, the Crown Prince. Over the summer, that had changed, and Enzio had gathered that her wedding to Viggo—formerly known as Aegiria’s Playboy Prince—had been hurried.

  Still, anyone could see how happy they were together.

  “I did it, Mara!” the boy exclaimed, throwing himself into the arms of his adopted mother “I remembered all the words.”

  “You certainly did,” Marcia said softly, placing a kiss on his head. “And now it’s time for bed. I’m sure Elsie is waiting up.”

  “Will you read me a book?” Stefan whispered.